The Crucial Role of Nurturing Care in Early Childhood (with Phil Fisher)
With Katharine B. Stevens | Phil Fisher
Center on Child and Family Policy
January 11, 2024
Dr. Phil Fisher discusses his pioneering work on the effects of early stressful experiences on young children’s development. He explains the importance of responsive and sensitive care in early childhood, and how an absence of nurturing care can have long-lasting negative effects on children’s neurobiological and psychological development. He also discusses why the well-being of parents is essential to the well-being of their young children and highlights the negative impact of unpredictability along with inadequate material conditions on parental well-being and, thus, on child development.
Finally, Dr. Fisher describes findings from two projects he runs: the RAPID survey, which has gathered information on parent and child well-being since 2020, and the Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND) program, which uses video coaching to help parents increase positive, responsive interactions with their young children.
About the Guest
Dr. Phil Fisher is an early childhood researcher, widely recognized for his work on the effects of early stressful experiences on children's neurobiological and psychological development. His pioneering work focuses on developing and evaluating scalable early childhood interventions for socially and economically marginalized communities, and on translating scientific knowledge on mitigating the effects of prenatal and early life stress on children’s development for use in social policy and programs.
He recently founded the Stanford Center on Early Childhood, based at Stanford University, which is a new interdisciplinary hub bringing together experts from a broad range of fields to advance research and strategies to support young children’s learning and development.
Relevant Work
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FAMILIES AND PARENTING FEDERAL AND STATE POLICY
See Also
Op-Ed ~ July 14, 2016
Blog ~ October 15, 2018
Event ~ November 13, 2017