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Infant Observation 1 (PSYT90028)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
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About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
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Contact information
Semester 1
fvtsalo@unimelb.edu.au
Administrative Contact
Victoria Kingsley
Overview
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Students will undertake an infant observation (Bick Method) where a baby is observed in his or her own home for one hour per week making detailed process notes and analysis to be presented in turn at the seminar. Details of observations are to be recorded in a log book and students will circulate their recorded data to the other seminar participants and leader.
This subject will cover:
- contribution of infant observation to developmental and psychodynamic theories
- therapeutic effects of infant observation on the infant and care-giver
- relevance of infant observation to therapeutic work in other settings and countertransference and its use.
Students should note that attending and undertaking activities in this subject will not be possible without at current Working with Children Check.
Intended learning outcomes
Students will:
- develop observation skills which are fundamental to all therapeutic work
- gain an appreciation of their own responses and how to use these in working with infants and their families
- develop and maintain the relationship of a student observer with an infant and their parent/s thus developing the skills to maintain an equidistant stance (i.e. equally available to the infant and the adults) when working clinically with infants and their families
- be able to identify and reflect on the strong affects elicited when working with infants and their families
- develop the skills to identify an infant’s communications and think about the infant’s subjective emotional experience
- be attuned to their own counter- transference reactions to the content of the observations
- critically think about and integrate the different points of view of offered by other seminar participants on the material presented from their observations
- critically appraise and clearly communicate the observational evidence for their view of the infant’s perspective in class discussions
Last updated: 3 November 2022