Mental health for toddlers isn't about putting two-year-olds on the couch. It's about healthy cognitive and emotional development for every child, development that provides the foundation for learning even before young children tackle their numbers and letters.

Most children develop well, in all kinds of cultures and all kinds of families. But information about healthy development can help parents, schoolteachers, doctors, policy makers, and advocates know whether the children in their care are developing normally, and help them get the appropriate help when needed.

Children who have specific cognitive or sensory impairments (like hearing loss or problems with vision), children who live in chaotic or unpredictable environments or children who have noticeable difficulty in establishing loving, stable relationships with caring adults are at higher risk of problems as they grow older. Long-lasting difficulties could include behavioral problems, poor coping skills, inability to concentrate, decreased self-esteem and an inability to share or react appropriately to others. Often such difficulties mean that children start kindergarten noticeably behind their peers. Many then struggle to catch up throughout their entire school careers.

Identifying difficulties early, in the 0-to-5 year age range, and providing families with the proper assessments and interventions can make a difference in a child's earliest years and for many years thereafter.

What Does Healthy Cognitive and Emotional Development Look Like?

Here's a quick month-by-month chart on babies' physical, social, language and mental development.
http://www.howtodothings.com/family-and-relationships/a2895-how-to-understand-baby-development.html [1]

Zero to Three has information on infant mental health. Learn about the different mental health diagnoses made by doctors with the Mental Health Diagnosis Index/Guide, and find mental health training programs in your state
http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=key_mental [2]

Zero to Three also has a wealth of parent education resources, including reproducible handouts on topics such as the importance of play and early literacy.
http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=par_parents [3]

Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, Chapter 3: Children and Mental Health
This is a breakdown summarizing normal healthy development of social and language skills, intellectual development and behavioral development.
www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/chapter3/sec1.html [4]

Find out how long kids should be sleeping, problems that may arise during their sleep causing multiple awakenings or inability to sleep, and how to create a healthy sleeping environment and routine.
http://www.sleepforkids.org [5]

National Association for the Education of Young Children provides guides for individuals who come in contact with young children every day and want to know how to promote healthy growth. Learn about discipline, different ways children learn, or helping children deal with difficult situations.
http://naeyc.org/ece/eyly/ [6]

This guide from the Center for Effective Discipline is for parents who are unsure of their parenting skills, when and how to use reward or punishment, and how best to help toddlers develop self-control and good coping skills.
How To Raise a Well Behaved Child [7]

Learn how play is a way of learning, and how play helps infants and toddlers develop important cognitive abilities such as early language and ready-to-read skills.
The ABC's of "Ready to Learn" [8]

This Ounce of Prevention Foundation brochure summarizes what we know about the early emotional development of young children, what places them at risk, what signs to look for, and how policymakers can support early childhood mental health strategies that respond to the needs of children under five and their families.
Towards the ABC's [9]

Brain Wonders is an a easy-to-use guide on what is important in the development of infants and toddlers and what you can do as a parent, childcare provider, and health provider to ensure healthy that development occurs.
Zero to Three: Brain Wonders [10]

LD Online is a comprehensive resource for all kinds of information about learning disabilities.
http://www.ldonline.org/ [11]

If your child appears to have developmental troubles that will interfere with learning, find out about whether he or she might be eligible for an early intervention program or special education services in the preschool years. ChildFind has information on the entire process, from getting a diagnosis to applying for services.
ChildFind [12]

The Parent as Teacher National Center has satellite centers located all over the country, and works with parents and their young children (0-5) to help develop parenting skills and support parents in their teaching journey.
http://www.parentsasteachers.org/site/pp.asp?c=ekIRLcMZJxE&b=272092 [13]

The National Infant and Toddler Care Initiative provides information helpful for families in particular states and publications including fact sheets, technical assistance papers, issue briefs and presentations on topics related to building early care and education systems that support quality care for babies and toddlers.
http://nccic.org/itcc/ [14]

A toolkit provided by Head Start with information on: mental health, state level contacts for mental health, advocacy and policy organizations, family information and support, promising practices, and organizations of professional mental health providers.
http://www.headstartinfo.org/infocenter/mentalhealth/mh_tkbok.htm [15]

The National Research Council's From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development summarizes what we know about early brain development, the consequences of inadequate care, and the importance of stable relationships and language-rich environments for young children.
The Early Years: Science and Sense [16]

Connect for Kids has put together links to key research that demonstrates how the quality of early care can affect early learning and cognitive development.
Key Research on Factors Affecting Early Learning and Cognitive Development [17]

Georgetown University, Brandeis University, and the University of Florida are collaborating on research into how to improve rehabilitation outcomes for children and youth with disabilities and/or special health care needs.
http://gucchd.georgetown.edu// [18]

The National Association for the Education of Young Children provides extensive research and reports surrounding the importance of the healthy cognitive and emotional development of young children beginning in infancy.
http://naeyc.org/ece/research.asp [19]

The Federation for Families and Children's Mental Health is working to identify, define, and advocate for a national policy agenda based on the experiences of children with mental health needs and their families.
http://www.ffcmh.org [20]

Zero to Three has federal policy briefs outlining policies and legislation on Early Head Start, Child Care, Early Intervention, Child Welfare, and Infant Mental Health, as well as plain language descriptions of key scientific research to help educate policy makers. http://www.zerotothree.org [21]