The IDA Institute Faculty
Susan Vater Ed.M.
Susan Vater Ed.M., IDA co-author, is a policy, planning, and program development specialist with expertise in clinical early childhood development, inter-agency collaboration, and systems design. She has developed and managed programs in Maternal and Child Health and Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics for the City of Hartford, State of Connecticut Children’s Trust Fund, and the Child Health and Development Institute (CHDI). She serves as President of the CT Association of Infant Mental Health (CT-AIMH) and recently led the initiative to design and implement the Mid-level Developmental Assessment (MLDA) model at Hartford Connecticut’s Village for Families and Children in collaboration with the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center/ Office for Community Child Health and the Child Health and Development Institute.
Kyle Pruett M.D.
Kyle D. Pruett, MD, Past President of the ZERO TO THREE Board of Directors and Clinical Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, is author of over a hundred publications, co-author of the Infant Toddler Developmental Assessment (IDA-2), international lecturer, media consultant and pioneering researcher on developmental impact of positive paternal engagement on young children. Dr. Pruett is an internationally known expert and forensic consultant on child, parental and family development, children’s mental health, creativity, and the effects of media, trauma, and divorce on children. He was recently awarded the Lifetime Teaching Award at the Yale Child Study Center.
Jennifer Rosinia Ph.D., OTR/L
Jennifer Rosinia, IDA co-author, is an Occupational Therapist and Child Development Specialist. A master clinician and a gifted teacher, Dr. Rosinia has a special interest in the neurosciences, specifically sensory processing, the influence that stress and adverse experiences have on the developing child as well as social emotional learning and the importance of relationships. Adjunct faculty at the Erikson Institute for many years, Jennifer has also taught courses and guest lectured at several colleges and universities around the Chicago area. With a growing national reputation as a powerful speaker and consultant, Jennifer brings a healthy balance of humor, passion and expertise to all of her presentations. She is the president of Kid Links Unlimited, Incorporated a company whose mission is to link theory to practice, parents with professionals and kids with their optimal potential.
Gilbert Foley Ed.D.
Dr. Foley serves as Consulting Clinical Psychologist, New York Center for Child Development (NYCCD) and Clinical Director of the Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC), a joint early childhood mental health training project of NYCCD, McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, NYU and the New York City Department of Mental Hygiene (DOMH). Dr. Foley is Co-Director of the Graduate Program in Infant Mental Health and Developmental Practice, a US Department of Education funded Personnel Preparation Program at the Adelphi University Institute for parenting. Dr. Foley has been involved with IDA from its early development. He conducted training on the "Family" during the dissemination of IDA in Connecticut and made editorial contributions to both editions including the design format of the Provence Profile protocol working closely with Dr. Provence and Joanna Erikson. He has taught the IDA process with Joanna Erikson at Bank Street College of Education and is currently teaching the IDA process as part of the curriculum of both the Graduate Program in Infant Mental Health and Developmental Practice and the Certificate Program in Infant Mental Health of the Adelphi University Institute for Parenting. IDA is the primary assessment process in the curriculum of both programs.
Kimberly Martini Carvell M.A.
Kimberly Martini Carvell is the Executive Director of the Help Me Grow National Center which provides technical assistance and support to a network of over 25 affiliate states across the country working to build comprehensive early childhood systems. The Help Me Grow national network functions as a community of practice that supports affiliates to implement Help Me Grow systems as well as promote refinement and enhancement of the model itself, in part through the diffusion of system enhancing innovations such as Care Coordination Collaborative and Mid-Level Developmental Assessment (MLDA). The foundational assessment integrated into the MLDA is the IDA-2 and Kimberly continues to be an active IDA Institute faculty member leading IDA-2 presentations and training.
Chris Vater Ed.M. - IDA Institute Media Director
Chris Vater is the founder of Impact Quality Associates, an educational media production and consulting company. In his role as Media Director at the IDA Institute, Chris produced and is responsible for our online presence, virtual classroom and self-guided learning platform for IDA-2 training. He administers the process for all new trainees and is a valuable resource for technical support. Chris also volunteers his time to the Raoul Wallenberg Children’s Foundation International (RWCFI), leading the organization, producing related media, and developing a youth leadership, entrepreneurship, and media training program.