I Passed!

Many of you will remember my training and testing a took last month thru work.....called the NCAST training. We got the results yesterday and I passed! Yay! If you are really interested, below is a detailed account of the "screening tool" and how I will be using it with infants/toddlers and their caregivers.


The Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training (NCAST) feeding and teaching scales are a measurement of caregiver-child interaction. The Barnard Model (1976), the conceptual framework supporting NCAST, is based on the assumption that caregivers and infants have certain responsibilities to maintain positive interactions. In the interaction between the caregiver and infant (sometimes referred to as "the dance"), each responds and reacts to the other, adapting his or her behavior to accommodate or modify the other's behavior. In cases where there is an interference in the adaptive behavior either from the caregiver (e.g. lack of knowledge, illness, stress, depression) or infant (e. g. drug exposed, physical conditions), the interaction is likely to be maladaptive putting the infant at risk for infant mental health disorders (e.g. non-organic failure to thrive).

The NCAST feeding and teaching scales were developed around six constructs of caregiver-child interaction. Four constructs pertain to the caregiver: sensitivity to cues, response to distress, socio-emotional growth fostering, and cognitive growth fostering. The two sub-scales pertaining to the child are clarity of cues and responsiveness to the caregiver. Both scales have demonstrated strong internal consistency and test-retest reliability for the caregiver and child total scores, and for most sub-scales. There is also predictive validity of caregiver total scores with later child cognitive tests, supporting the use of the tools to promote early infant brain development.

Fun stuff.......makes me feel like I know more than I really do!