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Contact Us/Bios

Contact Us/Bios

For more information about our programs, please contact:

Jean Kelly, Ph.D., Executive Director
Denise Findlay, RN, BSN, Director of Outreach & Education
Vicki Long, BA, Business & Operations Manager
Telephone
Voice: 206-543-8528
Fax: 206-685-3284
E-mail NCAST-AVENUW
[email protected]

Mail address
NCAST-AVENUW
University of Washington
Box 357920
Seattle, WA 98195-7920

Street address
NCAST-AVENUW
University of Washington
CHDD South Building Suite 110
Seattle, WA 98195-7920

NCAST-AVENUW Bios

Jean Kelly, Ph.D., Executive Director

Dr. Kelly is a Professor in the Department of Family and Child Nursing and Co-Director of the Center on Infant Mental Health and Development at the University of Washington. She is also Director of Promoting First Relationships, a training program for service providers and Director of NCAST-AVENUW Programs. She is an affiliate of the Center for Human Development and Disability, as well as the Chair of its Early Intervention Task Force. She is a past Co-Principal Investigator of the NICHD Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development. Jean is on the governing board of the Washington State Child Care Resource and Referral Network and is past Chair of the Governor-appointed Advisory Council to the Washington State Infant-Toddler Early Intervention Program. She has directed research and training programs focused on young children’s social and emotional health for over two decades, and has published numerous articles and chapters on promoting children’s social and emotional development.

Denise Findlay, RN, BSN, Director of Outreach & Education

Denise came to NCAST-AVENUW in February of 2001 to mentor with Anita Spietz for the role of training our PCI Instructors and developing and promoting our programs and products. She brought with her twenty years of Public Health Nursing experience in Washington state in a variety of roles. She received her BSN from Seattle University in 1978. Denise is a skilled clinician as well as an enthusiastic and responsive instructor.

Being involved in the greater community is important to Denise. She has served as a March of Dimes board member, a National SIDS Foundation Board of Trustees member, an Early Head Start Advisory board member to name a few. Field testing the Promoting Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy program was very rewarding and cemented the belief in the need for intervention before birth.

Denise is a Northwest native and enjoys the outdoors of the beautiful Northwest by kayaking, hiking, and skiing. She treasures time with her children, family, and friends.

Vicki Long, BA,  Business & Operations Manager

Vicki has worked in the education field for over 20 years, most of that time in continuing education programs for infant/early childhood development and assessment. For the last 15 years she has worked with numerous early childhood development professionals and faculty here at the University of Washington and throughout the United States and Canada while promoting NCAST-AVENUW Programs.

Vicki attended Washington State University and obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology/Education at the University of Washington. Vicki handles program operations including publications production, promotional projects and student/client liaison.

In addition to her work with NCAST-AVENUW Programs, she has mentored single welfare mothers in the community returning to the workforce, served as an educational tutor for students at Jackson Park Housing Project, volunteered at Children’s Regional Medical Center and is currently working on her certification as an ESL instructor. Vicki also enjoys hiking, cross-country skiing and adventurous travels throughout the world.

Vicki feels fortunate to be working with such a great team in developing and disseminating so many innovative programs that are making a difference in the lives of young children and their families.

Monica L. Oxford, MSW, Ph.D.,  Director of Development

Jennifer J. Duval, BA,  Development Coordinator

� 2006 NCAST-AVENUW. All Rights Reserved.

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NCAST About Us

HISTORY
TESTIMONIALS
STAFF BIOS


In the late 1960’s, researchers began to investigate how to identify children at risk for failure to thrive, abuse or neglect. In 1971, Dr. Barnard, professor emeritus of the Department of Family and Child Nursing at the University of Washington, initiated research that brought the ecology of early child development closer to the level of clinical practice by developing methods for assessing behaviors of children and parents. She identified environmental factors that are critical to a child’s well-being and demonstrated the importance of parent-child interaction as a predictor of later cognitive and language development.

read more

Read more about our training, programs, and products from a variety of different professionals in various settings.


Monica Oxford Ph.D.

Director

Denise Findlay
RN, BSN

Director of Education and Outreach

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History Continued….

…Methods that Barnard developed, widely known as the Feeding and Teaching Scales, were initially taught in 1979 in a series of eight classes via satellite in the U.S.A. Over 600 nurses received training in the use of a series of tools for assessing parent-child interactions during those sessions. After the satellite experiment ended, NCAST Programs, under the direction of Georgina Sumner, now Director Emeritus, started offering a Certified Instructor Workshop in Seattle for professionals. These individuals gained reliability in the use of the Feeding and Teaching Scales and were certified to teach the scales to learners in their own communities.

NCAST became a self-sustaining, organization that reached beyond traditional academic or continuing education programs to advance knowledge around the world for the benefit of families & children.

The Feeding and Teaching Scale program was updated in 1994 and is currently known as the Parent-Child Interaction (PCI) Program. Since its beginning, NCAST has trained over 800 Certified Instructors representing almost every state in the U.S. and several foreign countries. NCAST’s Certified Instructors have trained more than 20,000 health care professionals in the use of the PCI Feeding and Teaching Scales which have been applied in many settings, including state & county health departments, community outreach programs, hospitals, clinics and universities and in various disciplines such as public health nursing, social work, child care, physical and occupational therapy, psychology, psychiatry, and pediatrics.

The PCI Feeding & Teaching Scales are also widely used in research all over the world. They have been used in major studies including the Administration of Children, Youth and Families’ study, the Memphis New Mother Project, The David Olds Study and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, Comprehensive Child Care programs and projects promoted by the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, to name a few.

In 2001, Dr. Jean Kelly became the new Director of NCAST. NCAST Programs became NCAST-AVENUW Programs and now represents the work of faculty from the Department of Family-Child Nursing and the Center for Human Development and Disability. NCAST-AVENUW Programs continues to develop programs to assist professionals working with infants, young children and families. All NCAST-AVENUW programs are backed by research findings and proven effective.

Other NCAST-AVENUW programs include:

  • BabyCues: A Child’s First Language Cards & Video innovative new products which helps parents, home visitors and other caregivers become more “tuned in” to their infant and young child’s feelings and needs by learning to understand and respond to their behavioral cues.
  • Promoting First Relationships trains service providers to help parents and other caregivers meet the social and emotional needs of young children by building nurturing and responsive relationships. Seattle classes available.
  • Promoting Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy is designed to assist the pregnant woman in moving beyond the physical dimensions of pregnancy by addressing the emotional and psychological challenges new mothers face, including post-partum depression, unresolved grief or loss and other mental health disruptions. Seattle classes available.? Onsite training available for your agency.
  • With the Sleep Activity Program you can help pregnant mothers and caregivers promote predictable behaviors in their babies through specific activities, routines and interactions.
  • The dynamic Keys to Caregiving program will give you insight into baby’s nonverbal ways of communicating.
  • The practical Personal Environment Assessment scales provide valid and reliable information about the individual, family and environment.


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Barnard Model