Infant/Toddler - Early Childhood Training And Technical .
Infant/ToddlerCurriculum and IndividualizationNational Infant & Toddler Child Care InitiativeU.S. Department ofHealth and Human ServicesOffice of Family AssistanceAdministration for Children and Families
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PREFACEInfant/Toddler Curriculum and Individualization is one of three infant/toddler modules created to support consultants working in child caresettings, especially consultants who have not had education or trainingspecific to infants and toddlers in group care. These modules were designedto complement training offered to early childhood consultants through theNational Training Institute at the Department of Maternal and Child Health,University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.The infant/toddler modules, which also include Relationships: The Heart ofDevelopment and Learning and Infant/Toddler Development, Screening,and Assessment, provide content on early development and quality childcare policies and practices for consultants working in child care settingsserving children ages birth to 3 years. As the modules do not focus ondeveloping consultation skills, they are not intended to be used as standalone trainings. They should be incorporated into training that addresses thecritical skills and process of consultation.Information about the National Training Institute for Child Care HealthConsultants can be found at http://nti.unc.edu/ or by contacting the programat the following address:National Training Institute for Child Care Health ConsultantsDepartment of Maternal and Child Health116-A Merritt Mill RoadCampus Box #8126The University of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel Hill, NC 27599-8126COVER CREDITSClockwise from top left: iStockphoto.com/Eduardo Jose Bernardino, iStockphoto.com/Jelani Memory, iStockphoto.com/Quavondo, Fotolia.com/Juan-Carlos Herrera-Arango, iStockphoto.com/Brandon Clark,Phone: 919-966-3780Email: nti@unc.edu iStockphoto.com/Meredith Mullins.This module was created through the National Infant & Toddler Child Care Initiative @ ZERO TO THREE, a project of the federalChild Care Bureau, in response to a request for technical assistance from the Connecticut Head Start State Collaboration Office onbehalf of Healthy Child Care New England, a collaborative project of the six New England states. We would like to acknowledge theinspiration and contributions of Grace Whitney, PhD, MPA, Director of the Connecticut Head Start Collaboration Office, as well asthe contributions of the New England project advisory team, the Region I Administration for Children and Families, Office of FamilyAssistance, Child Care Bureau office, and the New England Child Care and Development Fund Administrators.This document was prepared under Contract # 233-02-0103 with the Department of Health and Human Services. The views expressedin the document are those of the contractor. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is intendedor should be inferred.February, 20103
TABLE OF CONTENTSLearning Objectives7INTRODUCTION8Curriculum for Infants and ToddlersCurriculum for Infants and Toddlers: A Look at DefinitionsDistinctions Between Infant/Toddler and Preschool CurriculaDevelopmentally Appropriate Practices and Infant/Toddler CurriculumThe Role of the Child Care ConsultantWhere to Find More Information999141515DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEENTATION OF Infant/Toddler CurriculumObservation and DocumentationReflectionPlanningInfant/Toddler Early Learning GuidelinesImplementationACTIVITY I: The Infant/Toddler Environment as a Part of the CurriculumCurriculum Planning for Infants and Toddlers: Pulling It All TogetherACTIVITY II: Reviewing Individualized Child Development PlansThe Role of the Child Care ConsultantWhere to Find More Information1719212223242728293232Key Partners and Resources Supporting Infant/Toddler CurriculumPartnering with FamiliesACTIVITY III: Coaching Teacher-Caregivers to Encourage Co-Implementationof Infant/Toddler Curriculum Activities with FamiliesPartnering with Part C/Early Intervention ServicesAdditional Partners and ResourcesACTIVITY IV: Coaching Teacher-Caregivers to Integrate IFSP Activitiesinto the Child’s CurriculumThe Role of the Child Care ConsultantWhere to Find More Information33334363738404141
Evaluating Curriculum — Key ConsiderationsDeciding on a CurriculumThe Role of the Child Care ConsultantWhere to Find More Information42424343REFERENCES45APPENDICESAppendix A. Sample Infant/Toddler Daily Care Communication46475
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Infant/Toddler Curriculum and IndividualizationTL E ARNI NGO B JE C T IV E SUpon completion of this module, child care consultants will be able to: Explain what is meant by “curriculum” for infants and toddlers. Describe distinctions between curriculum for infants and toddlersand curriculum for older children. Describe the aspects of early care and education that are a part of aninfant/toddler curriculum. Define what is meant by developmentally appropriate curricula forinfants and toddlers. Describe the development and implementation of individualizedcurriculum for an infant or toddler. Describe infant/toddler Early Learning Guidelines and their connection todevelopmentally appropriate curricula for infants and toddlers. Describe strategies for engaging families in developing and implementingindividualized curriculum for infants and toddlers. Describe how Individualized Family Service Plans can supportindividualized curriculum and inclusion of infants and toddlers withspecial needs. Identify resources for caregivers and families working withinfants and toddlers.7
