Video: Brazelton: What is Neonatal Assessment?
The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) was developed by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton and his colleagues and today is regarded as the most comprehensive examination of newborn behavior available. It is best described as a neurobehavioral assessment scale, designed to describe the newborn’s responses to his/her new extrauterine environment and to document the contribution of the newborn infant to the development of the emerging parent-child relationship.
The NBAS is based on the assumption that the newborn infant is both competent and complexly organized. "The Scale gives us the chance to see what the baby's behavior will tell us," says Dr. Brazelton, Professor Emeritus, Harvard Medical School. "It gives us a window into what it will take to nurture the baby." The Scale, looks at a wide range of behaviors and is suitable for examining newborns and infants up to two months old. By the end of the assessment, the examiner has a behavioral "portrait" of the infant, describing the baby's strengths, adaptive responses and possible vulnerabilities.