Developed by an American paediatrician, T. Berry Brazelton, the NBAS is designed to assess the emotional and behavioural characteristics and individuality of newborns. It assesses the newborn's behavioural repertoire as he or she responds to human and nonhuman stimuli.

The NBAS is the most comprehensive examination of neonatal behaviour available and is used in both clinical and research settings around the world. Its value as a reliable research instrument has been established for over 20 years. It has been used to study the effects of intrauterine deprivation, maternal substance use, caesarean section, undernutrition, preterm birth, and other pre- and perinatal variables and has also been used in cross-cultural studies. The NBAS is being used increasingly by clinicians in their clinical practices as a way of sensitising parents to the capacities of their newborn infants as a way of identifying concerns about the baby.

The Brazelton Scale describes individual differences in newborn behaviour for infants from 37 weeks gestational age to the end of the second month post-term. It can be adapted for use with healthy preterm infants. It contains 28 behavioural items, 18 reflex items and 7 supplementary items, designed to capture the qualitative behavioural responses of high-risk infants. It does not yield a single score but rather assess the neonate's behaviour in different sub-systems and provides a profile of the current level of neonatal functioning in seven areas: reflexes, habituation, autonomic, motor, state organization, state regulation and social-interactive systems.

Professionals who would like to train in the NBAS need to have experience handling newborn babies. If they do not have sufficient experience, it is important that they gain experience first by working with a midwife or health visitor. There is a long self-training phase, so it is important that they are given time to do the training by their manager.


Access to babies
Trainees need to arrange access to full-term babies from birth to 8 weeks old. Trainees need their own indemnity insurance or an NHS honorary contract if necessary. If they are working in a hospital or the community with babies, access may be easy to arrange. Access to a postnatal ward is preferable, as they have a wider choice of babies in the appropriate sleep state. If they do not work with babies, it can be difficult to arrange access, but this is the trainee's responsibility to arrange.


Workshops and Study Days
Study days are run twice a year, and three-hour workshops are given on request. The goals are to familiarise those working with parents and babies in hospitals and the community with the behavioural repertoire of the babies from birth to 2 months old, using videos and slides of infant behaviour. The day begins with an introduction to the assessment of newborn behaviour and parent-infant relationships, followed by details of the Brazelton assessment and how it can be used as an intervention with parents, or in research.
We will illustrate infant behavioural states, habituation and state regulation so that participants can identify infant behavioural responses to a variety of stimulating situations, and apply the information to their everyday practice. Case studies will open a discussion about the application of Dr. Brazelton's concepts and his approach to working with infants and their parents in clinical practice.
Workshop leaders: Joanna Hawthorne, Psychologist; Inga Warren, Neonatal Developmental Specialist and Betty Hutchon, Paediatric Occupational Therapist
There are also often a guest speakers invited.


Full NBAS Training
Phase 1: Fill in registration form and send in with your payment. The training date is arranged at a mutually convenient time. You will receive the manual and the training video to study before the training day.

Phase 2: Workshop and training day spent with the trainer who administers the NBAS and then scores it with you. Additional materials and the kit will be given to you.

Phase 3: Self-training phase: You will administer and score the NBAS on 20-25 babies in your own setting. It may be possible to have a check-up with the examiner during this phase and you can contact the examiner with questions at any time. It is recommended that you complete this phase within six months.

Phase 4: When you are ready, you will administer the NBAS for the trainer on a mutually convenient day, and then you and the trainer score the assessment independently. Both administrative competence and scoring reliability are required to receive certification. If you do not meet the reliability criteria, you will need to practice on more babies and attempt it again for an additional charge.

Certification
With the successful completion of the training programme, you will receive a certificate of reliability. If should be noted that the certificate does not authorise NBAS examiners to train other people. However, it is appropriate for a certified examiner to help colleagues prepare for their certification session.

Recertification
An NBAS certificate is valid for three years. Certified examiners should be recertified every three years to help keep your testing skills in line with standard practice.

Costs from 1 January 2008:
NBAS training costs £ 600.00 per trainee, £ 500.00 per person for a group of 6 people or more, which includes all the materials, a mid training check-up and the certification. Recertification every three years costs £ 300.00 for a full day and £ 150.00 for a half day. These fees are non-refundable and required to register. An NBAS trainer can come to your setting if more than two people are to be trained. You will be responsible for the trainer's travel and accommodation expenses. If you come to the trainer's hospital, you are responsible for all your travel and accommodation expenses.
National Study Days (70 or more) cost up to £ 150.00 per person and
Invited three-hour workshops £ 300, plus travel and accommodation of speaker