B10-Early Childhood Care & Education

BLOCK – I THE EARLY YEARS: AN OVERVIEW
Introduction
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which describes the time in child’s life between
birth and age 5. This stage covers the Nursery and Reception Class and offers a carefully
integrated two-year programme of learning. This is a very important stage as it helps your child
get ready for school as well as preparing them for their future learning and successes. Their
early years experience should be happy, active, exciting, fun and secure; and support their
development, care and learning needs. Your child will be learning skills, acquiring new
knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through seven areas of learning and
development.
Children should mostly develop the prime areas first. These are Communication and
language, Physical development and Personal, social and emotional development. These prime
areas are those most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning. As
children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in four specific areas. These are:
Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the world and Expressive arts and design.
These seven areas are used to plan your child’s learning and activities. The EYFS
curriculum teaches and supports your child and ensures that the activities are suited to your
child’s individual needs and it’s designed to be really flexible so that the EYFS practitioners
can follow your child’s unique needs and interests. Children in the EYFS learn by playing and
exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors
and outside.
In this block we have mention two units. Unit-1 Facts about Early Childhood Learning
& Development. Neural Plasticity Critical Periods of Development of Motor, Auditory, Visual,
Linguistic & Cognitive Skills. And Unit-2 Sensitive Periods of Learning: Maria Montessori’s
Framework & Windows of Opportune Blocky & Learning Timelines of Development in Young
Children Integrating Theories of Development & Learning for Early Childhood Education
Curricula.
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UNIT - 1 FACTS ABOUT EARLY CHILDHOOD
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
Structure
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Objection
1.3 Facts About Early Childhood Learning & Development
1.4 Neural Plasticity,
1.5 Critical Periods of Development of Motor System
1.5.1 Development of Auditory System
1.5.2 Development of Visual System
1.5.3 Development of Linguistic & Cognitive Skills
1.6 Unit Summary
1.7 Assignment
1.8 Points for Discussion and Clarification
1.8.1 Points for Discussion
1.8.2 Points for Clarification
Key Words
1.9 Reference
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Child development refers to the changes that occur as a child grows and develops in
relation to being physically healthy, mentally alert, emotionally sound, socially competent and
ready to learn. The first five years of a child’s life are fundamentally important. They are the
foundation that shapes children’s future health, happiness, growth, development and learning
achievement at school, in the family and community, and in life in general.
1.2 OBJECTIVES
After complete this unit you will be able to:
• To explain about the Facts About Early Childhood Learning & Development
• To Understand Neural Plasticity,
• To describe about the Critical Periods of Development of Motor: Development of
Auditory, Development of Visual. Development of Linguistic & Cognitive Skills.
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1.3 FACTS ABOUT EARLY CHILDHOOD LEARNING &
DEVELOPMENT
The first five years are particularly important for the development of the child’s brain,
and the first three years are the most critical in shaping the child’s brain architecture. Early
experiences provide the base for the brain’s organizational development and functioning
throughout life. They have a direct impact on how children develop learning skills as well as
social and emotional abilities. Children learn more quickly during their early years than at any
other time in life. They need love and nurturing to develop a sense of trust and security that
turns into confidence as they grow. Babies and young children grow, learn and develop rapidly
when they receive love and affection, attention, encouragement and mental stimulation, as well
as nutritious meals and good health care. Understanding the stages of child development helps
parents know what to expect and how to best support the child as she or he grows and develops.
In many settings, early childhood programmes support parents and their children from infancy
through age 8, which includes the important transition from home to school.
All children have the right to be raised in a family and to have access to quality health
care, good nutrition, education, play and protection from harm, abuse and discrimination.
Children have the right to grow up in an environment in which they are enabled to reach their
full potential in life. Here are 13 of the most incredible facts about early childhood development.
a. The Pattern of Physical Changes

Children’s growth follows a directional pattern in which the canter of the body begins to
develop before the extremities. Small muscles develop after larger muscles, and from there
development moves in a top-down pattern that begins at the head and moves down towards the
toes. Bones are also changing; when your baby is born they have a total of 300 bones, but by
the time they reach adulthood they will only have 206 bones. This is because a number of
bones, such as the skull, fuse together as child ages.
b. Nature Vs. Nurture

Nature vs. nurture is a long-standing debate, but the latest science proves it’s a definite
mixture of the two. Genes and environment work together and influence how a child develops.
For instance, even something as seemingly predetermined by genes as height can be shortcut
by environment if proper nutrition isn’t provided.
c. Keep Up the Baby Talk

‘Baby talk’ or speaking in slow, simplified or exaggerated speech is actually hugely
beneficial to babies. Science has found baby talk helps infants develop word recognition at an
earlier age. Babies who hear a lot of baby talk from mom, dad and other caregivers are more
likely to pick up language sooner than babies who do not.
d. Language Comes in 4 Stages

Before child learns to fully communicate via language there are four basic stages they
will go through: babbling, single-word stage, two-word sentences, and finally multi-word stage.
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e. Loving, Authoritative Parents Win
The latest research on parenting finds that the most effective parenting style is
authoritative. An effective authoritative parent shows plenty of love and support but also sets
limits, expectations, and follows through with fair consequences for poor behaviour. Children
raised under these conditions are more likely to become happy, confident and sufficient adults
capable of succeeding out in the real world.
f. Baby’s Brain is Rapidly Growing

Between the day child is born and the day they turn 3-years-old their brain has developed
to 95% of its full capacity. That’s a hefty amount that can’t be ignored, proving the need for
enriching childhood experiences that fuel this growth and development.
g. Infants and Toddlers are Smarter Than They Sound

