Bringing Best Practices in Early Childhood to the Field

GUCCHD's Early Childhood Team is committed to bridging the divide between what is known among researchers and practitioners to be effective and what is available in communities for young children and families. We work at multiple levels to ensure this translation between evidence-based and best practice knowledge and "real world" implementation. To this end, we partner with other national experts to raise awareness of early childhood best practices and facilitate infusion of these practices into early childhood programs and systems.

Our Major Collaborative Efforts

Center for Effective Mental Health Consultation (CEMHC)

In partnership with a consortium of universities, the national CEMHC strives to meet the needs of Early Head Start/Head Start (E/HS) programs for guidance on effective ways to promote young children's social and emotional development and address challenging behaviors. Under GUCCHD's leadership, the CEMHC has developed a number of practical, user-friendly materials to support E/HS mental health consultants, program administrators, staff and families in their efforts to foster healthy child development.

The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL)

CSEFEL is a national resource center focused on promoting the social and emotional development and school readiness of young children birth to age 5. As a CSEFEL partner, GUCCHD works to help states implement and sustain CSEFEL's Pyramid Model, a framework for promoting social and emotional competence in young children.

Project LAUNCH

Project LAUNCH provides grants to states, tribes and territories to promote the wellness of young children birth to age 8 through implementation of evidence-based practices and programs. GUCCHD faculty provide training and technical assistance to Project LAUNCH grantees to facilitate effective service implementation and development of a strong infrastructure to support and sustain the local effort.

The Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children (TACSEI)

TACSEI continues and expands upon the work of the Center for Evidence-Based Practice, Young Children with Challenging Behavior, focusing primarily on improving social and emotional outcomes for young children with, or at risk for, delays or disabilities. In partnership with TACSEI, faculty at GUCCHD work to provide technical assistance to states and develop materials that highlight research findings on evidence-based practices for young children with special needs and their parents and caregivers.