T. Berry Brazelton

The Brazelton Touchpoints 9th National Forum, Strengthening Families, Building Bonds, Forming Alliances will take place at the Radisson Hotel, Boston from June 1 to 4th. Featured speakers include Jack P. Shonkoff, Kyle Pruitt, Kathryn Barnard, Linda Gilkerson, Larry Gray, Harriet Meyer, Dan Petersen, Jackie Jenkins-Scott and Dr. Brazelton and the Brazelton Touchpoints Center faculty. There will also be a post-conference NBO workshop on Sunday June 2nd. For further information go to www.touchpoints.org

DONA International: Drs. Susan O'Brien and J. Kevin Nugent presented a one-day, pre-conference workshop on "the NBO for doulas" at the 11th Annual DONA International Conference, held in Washington, DC, in July 2005. Jacqueline Kelleher, CD(DONA), PCD(DONA), joined Drs. Nugent and O'Brien as a member of the panel. Drs. O'Brien and Nugent will again offer an NBO workshop at the 12th Annual DONA International Conference to be held in Denver, Colorado on July 20-23, 2006. www.dona.org

National Training Institute Zero to Three:
At the 20th National Training Institute Zero to Three (2005), held in Washington, DC, Drs. J. Kevin Nugent and Jay Killough (University of Massachusetts at Amherst), Julio Gonzalez (SUNY, Old Westbury), Judith Wides (University of Massachusetts at Amherst), Clarissa Valim (Children's Hospital, Boston and Harvard Medical School), and Mei-Chiung Shih (Children's Hospital, Boston and Harvard Medical School) presented a poster entitled "The effects of the Newborn Behavioral Observations (NBO) system on mother-infant interaction: A controlled study."

At the Zero to Three 19th National Training Institute (2004) in New Orleans, Dr. Susan O'Brien (NBO faculty member and Director of the Birth Place at the Boston Medical Center) and J. Kevin Nugent (Director of the Brazelton Institute) presented a symposium, "An introduction to the NBO (Clinical Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale)." Over 100 participants were introduced to the NBO, its theoretical rationale, and how it is used in clinical settings as a form of preventative intervention.

Awards for Dr. Brazelton: This year Dr. Brazelton received The Great Friend to Kids Award for his outstanding contributions toward strengthening education for children. The award, initiated in 1991 by the Association of Children's Museums, honors individuals or institutions that have focused their life's work or institution's mission on some aspect of improving the lives of children. Other awards Berry has received this past year include: the Anne Hickman Lectureship Award (Arkansas Children's Hospital, Little Rock, AK); Friend of Children Award (Southern Early Childhood Association, Dallas, TX); New England Council of Child Psychiatry Lifetime Achievement Award (Boston, MA); and, in 2004, he received the National Family Week Advocacy Award (Northeast Parent and Child Society, Schenectady, NY).