By age 1 child may not be able to say very many words but they can understand an
average of 70 words. Around the 18th month mark will notice child’s working vocabulary
suddenly explode. In fact, around this time the average toddler adds one new word to their
vocal every two hours they are awake.
h. Preschoolers Develop a Sense of Self

Around the time child is ready for preschool they will begin to develop a sense of self, or
the ability to recognize they are separate from their peers and even you. Your average preschooler
might grab their truck from a peer and shout “Mine!” Sure it seems selfish but really they are
just asserting what their little minds have just realized, they are their own individuals and that
really is their truck. This offers the perfect opportunity to agree and validate your child’s statement
but then explain the importance (and perks) of sharing.
i. Learning to Understand Others Comes a Little Later

Most toddlers follow the rules because they don’t want to get into trouble. Around the
time child enters grade school they will start to develop a conscious in regards to how their
actions impact others. As this occurs children are better able to understand the difference between
right and wrong.
j. Baby Bodies Grow Fast, But Not As Fast As Their Brains

Babies grow like plants in the springtime, incredibly fast! By the time little one turns
one-year they have likely tripled their birth weight and grown around 12 inches (or 1 to 1 ½
inches per month). If baby’s body kept pace with how quickly their brain is growing they
would weigh a whopping 170 pounds by their first birthday.
k. Music Is Good for the Mind and Soul

Music naturally makes people happy but it also helps fuel healthy learning. Singing
along, playing an instrument or just listening to music all help boost spatial orientation as well
as mathematical thinking.
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l. Only Babies Can Breath and Swallow at Once
Up until the time child turns 6-7 months they are capable of breathing and swallowing at
the same time, a skill that will be lost near the half-year mark. Go ahead and try it!
Number one proven way to Promote Childhood Learning & Healthy Development is
Quality Preschool
High quality childcare is proven to improve child’s life in the future by keeping them
ahead of their peers from the get-go. This is why it is so important that children have the
opportunity to enrol in preschool regardless of economics. Early Childcare Program was
instituted to help level the playing fields, offering all children the chance at a quality preschool
experience.
How Children Learn: Stage-Wise

Each stage of early childhood, inspire of being inter-connected and interdependent,
exhibits a different pattern of growth and development. Thus, it becomes important for us to
explore the stage-wise developmental track thoroughly to understand how children learn in
early years.
How Infants and toddlers (0 – 2+) learn

Experiencing the environment through the senses (seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling,
and feeling), physical movement, and being in the midst of socially responsive adults are the
basis of learning for infants and toddlers. Infants, who are not mobile also absorb and organise
a great deal of information about the world around them and they benefit from the caregivers
who carry them around and show them interesting events and people. Mobile infants and toddlers
increasingly use language, toys, and other learning materials in their play. Adults play a crucial
role in the socialisation of the infants and toddlers. Warm and positive relationships with adults
are highly beneficial detrimental for the infants to develop a sense of trust in the world around
them.
The interaction with their environment and the adults is critical for the development of
the child’s positive self-esteem. The trusted adults form the secure foundation for exploring the
environment by the mobile infants or toddlers. Solitary play (0–2 years) is the prominent feature
of this age. Children enjoy playing with an adult or an older child but do not interact much with
the children of the same age group. Children grab important skills including personal-care
habits such as toileting, feeding, and dressing during these years.
Giving ample opportunities to the child for self-initiated repetitions, practising newly
acquired skills and experiencing feelings of autonomy and success is the most appropriate
teaching technique for this age group. Infants will bat at, grasp, bang, or drop their toys. Imitation,
hiding, and naming games can lead to phenomenal changes in the amount of children’s learning
at this stage. Realistic toys may enable the children to engage in increasingly complex types of
play. Two-year-olds are learning to produce language rapidly. They need simple books, pictures,
puzzles, music, and time and space for active play such as jumping, running, and dancing.
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How 3 to 5-year-old children learn
Three-year-olds love to talk and listen. However, activity and movement, with major
emphasis on large-muscle activity, are equally necessary. They enjoy dramatic play, moving
toys and climbers, puzzles and blocks, and opportunities to talk and listen to simple stories.
The four-year-olds need variety of experiences with larger focus on fine-motor activities
such as using a pair of scissors, doing art work, playing with manipulative objects like puzzles,
and cooking. Children of this age become enabled of concentrating, remembering and recognising
objects by shape, colour, or size. An understanding of basic mathematical concepts and problem-
solving skills starts getting developed in the four year-olds. An expansion in the size of the play
group of the children is also noted after 3 years of age. At 3+ children like to play with two or
three others; by 4+ they can readily participate and cooperate in activities involving five to
eight children in a group. They are also ready to manage and handle group play independently.
The ability to combine ideas into more complex relations is generally exhibited by the
children completing 5th year of their age. Their memory and fine motor physical skills improve
remarkably. Children of this age also display a growing interest in the functional aspects of
written language, such as recognising meaningful words and trying to write their own names.
Activities designed and exhibited in a print-rich environment are more appropriate for the
children of this age group to stimulate the development of their language and literacy skills in
a meaningful context. This is the verge of the age where a child can go beyond his/her immediate
experience of self, home, and family. They also show growing interest in community and the
world outside their own. They enjoy special events, trips and excursions.
1.4 NEURAL PLASTICITY

The brain undergoes dramatic changes early in life that coincide with both normative
development and learning or experience. Both of these agents of change are supported by
emergent neural processes that reflect and support behavioural modifications. As such,
development alb cognitive neuroscientists have had a long-standing interest in understanding
whether the biological substrates underlying learning and development are the same.
Neural plasticity is one of the most fascinating and challenging questions in neuroscience.
Almost five decades ago, Hebb established a theoretical framework describing the phenomenon
that the brain adapts to its environment based on experience and development [Hebb, 1949].
According to the theories of neuroplasticity, thinking and learning change both the brain’s
physical structure and functional organization. Basic mechanisms that are involved in plasticity
include neurogenesis, programmed cell death, and activity-dependent synaptic plasticity.
The Plasticity of Developmental Timing

