1. Chapter 1
A Developmental Perspective on
Educating Infants and Toddlers
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

2. Introduction
• What do people who work with young
children need to know?
• What do they need to be able to do?
Answers are found in research and professional
standards
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

3. Taking a Developmental Perspective
• Developmental Perspective
– Each child’s genetic code interacts with
environmental factors to result in ‘full potential’
– From the moment of birth, the child and the
people around the child affect each other
– Teachers must learn to be mindful in all of their
interactions
• Magda Gerber’s 10 principles of caregiving
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

4. Taking a Developmental Perspective
• Four developmental domains will be used in this
book:
– Physical
– Emotional
– Social
– Cognitive/Language
• Once you understand the normative patterns or
milestones, you can more easily recognize and
honor the unique patterns that each child
demonstrates
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

5. Using a Developmental Profile
• Evaluate each child in all the skill behaviors of the
age range in order to establish an average age
level for each of the four developmental areas on
the profile
– Appendix A: Developmental Prescription
– By comparing relative strengths and weaknesses,
curriculum can be designed to enhance each child’s
development
– Development is a continuing process wherein children
grow in the same direction at different rates
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

6. Theories on Child Development
• Past theories and views
– John Locke
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau
– Charles Darwin
– G. Stanley Hall
– Arnold Gesell
– Alfred Binet
– Erik Erikson
– John Watson
– Skinner and Belmont
– A. Bandura
– Jean Piaget
– Bowlby
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

7. Theories on Child Development
• More recent theories and views:
– Brain Development Theory: Based upon
innovations in technology
– Ecological Systems Theory: Brofenbrenner
– Socialcultural Theory: Vygotsky
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

8. Unique Patterns of Development
• A controversy:
– Universal versus unique patterns of development
• Only through taking a developmental
perspective and paying close attention to both
universal and unique patterns of development
will we be able to determine the practices to
optimally enhance the growth and
development of individual infants and
toddlers
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

9. Current Trends in Development and
Education
• Current trends considered in this section reflect
the research being completed concerning brain
development, attachment theory, and
sociocultural theory
– More children in nonfamilial care settings
– Family Grouping
– Continuity of Care
– Primary Caregiving Systems
– Partnering with Families
– Early Head Start
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

10. Valuing Cultural Diversity
• Accept the challenge to develop a
multicultural curriculum that involves both
parents and children
• Respect, embrace and value differences
• Create scripts for getting to know each family
• Respect infants’ wants, needs and desires
• Understanding Bronfenbrenner’s Bidirectional
relationships
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

11. Spotlight on Research
• Essential Life Skills for Infants
– Minds in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills
Every Child Needs (Galinsky 2010)
– Recognize and build on the competencies of very
young children
– We must recognize how each area of
development works with other areas to result in
complex understanding and behaviors
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

12. Checkpoint Discussion Questions
• Justify why an infant-toddler teacher should employ a
developmental perspective in his/her work.
• Explain what the four developmental domains are and
why it is useful, yet artificial, to divide development in
this manner.
• Select two developmental theories. Compare and
contrast them; in other words, explain how they are
alike and how they are different.
• Explain some of the current trends in early care and
development.
• How does the diversity of families in today’s society
influence early education programs and teachers?
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.