Infant/Toddler Curriculum andIndividualizationINTRODUCTION“Curriculum for babies?” The answer is “Yes.” The development thatoccurs from birth to 3 years lays the foundation for all later learning(National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2000). To ensure aneffective foundation for later development and success, infant/toddler experiencesshould be designed to meet the individual needs of each child.Infant/toddler learning is also largely relationship and context dependent: thesupport and interactions of adult caregivers are critical to the growth and learningof these youngest children. Many infants and toddlers spendthis important period nurtured in the context of their families.However, the National Household Education Survey conductedin 2005 found that 42 percent of children under 1 year of age andmore than 50 percent of 1- and 2-year-olds spent a portion of eachweek in nonparental care (Iruka & Carver, 2006). Fotolia.com/Tomasz TrojanowskiBecause the developmental foundation built during this periodhas lifelong implications, the responsibility for children’slearning while in out-of-home care is too significant to be leftto chance. An individualized curriculum provides a way forteacher-caregivers to be intentional about the way they supportdevelopment and learning in children under 3 and ensures that allaspects of development are being monitored and appropriatelysupported in a variety of ways.The implementation of a well-planned, individualized curriculumis a hallmark of high-quality programs for infants and toddlers. But the questionoften surfaces: “Just what is an infant/toddler curriculum?” According to Fredeand Ackerman (2007), “At its simplest, curriculum is defined as what to teach andhow to teach it.” (p.2) For most educators this concept is self-evident, especiallyin discussions of school-aged or even preschool children. When the teachercaregiver is working with infants or toddlers, however, the idea of curriculumbecomes more difficult to conceptualize.The purpose of this module is to familiarize consultants with the conceptsof curriculum and individualization as means of promoting infant/toddlerdevelopment through intentionally designed early learning experiences, andto prepare them for consultation that will support quality in infant/toddler careenvironments.8
Curriculum for Infants and ToddlersWHAT THE CHILD CARE CONSULTANT SHOULD KNOWCurriculum for Infants and Toddlers: A Look at DefinitionsThe topic of curriculum for infants and toddlers is frequently as perplexing toprofessionals from related fields as to many working directly in the field ofinfant/toddler development. The word curriculum typically brings to mind suchimages as teachers at the front of a room and student desks cluttered with socialstudies, math, or science textbooks. Even reframing the concept from schoolbased references routinely defined as the required courses, subjects, or topicstaught to early childhood (what to teach and how to teach it) does not bring aclear picture to mind of how a curriculum applies to infants and toddlers.The concept of curriculum begins to gain clarity if it is reframed as what infantsand toddlers experience, and what and how they learn from those experiences.At this more fundamental level, a curriculum for infants and toddlers begins tomake sense. This simple shift in language, from teach to experience and “learn,”also implies a different role for the adult who implements curriculum for thevery youngest children. The adult’s role is not to teach, but to observe and reflecton what infants/toddlers are experiencing and how they learn — and then tosupport the process through interactions, their relationship with the child, andprovision of experiences in an environment that contributes to the child’s success.“In high-quality infant/toddler programs, the interests of the child and the beliefthat each child has a curriculum are what drive practice” (Lally, 2000, p.6). Theadult role is to discover the infant’s curriculum and support its implementation.The role of the consultant is to assist program directors and teacher-caregivers inunderstanding this concept.Distinctions between Infant/Toddler and Preschool CurriculaIn consulting with infant/toddler programs, the consultant should be able toarticulate distinctions between infant/toddler and preschool curricula (sometimesreferred to as “I/T” and “pre-k” in educational literature). These distinctions aredirectly linked to qualitative differences between the learning and developmentthat occur in infancy and toddlerhood and learning and development during thepreschool years.The first difference is in the learning tools children have at different ages. Infantscome into the world wired to communicate, relate, and learn. Nurtured bysensitive and knowledgeable caregivers, these capacities emerge into effectivelearning tools throughout infancy and toddlerhood. Preschoolers build on thesetools, adding the benefits of more years of experience, established relationships9
(adult/child and peer), a sense of self, language that others readily understand, aframework for memory and concepts, and an emerging set of problem-solvingskills.A second critical difference relates to the centrality of emotional development ininfancy. Emotional development is important throughout early childhood, but itsprimacy in infancy and toddlerhood calls for a clear emphasis on relationships inan appropriate, effective infant/toddler curriculum. A range of emotions — suchas happiness, sadness, anger, and fear — emerge early in infancy, with thedevelopment of emotional responses occurring in the context of relationships. AsLloyd-Jones (2002, p. 10) notes, “experts agree that the primary need of infantsand toddlers is emotional connection. Relationships are the key and emotionaldevelopment is the critical domain.”“experts agreethat the primaryneed of infants andtoddlers is emotionalconnection.Relationships are thekey and emotionaldevelopment is thecritical domain.”A fundamental aspect of emotional development is the infant’s emerging abilityto self-regulate. Beginning with mutual or co-regulation with the adult caregiver,infants begin to learn to self-soothe their own distress by first being soothed whentheir needs are met by another. These interactions lay the foundation for selfregulation, further refined in toddlerhood — for example, when a toddler beginsto regulate his responses (sometimes) when a peer commandeers the toy he’sbeen playing with and, by default, considers his own property. The growth of selfregulation is the cornerstone of early childhood development and is visible in allareas of behavior (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2000). Aconsultant can assist a caregiver by sharing research and information about selfregulation that will deepen her understanding of an important area of infant andtoddler development.