Understanding whether the same neural mechanisms underlie both development and learning
will address larger questions about developmental timing and experience- expectant processes.
Are there certain cognitive processes that can be ‘‘sped up’’ with training or developmentally
prolonged with experience? Animal work has suggested that the length of time that the developing
nervous system remains sensitive to experience-expectant events can be manipulated.
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Check Your Progress-1
1. What are the facts of early child hood learning and development?
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2. What is Neural Plasticity?
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According to Elizebeth Hurlock total development takes place with the coordination of
physical, cognitive, emotional, social and moral development. Standards of Development
i) Physical and Motor Development: Body weight is an index of nutritional status . Body
weight depends upon age, sex, physical and pubescent status. Trend the growth in weight parallel
that in height but the rate is rapid in case of weight. The child ordinarily doubles his birth
weight in 6 months but requires four years double his height. A child’s motor development
influences on social and emotional adjustment.
ii) Cognitive Development: During this period child constructs symbols, uses language
and indulges in make believe play. The child begins to develop imagery, distinguished between
‘words’ and ‘things’. The range of cognitive functioning and thinking are expanded. Play and
imitation begin to appear though child cannot immediately construct such operations.
iii) Emotional Development: Emotional development is joint functions of maturation
and learning. Conditioning and imitation do influence the development of emotional patterns
in childhood. Anger is more frequent response than fear in early childhood. Children’s emotions
are brief at this stage. Jealousy is more often in girls than boys. Several factors associated with
emotions like school, peers, health, discipline, home etc.
iv) Social Development: Social development means the development of good habits and
good behavior, the right attitude and value. The child into a distinctly socialized individual at
this stage. The child also develops competitive attitude, aggression, rivalry and negativism
appear and are resolved. The child imagines through active play depends upon the group.
iv) Moral Development: Moral behavior refers to behavior in conformity with the moral
code of the social group. Moral development occurs primarily through interactions with others.
The child learns expectations of the group in terms of certain laws or rules a sense of
right or wrong, the rules of social life. Discipline, punishment system, rewards have social life.
Discipline, punishment system, rewards have differential role in development of moral behavior.
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1.5 CRITICAL PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT OF MOTOR
SYSTEM
Critical period;
In developmental psychology and developmental biology, a critical period is a maturational
stage in the lifespan of an organism during which the nervous system is especially sensitive to
certain environmental stimuli. If, for some reason, the organism does not receive the appropriate
stimulus during this “critical period” to learn a given skill or trait, it may be difficult, ultimately
less successful, or even impossible, to develop some functions later in life. Functions that are
indispensable to an organism’s survival, such as vision, are particularly likely to develop during
critical periods. “Critical period” also relates to the ability to acquire one’s first language.
Researchers found that people who passed the “critical period” would not acquire their first
language fluently.
Some researchers differentiate between ‘critical’ and ‘sensitive’ periods—defining
‘sensitive’ periods as more extended periods, after which learning is still possible. Other
researchers consider these the same phenomenon.
For example, the critical period for the development of a human child’s binocular vision
is thought to be between three and eight months, with sensitivity to damage extending up to at
least three years of age. Further critical periods have been identified for the development of
hearingand the vestibular system. There are critical periods during early postnatal development
in which imprinting can occur, such as when a greylag goose becomes attached to a parent
figure within the first 36 hours after hatching. A young chaffinch must hear an adult singing
before it sexually matures, or it never properly learns the highly intricate song.
Confirming the existence of a critical period for a particular ability requires evidence
that there is a point after which the associated behavior is no longer correlated with age, and
ability stays at the same level. Some experimental research into critical periods has involved
depriving animals of stimuli at different stages of development, while other studies have looked
at children deprived of certain experiences due to illness (such as temporary blindness), or
social isolation (such as feral children). Many of the studies investigating a critical period for
language acquisition have focused on deaf children of hearing parents.
DEVELOPMENT OF MOTORSYSTEM
Motor system development comprises three major components. Firstly, interactions
between home domain transcription factors and ventral and dorsal cell fate signalling molecules
determine cell location and fate, and interactions between various axon growth signalling
molecules map out early patterns of connectivity. Secondly, spontaneous activity in the emerging
circuitry produces simple motor behaviours and reinforces functional synaptic connectivity
within the central pattern generators. Less well understood is a third phase during which the
arrival of descending pathways brings about a reorganisation that allows mature motor behaviours
to emerge under the control of higher brain centres. The critical periods for attempting early
therapeutic interventions following brain injury to correct the developmental trajectory of the
motor system.
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During this stage, the infant responds to the world through sensory and motor schemes.
The infant lives in the here and now, having little concept of the future, and does not plan.
Piaget argued that the child in the period 0-2 years had simple internal representations of the
outside world. The child lives in and acts on the world but does not reflect on it.
1.5.1 Development of Auditory System

The type of auditory stimuli present in the early postnatal environment and the
development on the topographical and structural development of the auditory system.
The possibility of a critical period for thalamic cortical connectivity in the auditory
system. For example, Zhou and Merzenich (2008) studied the effects of noise on development
in the primary auditory cortex in rats. In their study, rats were exposed to pulsed noise during
the critical period and the effect on cortical processing was measured. Rats that were exposed
to pulsed noise during the critical period had cortical neurons that were less able to respond to
repeated stimuli; the early auditory environment interrupted normal structural organization
during development.
In a related study, Barkat, Polley and Hensch (2011) looked at how exposure to different
sound frequencies influences the development of the topic map in the primary auditory cortex
and the ventral medical geniculate body. In this experiment, mice were reared either in normal
environments or in the presence of 7 kHz tones during early postnatal days. They found that
mice that were exposed to an abnormal auditory environment during a critical period P11- P15
had an atypical ton topic map in the primary auditory cortex. These studies support the notion
that exposure to certain sounds within the critical period can influence the development of ton
topic maps and the response properties of neurons. Critical periods are important for the
development of the brain for the function from a pattern of connectivity. In general, the early
auditory environment influences the structural development and response specificity of the
primary auditory cortex.
1.5.2 Development of Visual System

