The Infant and Toddler Years

Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood ProgramsServing Children from Birth through

Age 8Third Edition

By Carol Copple and Sue Bredekamp, editors

CLDDV 101Professor Pam Guerra-SchmidtRevised: February 22, 2012

Chapter 2Development in the First Three

Years of Life• Scientists studying:

– Listen to language– Understand number concepts– Learn from changing perspectives

• Rolling over• Sitting• Standing• Other trusted adults

Development in the First Three Years of Life

• Important:– Relationships

• Temperament– Developmental Challenges– Cultural Beliefs– Early experiences & the brain

Development in the First Three Years of Life

• Group Care:– Supports relationships– Supports learning– Critical:

• Sensitive, affectionate care• Needs met predictably & consistently

–Trust & emotional security develop

Development in the First Three Years of Life

• Young infants (birth to 9 months) seek security

• Mobile infants (8 to 18 months) engage in exploration

• Toddlers (16 to 36 months) continue to form identity

Young Infants (birth to 9 months)• Newborns unique• Need security• Ready for relationships• Interested in people• Able to attract & hold other’s attention • Smile, laugh, cuddle, coo, reach out• Read gestures, facial expressions, & tone of voice

Young infants-Emotional Attachment to Caregiver

• Harlow Monkey Experiment– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrNBEhzjg8I

• Dr. Harlow, American psychologist (1905-1981)• Known for social isolation experiments on rhesus

monkeys• 1950s controversial studies demonstrated importance

of care-giving and companionship in social and cognitive development

• Findings: Love=psychological resource/ emotional attachment vs. physiological care

• Two powerful arguments: against institutional child care and in favor of psychological (secure emotional attachment) parenthood.

The infant care teacherYoung Infant

• Teachers help:• world is safe and interesting place.

• Teacher’s task– is to learn each baby’s individual eating

and sleeping rhythms,– how he approaches new objects and

people– how he prefers to be held for feeding,

sleeping or comforting.

The infant care teacher-family alliance

• Build solid relationships

• Observe and learn from the experiences

• Gain knowledge of culture, and childrearing beliefs of family members.

• Establish and maintain the alliance with family – communicating!

Mobile infants (8 to 18 months) • Mobile – exploration• Move, scoot, use their hands, bounce forward

and commando-crawling with stomach on the ground.

• Large muscles are developed - creep, crawl, cruise, walk holding on to furniture or push toys, climb up and descend stairs.

• New discoveries and fears.

The Infant Care TeacherMobile Infant

• Role in language development

• Interpret a child’s actions and babbling and translate them into words

• Support dual-language learners

The infant care teacher-family alliance

• Discuss feelings about separation and attachment

• Infants placed group care - become mobile; stage of stranger wariness is at its height

• Open and frequent communication

Toddlers (16 to 36 months)

• Concerned developing an understanding of who they are

• Around 18 months, identity dominant theme

• Most frequent statements “No,” “Mine,” “Why,” and “Me do it”

Toddlers (16 to 36 months)

• Once walking, motor skills grow by leaps & bounds- jump, tiptoe, march, throw and kick a ball

• Experimentation with objects, language, and social interactions - enter new phase of cognitive growth

The toddler care teacher

• Comforter, referee, diaper changer, playmate, and storyteller

• Skilled teachers allow for autonomy

• Create predictable routine

• Activities-mix physical activities

The toddler care teacher-family alliance

• Typical-conflicting feelings independence, dependence, pride and shame, confidence and doubt

• Look at behavior as having meaning

• Sense of identity rooted in family and community. (Teacher’s support)

• Need to hear primary language

Teaching Empathy

• Global empathy – found in infancy where infants may cry when hearing another infant cry

• When I laugh, he laughs; when I cry . . . well, the whole world cries

• Video-looks at the impact of the caregiver’s emotions on the infant.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67MuGb9ObZQ&feature=related

Chapter 3Developmentally Appropriate

Practice in the Infant and Toddler Years –Ages 0-3

Examples to Consider

Charts-Examples to Consider• Examples of infant/toddler practices to consider• Understanding charts

– Set of examples (not exhaustive) – phrased in what caregivers do or fail to do

– Goal-show examples of:• Best practice-high level of quality• In contrast, examples from programs that in some respects have not

achieved a high level of quality

– Best Practice• Research Based• Most in field agree – examples promote optimal learning and development

– In Contrast• Aid reflection - examples from well-intentioned programs (not caregiver’s

fault)• Some examples are dangerous, may cause lasting harm, others less likely

to promote optimal development

In Contrast Examples

• In contrast examples - not caregiver’s fault• Most teachers working hard, doing their best• Challenges:

– Limited training– Inadequate staff-child ratios– Low compensation– High staff turnover– Meager Resources

• Goal of examples for all teachers– Help in their efforts!

Charts-Infant & Toddlers

• Six areas of importance to infant/toddler care:– Relationships between Caregiver and Child– Environment– Exploration and Play– Routines– Reciprocal Relationships with Families– Policies

• In all six areas in chart:

– Speak to cultural importance

– Infants/toddlers learning who they are and where they belong

– Caregiving setting• sets goals - harmonious with what family

wants child to learn• negotiated through best practice framework

"Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they

become habits. Watch your habits, they become character. Watch your

character, it becomes your destiny."

Author unknown

"A very wise old teacher once said: "I consider a day's teaching wasted if we do not all have one

hearty laugh."

He meant that when people laugh together, they cease to be young and old, master and pupils. They become a single group of human beings

enjoying its existence.

Gilbert Highet

Note: Born in Scotland, Gilbert Highet is best known as a mid-20th-century teacher of the humanities in the United States.