Interview with NBAS trainer, Dr. Yvette Blanchard, conducted by Amy Alberts at the 2002 International NBAS Trainers Conference at Children's Hospital, Boston.

When did you first learn about the NBAS?
I was a Physical Therapist considering going to Medical School, when I read a paper in 1986 by Dr. Heidelise Als about her work and that of Brazelton and colleagues. After writing to Dr. Als to express my interest in their work, I moved to Boston to pursue my Ph.D. and train on the Scale with its very creators.

How have you since incorporated it into your discipline?
I have found that I am able to incorporate the NBAS into every aspect of my work. The Scale is especially important in home-based intervention after babies leave the hospital. One of the Scale's strengths is providing a forum in which relationships with families may be established and fostered. Perhaps this explains such pervasive integration of the Scale into a variety of research and applied settings.

Would you please share a vignette or meaningful moment you had while working with the NBAS?
It is difficult to identify just one particular event from the multitude of meaningful moments. I can think of a very personal moment in my life, when the endless magic of the instrument was especially evident. Shortly after giving birth to my son, I was visited by Dr. Brazelton in the hospital. Dr. Brazelton performed the Scale on my newborn son and I had the pleasure of experiencing for myself the endless magic of the Scale.

How do you conceive the role of the instrument in the future?
I think that the next goal of the NBAS and its supporters is to make it increasingly available for integration into other peoples' practices. The Scale is an essential element of early childhood intervention.