In mammals, neurons in the brain that process vision actually develops after birth based
on signals from the eyes. A landmark experiment by David H. Hubel and Torsten Wiesel (1963)
showed that cats that had one eye sewn shut from birth to three months of age (monocular
deprivation) only fully developed vision in the open eye. They showed that columns in the
primary visual cortex receiving inputs from the other eye took over the areas that would normally
receive input from the deprived eye. In general electrophysiological analyses of axons and
neurons in the lateral geniculation nucleus showed that the visual receptive field properties
was comparable to adult cats. However, the layers of cortex that were deprived had less activity
and fewer responses were isolated. The kittens had abnormally small ocular dominance columns
(part of the brain that processes sight) connected to the closed eye, and abnormally large, wide
columns connected to the open eye. Because the critical period time had elapsed, it would be
impossible for the kittens to alter and develop vision in the closed eye. This did not happen to
adult cats even when one eye was sewn shut for a year because they had fully developed their
vision during their critical period. Later experiments in monkeys found similar results.
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1.5.3 Development of Linguistic & Cognitive Skills
Linguistic study was originally motivated by the correct description of classical liturgical
language, notably that of Sanskrit grammar, or by the development of logic and rhetoric in
ancient Greece, leading to a grammatical tradition in Hellenism. Beginning around the 4th
century BCE, China also developed its own grammatical traditions. Traditions of Arabic grammar
and Hebrew grammar developed during the middle Ages, also in a religious context.
Modern linguistics began to develop in the 18th century, reaching the “golden age of
philology” in the 19th century, with work almost entirely century around Indo-European studies
and leading to a highly elaborate and consistent reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European
language. The first half of the 20th century was marked by the structuralise school, based on
the work of Ferdinand de Saussure in Europe and Edward Sapir and Leonard Bloomfield in the
United States. The 1960s saw the rise of many new fields in linguistics, such as Noam Chomsky’s
generative grammar, William Labov’s sociolinguistics, Michael Halliday’s systemic functional
linguistics and also modern psycholinguistics. In the early 20th century, de Saussure distinguished
between the notions of langue and parole in the formulation of structural linguistics.
Cognitive skill development in children involves the progressive building of learning
skills, such as attention, memory and thinking. These crucial skills enable children to process
sensory information and eventually learn to evaluate, analyze, remember, make comparisons
and understand cause and effect. Although some cognitive skill development is related to a
child’s genetic makeup, most cognitive skills are learned. That means thinking and learning
skills can be improved with practice and the right training.
The relationship between language and cog-nitive development, especially in infancy
and early childhood. Modular perspectives posit that language development is controlled by
specialized mecha-nisms, much as the olfactory system evolved to detect, learn, and process
airborne particles. In this perspective, language learning might be quite inde-pendent of other
cognitive abilities. By contrast, con-structivist and biologically based perspectives tend to
emphasize the progressive, experience-dependent emergence of complex skills, including
language. These theories postulate that domain-general cogni-tive capacities and processes are
recruited to develop language. The frameworks make distinct predictions: Modular theories
expect language-specific learning processes and products. Constructivist and neuro-constructivist
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approaches expect language-learning processes and products to show deep commonalities with
non-linguistic learning.
A profound challenge in adjudicating between these views is that many capacities and
skills change with age: Perceptual sensitivities change with practice, everyday experiences
provide a ballooning data set for inductive inference and pattern detection, and incre-mental
practice leads to improvement of all sorts of actions and cognitive skills. Another challenge is
that methods and instruments for measuring linguistic and non-linguistic cognitive skills are
completely dif-ferent between infancy and early childhood and also between early childhood
and late childhood and ado-lescence.
Check Your Progress-2

1. What is Critical Periods of Motor Development?
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1.6 UNIT SUMMARY

The critical periods for attempting early therapeutic interventions following brain injury
to correct the developmental trajectory of the motor system.
The direct impact on how children develop learning skills as well as social and emotional
abilities. Every language skill that has been systematically investigated recruits general, non-
linguistic cognitive capacities and processes. There remain many achieve-ments of childhood
language, however, that have not been compared to non-linguistic analogues. Linguists
traditionally analyse human language by observing interplay between sound and meaning.
Phonetics is the study of speech and non-speech sounds, and delves into their acoustic and
articulator properties.
1.7 ASSIGNMENT
1. Explain about the facts of early child hood learning and development?
2. Write a short note about Motor development.
1.8 POINTS FOR DISCUSSION AND CLARIFICATION

After studying the unit, if you have any points for further discussion or clarifications, list
them below:

