Current Environment: Development

Winter Weather

Snow is in the forecast. Consider switching to a virtual visit to receive care from home. Learn more>>

Dev

Brazelton Institute trainings

Find information on NBAS training here.

The Newborn Behavioral Observations (NBO) system Training Program

NBO trainings are team taught by two faculty with an emphasis on interactive exchange and hands-on practice. NBO training fee: $685.

Upcoming trainings (please note: all times are U.S. Eastern Time)

The majority of our trainings will be virtual, but we will be offering two in-person trainings in Boston, one in May 2024 and one in October 2024.

Please click here to register for any of our upcoming NBO trainings.

Register for a 2024 course by Jan. 31, 2024, and receive a $100 discount on your tuition price. Enter coupon code NBO2024 at checkout 

Standard:

  • March 25, March 27 and March 28 (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday): 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day
  • April 4-5, 2024 (Thursday-Friday): 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day
  • May 23-24, 2024 IN-PERSON (Thursday to Friday): 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • June 4-6, 2024 (Tuesday-Thursday): 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • Oct. 28-29, 2024 IN PERSON (Monday-Tuesday): 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

High risk:

  • Feb. 22 and 29 and March 7, 2024 (Thursdays): 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • Sept. 5, 12, and 26, 2024 (Tuesdays): 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Tuition includes:

  • access to pre-training activities and all materials
  • NBO kit
  • Understanding Newborn Behavior and Early Relationships: The Newborn Behavioral Observations (NBO) System Handbook
  • two full-day or three partial-day interactive Zoom training
  • access to weekly NBO Open Mentoring Sessions with faculty
  • faculty review and individualized feedback of your certification materials
  • NBO training completion certificate
  • CME/CEU credit

Which training is right for you: standard, high-risk, or high-risk SUD?

  • Standard NBO trainings are typically team taught by a psychologist and a medical professional to allow for focus on both an understanding of newborn behavior and on the relationship-building aspects of the NBO.
  • NBO trainings for high-risk infants share the same basic curriculum, theoretical content, and certification process as standard NBO trainings. The faculty for the NBO training for high-risk infants are both pediatric physical therapists with particular expertise in high risk infants in EI and NICU settings. These trainings are therefore especially suited to professionals working specifically with high-risk infants.
  • NBO trainings with SUD content share the same basic curriculum, theoretical content, and certification process as standard and high-risk NBO trainings. The course includes additional material with a focus on infants who have experienced prenatal substance exposure and postnatal withdrawal (NAS/NOWS) and aims to enhance your relationship-based care skills with their parents living with substance use disorder (SUD).

Content and objectives of NBO training

The NBO training program provides participants with the theoretical foundations and clinical principles necessary to enable them to use the Newborn Behavioral Observations (NBO) system in their clinical practice. NBO workshops are open to all professionals who have the opportunity to work with infants and their families in both low-risk and high-risk setting.

The classic In-person on-site NBO workshops are designed for 25 to 30 participants, which may include physicians, nurses, psychologists, infancy specialists, lactation consultants, home visitors, occupational therapists, physical therapists, early intervention specialists, social workers and other allied health and education professionals. The (in-person) NBO workshops are held at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. For information on NBO off-site training, see below.

In the online program, all trainees have access to a learning management system (LMS), which enables trainees to interact with course content and provides accessible exchange of information with the NBO Trainer. The new interactive "live" program is followed by "live" reflective "telementoring" sessions, which are offered in a discussion format, so that NBO Trainers can provide feedback through comments or email, when using the LMS.

During the training program, whether in person or online, participants will first be exposed to current research on neurobehavioral development and the early parent-child relationship. Then, using film and/or live demonstrations, the workshop will introduce participants to the kinds of observational strategies necessary to identify newborn behavioral patterns and how to use the NBO as a way of sensitizing parents to the competencies and individuality of their newborn. Clinical guidelines on relationship-building will be discussed and demonstrated, while the workshop will also examine the use of the NBO in anticipatory guidance and demonstrate how this guidance can be provided in a way that is developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive. After the workshop, on-line mentoring will be offered to all participants to enable them to complete the training. A certificate of completion will be offered when participants have completed all the requirements for certification.

Course objectives

  1. Participants will become familiar with current findings on neurobehavioral development, the transition to parenthood and early parent-infant relationship development and the theoretical foundations on which the NBO is built.
  2. Participants will become familiar with the content and uses of the NBO.
  3. Participants will learn how to administer the NBO to make behavioral observations of newborn behavior and identify newborn behavioral patterns.
  4. Participants will learn how to interpret these observations from a developmental point-of-view and will learn how to communicate this information to parents as a form of support and guidance in a way that is individualized, non-judgmental, non-prescriptive and culturally sensitive.
  5. Participants will learn to use the NBO in the context of relationship-building.

Off-Site NBO System Training Program

The (in-person) NBO Off-Site Training Program is designed for 25 to 30 participants interested in having Brazelton Institute faculty members travel to their work setting. The requirements for off-site training are as follows:

  1. There must be between 20 and 30 participants.
  2. The group hosting the training must pay for the travel expenses (including airfare, transportation, and hotel accommodations) of The Brazelton Institute faculty.
  3. If you are interested in off-site NBO training, please contact the Brazelton Institute to discuss possible dates: institute@childrens.harvard.edu.

