Easy Annual CertificationIf you have achieved certification in EA BASIC many years ago, even if you have been very busy in use of the system during this time, an EA Refresher Training of some kind is needed, to keep you updated

Self-Study With the 4.1 edition manuals

If you like to work on your own, and have been trained/certified in the past, please contact us to obtain the 4.1 edition manuals. These new 2022 manuals (for EA BASIC for 0-5 years as as well as the Middle Childhood/Youth versions) include extensive description of the modifications and are published with the modifications clearly visible, through yellow highlights. Thus, the trained/certified EA user can easily see and do a self-study on these modifications. Please contact us on how this can be ordered for you from the publisher. This allows you to be using an updated version of the manuals and serves as a recertification.

EA Manual Middle Childhood/Youth Version

If you are working with older children (6-17 years of age), an additional manual and its training is available and should be helpful. This training involves video cases and their discussion in a workshop format. Please remind me that you have signed up for this training AFTER you complete the 0-5 training, as these cases are made available to you AFTER the BASIC 0-5 year certification. You will be recertified, at this time, without a reliability test.

Level II: Additional check of reliability/agreement with us using 2-3 of your cases

Many people use Level II as a way to move from EA BASIC to work on their own sample or cases in their own facility. In your unique context, culture, and/or age group of children, it may be wise to have us check a small number of your tapes so that we/you make sure that you are scoring the way we would. You can include as many as 3-4 professionals from your group to do this with no increase in cost. You will be provided with coding on an excel sheet as well as narratives about each case. With these 3-4 cases, you will be recertified, called Level II certification.

For research grants, you can ask if Zeynep Biringen (or an associate) can be a consultant/investigator in order to do deeper checking, like this. We watch in real time with the extant codes from your coder in front of me and correct or provide a second opinion. This is a way to have a data set that has some “double coding” features. This is also considered recertification; please ask for a certificate.

EA General Refresher Training

In contrast to Level II (which involves sharing your cases with us), this training is on our cases, and is useful in situations where you are not able to share cases. You will have access to a short training that reviews the most recent and key facets of the EA System, followed by several video cases and their scorings. You will then have access to several reliability cases for you to score. We meet for a virtual (Zoom) session as a checkpoint or supervision, especially related to any cases that are not in agreement with us. This training (and re-training) is especially important to keep certified professionals active in the use of the system and to provide ongoing supervision. You get recertification at the end of these interactions.

Prenatal EA Training

My colleague Saara Salo (University of Helsinki and Pilke Clinic in Helsinki, Finland) has a pregnancy EA Training. This is typically used in the last trimester of pregnancy, after the baby is kicking. This training is a short training online and there is an established reliability test to accompany it. At this time, much of this is subtitled in English, for Finnish cases, although we will add US cases over time. This has its own short manual (at this time, electronic version) and involves a reliability test and recertification.

*New*

— “EA Community of Practice” session(s) with Zeynep Biringen (or an EA specialist) via zoom, with any number of trained practitioners at your agency to view your videos + discuss your hard-to-score cases, including those with potential trauma history or cases that have great import for families (e.g., custody, child welfare, foster care, adoption). This is an excellent way to do annual recertification as it leads to both interaction with us and can include any number of individuals on your team; using our cases is also possible.

—“EA Community of Research” session(s) with Zeynep Biringen (or an EA specialist) via zoom, with your group of researchers to view your videos + discuss your hard-to-score cases (to make sure your coders are continuing to pick up nuances in your sample). This is an excellent way to do annual recertification as it leads to both interaction with us and can include any number of individuals on your team; using our cases is also possible.

With the exception of the Prenatal EA Training (which has its own very brief manual), as you do any of the refreshers above, the most recent version of the system (4.1 manuals) will be shared with you, with yellow highlights of modifications. Such updating is not frequent; in fact, the 4th edition was published in 2008 and 4.1 has been published at the end of 2022, but it is necessary to have the updated version so that you are using the system correctly. We are on the 4th edition and plan to remain as such, with 4.1 being a needed update in explanations that help EA users become (and stay) more attuned to the system.