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KEY WORDS
Motor development-
Linguistic & Cognitive Skills-
Auditory-
Visual-
Neural Plasticity-
1.9 REFERENCE
• Sigman M, Neumann C, Carter E, Cattle DJ, D’Souza S, Bwibo N. Home interactions
and the development of Embu toddlers in Kenya Child Dev 1988; 59 1251-6.
• Belsky J. The ‘effects’ of infant day care reconsidered. Early Child Res Q 1988; 3: 235-72
• Hess EH. ‘Imprinting’ in a natural laboratory Set Am 1972; 227: 24—31
• McGurk H, Caplan M, Hennessy E, Moss P. Controversy, theory and social context I
contemporary day care research. / Child Psychol Psychiatry 1993; 34: 3-23
• Tamis-LeMonda C, Bornstein MH. Is there a ‘sensitive period’ in human mental
development?
• In: Bornstein MH (Ed) Sensitive Periods in Development: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1987; 163-82
• Bronfenbrenner U. Ecological systems theory. Ann Child Dev 1989; 6. 187-249
• Bronson GW. Infant differences in rate of visual encoding. Child Dev 1991; 62: 44—5
• Walton GE, Bower NJA, Bower TGR. Recognition of familiar faces by newboms Infant
Behav Dev 1992; 15: 265-9
• Piaget J. The Origins of Intelligence in Children. New York: International Universities
Press, 1952
• Piaget J. Piaget’s theory. In: Mussen PH (Ed) Carmichael’s Manual of Child Psychology
Vol. 1,3rd edn. New York: Wiley, 1970; 703-32
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UNIT - 2 SENSITIVE PERIODS OF LEARNING
Structure
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Objectives
2.3 Sensitive Periods of Learning
2.4 Maria Montessori’s Framework & Windows of Opport Blocky & Learning
2.5 Timelines of Development in Young Children
2.6 Integrating Theories of Development & Learning for Early Childhood Education
Curricula
Check Your Progress
2.7 Unit Summary
2.8 Assignment
Key Words
2.10 Reference
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The term refers to several overlapping periods of development where a child is sensitive
to a particular stimuli or type of interaction. According to Montessori, from birth until about
the age of six, we seem to learn from our environment without any conscious effort. Sensitive
periods are a term developed by the Dutch geneticist Hugo de Vries and later used by the Italian
educator Maria Montessori.
1.2 OBJECTIVES
After complete this unit you will be able to:
• To know about Sensitive Periods of Learning
• Explain about Maria Montessori’s Framework & Windows of Opport Blocky & Learning
• Describe Timelines of Development in Young Children
• Explain the Integrating Theories of Development & Learning for Early Childhood
Education Curricula
1.3 SENSITIVE PERIODS OF LEARNING

Sensitive period is in general and how it is characterized, you probably want to know
what the specific sensitive periods are and when they occur. Some sources will break the sensitive
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periods into chronological order. Others will split the sensitive periods into categories and then
subcategories. For the purpose of this lesson, we’ll keep it simple and describe the five main
categories of sensitive periods that occur between birth and age six. These categories are
language, order, sensory skills, motor skills, and social skills.
The first sensitive period category is language. This category takes place from birth all
the way to six years old. During this sensitive period, a child would be extremely sensitive to
vocal sounds and mimicking. A child would be more attracted to human speech than to other
sounds in their environment during this period. Without language stimulation at this time,
severe language deficits can occur.
The second sensitive period category is order. This period occurs roughly between the
ages of one to three years old. During this period a child is learning to draw conclusions and
organize information to make sense of the environment. There are four subgroups: spatial
order, social order, sensory order, and temporal order. If a child is unable to accomplish these
skills during this period, they may later experience difficulty with reasoning and learning.
Sensitive Periods for learning

Birth to 3 years:
The absorbent mind-the mind soaks up information like a sponge Sensory learning and
experiences: The child uses all five senses-touch; taste, feel, sight, and hearing-to understand
and absorb information about his or her environment
1½ to 3 years:
Language explosion-a child builds his or her future foundation for language at this period.
1 ½ to 4 years:
Development and coordination of fine and large muscle skills, advanced developing
grasp and release skill spawns an interest in any small object (usually dangerous ones on the
floor).
2. to 4 years:
Very mobile with greater coordination and refinement of movement, increased interest
in language and communication (they love to tell stories- true or not!), aware of spatial
relationships, matching, sequence and order of objects
2 ½ to 6 years:
Works well incorporating all five senses for learning and adapting to environment
3 to 6 years:
Interest and admiration of the adult world, they want to copy and mimic adults-such as
parents and teachers. One of the few times most children are very open to their parents and
other adults.
4 to 5 years:
Using one’s hands and fingers in cutting, writing and art. Their tactile senses are very
developed and acute.
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2.½ to 6 years:
Reading and math readiness, and eventually, reading and math skills. Montessori
developed a teaching programme that enabled ‘defective’ children to read and write she throught
to teach skill not by having children repeatedly try it, but by developing exercises that prepare
them.
Maria Montessori Works in India

Montessori came to India in 1939 and remained up to 1946. She spent her time in training
teachers for small children according to her method in Madras, she developed a program called
education for peace. Her works with the programme earned her two ‘Nobel Peace Prize’
nominations. Montessori died on May 6, 1952. Montessori teaching methods continue to “Follow
the child” all over the world now.
Montessori Education – Montessori is a method of education that is based on self directed
activity, hands on learning and collaborative play. In Montessori classrooms children make
creative choices in their learning while the classroom and the teacher offer age appropriate
activities to guide the process.
The Learning Process

