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TAKING A DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

Laura Denise Harris, Ed.D.

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OBJECTIVES

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Determine how the four major developmental areas for assessment differ from each other.

Determine

Explain the theories of child development.

Explain

Justify how the use of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory explains current trends in development and education.

Justify

Recognize the impact of each individual child’s culture on classroom interactions and curriculum.

Recognize

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DISCUSS

  • What do people who work with young children need to know?

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  • What do they need to be able to do?

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Answers are found in research and professional standards.

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DEVELOPMENTAL AREAS

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

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10 PRINCIPLES OF CAREGIVING

Magda Gerber’s “10 Principles of Caregiving”

    • Involve children in activities and things that concern them.
    • Invest in quality time with each child.
    • Learn the unique ways each child communicates with you and teach him or her the ways you communicate.
    • Invest the time and energy necessary with each child to build a total person.
    • Respect infants and toddlers as worthy people.
    • Model specific behaviors before you teach them.
    • Always be honest with children about your feelings.
    • View problems as learning opportunities and allow children to solve their own problems where possible.
    • Build security with children by teaching trust.
    • Be concerned about the quality of development each child has at each stage.

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ACTIVITY

Complete Magda Gerber’s 10 Principles of Caregiving Handout

Instructions: Determine a method/strategy that you would use with infants and toddlers in a childcare setting to integrate each of the ten principle into your caregiving practices. In the box located next to the principle, add your answer. Each principle should include a specific method/strategy.

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DEVELOPMENTAL AREAS

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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

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PAST THEORIES & VIEWS

    • John Locke
    • Jean-Jacques Rousseau
    • Charles Darwin
    • G. Stanley Hall
    • Arnold Gesell
    • Alfred Binet

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    • Erik Erikson
    • John Watson
    • Skinner and Belmont
    • Albert Bandura
    • Jean Piaget
    • John Bowlby

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MORE RECENT THEORIES & VIEWS

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Brain Development Theory: Based upon innovations in technology

Ecological Systems Theory: Bronfenbrenner

Sociocultural Theory: Vygotsky

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UNIQUE PATTERNS OF DEVELOPMENT

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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

A Controversy:

Universal vs. Unique Patterns of Development

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CURRENT TRENDS IN DEVELOPMENT �AND EDUCATION

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Current trends considered in this section reflect the research being completed concerning brain development, attachment theory, and sociocultural theory within the framework of ecological systems theory: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem.

Within ecological systems theory, human relationships are considered bidirectional and reciprocal.

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MICROSYSTEM TRENDS

    • Closest to the child—i.e., child, immediate family, and others directly related
      • Family grouping
      • Continuity of care
      • Primary caregiving

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MESOSYSTEM TRENDS

Relationships between various components of microsystem

Family

Peers

School

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EXOSYSTEM TRENDS

    • Social settings that direct development
      • Military family and deployments
      • Professional organizations and advocacy

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MACROSYSTEM TRENDS

    • Laws, customs & policies of government
    • Availability of resources
    • Early Head Start

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VALUE CULTURAL DIVERSITY

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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