Learn from UMB experts about all phases of child development from infancy to young adult.
Are you worried that your newborn isn’t eating enough? Wondering if it’s unusual that your 2-year-old isn’t talking yet? Or do you need advice because your teenager is anxious about school?
These are all questions that you can now pose to a team of University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) experts who have backgrounds in pediatrics, child psychiatry and mental health, pediatric dentistry, wellness, and law, to name a few, as part of the Academy of Lifelong Learning’s Parenting Forum, launching Sept. 20.
“Many of our participating experts are nationally recognized leaders in their specialties who have dedicated their careers to the health and well-being of children and families,” said Nick Kouwenhoven, MBA, ALL’s executive director.
The forum will cover all phases of development: infancy, toddler, elementary-school age, adolescence, and young adult. The experts will provide insights and answer questions to improve the physical and behavioral health and psychological and social well-being of children.
The Parenting Forum is the second from ALL, which launched in May 2020 with the COVID-19 Response Forum that features experts across all seven UMB schools. They include Wilbur Chen, MD, MS, professor of medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), and a member of the Governor’s Coronavirus Response Team, who has answered dozens of questions about COVID-19.
ALL decided to next focus on parenting.
“Parenting emerged as a topic of great interest in research we conducted among UMB alumni,” Kouwenhoven said. “A mission of the academy is to bring together the significant expertise across the UMB schools in a single destination focused on a topic of great interest, such as parenting.”
He said the forum anticipates receiving questions on all facets of child development including physical, psychological, medical, social, school-related, pharmacological, dental, and legal issues.
It will also provide parents with tools related to family and child well-being. The forum includes a section of resources such as a medical library for parents, informative videos for parents to watch with their children such as “Huff & Puff: An Asthma Tale,” and webinars from UMSOM’s National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH). Several of the Parenting Forum experts are clinical psychologists with NCSMH.
Kouwenhoven said the COVID-19 Response Forum has had more than 10,000 visitors as well as more than 100 questions submitted and answered.
“We have provided a personal reply to every visitor who asked a question, in addition to posting the answers on the forum so that others can learn from the experts’ replies,” he said. “While most of the questions we have received to date are specific to a family or individual situation, it turns out that many people and visitors to our website have similar situations and benefit from the replies.”
He added that ALL typically posts a reply within 36 hours. “I am very grateful for the experts’ support and participation,” he said. “The learning opportunities our experts provide, including answers to questions, is a central element of the Academy of Lifelong Learning.”
ALL was founded with the mission to create and present health and human services academic content to inspire, engage, and educate learners from childhood through retirement.
“We are a public institution, and we are here to serve the public good,” Roger J. Ward, EdD, JD, MSL, MPA, interim provost, executive vice president, and dean of the University of Maryland Graduate School, said during an episode of Virtual Face to Face With President Bruce Jarrell last year that focused on ALL. “We have a lot of expertise on campus, and our community should be able to benefit from that.”
Kouwenhoven agreed.
“By design, this is an innovative way to present the UMB story and demonstrate our expertise in a single location,” Kouwenhoven said. “This is also a reflection of collaboration that occurs across UMB schools but is not readily visible.”
ALL plans to continue to expand its offerings in the next year, according to Kouwenhoven.
Many lifelong learners “are working professionals who want to learn new information and skills to advance in their careers or pursue a personal interest,” he said.
To that end, ALL will present select UMB online courses, webinars, and podcasts. And a new Youth Forum for adolescents and young adults will be created during the next year.