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Mission Statement
MI-AIMH believes that each infant needs to be nurtured
and protected by one or more caregiver, most often the parent, who enjoys
a permanent and special relationship with the baby. This sustained, primary
relationship provides the essential and necessary context within which
every human infant learns basic emotional, cognitive and social attitudes
that will influence the course of development.
MI-AIMH further believes that the failure to provide
and maintain such a nurturing relationship during infancy inflicts a primary
developmental insult that is likely to solidify over subsequent years,
with resulting damage to the individual and thus to the course of development
over the lifespan. Therefore, MI-AIMH espouses the following four positions:
- Early intervention is an essential
social policy, important from both a fiscal and moral point of view.
- Early intervention can be effective
for the individual infant only if offered in a manner that promotes
and supports the infant-caregiver relationship as both the primary source
of strength and the primary locus of need.
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Early intervention can be effective
for society as a whole only to the extent that it is offered to all
segments of a society, in a manner that is culturally sensitive to
each.
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Support, training and advocacy
for early intervention must become a cooperative venture that bridges
traditional cultural, disciplinary, administrative and political boundaries.
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