Early Childhood Mental Health (ECMH) consultation is designed to assist early care and education programs in meeting the social and emotional needs of children who exhibit challenging behaviors in the classroom.
Project Goals:
1. Reduce the number of children expelled from early care and education settings due to behavioral issues.
2. Increase understanding of social and emotional development and its impact on educational success.
3. Link and bridge systems and services on behalf of a child, family and program.
A child may qualify for ECMH services if he or she:
- Displays very little emotion
- Shows no interest in sights, sounds or touch
- Rejects or avoids being touched or held
- Is unusually difficult to soothe or console
- Is unable to comfort or calm self
- Is extremely fearful or on-guard
- Does not turn to familiar adults for comfort
- Exhibits sudden behavior changes
ECMH services are performed on-site and may include observation, social and emotional and/or developmental screening, development of an individualized action plan, referral to additional community supports. Services are available and free of charge to all early learning programs participating in Keystone STARS. ECMH consultation services are for children ages birth to five.
Contact your Regional Key (http://www.pakeys.org/pages/get.aspx?page=Keys_Regional) and ask to speak with an Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant OR contact Michele Walsh, Early Childhood Mental Health project manager, at micwal@berksiu.org or 717-213-2063.
Or complete and submit a Request for Service (http://www.pakeys.org/uploadedContent/Docs/ECMH/ECMH-Request.pdf) form to your Regional Key.