AUTHOR=Giusti Lorenzo , Provenzi Livio , Montirosso Rosario 

TITLE=The Face-to-Face Still-Face (FFSF) Paradigm in Clinical Settings: Socio-Emotional Regulation Assessment and Parental Support With Infants With Neurodevelopmental Disabilities

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00789

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00789

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> The Face-to-Face Still-Face (FFSF) paradigm is a well-acknowledged procedure to assess socio-emotional regulation in healthy and at-risk infants. Although it was developed mainly for research purposes, the FFSF paradigm has potential clinical implications for the assessment of socio-emotional regulation of infants with neurodevelopmental disabilities (ND) and to supporting parenting.</p><p><bold>Aim:</bold> The present paper describes the application of the FFSF paradigm as an evaluation and intervention tool in clinical practice with infants with ND and their parents.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> Theoretical and methodological insights for the use of the FFSF paradigm in the clinical setting are provided. Single-case vignettes from clinical practice further illustrate and provide exemplifications for the use of the FFSF with infants with ND and their parents.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> From a clinical point of view, the use of the FFSF paradigm (1) offers a unique observational perspective on socio-emotional regulation in infants with ND and (2) enhances parents’ sensitivity to their infants’ behavior.</p><p><bold>Discussion:</bold> The FFSF paradigm appears to be a useful tool for clinical assessment of socio-emotional regulation in infants with ND and promote the quality of parenting and early parent-infant interaction.</p>