Who We Are

Dr. Terry Gomez PhD in Infant and Early Childhood Development Class of 2020, School of Psychology Fielding Graduate University

ENGAGE IN MULTI-DISCIPLINARY, CUTTING-EDGE SCHOLARSHIP The PhD in Infant and Early Childhood Development (IECD) is a multi-disciplinary degree with an emphasis in mental health and developmental disorders. This program is based on the work of Stanley Greenspan, MD, and Serena Weider, PhD, to promote relationship-based practices for working with infants, children, and their families. IECD continues in this relationship-based tradition, including the Infant Mental Health (IMH) core and Developmental, Individual-differences, and Relationship-based (DIR®) approach, and has expanded the program to include and integrate brain development, law and policy, and culture. It is designed for graduate students interested in working with infants and young children with mental health and developmental challenges and their families. This multidisciplinary program is the only program to award a PhD that focuses on both mental health and developmental disorders covering topics such as autism spectrum, sensory integration, ADHD, and mood disorders. The program offers a unique link between various disciplines within a relationship-based developmental framework.

Fielding’s IECD PhD program is geared for students already working in related fields, often with other advanced or professional degrees or licenses. Through Fielding’s progressive doctoral program, professionals from multiple disciplines broaden their knowledge, develop a holistic view of children and their families, and study multiple factors affecting an infant’s and family’s well-being. As a student, you will be engaged in cutting-edge research while integrating existing

Mental Health The Infant and Early Childhood Development program with emphasis in Mental Health is part of Fielding’s School of Psychology, reflecting its deep root in psychological theory and practice. IECD students have access to a wide range of faculty that teach typical and atypical infant and family development using a curriculum that includes physiological, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, social, and cross-cultural perspectives.

Personalized Study At Fielding, students are assigned faculty mentors to help them tailor their degrees to follow their passions, career goals and research interests.

Making a Mark With a PhD degree in IECD, students can influence change in many disciplines: childcare, health education and community health work, mental-health counseling, occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychology, social work, special education, and speech-language pathology, among others.

research into your overall work. Our students come from several core disciplines, including psychology, occupational therapy, social work, counseling, mental health, education, early intervention, speech language pathology, health care (nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians), physical therapy, and others.

The PhD curriculum spans the range of development, including typical and atypical trajectories. It integrates brain development, physiological, social emotional, cognitive, behavioral, relational, policy and law, and cross-cultural perspectives, as well as reflective practice. You will collaborate with faculty who advise, mentor, and evaluate your work based on doctoral-level standards.

The IECD program is a partner with the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health (Alliance) and offers courses that support competencies needed for endorsement through a state belonging to the Alliance. The

Alliance is active in many US states, as well as Australia and Ireland.

For the PhD program, we use our unique distributed learning environment, which combines live online instruction and self-directed learning, allowing you to pursue your degree while working full-time in your field, traveling, and living in your current community.