(Lloyd-Jones,2002, p. 10)Another difference between the two age groups is related to the extent to whichlearning and development are integrated across domains in infants and toddlers.This integration is also present in preschoolers but may be less evident in the faceof the emerging preferences and fascinations of 3–5-year-olds (e.g., dinosaurs,blocks, trucks). For example, a 6-week-old child’s cognitive development isdependent on sensory-motor input, a 15-month-old’s engagement with an adultmodel (from which much learning evolves) is linked to the child’s level of trustand all early learning emerges through relationships with primary caregivers(Norman-Murch, 1996). For infants and toddlers, there is no substantiveseparation of motor, cognitive, communication, or social/emotional development.It happens all at once, all of the time — and the neurons are firing at a greaterrate than at any other time in the lifespan (see Shore, 1997, for infant braindevelopment).For these reasons and others beyond the scope of this document, it is critical thatthe development of infants and toddlers in out-of-home care is supported with anindividualized, responsive curriculum that meets the unique needs of each child.10
One role of consultants to infant/toddler child care programs is to observe andreview the program’s approach to curriculum, and to support the implementationof effective, developmentally appropriate curriculum.Two definitions of curriculum created for preschool programs can be used toreflect on the distinctions between preschool and infant/toddler curricula: The Head Start Performance Standards (Title 45 of the Code of FederalRegulations 1304.3(a)(5)) define curriculum as “a written plan thatincludes: (I) the goals for children’s development and learning; (II) theexperiences through which they will achieve these goals; (III) whatstaff and families do to help children achieve these goals; and (IV) thematerials needed to support the implementation of the curriculum.” In Reaching Potentials: Transforming Early Childhood Curriculumand Assessment (Vol. 2), Bredekamp and Rosegrant (1995) define anearly childhood curriculum as “an organized framework that delineatesthe content that children are to learn, the processes through whichchildren achieve the identified curricular goals, what teachers do tohelp children achieve these goals, and the context in which teachingand learning occur” (p.16).Although these definitions offer a solid framework for understanding curriculumfor preschool-aged children, they do not provide as tight a fit for working withinfants and toddlers. Some of the key distinctions between developmentallyappropriate curricula for infant/toddler and preschool classrooms are addressed inTable 1. iStockphoto.com/Donna Coleman11
TABLE 1: Distictions between Curricula for Infants/Toddlers and Preschool ChildrenAspect ofCurriculumFocus ofCurriculumInfant/ToddlerPreschoolProcess — learning evolves throughrelationships and responsive caregiving.Content — learning emerges through exposure to concepts,play, and activities.The basic processes of learning emerge in thisperiod, including engagement, gathering andmaking sense of sensory input, developingsecurity, exploration, and an emerging sense ofidentity.The learning processes established in the infant/toddlerperiod are applied to specific tasks, skills, and content.ContentDefined by the infant’s focus and interests; canbe informed by appropriate Early LearningGuidelines.Defined by state pre-k standards and preparation forkindergarten entry. Typically includes a focus on traditionalacademic subjects (e.g., math, science, literacy, sociallearning).Goals“Goals” are generally developmentaland provide the framework for planningindividualized experiences that will supporteach child’s development.Specific identification of content/skills to be learned orachieved.Flexible interactions that are responsive to thechild’s agenda are primary over preset goals.Familyinvolvementin curriculumdevelopmentCritical to the development of an effectiveand individualized plan, based on infant/toddler need for consistency in routines acrosssettings.Less critical to the development of curriculum; typicallytakes the form of parent advisory council participation inselection of program’s curriculum.Implementationof curriculumRelationships are the context for curriculumimplementation and learning; responsivecaregiving and use of individual caregivingroutines (e.g., diapering, meals) provide theframe for curriculum implementation.Developmentally appropriate activities and play, includinga mix of small- and large-group activities, and teacherdirected or child-selected options.Role of TeacherCaregiverFacilitator/Primary CaregiverObserves and reads cues of infants andtoddlers; provides responsive caregiving(follows baby’s lead with personal attentionand response based on the child’s interest andneed).Teacher/FacilitatorUtilizing observation and knowledge of enrolled childrenand guidance from state pre-k standards, plans scheduleand activities for the day; assures learning centers availableand prepped for appropriate content; may utilize a “project”approach that supports learning across subject areas withina focus topic of interest to the children.Assures that the environment supportsthe engagement of infants and toddlersthrough experiences based on each child’sdevelopmental level and interest.Context/EnvironmentSets the tone for intimacy, and provides infantsa safe, healthy, secure space for consistentroutines, exploration, and learning. Theroutines of infant caregiving (e.g., meals,feeding, naps, diapering, toileting) provide thecontext for much of their learning.Directly and indirectly engages children in learningconcepts across developmental domains, including socialand emotional development.Promotes exploration and engagement.The environment is typically arranged in learning centersthat stimulate learning within or across domains and contentareas.Group size is larger, with more formal structure andparameters in place as a preparation for the kindergartenexperience.12Note: The inclusion of a factor in one column does not preclude its presence in the other age range. This chart is intendedto differentiate the predominance or importance of distinct aspects of curriculum in each age group.
