Working with our West Virginia Neighbors

In partnership with early childhood behavior consultants in West Virginia's Department of Health and Human Resources, we will produce professional development materials focused on attachment, resiliency and relationship-building in the early years.

Saun Floyd, Behavior Consultant Coordinator for the Early Care and Education Unit of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services, and a colleague who consulted with us on our Challenging Behaviors workshop materials, will be working with Annette Santella,The Fred Rogers Company Professional Development Specialist, to develop and distribute a series of eight training modules. The modules will focus on the methods, routines and best practices that research has identified as essential to building secure attachments and resiliency among young children.

This project is a natural fit for us because Fred Rogers built his Neighborhood programs around the central theme of building relationships, both with the television viewer and modeling relationships among his neighbors, human and puppet.  It is a widely held belief that what’s most important for human beings to thrive is the capacity to form and maintain relationships. And research has shown that the systems in the brain that allow us to form and maintain emotional relationships develop during infancy and the first years of life.