“Right from birth a healthy child is an active participant in growth, exploring the environment, learning to communicate, and, in relatively short order,

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

“Right from birth a healthy child is an active participant in growth,

exploring the environment, learning to communicate, and, in relatively short order, beginning to construct ideas and theories

about how things work.”National Academy of Science

“Eager To Learn” p.1



CULTURE & LEARNINGCULTURE & LEARNING

• The cognitive process is inherently cultural.The cognitive process is inherently cultural.

• Intellectual development comes from Intellectual development comes from participation in socio-cultural activitiesparticipation in socio-cultural activities

• Human intellect cannot be separated from Human intellect cannot be separated from the cultures technology of learning.the cultures technology of learning.

• Tradition and tools of previous generations Tradition and tools of previous generations become the base technology of learning.become the base technology of learning.


Sources of Home-Program Conflict

Sources of Home-Program Conflict

INDIVIDUALISM• Child as individual• Independence• Praise • Cognitive skills• Oral expression• Parents’ role is to

teach• Personal property

COLLECTIVISM• Child as part of group• Helpfulness• Criticize • Social skills• Listening to authority• Teacher’s role is to

educate• Sharing


Individualized Care

• Provides a style of care for infants & toddlers that matches their inborn capacities and needs.

• This type of care is grounded in loving relationships and is responsive to infants’ needs and interests.


Individualized Care Considers:

• No two infants are alike—they each have unique temperaments and learning styles.

• Caregivers need to adapt their caregiving strategies to meet the needs of each child.



With Individualized Care

• The child gets the message that she is important, her needs will be met, and her choices, and interests are respected.

• By responding promptly and appropriately

to a child’s individual needs, a caregiver supports the infant’s ability to self-regulate.


Individualized Care

• Promotes the infant’s development of a healthy sense-of-self and well-being.

• Honors a child’s abilities, needs, temperament, and the family’s cultural preferences.


Individualized Care Recognizes:

• The Three Ages of Infancy

• Each Child’s Temperament Traits & Style

• Abilities and Special Needs

• Learning Styles and Interests

• Family’s Culture and Home Language


Ages of Infancy

Young, mobile, and older infants require different caregiving strategies.

• Young Infant SECURITY (Birth to 6-8 months)

• Mobile Infant EXPLORATION (6 to 18 months)

• Older Infant INDEPENDENCE (16 to 36 months)


Developmental Differences:

• Each child’s development unfolds along individual pathways.

• Developmental trajectories in each domain are characterized by continuities and discontinuities as well as significant transitions.


Temperamental Traits & Styles

• Researchers have identified 9 temperamental traits.

• These 9 traits cluster into 3 Temperamental Styles


Other Important Factors to Consider:

• Home language and culture are critical contributors to a child’s developing identity.

• Early care must be linked with family caregiving strategies, home language, and culture.


PITC Curriculum Approach:

• Recognizes loving relationships, as essential to intellectual development,

• Has as the starting point, the child’s interests, motivations, & developmental level.

• Caregivers act as facilitators of the child’s natural interests & urges to learn, not as a “teacher” of specific lessons.


In A Responsive Curriculum:

• Both the infant and the caregiver play a role in selecting curriculum content.

• The curriculum should move and flow on a daily basis with the infants’ changing development, interests, and needs.


A Responsive Curriculum Recognizes That:

• Infants learn holistically. Curriculum must be broad enough to respond to all developmental domains.

• Infants are active, self-motivated learners.

• Curriculum that keeps motivation & curiosity alive facilitates infant learning.


In Summary

• The infant’s development in all areas is dependent on close, caring relationships.

• Infants develop best with a few trusted caregivers who read their cues &

respond to their needs.


FALSE DICHOTOMY

Child’s Interests vs.

Curriculum Content


DRIVE TOWARD MASTERY

Practice/Repetition to gain mastery

Pleasure in mastering a challenge or making a discovery


Infants rely on contingent interactions with caring adult(s) to:

Learn

Organize Behavior

Regulate Emotions


“Ideal ‘teaching’ occurs in dyadic relationships that are mutually

contingent and adaptive.”

Hauser-Cram, P., Warfield, M.E., Shonkoff, J.P., & Krauss, M.W. (2001). Children with disabilities.


ADAPT

SUPPORT PRACTICE & REPETITION

EXPAND LEARNING

FACILITATING EARLY LEARNING


“Thus, both developmental theory and empirical evidence suggest that learning to persist in the face of challenge guides the participation of young children with developmental disabilities in their own cognitive growth as it does other children.”

Hauser-Cram, P., Warfield, M.E., Shonkoff, J.P., & Krauss, M.W. (2001). Children with disabilities.


SELF REGULATION COMPONENTS

1. Emotional and Physiological

Regulation

2. Other Oriented Regulation

3. Impulse Control

4. Attention Maintenance


EMOTIONAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL

REGULATION (FACILITATION)

Predictability of Caregiver’s Actions

Consistency of Routines

Communication about Routines

Cues in Environment that help Child

Anticipate What’s Going to Happen


OTHER ORIENTED REGULATION

(FACILITATION)

Cue Reading by Caregiver

Responsiveness of Adult

Communication Matches Child’s

Developing Ability to Communicate

Help Given in a Way that Allows the

Child to be a Partner


IMPULSE CONTROL

(FACILITATION)

Predictable Routines with Appropriate

Cues for Child

Responsiveness of Adult

Communication Matches Child’s

Developing Ability to Communicate


ATTENTION MAINTENANCE

(FACILITATION)

A Calm Environment that Allows the Child to Focus on Learning and Interaction

Attentiveness and Pace of Caregiver Caregivers Who Avoid Interrupting

Child Who Is Engaged in Learning or Discovery


Two Ways of Looking at Planning

Plans “set in stone”

Plans that flow in a continuous course, sometimes veering in unexpected directions

VS.


• Child interest Child interest

• Child progress on their own curriculumChild progress on their own curriculum

• Your emotional approachYour emotional approach

• Your facilitation approachYour facilitation approach

• Setting rearrangementsSetting rearrangements

• Use of special materialsUse of special materials



Teachers must leave behind an Teachers must leave behind an isolated, silent mode of isolated, silent mode of

working, which leaves no working, which leaves no traces. Instead they must traces. Instead they must

discover ways to communicate discover ways to communicate and document the children’s and document the children’s

evolving experiences. evolving experiences.

Loris MalaguzziLoris Malaguzzi


In a curriculum that is not set in In a curriculum that is not set in advance, we can use advance, we can use

documentation to construct our documentation to construct our understanding of the children’s understanding of the children’s

actions and thoughts.actions and thoughts.

Documentation, interpreted and Documentation, interpreted and reinterpreted with other educators reinterpreted with other educators

and children, gives the option of and children, gives the option of drafting scripts for action that are drafting scripts for action that are

not arbitrary but instead not arbitrary but instead respectful of all involved.respectful of all involved.


Documentation ToolsDocumentation Tools

Audio Records / Video RecordsAudio Records / Video Records

Note Pads Kept in PocketsNote Pads Kept in Pockets

Note Books Left in Various Locations Note Books Left in Various Locations

Palm PilotsPalm Pilots

Drawings / SketchesDrawings / Sketches

PhotosPhotos

Children’s WorkChildren’s Work

Documents

“Right from birth a healthy child is an active participant in growth, exploring the environment, learning to communicate, and, in relatively short order,