According to Montessori there are three stages of learning:
Introduction to a concept. Processing the information an developing and understanding
of the meaning through work creation, experimentation, this gives the child a real ability to
learn and remember what she/he was learned. .
Processing the information demonstrated by the ability to teach or explain to others.
Philosophy of Education Children learn through their senses: Children built on their
physical experiences of the world through their senses, and that by carefully designing interesting
materials.
Children need freedom: Montessori saw freedom as the single most important factor in
allowing children to develop as spontaneous, creative individuals.
Children are natural learners: Montessori saw that children under went extraordinary
transformations in overall happiness, self confidence and self discipline when they were allowed
to follow their innate needs.
Teachers: Teachers educated in the Montessori method bring distinctive skills, called
a‘directress’ by Montessori method, and sometimes known as a guide. Teachers comes to know
each student’s interests, learning style and temperament. The teacher serves as a resource as
students go about their work. Teacher’s models values such as empathy, compassion and
acceptance of individual differences. Montessori thinks the teacher should care for the child
like a gardener who cares for the plants so that natural growth of the child is properly guided
and aided in the process of unfolding itself.
Suitable Environment: The directress should allow the child to grow according to his
own inner law. Her business to provide for suitable environment. She should provide children
with appropriate opportunities to think for them. Children House: The first school started by
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Montessori in 1907 was called a ‘Children’s House’. It provides all the requirements of a good
family house.
A children’s house has many rooms, like- study room, common room, rest room, material
work room, lunch room, bathroom, laboratory room, library room and gymnasium. The
environment of the house specifically designed to help children between ages of 2 ½ to 6 yrs,
to develop their own pecace, choosing their own activities from the Montessori materials which
are displayed in an ordered and accessible way. Tables, chairs etc., are specially made for the
children. The black boards are fixed in the walls on which the children draw or paste pictures
of different kind according to their own interests.
Material: Appropriate to the age of the children, environment should exhibit the following
characteristics: Beauty and harmony.
• Cleanness of environment.
• An arrangement that facilitates movements and activity.
• Construction in proportion to the child and his needs.
• Nature in the classroom and outside the classroom.
• Order.
Montessori observed in children from 3 to 6 years old a psychological state which she
termed ‘Normalization’. It arises from concentration and focus on activity which serves the
child’s development needs, and is characterized by the ability to concentrate as well as
spontaneous discipline.
However, Montessori and educational thought and practices bring many advantages
among the children, like- individual teaching, and freedom for children and education through
sense training, social values learning through living and scientific base method.
1.4 MARIA MONTESSORI’S FRAMEWORK & WINDOWS OF

OPPORT BLOCKY & LEARNING
Maria Montessori believed that every human being went through a quantum leap in
learning during the preschool years. She felt this was especially true from birth to the first few
years of life. The years when a child learns language is surely a profound and mysterious
process of learning. The urges that a baby has to sit up, crawl, and walk are also stages of
development that are innate. Montessori called this process of learning and behaviour norms as
the sensitive periods. During a sensitive period it is very easy to teach children certain concepts
that later on will be somewhat more difficult for an older child to learn. Dr. Montessori believed
that a child was the teacher in that we should observe our children to know what stage of
learning or sensitive period they are in. Here is the most used chart for the sensitive periods in
the Montessori approach:
Maria Montessori believed that children pass through phases in which at certain stags
throughout their development they have a predisposition or sensitivity to learning a specific
skill. These stages are called ‘sensitive periods’! Each period last for as long as it is necessary
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for the child to accomplish a particular stage in his development. These periods of sensitivity
are transitory and when the aim of the period is accomplished the special sensitivity simply
falls away. In other words it reaches its peak and dies away.
These sensitive periods can be thought of as moments of readiness for learning. Sensitive
periods appear as an intense interest for repeating certain actions over and over again, until, out
of repetition, a new skill emerges and is mastered. These sensitive periods manifest themselves
by a pattern of behaviour. A feature of growth at this stage e.g. a characteristic of such a period
is the repeated performance of song actions for no apparent reason. During these periods the
child shows vitality and pleasure in performing these actions. If the child has not been allowed
to work in accordance with the sensitive periods Montessori said it was like “a dropped stitch
in his mental life” because he would lose his special sensitivity and interest in that area and it
would affect his whole physic development! Harsh but true!
Characteristics
Montessori also notes that there are five observable behaviours that characterize sensitive
periods. First, you will see the child engaged in a clear activity with a beginning, middle, and
end. Second, the activity will be irresistible to the child. Third, the child will return to the
activity again and again. Fourth, the child will develop an emotional attachment to the activity.
And fifth, the child will appear satisfied when the activity is completed. ex; Let’s use Ronnie
again to illustrate these observable behaviours. Ronnie is clearly engaged in the activity of
stringing buttons. The activity begins with a string and some large buttons, which he will
continue to add to the string until he has used all of the buttons. He will always choose this
activity when it is presented, and he will do it over and over again. If the activity is taken away
before he is finished, Ronnie will cry and throw a tantrum. If he completes the activity to his
satisfaction, he is always happy and calm afterwards.
“The child has a creative aptitude, a potential energy that will enable it to build up a
mental world from the world about it. He makes numerous acquisitions during the sensitive
periods, which put him in relation to the other world in an exceptionally intense manner.” The
Secret of Childhood by Maria Montessori.
The following are the Sensitive Periods for Children Aged from Birth to 6 years of Age:
Sensitive Period for Order (age 18 months to 2 years)
Sensitive Period for Language (birth to 6 years)
Sensitive Period for Movement (birth to 4 years)
Sensitive Period for Refinement of the Senses (birth to 5 years)
Sensitive Period for Weaning (5 to 6 months)
Sensitive Period for Numbers (4 to 5.5 years)
Sensitive Period for Manners and Courtesies (2 to 6 years)
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Method of education Maris Montessori identified six major sensitive periods:
1. Sensitivity to Order:
This appears in the first year and continues through to the second year. During this time,
the child is striving to sort out and categorise all his experiences. It makes it easier for them if
there is some kind of order in their lives. They liked to be cared for in the same way by a
primary caregiver in a familiar environment. The child needs consistency and familiarity so
that he can orientate himself and construct a mental picture of the world. This need is particularly
evident in the child from about the age of 18 months. During this sensitive period change can
be very upsetting for a child, even a minor change can feel like the end of the world to them.
Providing order in a child’s life helps the child to become disorientated! This is why the prepared
environment is so important for the young child. Order helps the child to orientate himself and
organise his mind.
2. Sensitivity for Language:

