Melissa Talley
Albuquerque,NM
Summary
Compassionate and dedicated developmental specialist and home visitor with experience supporting children and their families. Skilled in building trusting relationships with families, assessing developmental milestones and creating individualized strategies to support child and family needs. I am able to work collaboratively with diverse families and multidisciplinary teams.
Overview
11
11
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Program Therapist
University of New Mexico Center for Development and Disability
06.2024 - Current
- Conduct home visits with the Parent a Teachers curriculum to support parents and caregivers promoting health child development, addressing individual family needs and providing educational resources.
- Providing Mothers and babies curriculum to promote mental health and stress management for postpartum mothers experiencing mental health crisis.
- Completed screenings for families to ensure children are meeting their developmental milestones.
- Performed PHQ.9, RAT screenings to assess support system health and for the family to encourage health environments to support the family as a system.
- Assess child development milestones and provide parents with strategies and activities to support growth and learning within the home.
- Connect families with community resources including healthcare, nutrition and housing support.
- Maintain accurate and confidential documentation of family interactions, goals, progress to ensure compliance with ECECD standards.
- Facilitate parent education sessions to enhance understanding of child development and improve parenting skills.
- Work collaboratively with interdisciplinary teams, including Early Intervention Specialists and Social Workers to provide support for families.
Child Developmental Specialist and Family Service Coordinator
BMSI – Bilingual multicultural services Inc.
03.2020 - 01.2024
- Coordinated and provided home & community early intervention services for children from birth to three years of age with special needs, developmental delays, and environmental risk factors.
- Assist families with accessing resources, support, education, and advocacy to promote family well-being.
- Worked closely with families, providing individualized home-based services from a family centered, strength-based approach, with a caseload of 22-26 families at a time.
- Provided weekly visits and monitored the client's development closely using comprehensive formal and informal assessments.
- Coordination and collaborated with the family, early intervention therapeutic team and community partners.
- Participated as an interdisciplinary team member between the family and many community partners and resources throughout New Mexico such as, community clinics, schools, Early Head Start, Head Start, social services to ensure the most effective care and services for the client.
Child Developmental Specialist & Family Service Coordinator
NAPPR- Native American Professional Parent Resources
05.2015 - 03.2020
- Provided case management services for families with a child with an identified disability under the title Family Service Coordinator.
- Advocated for families by informing them of resources in the community including but not limited to child care, therapies, mental health services, income support and family support groups.
- Developed Individual Family Service Plan for each child on caseload.
- Scheduled monthly home-visits to ensure the child received the therapies listed on their Individualized Family Service Plan.
- Coached parents and caregivers on activities to do with children with service plans in their homes or child care settings following the lead of the physical therapist, speech therapist or occupational therapists.
- Instructed parents and caregivers on activities they could do at home to support their child’s development.
Education
Bachelor's - SOCIAL WORK-BSW
NMSU-New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM05-2003
Skills
- IDA-Infant Toddler Developmental Assessment Training
- HELP-Hawaii Early Learning Profile
- Early Intervention Practices
- Direct Services
- Family Centered Services
- Strength Based Services
- Relationship Based Services
- Life Skills Training
- Advocacy
- Community Resources
- Screenings
- Assessments
- Evaluations
- Ongoing Assessment
- Monitoring
Certification
Mother and Babies
Facilitating Attuned Interactions (FAN) - Ericksons Institute's Fussy Baby Network
Timeline
Program Therapist
University of New Mexico Center for Development and Disability
06.2024 - Current
Child Developmental Specialist and Family Service Coordinator
BMSI – Bilingual multicultural services Inc.
03.2020 - 01.2024
Child Developmental Specialist & Family Service Coordinator
NAPPR- Native American Professional Parent Resources
05.2015 - 03.2020
Bachelor's - SOCIAL WORK-BSW
NMSU-New Mexico State University
Skills and experience
- IDA - Infant Toddler Developmental Assessment Training - Comprehensive Assessment, HELP - Hawaii Early Learning Profile - Ongoing Assessment for birth to three-years, Trauma Informed Care & The Impact of Trauma and Neglect on the Developing Child - Dr. Bruce Perry, SSOOP
- PRR - Early Intervention Practices - Foundations of Relationship Based Early Intervention, Provided direct, individualized, home & community based, family centered, strength based, relationship-based services in 3 counties (Bernalillo, Sandoval and Santa Fe), Roles included Developmental Specialist, Family Service Coordination, Social Work services and home visitor. Services provided to the whole family, including parent child interaction, developmental centered training and family well- being. Performed all screenings, assessments, and evaluations to provide ongoing assessment and monitoring.