Exploring Primary Caregiving and

Continuity of Care

Peter Mangioneand

Alicia Tuesta

Exploring Primary Caregiving and Continuity of Care

Agenda

• Introduction

• Personal Meaning of Relationships in the

Context of Care (Reflection and Discussion)

• Attachment Issues in Infant/Toddler Care

(Overview of Research)

• Definitions of Primary Care and Continuity of

Care (Group Discussion)

• Exploring Implementation Strategies and Issues

(Small Groups)

• Report Back from Small Group Work

• Close

Developed by Peter Mangione and Sheila Signer. © WestEd, The Program for Infant/Toddler Care. This document may be reproduced for educational purposes.

Primary Caregiving and Continuity of Care

Scenario

You are recovering from an illness and during this recovery period will need assistance with feeding, bathing, and using the restroom.

Keeping this information in mind answer the following questions:

1.Would you prefer to stay at the hospital during your recovery or to be at home. Please explain why.

2.When it’s time to receive assistance with your feeding, bathing and restroom needs, who would you like to be assisted by? A nurse, a relative, a friend? Please make a list of people you would allow to give you a sponge bath.

3.What characteristics would you like the person that is caring for you to have?

Developed by Alicia Tuesta. © 2003, WestEd, The Program for Infant/Toddler Care. This document may be reproduced for educational purposes.

• Indicator of the quality of infant’s

relationship with a caregiver

• Attachment security is often indicated by

child’s secure base behavior

• Attachment security ranges from secure

to insecure

Developed by Peter Mangione. © 2006, WestEd, The Program for Infant/Toddler Care.

This document may be reproduced for educational purposes.

Infant Attachment

• In a secure attachment, the caregiver is

consistently emotionally available to the infant

• Development of attachment security depends

on time together and sensitivity of the caregiver

• Infants can have more than one attachment

relationship (Hierarchy of attachment

relationships - primary, secondary, and so on)

Developed by Peter Mangione. © 2006, WestEd, The Program for Infant/Toddler Care.

This document may be reproduced for educational purposes.

Development of Relationships

1) Disorder of Nonattachment

2) Disordered Attachment

3) Disrupted Attachment Disorder

Attachment Disorders

Source: Lieberman, A.F., & Zeanah, C.H. (1995, July). Disorders of attachment in infancy. Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Vol. 4, No. 3, 571-587.

Source: Vondra, J. I., & Barnett, D. (Ed.). (1999). Atypical attachment in infancy and early childhood among children at developmental risk. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 64, (3, Serial No. 258).

The general approach to studying

attachment security (secure base behavior)

must be expanded to take into consideration

differences in infant functioning.

Atypical Attachment in Infancy

Primary Care & Continuity

Assignments

Relationships

Routines

Recordkeeping

Families

Teaming

Transitions

Developed by Sheila Signer. WestEd, The Program for Infant/Toddler Care. This document may be reproduced for educational purposes.

Definition 

The concept of continuity of care refers to

the policy of assigning a primary care

teacher to an infant at the time of enrollment

in a child care program and continuing this

relationship until the child is at least three

years old.

Continuity of Care

Handout II.3AThree Ways to Achieve

Continuity of Care

Same Age Continuity

A group of children close in age stay with the same infant care teacher until age three. The environment is made developmentally appropriate as the children grow older, or the whole group moves together to a new space. Children who leave are replaced by new children of the same age.

 

Mixed Age Continuity

Groups have a wider range of ages. Newly enrolled infants and toddlers of any age can be added to the group. The environment is interesting and flexible enough for different developmental levels.

 

Family Care Continuity

Often one person cares for a small group, making it easy to provide continuity. If a larger program, children are assigned to one infant care teacher and stay with that infant care teacher from infancy to preschool.

Adapted from: WestEd. (2014). The Program for Infant/Toddler Care Trainer’s Manual, Module II: Group Care, 2nd edition (p. 42). Sacramento, CA: California Department of Education.

This document may be reproduced for educational purposes.