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Ackerman Institute for the Family
Center for the Developing Child and Family
Overview of Bright Beginnings/Personal Best Programs
The Ackerman Institute’s Center for the Developing Child and Family has developed a
comprehensive parenting program that promotes parent development, the parent-child
relationship, and healthy child outcomes including developmental competencies and school
readiness. Center activities span the prenatal to the preschool period and they are based on a
number of core beliefs: 1) parents have a significant influence on their developing child; 2)
development continues throughout the life span and should be seen as a relational process and
the interaction of constitutional, psychosocial and contextual factors that shape behavior; 3)
prevention programs should focus on family strengths, be culturally sensitive and take place in
naturally occurring contexts such as early childhood programs, family-centered community
agencies, homes and schools; 4) parenting interventions should embrace the entire family and
include not only parent education and training but also parenting processes, attitudes, and the
parent’s personal development in order to create enduring effects on the parent-child relationship
and family life; and 5) staff training and capacity building should be relationship-based and
incorporate parallel process and reflective dialogue.
Description of Programs
Bright Beginnings is a theory-driven, longitudinal, preventive intervention designed by Dr.
Martha Edwards to help parents promote their children’s social and emotional development and
school readiness. The curriculum includes a prenatal component for expectant mothers, a group
component for parents and their children from birth to 30 months of age, a home visiting
component, a component for fathers, a sibling component, and a couples component.
Parent-Child Group Component - The Parent-Child Group is the centerpiece of the
curriculum. It consists of five cycles of six-weekly group sessions that parents attend with their
infant or toddler. The sessions are carefully structured around a theme and they include in-depth
discussion, application of the ideas to parent-child interactive activities, and a Parent Guide with
weekly at-home activities to reinforce learning.1
Prenatal Component2 – The prenatal component consists of six sessions of discussion
and activities for expectant mothers. The focus is on developing a bond with their unborn child
and promoting healthy support systems during pregnancy and the postpartum period. The
prenatal component may also include group meetings with couples.
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Bright Beginnings has been implemented in multiple sites including six NYC Title I
elementary schools, three Early Head Start Programs, two programs for substance abusing mothers, and
several community based agencies.
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Elana Katz took the lead on developing the Prenatal Component.
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Home Visiting Component3 – Home visits are implemented to reinforce Bright
Beginnings objectives between cycles and to individualize the program for each family. Home
visits take place during the prenatal component and in-between Bright Beginning’s parent-child
group cycles.
Father’s Component4 – The father’s component is founded on the importance of father
involvement and effective co-parenting for good child outcomes. Fathers are encouraged to
attend parent-child group sessions with their partners. Other options for father involvement
include a nine-session discussion group for fathers only and group sessions for couples to
discuss parenting issues and the impact of pregnancy and childrearing on the couple
relationship.
Sibling Component5 – The sibling component provides supervised, developmentally
appropriate childcare for preschool-aged children who accompany their parent(s) and younger
sibling to Bright Beginnings. The play experiences are designed to promote social and
emotional development and school readiness. The sibling group also provides opportunities for
the early identification of children with learning or behavioral problems and appropriate
referrals. This component supports the family focus of the Bright Beginnings Program.
Couples Component6 - The couples component is a three-session intervention for coparents focusing on developing shared goals and supporting one another in the raising of their
children.
Bright Beginnings is based on the Parenting Processes Model7 encompassing three
domains of parenting processing that influence children’s social and emotional development.
These three domains of parent processing are: (1) building the emotional relationship; (2)
promoting striving and mastery; and (3) guiding toward interdependence, the foundation of
which comes from the theory and philosophy of Adler, Bowlby and Vygotsky. These three
domains of parenting also guide the content of the BB sessions, which has been drawn from the
work of a broad array of clinicians and researchers e.g., Bornstein, Emde, Eisenberg, Fonagy,
Gottman, Kochanska, Pawl, Siegel, Stern, Sroufe, Thompson, Tronick, Zahn-Waxler. Table 1
describes the content of the program divided into the three domains of the parenting model.
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Christine Reynolds participated in the development of the Home Visiting Component.
Sabina Fila took the lead in developing the Fathers Component.
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Sara Goldsmith took the lead in developing the Siblings Component.
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Barbara Russek took the lead in developing the Couples Component.
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Edwards, M., (2002). Attachment, mastery, and interdependence: A model of parenting processes. Family
Process, 41, 389-404.
