Continuing education (CE) is an essential part of maintaining professional competency. In addition to personal responsibility, professionals also have ethical and legal obligations to remain current with the changes that naturally occur in their respective fields. Psychology is one such profession that relies on CE to keep psychologists abreast of new information. These developments arise from research in the field, as well as medical, technological and legal advances. Increased awareness of CE and professional development has also been brought on by the public's demand for competent professionals, the need for a skilled professional workforce and regulatory and professional associations' ongoing development of standards for practice.
Graduate training requires that students remain current in their course of study. However, once new professionals enter the field, their knowledge quickly becomes outdated. The area of infant and early childhood psychology is one such field that has experienced significant changes in the ways professionals work with infants, young children and their families. In New York State, where any child with a pronounced delay in one area of development can qualify for Early Intervention (EI) or Committee on Preschool Special Education (CPSE) services, psychologists are among the first to meet with children and their parents and often provide recommended psychological services after a child is recognized as having special needs and is officially diagnosed. However, there are no available statistics to indicate how psychologists across New York State were trained, in what capacity they currently work, nor how they maintain their professional knowledge about children from birth to five-years-old. To address this gap in information, the Infant and Early Childhood Survey project was established.
The Infant and Early Childhood Survey, developed by members of the research task force of the New York Association of Early Childhood and Infant Psychologists (formally NYAECIP), now renamed the Association of Early Childhood and Infant Psychologists, (AECIP), was used to gather information about infant and early childhood psychology practice throughout New York. Topics addressed in the Infant and Early Childhood Survey included practitioner's training, practice and, specific to this study, CE interests. Surveys were sent to 2,851 licensed psychologists, one-third of the population of licensed psychologists in New York State at the time the database was acquired. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
