The Child’Space Training Curriculum
Our training offers two working models:
- a) Individual lessons, working with one infant and their caregiver
- b) Group sessions, working with several babies and their caregivers together
You will learn how to work with healthy babies, as well as babies with special needs, e.g. experiencing developmental delays, restlessness or asymmetry in structure and muscle tone, neurologic and orthopaedic challenges, etc.
Our curriculum covers these developmental milestones:
- Early motor development from birth to 3 months
- Turning over and rolling
- Crawling and sitting
- Standing and walking
- Transition from homolateral movement to contralateral movement
- Balance mechanisms at various stages of development
- Gross and fine motor control
- Coordination and orientation
- Developing speech and language
- Interpersonal communication and developing social skills
- Infant and child play
Child’Space practices may be helpful to children with the following issues or medical diagnoses:
- skipped crawling
- refusing tummy time
- late walking or other “missed milestones”
- picky or fussy eaters
- limited ability to nurse
- club foot
- torticollis
- high muscle tone
- low muscle tone
- plagiocephaly
- hip displasia
- brachial plexusinjury
- cerebral palsy
- spina bifida
- brain injury
What skills will you learn?
- You will learn to observe what babies do, how they move, and its significance for understanding their development.
- You will learn hands-on skills for introducing babies to themselves, and to the sensation of their body parts and their possibilities for movement.
- You will learn how to communicate and support development
by using all sensory channels like touch, voice, tone, rhythm, gesture, and facial expression in connection with toys, furniture, songs and games.
- You will learn how to observe the family context of babies’ development.
- You will give parents many different ways of interacting with their babies using touch, face-to-face communication, activities and games.
- You will gain direct experience of the various developmental stages, activities and transitions through guided movement lessons called Developmental Movement Explorations (DMEs).
- You will learn to work with:
– Healthy babies
– Fussy babies
– Babies experiencing developmental delays
– Babies with special needs - You will also learn about working with parents:
– How to communicate with parents constructively about their babies,
– How to teach them to observe, appreciate and support their babies through each developmental stage.
Developmental Movement Explorations
Developed by Dr. Shelhav and based on the Feldenkrais Method®, these daily movement lessons give participants a direct experience of infants’ developmental stages. This experiential learning through doing and feeling is a foundation of the Child’Space Method.
Exploring many variations of fundamental movement patterns will help you better understand the challenges facing newborns as they learn to roll over, crawl, stand and begin to walk.
The lesson time also includes opportunities to watch each other move. You will develop observational skills, learn about gaps all of us have in our movement vocabulary, and discover ways we can address them as adults and with children.
Many students experience improvement in their posture and ease of movement through these lessons.
Hands-on Experience
Hands-on practice is a second essential component of the training program. Students will work with each other daily toward developing a suitable quality of touch for communicating developmental movement patterns.
Supervision
Each student will have chances to conduct sessions with babies and parents under skilled supervision.
Demonstrations
Dr. Shelhav will demonstrate her work with parents and babies from the community, then analyze these sessions afterwards with the class. She will demonstrate techniques and observations on class members, and also show movements using dolls.
Lectures
Supplemental lectures by experts in fetal development, neural development, child psychology, nutrition and related topics are an integral part of the curriculum, and a complement to the program’s experiential work.
Home and Online Study
Educational materials and a suggested plan for home study will be provided as part of the curriculum. The home study program will include:
- Audio movement lessons
- Video demonstrations with children and parents
- Communication with students and teaching staff via an Internet mailing list
- Assignments to observe childcare facilities and to meet other childcare professionals
