Child Development Specialist

SUMMARY

The Child Development Specialist provides trauma-informed, developmentally responsive care to children ages 1–5 within Mountain Home Montana’s integrated childcare and family support program. This position supports children’s emotional, developmental, behavioral, and daily care needs through structured routines, responsive caregiving, purposeful play, and collaborative teamwork. This role functions as part of a multidisciplinary care environment and works closely with childcare staff, therapists, family support staff, and program leadership to support child wellbeing, family stability, and continuity of care.

Requirements

(Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities) Education in Early Childhood Education, Child Development, Social Work, Psychology, Counseling, or related fields preferred. Experience working with children ages 0–5 in childcare, educational, behavioral health, or family support settings preferred. Understanding of trauma-informed care, attachment, co-regulation, and early childhood development. Ability to maintain professional boundaries while building supportive relationships with children and families. Strong communication, teamwork, and organizational skills. Ability to remain calm, flexible, and clinically responsive in fast-paced or emotionally heightened environments while safely providing trauma-informed, developmentally responsive care within Montana childcare licensing ratio requirements. CPR/First Aid certification required or willingness to obtain within designated timeframe. Registered on the Montana Early Childhood Project and up to date on yearly education requirements

Physical demands

• Ability to frequently stand, walk, bend, stoop, kneel, crouch, and sit on the floor throughout the workday. Must be able to lift, carry, push, or pull up to 40 pounds regularly. Ability to actively engage in classroom, outdoor, and play-based activities with children. Ability to supervise children in dynamic and fast-paced environments. Ability to maintain focus, responsiveness, and energy throughout the workday.
• Essential
• FUNCTIONS: ● Provide trauma-informed, developmentally responsive direct support to children ages 0–5 through structured routines, purposeful play, responsive caregiving, emotional co-regulation, and relationship-based interventions. ● Support children’s emotional regulation, developmental growth, attachment, social engagement, and daily care needs while recognizing behavior as communication and responding using trauma-informed and therapeutic approaches. ● Support implementation of individualized behavioral, developmental, emotional regulation, sensory, and therapeutic strategies as directed by treatment team members and program leadership. ● Prepare food and support meals, snacks, toileting, diapering, hygiene, transitions, and rest routines in a manner that promotes emotional safety, consistency, developmental support, and trauma-informed caregiving practices. ●Maintain safe, sanitary, organized, and developmentally appropriate childcare environments in accordance with Montana childcare licensing regulations, Mountain Home protocols, and childcare safety expectations. ● Support implementation of social-emotional learning activities, therapeutic programming, sensory supports, emotional regulation interventions, and developmentally supportive routines within the childcare environment. ● Collaborate closely with therapists, case managers, peer support staff, residential staff, childcare staff, and other interdisciplinary treatment team members to support continuity of care, therapeutic consistency, program participation, emotional safety, and family stabilization goals. ● Participate in childcare consultations, case coordination activities, trainings, Focus Week activities, and professional development. Participate in treatment team discussions or meetings as assigned. ● Provide behavioral observations and clinically relevant feedback to treatment team members regarding emotional regulation, attachment patterns, developmental concerns, caregiver-child interactions, behavioral presentation, participation patterns, sensory needs, and responses to therapeutic interventions. ● Build collaborative and professional relationships with caregivers while maintaining appropriate professional boundaries, confidentiality standards, and trauma-informed communication practices. ● Complete behavioral observations, incident reports, attendance tracking, childcare documentation, and other required records in accordance with program expectations and organizational policy. ● Rotate into classrooms, childcare spaces, and program coverage assignments to support staffing coverage, client participation needs, and operational continuity. ● Promote a childcare environment that functions as an integrated extension of the behavioral health treatment environment and supports client participation, family engagement, emotional regulation, and therapeutic stability. ● Maintain reliability, professionalism, flexibility, teamwork, and other job-related responsibilities as assigned.