The Special Start Training Program [SSTP] is a postgraduate education program for multidisciplinary community professionals and foster parents who work with medically fragile preterm and other high-risk infants and their parents. The program is funded by the State of California Department of Social Services and is free to participants. Initially housed at Stanford University School of Medicine, the program moved to the Division of Neonatology at University of California San Francisco in July 2008. SSTP is nationally recognized as the first of its kind in the State of California. It was developed to address the unique developmental needs of babies that are born sick or premature. The training is designed for professionals and caregivers, including foster parents caring for newborns that were hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care nursery and are now at home.

SSTP utilizes the Family Infant Relationship Support Training [FIRST, Browne, MacLeod, Smith-Sharp, l999]Observation Tool and materials, which are adapted from the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program, NIDCAP® [Als & Gibes, l985]. The focus of SSTP is to provide information in a training format, which utilizes relationship-based principles and research evidence in developmental assessment techniques, supportive family centered care, and individualized interventions that support both infants and their caregivers. Principles of early brain and neurobehavioral development, behavioral assessment, and applied strategies to support infants and families are cornerstones of the training program.

For the past five years SSTP has offered community professionals and foster parents newly available information about the behavioral patterns of medically fragile preterm and other high-risk infants and developmental assessment techniques. The training has increased their recognition of specific high-risk newborn signals and behaviors, which in turn enable them to help parents understand their infant’s unique behavior and cues [which differ from those of a full term newborn]. In learning to differentiate between what is stable behavior from what is stressful for the infant, parents are able to help their infant work towards organized behavioral patterns that support their medical recovery and development. The training is strength-based. Each training day is taught by a professional trainer, and a parent trainer who had an infant in the NICU.

The training program is presented in six parts starting with a Introductory Workshop [Day 1] that discusses the developmental issues for preterm infants and assisting parent/infant interactions. The Practicum [Day 2] is for those participants who wish to integrate assessment and interventions into their work with these infants and families. Mentoring and skills check days follow this level [Days 3 and 4] to determine independent and reliable use of the FIRST observation tool. Advanced clinical training [Day 5] is offered to those participants who become reliable and additional education days are offered to all participants. Beyond these five levels, continuing education opportunities are also planned throughout the year.