NBO SUD Workshop

This four-hour workshop for NBO-trained providers is designed to deepen your understanding of infants who have experienced prenatal substance exposure and postnatal withdrawal (NAS/NOWS), and to enhance your relationship-based care skills with their parents living with substance use disorder (SUD). The workshop extends your foundational practice of the Newborn Behavioral Observations by applying the AMOR lens to understanding infant behavior and functioning. Explore the opportunities that focus on enhancing relational functioning between infants and their parents in recovery, and how the NBO serves the goals of recovery for both the infant in withdrawal and their parents in their own recovery process. If you are a practitioner of the NBO and work with young children and families who live in the context of SUD, this professional development offering will engage you in applying the Baby and Parent AMOR observations and strategies to support yourself, infants, and families all affected by the substance use and recovery process.

The NBO SUD Workshop training fee is $85.

Upcoming trainings (please note: all times are U.S. Eastern Time)

  • April 4, 2024: Noon to 4 p.m.

Please click here to register for any of our upcoming NBO trainings.

Questions? Email us at institute@childrens.harvard.edu.

NBO Open Mentoring

Open mentoring sessions are available for anyone who has attended a Brazelton Institute NBO training.

Whether you have done a few, many or NO NBOs yet, you are welcome! Ask questions, get inspired and connect with colleagues.

We will be hosting mentoring sessions on Zoom:

  • FIRST Monday of every month from 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern time
  • SECOND Tuesday of every month from noon to 1 p.m. Eastern time
  • THIRD Wednesday of every month from 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern time
  • FOURTH Thursday of every month from 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern time
  • SECOND Thursday of every month from 8 to 9 a.m. Eastern time

Please email us at institute@childrens.harvard.edu to get registration links for the NBO Open Mentoring Sessions.

3 ladies looking at a baby mannequin
Large group of ladies studying medical baby mannequins
Group of ladies seated around a conference table
Above: NBO training sessions are held in Boston and Hong Kong

 

J. Kevin Nugent leads an online NBO training
Above: J. Kevin Nugent of the Brazelton Institute leads an online NBO training

 

Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) Training Program

The Brazelton Institute was founded in 1995 at Boston Children's Hospital, where both the NBAS and NBO originated. The NBAS training program is designed for researchers as well as for practitioners and pediatric professionals in training who would like a thorough foundation in early infant development and behavior. In the United States, NBAS training is offered at the Brazelton Institute, where Professor Yvette Blanchard is the lead trainer.

In response to COVID-19, all NBAS training is being offered online.

Please click here to register for any of our upcoming NBAS trainings.

NBAS training is offered in a three-tier manner:

  • An Introduction to Neonatal Neurobehavior and the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS): In this one-day course, participants are introduced to the history, conceptual framework, and the content of the NBAS, with an overview on neurobehavioral functioning of the young infant and the NBAS as a tool to capture this functioning in the first two months of life. Participants will view a NBAS (on film) with a healthy infant, score the NBAS, and discuss their findings to determine the neurobehavioral profile of the infant. This course is ideally suited for clinicians of all disciplines who wish to gain a deeper understanding of neurobehavior. It is also highly recommended for practitioners trained in the NBO who would like to further hone their understanding of neurobehavioral functioning.
  • Advanced Training in the Assessment of Neurobehavioral Functioning in Infants: This two-day course starts with the one-day Introduction to the NBAS described above, and it continues with a second day to refine NBAS administration and scoring skills. Neurobehavioral observations will be expanded to better capture the challenges seen in infants with varying degrees of regulation and dysregulation. Advanced concepts of best performance and examiner facilitation will be discussed and demonstrated through the observation and scoring of two filmed NBAS. This course provides advanced understanding of the relationship between the examiner and the infant during the administration of the NBAS. This course is well suited for clinicians who wish to utilize the NBAS for assessment purposes in the clinical setting, as well as for practitioners trained in the NBO who would like advanced understanding of neurobehavioral functioning and examiner facilitation.
  • NBAS Training to Reliability: A third option is offered for those individuals wishing to train on the NBAS to reliability for either clinical or research purposes. Following the two-day workshop, trainees meet with their trainer for up to three two-hour meetings for coaching in administration and scoring skills. Most trainees require practice with about 20 infants to be prepared for certification. Trainees must submit a videotape of themselves administering an NBAS, along with a completed scoring form which is reviewed by their trainer. Tuition includes up to one additional videotape submission if reliability is not achieved on the first submission. There is an additional fee of $300 per submission if reliability is not achieved after two attempts.

Tuition

  • Introduction to the NBAS: $295 per person
  • Advanced Training in the Assessment of Neurobehavioral Functioning in Infants: $495 per person
  • NBAS Training to Reliability: $1,600 per person

All tuition includes the NBAS Manual and NBAS Kit. There is an additional $50 shipping charge for foreign trainees.

Upcoming trainings

Introduction to the NBAS

Click here to register for all 2024 NBAS trainings.

  • April 4, 2024 (Thursday): 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Oct. 3, 2024 (Thursday): 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Advanced Training in the Assessment of Neurobehavioral Functioning in Infants:

  • April 4-5, 2024 (Thursday-Friday): 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day
  • Oct. 3-4, 2024 (Thursday-Friday): 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day

NBAS Training to Reliability

Please contact Yvette Blanchard at yvette.blanchard@childrens.harvard.edu to discuss your training to reliability.

  • no currently scheduled sessions

For further information or to answer any questions, please email us at institute@childrens.harvard.edu.