The adult role of facilitating infant/toddler curriculum requires knowledge ofinfant/toddler development and skills in close observation to identify whatthe child is focused on, and how the child is learning. The application of thisawareness — through interactions and experiences that allow infants to followtheir own agenda within a context designed to support their development — is theimplementation of individualized curricula. This implementation is complicatedbecause, regardless of what a caregiver might intend or “plan,” the baby may befocusing on something else entirely. The caregiver must be a studious observerand modifier of plans. iStockphoto.com/onebluelightFor example, a caregiver may have read in the State’s Infant/Toddler EarlyLearning Guidelines that 2-month-old babies should be able to track an object.So she puts her 2-month-old baby on her tummy and proceeds to shake and movea rattle across her line of vision. The baby notices and follows the rattle but thenhears something else on the other side of the room and begins to attend to thatsound and action. The astute caregiver
infancy. Emotional development is important throughout early childhood, but its primacy in infancy and toddlerhood calls for a clear emphasis on relationships in an appropriate, effective infant/toddler curriculum. A range of emotions — such as happiness, sadness, anger, and fear — emerge early in infancy, with the
EARLY CHILDHOOD STANDARDS OF QUALITY FOR INFANT AND TODDLER PROGRAMS. a. powered by the. and . Michigan’s Great Start. Collaboratives. Michigan State Board of Education. Initially Approved December 12, 2006. Revised March 12, 2013. Early Childhood . Standards . of . Quality. for . Infant. and . Toddler Programs
Jan 24, 2020 · The DRDP(2015) represents a full continuum of development from early infancy up to kindergarten entry. The Infant/Toddler Views are for use with children in infant/ toddler programs, and the Preschool Views, for children in preschool programs The DRDP (2015) is designed for use with all children from early infancy up to
This resource provides information on infant and toddler feeding from birth through twenty-three months of age, including information on feeding, infant formula, the introduction of solid foods and infant safety while eating. Keep in mind that every infant is different, and their diets may vary depending
The Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile (ITSP) (Dunn, 2002) is a questionnaire that is completed by an infant's or toddler's primary caregiver in order to gather information about the child's sensory processing abilities.
ams) 6" " Human Services, and the Minnesota Department of Health) reviewed the document, as well as infant-toddler and mental health experts at CEED and elsewhere. On May 29, 2012, Dr. Harper-Browne and Dr. Raikes presented the Ten Essential Elements of Quality Infant-Toddler Programs at an .
3. Room arrangement Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP): An Introduction Expand Learning with Mixed-Age Groups Infant-Toddler Care: Healthy Spaces Infant-Toddler Care: Learning through Play Infant-Toddler Care: Physica
your Infant Car Seat, as described in the instruction manual provided by the Infant Car Seat manufacturer. † WHEN USING ONLY ONE INFANT CAR SEAT ADAPTER OR TWO FOR TWINS, THE FOLLOWING INFANT CAR SEATS CAN BE USED: † If your Infant Car Seat is not one of the models listed above, DO NOT use your infant car seat with this car seat adapter.
Certifications: American Board of Radiology Academic Rank: Professor of Radiology Interests: Virtual Colonoscopy (CT Colonography), CT Enterography, Crohn’s, GI Radiology, (CT/MRI), Reduced Radiation Dose CT, Radiology Informatics Abdominal Imaging Kumaresan Sandrasegaran, M.B., Ch.B. (Division Chair) Medical School: Godfrey Huggins School of Medicine, University of Zimbabwe Residency: Leeds .
