This
well-established program is a collaboration between the
Yale Child Study Center Section on Child Development and
the Calvin Hill Day Care Center of New Haven. Harris Fellows
work and study here with great success. We again anticipate
fellowship openings for August 2006.
The
fellowship represents a unique partnership between a well-established
model early childhood education program and a clinical department
of child psychiatry with a special focus on early childhood.
The fellowship blends educational and clinical perspectives
on working with young children. In contrast to other more
traditional early childhood education training programs,
this initiative is not simply a "placement" in
two training institutions in which the trainee spends an
allotted amount of time in specified activities or a few
hours a day in a classroom. The Calvin Hill training model
involves the trainee in every aspect of the early childhood
curriculum; trainees truly become a part of the day to day
life of the program. They work side by side with the master
teachers and are an integral part of the teaching team.
They learn the responsibility of providing a creative and
interesting environment and curriculum for young children
and are part of a community in which teachers and families
work together. Similarly, the Child Study Center model emphasizes
direct supervision by senior clinicians who work in community
programs as well as with individual children.
Through
this collaboration of educators and clinicians, the fellows
will learn about the wide range of adaptive (and maladaptive)
behavior and development. While developing an understanding
of how broad and flexible is the definition of normal, trainees
will also have the opportunity to learn about early childhood
disorders and abnormal development. Through this exposure,
they will become familiar with the processes of clinical
referrals, diagnostic assessment, how clinicians think about
the behaviors of children in groups, the differences between
an educational and a therapeutic intervention, and models
for working with children in an educational setting.
The
curriculum for this fellowship will include both direct
supervised experiences and informal reflective meetings
with mentor teachers and clinicians with an emphasis on
observation and developing participation as a member of
an early childhood teaching team. Through direct experience,
supervision, and coursework, fellows will integrate the
theoretical and the practical. They will develop a theoretical
base in child development and become more sensitive and
careful observers of young children.
Successful
candidates will come from two tracks -- one experienced
educators and/or clinicians seeking an advanced practicum
experience in early childhood education and the other, beginning
trainees at the college graduate level but with minimal
experience in child care and early childhood education.
We anticipate that graduates of the fellowship will go on
to other childcare settings to provide direct service and
to provide leadership as teachers or work in other related
fields such as pediatrics, social work or child psychology
that strive to improve the quality of care for children.
We
invite interested individuals to contact us for an application
and further information. Requests for applications should
be made to Susan Taddei, sataddei@adelphia.net
or
(203) 530-6606. Applications are due by March 9, 2006.
Feedback
from former fellows has been extremely positive.
Carla
Horwitz, Ed.D. , Director, Calvin Hill Day Care Center &
Kitty Lustman-Findling Kindergarten, Lecturer, Yale Child
Study Center
Linda
Mayes, M.D., Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry,
Pediatrics & Psychology, Coordinator, Early Childhood
Programs in the Yale Child Study Center
Michele
Goyette-Ewing, Ph.D., Associate Research Scientist, Yale
Child Study Center, Project Developer, Calvin Hill Board
of Directors
Nancy
Close, Ph.D.Assistant Professor, Yale Child Study, Lecturer,
Psychology, Calvin Hill Board President
Yale School of Medicine