Group Care For Infants Toddlers And Twos

This volume extends the knowledge base supporting research-informed child care for infants and toddlers, while simultaneously highlighting areas of study ripe for future research. The authors demonstrate from a systems perspective, that the experiences and outcomes of very young children in child care are influenced by characteristics of and interactions between the children, adults, and settings. Varying methodological approaches as well as the utilization of newer data collection instruments inform the field’s understanding of current practices and procedures while offering guidance for future programming and policy. In turn, the chapters highlight a plethora of open questions and a need for a new generation of research to support the field of infant/toddler care. Future challenges are evident in the recognition of the inadequate nature of our current measures of child outcomes and classroom processes, the field’s unmet promise to incorporate interdisciplinary perspectives, and the need for newer methodological designs that blend the strengths of quantitative and qualitative approaches. These issues are important given the growing demand for infant/toddler care and the increasing recognition of the unique role of this age period in serving as the foundation for all later development. This book was originally published as a special issue of Early Education and Development.

Understanding the development of infants, toddlers, and twos equips caregivers with the tools and best practices needed to guide, teach, and care for them. This foundational approach provides information on theories of early development, components of high-quality, responsive caregiving, and strategies to support children in their earliest years.

The Creative Curriculum comes alive! This videotape-winner of the 1989 Silver Apple Award at the National Educational Film and Video Festival-demonstrates how teachers set the stage for learning by creating a dynamic well-organized environment. It shows children involved in seven of the interest areas in the The Creative Curriculum and explains how they learn in each area. Everyone conducts in-service training workshops for staff and parents or who teaches early childhood education courses will find the video an indispensable tool for explainin appropriate practice.

Helps care-givers, program directors, coordinators, administrators, trainers, licensors, families, and leaders in the field of early care and education to recognize the special knowledge and skills needed to offer a nurturing group care environment to very young children.

The contributors explain the main elements of the RIE approach and show how it can be applied in state-run and independent day care and family homes. Illustrated with examples of good practice in a range of settings, this practical introduction is a resource for parents and child care professionals, as well as those who evaluate child care provision.

Curriculum in Early Childhood Education: Re-examined, Reclaimed, Renewed critically and thoroughly examines key questions, aims, and approaches in early childhood curricula. Designed to provide a theoretical and philosophical foundation for examining teaching and learning in the early years, this fully updated and timely second edition provokes discussion and analysis among all readers. What influences operate (both historically and currently) to impact what happens in young children's classrooms? Whose perspectives are dominant and whose are ignored? What values are explicit and implicit? Each chapter gives readers a starting point for re-examining key topics, encourages a rich exchange of ideas in the university classroom, and provides a valuable resource for professionals. This second edition has been fully revised to reflect the current complexities and tensions inherent in curricular decision-making and features attention to policy, standardization, play, and diversity, providing readers with historical context, current theories, and new perspectives for the field. Curriculum in Early Childhood Education is essential reading for those seeking to examine curriculum in early childhood and develop a stronger understanding of how theories and philosophies intersect with the issues that accompany the creation and implementation of learning experiences.

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

Underpinned by substantive research on meeting the developmental and attachment needs of infants, this book offers constructive advice on how to encourage curiosity, confidence and emotional security in young children. Based on a philosophy of respect and sensitive observation of infants, it is appropriate for use in Sure Start programmes. The contributors offer a model that supports children's development and well being without relying on expensive material resources, and enables a coherent care strategy to be applied across different services. They explain the main elements of the RIE approach clearly and concisely and fully explore the practicalities of its implementation in a range of settings, including state-run and independent day care and residential centres, private households and family-based day care. The fresh and effective approach to caring for infants and toddlers outlined in this book will be welcomed by parents and day care professionals, as well as those who manage and evaluate child care provision.