| Best Practices |
 |
|
 |
|
|
Child Care and Education Programs- Infant / Toddler Care
ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS:
In addition to the Essential Elements found in the Childhood Care and Education section, Zero To Three´s 1995 publication, Caring for Infants & Toddlers in Groups: Developmentally Appropriate Practices identifies nine key elements for quality care for babies and toddlers. 1
Summaries of these elements are listed below. A more complete summary can be found in the Zero To Three press release titled, Babies and Toddlers at Greater Risk in Child Care, http://www.zerotothree.org/baberisk.html. The complete publication can be purchased from Zero To Three, http://www.zerotothree.org/baberisk.html.
Small groups with high staff-to-child ratios - For children birth to age 3, recommended group size: 6-8 children: 1:4 ration of caregiver to child. No more than 6 children who are not yet mobile should be in a group.
Staff trained in childhood development and programs licensed and accredited - National research underscores that quality infant and toddler care is contingent upon the special training that caregivers receive in early childhood development. Ongoing training, good salaries and benefits are essential to attracting and retaining quality caregivers.
A primary caregiver - A primary caregiver is principally responsible for the child and helps in building a positive, continuing intimate relationship with the child. It does not mean that only one person cares exclusively for a baby or toddler.
Continuity of care - Having one primary caregiver for more than a year (optimally, from entry into child care until the child is three years of age or older) is important to the child´s emotional development.
Responsive caregiving - Responsive caregiving involves knowing each child and taking cues from the child about when to expand on the child´s initiative, when to guide, when to teach and when to intervene.
Cultural, linguistic and familial continuity - Caregivers should be culturally sensitive and recognize their own values that they may be transmitting to children. Baby/toddler child care programs should, when possible, employ staff who are of the same culture and should speak the same language as the children served.
Meeting the needs of the individual within the group context - Caregivers should understand the needs, temperament, moods and preferences of each child and adapt their care to meet those individual needs. To provide care for infants and toddlers with special needs, caregivers need training and support from community partners.
Promotion of health and safety - Babies and toddlers are more susceptible than older children to infectious disease because their immune systems are not fully developed. A quality group child care setting for young children should be safe and sanitary but interesting to children and efficiently maintained to allow time for intimate, responsive interaction.
Age appropriate physical environment - Spaces must provide growing infants with a wide variety of interesting objects, textures and physical challenges, while neither overwhelming them with choices or jeopardizing their safety.
Infant / Toddler Care
1 J. Ron Lally, Abbey Griffiin, Emily Fenichel, Marilyn Segal, Eleanor Stokes Szanton, and Bernice Weissbourd (1995), Caring for Infants and Toddlers in Groups: Developmentally Appropriate Practice.
|
|
|
|