The sensitive period for language begins at birth and go the whole way through the first
plane of development (0-6 years). A baby hears his mother’s voice and watches her lips and
tongue. By the age of six, with almost no direct teaching, the child will have acquired a large
vocabulary, basic sentence patterns and the inflections and accents of language. He will continue
to acquire more complex sentence structures and to extend his vocabulary throughout his
childhood. If a child has not been exposed to language (reading, listening, singing, writing etc.)
regularly, during this period he may be irrevocably damaged! Maria Montessori believed that it
was particularly important for adults to converse with children throughout this period, continually
enriching their language and giving them every opportunity to learn new words.
3. Sensitivity to Walking:
When the young child learns to walk at around 12 to 15 months, he has a need to perfect
the skill, and will walk and walk as told in Maria Montessori’s book “The Secret of Childhood”.
It is under estimated how long a child can walk for, once they are allowed to do it at their pace,
however the adult must be aware that they have no concept of time and they love to
explore.During this period the child is moving from being helpless into an active being and as
we all know this is when the real fun begins!
4. Sensitivity to the Social Aspects of Life:

At the age of about two and a half years to three years, the child becomes aware that he
is part of a group. He begins to show and intense interest in other children of his own age, and
gradually starts to play with them in a co-operative way. There is a sense of cohesion which
Maria Montessori believed came about spontaneously and was not directed by internal drives.
She noticed that at this stage, children begin to model themselves on adult social behaviour and
they gradually acquire the social norms of their group. This is an ideal time for developing
social convention and manners, rules, grace and courtesy are very important throughout this
sensitivity. During this period you may find that children need and want to be accepted by
anybody including parents, friends, family etc. Circle time, group play and Grace and Courtesy
lessons are all extremely beneficial to a child in this period.
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5. Sensitivity to Small Objects:
When the child reaches its first year and becomes more mobile and has a larger
environment in which to explore, he is drawn to small objects such as insects, pebbles, stones
and grass. He will pick something up, look at it closely and perhaps put it in his mouth. The
urge to pay attention to detail that children of his age have is part of their effort to build up an
understanding of the world. This sensitive period allows children follow the Practical Life
materials.
6. Sensitivity to Learning Through the Senses:

From the moment the child is born, he receives impressions from the worlds through his
five senses. Firstly, the senses of sight and hearing are active, and then gradually, as movement
develops, the sense of touch and smell play a role, followed by a sense of taste, as he is able to
put things into his mouth. By taste and touch the child can absorb the qualities of the objects in
his environment, therefore allowing the neurological structures of language to be developed.
The tongue and the hands are more connected to man’s intelligence than any other part of his
body. Montessori referred to them as ‘the instruments of man’s intelligence’. This interest in
sensory experience and the activities which they stimulate help to refine the child’s senses.
Maria Montessori recommended that a baby be kept close to his caregivers so that he can see
everything and hear what is going on around him. Then as soon as he can move around, he
needs plenty of freedom so that he can explore. The child needs this sensory exploration in
order to develop to its potential.
They are the main sensitive periods that Montessori believed that every child passes
through. A child can have smaller sensitive periods also, for example a child can have a sensitive
period for pouring. Throughout this period you may find that a child will repeat this actions for
long periods of time on a daily basis. This can often be mindboggling to an adult but often the
process is more important than the end result to a child. We pour things to move them from one
place to another but the child’s focus is on the simple act of pouring in itself.
1.1 TIMELINES OF DEVELOPMENT IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Spotting Developmental Delays
So how can you tell the difference between a child who is just taking his or her time and
one who has a true developmental delay? According to Marat Zeltsman, DO, of Joe DiMaggio
Children’s Hospital, a developmental delay is when a child does not reach a milestone by the
upper range of normal. Even though babies develop at their own pace, he explains, “Every
child should do certain tasks by a certain age.” These tasks fall into five main categories:
• Gross motor skills, such as crawling and walking
• Fine motor skills, such as stacking blocks or coloring
• Language skills, including speech and comprehension
• Thinking skills
• Social interaction
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Using input from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, WebMD compiled
a rough timeline of milestones in the above areas. Remember, a child can stray from this timeline
and still be within the range of normal, but it’s best to discuss any concerns with your pediatrician.
Timeline of Childhood Milestones

2 Months Smiles at the sound of your voice and follows you with their eyes as you
move around a room
3 Months Raises head and chest when lying on stomach Grasps objects Smiles at
other people
4 Months Babbles, laughs, and tries to imitate sounds; holds head steady
6 Months Rolls from back to stomach and stomach to back Moves objects from
hand to hand
7 Months Responds to own name Finds partially hidden objects
9 Months Sits without support, crawls, babbles "mama" and "dada"
12 Months Walks with or without support Says at least one word Enjoys imitating
people
18 Months Walks independently, drinks from a cup, says at least 15 words, points to
body parts
2 Years Runs and jumps Speaks in two-word sentences Follows simple instructions
Begins make-believe play
3 Years Climbs well Speaks in multiword sentences Sorts objects by shape and
color
4 Years Gets along with people outside the family Draws circles and squares Rides
a tricycle
5 Years Tells name and address Jumps, hops, and skips Gets dressed Counts 10 or
more objects
Educational significance of sensitive periods