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Table 1: The Bright Beginnings Session Content
Parenting Model
Component
Conceptual Content of Sessions (Translated into everyday language
and activities)
Building the
Emotional
Relationship
Attunement and misattunement
Interactive repair
Parental sensitivity and responsiveness
Reflective function
Accepting and remaining calm in the face of child’s negative
emotions
Temperament
Sensory sensitivities and sensory “diet”
Under-stimulation and over-stimulation
Emotion coaching
Promoting Striving
and Mastery
Providing a safe and stimulating environment
Scaffolding
Self efficacy: the “I can do it!” feeling
Stimulating curiosity
Developing specific skills, e.g., expressive and receptive language
Tolerating the tension in the struggle
Guiding toward
Interdependence
Using routines to regulate the child’s states
Reinforcement of positive and negative behaviors
Modeling
Fostering empathy
Encouraging cooperation and contribution
Setting limits
Using consequences
The Bright Beginnings Manual provides a detailed guide for each group session,
specifying: (1) learning objectives and rationale to enhance the facilitator’s understanding of the
session; (2) review of the previous session and the at-home activities for the week; (3) script for
guiding the discussions with sample questions to stimulate dialogue; (4) parent-child interactive
play, singing, and reading activities to apply and practice what was discussed; (5) and suggested
at-home activities that could be done during the week to continue what was discussed in the
session.
Each group session is focused on a particular theme, e.g., “Exploring the World Through
the Senses,” and, when developmentally appropriate, themes are repeated across the cycles, e.g.,
“Learning to Communicate,” “The ‘I Can do it!’ Feeling,” “Playing is Learning,” “Routines that
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Relax,” and “Guiding Your Child.” Theoretical constructs (e.g., attunement, scaffolding) are
translated into concrete discussions and activities that are enjoyable for both parent and child.
Personal Best is a preventive intervention that was developed to meet the mental health needs
of mothers with young children, supporting a two-generation approach to service delivery that
focuses on adult development in addition to child development and the parent-child relationship.
The intervention was designed by Dr. Judy Grossman based on her research on family stress and
developmental and behavioral outcomes in Head Start8 children as well as her studies with clinic
populations9 and children needing early intervention services.10
The Personal Best curriculum is a 16-week group experience that was developed to
promote maternal mental health, social support and perceived self-efficacy in order to improve a
mother’s adaptive coping skills and role performance in multiple domains.11 A core feature is the
process of building resilience through graded mastery experiences and mutual support. The
emphasis on role competence draws from a number of different theories: (1) adult development
and family life cycle, (2) women’s development which places high value on mutuality and
interconnectedness, (3) stress, support and coping paradigms, (4) role theory, (5) individual and
family resilience, and (6) adult education. The group objectives address significant maternal risk
variables identified through the clinical and research literature. These include, but are not
limited to: difficult child temperament and sensory processing problems causing stress in the
parent-child relationship; maternal depression; lack of role satisfaction and sense of mastery;
dissatisfaction with social support; and insecure adult attachment strategies.
The curriculum is divided into modules that promote adaptive functioning and personal
efficacy in different roles (parent, partner, family member, friend, worker/student, homemaker,
community member). During each session the group facilitators integrate education, support,
relational and activity-based approaches. For example, during the first few weeks the women
identify their sources of stress, stress signals, and healthy and unhealthy coping responses. By
the end of the module they have also identified and begun to works towards a realistic,
measurable and attainable personal or parenting goal. These individualized outcomes promote
skill development, sense of self-efficacy and personal growth. After the first four weeks, the
subsequent modules apply the stress-support-coping paradigm to different areas of role
functioning (Parent, Relationships & Productive Activity). The Personal Best curriculum is
described in Table 2.
Table 2: Personal Best Curriculum
MODULE
WEEKLY TOPIC
WEEKLY ACTIVITY
8
New York University-Head Start Partnership Grant
Yale School of Medicine, Pregnant & Parenting Substance Abusers & Their Children.
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Special Education Studies for New York State Education Department, MAGI Educational Services, Inc.
11
Grossman, J. (2005). Promoting family resilience in Head Start programs: Maternal role competence. NHSA
Dialog, 8, 56-71.
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Role Strain
Multiple Roles
Stress-O-Meter
Stress Triggers
Personal Goal Setting
Sources of Stress
Parenting
Relationships
Warning Signs of Stress
Unhealthy Coping Responses
Healthy Coping Responses
Stress Signals
The Good Enough Parent
Group Mural
Personal Style: Temperament & Sensory
Processing
Parenting Beliefs
Parenting Practices
Personal Style &
Child Observation Report
Conversations: My Family
Beliefs
Parenting Goals
Stress and Social Support
Circle of Support
Family History
The Family Interview
Co-Parenting & Communication Skills
Emotions Game &
Self-Expression
My Communication Style
Personal Goal Setting
Work/Homemaker Stress
Resume & Personal Strengths
Role Play – Job Interview
Interpersonal Problem-Solving
Productive Activity /
Work
Stress in the Workplace
Getting a Job /Future Plans
Keeping a Job
Managing a Budget
Work and Family Life
Managing Your Time
Card Sort: How Do I Cope
with Stress?
The Budget Worksheet
Daily Activity Log
Personal Goal Setting
For best outcomes, Personal Best should be offered in combination with the Bright
Beginnings Program to provide opportunities for parent-child interactive activities. Personal
Best has also been implemented with fathers or as a stand-alone curriculum for mothers with
children birth to five.
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