Building Strong Children: The Importance of the Early Years

Building Strong Children and Families: A Learning Series with CASA

Building Strong Children: The Importance of the Early Years

Join Louisiana CASA for our Building Strong Children and Families Learning Series. The first session in this public educational online seminar series is The Importance of the Early Years. The presentation will emphasize that therapidity of early brain development in infants creates both opportunity and vulnerability. Participants will understand how early experiences get built into the developing brain and growing body, powerfully influencing cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being throughout life.

About the Speaker

Charles Zeanah, Jr., MD, has worked clinically and studied children exposed to violence for over 30 years. Throughout his career, Dr. Zeanah has studied the effects of adverse early experiences, including trauma, abuse, and neglect on young children’s development. He has been a leader in infant mental health, exploring attachment and attachment disorders in conditions of extreme risk. He also has studied interventions designed to enhance recovery following exposure to adverse experiences and has published widely on these topics.

Dr. Zeanah is a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Tulane University School of Medicine. He is also the Director of the Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. At a policy level, he serves on the DCFS Internal Advisory Group and directs Tulane’s Early Childhood Policy Leadership Institute.

Dr. Zeanah has won numerous awards for his outstanding work, including the Norbert and Charlotte Rieger Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Blanche F. Ittelson Award for Research in Child Psychiatry, the Agnes Purcell McGavin Award for Prevention from the American Psychiatric Association, the Serge Lebovici Award from the World Association for Infant Mental Health, and many more.