Ruth Young Center for Maryland

The Institute's Parent, Infant, and Early Childhood Team, through their work with the Maryland Pyramid Model, has developed free online courses. Funded by the Maryland State Department of Education, Division of Early Childhood, the courses offer teachers, childcare providers, mental health consultants, and clinicians strategies for supporting social emotional competence among the infants and toddlers in early childhood education settings. Access the free courses!

The PIEC team is comprised of experts within the fields of developmental psychology, early childhood and maternal and child health, program development, research, and evaluation and currently partners with a range of providers as well as state and local agencies to support the growth of systems of care targeting at-risk parents and young children. All PIEC projects include robust evaluation and data collection; the team also manages and analyzes two state-wide electronic databases used in a continuous quality improvement process to inform early childhood program development and workforce support.

The PIEC team works in partnership with the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) to provide programmatic implementation, workforce development, and evaluation support for the state’s two main supports for our youngest students: the Pyramid Model for Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children & Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC).  These national evidence-informed models are jointly aimed at supporting the capacity of early childhood professionals to support and scaffold the social emotional development of infants and young children within natural and community settings.

Within our Pyramid Model work, the PIEC team serves as the facilitator for the State Leadership Team, oversees the state’s certified trainers and coaches in the model, and works with several statewide and jurisdictional teams to support implementation, training, coaching, and evaluation activities.  

The PIEC team supports the state funded IECMHC efforts through training, TA, and evaluation to 10 IECMHC programs includes program implementation, policy support, subject matter expertise, and workforce development support for approximately 35 consultants from multi-disciplinary backgrounds.