Addressing mental health needs of infants and young children

Work with infants and young children is an evolving subspecialty of child psychiatry. Mental health services for very young children require a multidisciplinary approach and the held has evolved simultaneously in the disciplines of child psychiatry, pediatrics, psychology, social work, neurology, early childhood education, and nursing. Special areas of expertise and clinical skills are required for work in this area and even traditional areas of clinical skills-evaluating mental and developmental competency, collaborating with other professionals, and synthesizing information for parents-have an added valence when applied to work with very young children. Understanding early brain development and the complex interactions among biology, environment, and experience that shape early development has highlighted the critical nature of psychological interventions in the first years of life and added to the knowledge required for child psychiatrists. The agenda for the next decade is to bring the multiple viewpoints together around critical areas for development of the field, including improved diagnostic nosology, a better understanding of the number of young children needing services, pathways for accessing those services, and more explicit descriptions of the important features of mental health intervention for very young children and their families.