Touchpoints: The How of Child and Family Engagement Brendan Rooney April 8, 2025

The Touchpoints Approach is an evidence-based method for building strong family-child relationships from before birth through age five. This intensive training program provides a practical, preventive approach that supports professionals in forming strengths-based partnerships with families. Providers who implement Touchpoints in their practice partner with families to lay the vital foundation for children’s early learning, healthy development and family engagement.

This seven-module training course is presented in 7 1.5-hour sessions live via Zoom and 2-hours of asynchronous work online, followed by six monthly one-hour reflective practice sessions. Attendance is expected at all sessions; this includes audio and video access for virtual sessions. Cameras are expected to be on for the full duration of all virtual sessions. Sessions are not recorded. Reflective practice is a required part of the training and will be scheduled once a month during the same time as training hours.

What you will practice:

• Strategies for building partnerships with parents that promote family strengths

• A framework to understand why children’s behavior can sometimes be challenging and confusing

• Techniques for talking with families about child development concerns

• How to actively listen to families and collaboratively solve problems related to child development and family relationships

Topics covered in the courses include:

• Newborn, 9-month and Toddler Touchpoints of a child’s development

• Being culturally responsive

• Touchpoints principles of relationship-based practice

• Providing anticipatory guidance