One of Montessori’s most valuable contributions is her understanding of the educational
value of the sensitive periods. When the education of children is based on and organized around
the sensitive periods, children work with an enthusiasm and sustained interest that is truly
amazing. Their development is strong and steady.
Maria Montessori proposes that we prepare an environment where the child educates
himself through materials that correspond to his sensitive periods.This can be as simple as
having puzzles and bead stringing when your child begins to want to handle small objects.
It can mean offering a small broom and dust cloth for your child to accompany you when
you clean.It can mean you provide movable letters for which you teach the sounds, so the child
can begin to build words.Your child’s internal fires of development literally use an external
activity to promote and facilitate its development and expansion.
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Learning that takes place during the sensitive periods is powerful and long lasting. It is
powerful because it is inwardly driven rather than outwardly imposed. It is long-lasting because
in their early years children are forming themselves out of the raw material of their experiences.
When they form themselves and build their brain with ample connections from enriched
experiences, they have the apparatus they need for a productive future.
2.6 INTEGRATING THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT &

LEARNING FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
CURRICULA
Important goals of preschool programs are to help children acquire social skills and
learning-related skills. Although beneficial for all children, these programs are especially
important for children in disadvantaged groups, guiding them toward healthier development
and giving them the tools they need before school entry.
High quality early care and education has been associated with both short-term and long-
term cognitive, social, and emotional benefits for young children’s development. When quality
is discussed, it is typically measured by two dimensions: (1) process variables (e.g., the nature
of children’s interactions with adult caregivers) and (2) structural variables (e.g., the
characteristics that can be regulated by policy and that create beneficial conditions for children’s
development, including adult:child ratios, group size, and teacher training). In discussions of
quality, curriculum – or the content of what is taught to children – has not been the focal point
until recently.
Subject
Throughout the evolution of early childhood education, curriculum has been entangled,
and often confused, with important and related issues (i.e., beliefs, learning theories/pedagogies,
and skills/standards). Curriculum is different from, but reflects, guiding principles or beliefs
about children and their learning.
Three beliefs prevail in the field today: (a) children are competent and eager learners
whose natural curiosity yields rich learning trajectories;
(b) children learn in an integrated way, so that specific subject area learning (e.g., math,
science, language) best take place within the context of child-generated experiences (e.g.,
cooking, gardening, constructing); and
(c) children need exposure to all domains of development – physical and motor, language,
cognitive, social and emotional – so no single domain takes precedence over any other.
Curriculum is also different from, but closely linked to, learning theories and pedagogies.
Behaviourist theories of child development led to highly didactic models of direct instruction
in which teachers typically present discrete facts to the entire class of children in whole groups.
Maturationist theories of child development, where children are allowed to develop at their
own pace, advanced pedagogy and curricula that enable children to direct their own learning.
Constructivist theories of child development advanced pedagogy wherein children are active
partners with their socio-cultural environment, including teachers and peers.
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Finally, curriculum is different from, but supportive of, children’s skills and behaviours.
Curriculum is intended to encourage learning processes (e.g., attention, observation, memory),
cognitive skills (e.g., reasoning, comparing and contrasting, classification), and the acquisition
of specific information (e.g., the names of numbers and letters of the alphabet). In this sense,
curriculum is sometimes confused with standards or expectations of what children should know
and do.
Curriculum, then, must be clearly understood for what it is and for what it uniquely
contributes to early care and education. Curriculum is the content of what is taught and what is
learned.
• Children are active and engaged. Children learn best by exploring and thinking about
all sorts of phenomena. As such, children need to be active in their learning, not just
cognitively, but also physically, socially, and artistically. Effective curriculum ensures
that important concepts are taught through projects, every day experiences, collaborative
activities, and an active curriculum.
• Goals are clear and shared by all. Curriculum goals should be clearly defined, shared,
and understood by all adults who have a stake in children’s learning (e.g., families,
teachers, program administrators).
• The curriculum and related teaching strategies should be designed to help achieve goals
in a unified, coherent way.
• Teachers have frequent, meaningful interactions with children. As already noted,
curriculum and the content of what young children need to learn, know, and be able to do
is closely linked with pedagogy and how such content is delivered. As a consequence,
curriculum implementation relies primarily on teachers and the nature of teacher/child
interactions. Teachers’ engagement with children also allows them to regularly assess
each child’s progress and make adjustments in the classroom as necessary. Effective
pedagogical and assessment strategies rely to a large extent on teachers’ experience levels
and educational backgrounds. To support effective teaching, curriculum should be linked
to on-going professional development for teachers.
• Curriculum is evidence-based. The curriculum should be based on evidence that is
developmentally, culturally, and linguistically relevant for the children who will
experience the curriculum. It should be organized around principles of child development
and learning. When subject-specific curricula are adopted, they should also meet the
standards of relevant professional organizations (e.g., the National Council of Teachers
of English or the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics).
• Curriculum builds on children’s prior learning and experiences. The content and
implementation of the curriculum should build on children’s prior individual, age-related,
and cultural learning and be inclusive of children with disabilities. In addition, curriculum
should support the knowledge that children gain from their families and communities
and support children whose home language is not English in building a solid base for
later learning. Effective curricula offer guidance, adaptations, and specific strategies to
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differentiate teaching and classroom activities according to the characteristics and
backgrounds of the children.
• Curriculum is comprehensive. In spite of pressures to emphasize language, literacy,
and mathematics, the curriculum should encompass all areas of development including
children’s physical health; well-being and motor development; social and emotional
development; approaches to learning; language development, and cognition and general
knowledge. Rather than adopting a didactic, school-based approach in which each subject
is taught distinctly and at separate times, curricula in early care and education should
explicitly integrate learning across domains.
• Curriculum is aligned with learning standards and appropriate assessments.
Increasingly, policy-makers and practitioners alike are concerned with improving
children’s learning experiences. This concern is manifest in the increased attention to a
systemic and systematic approach to accountability that sets specific learning outcomes
(i.e., early learning standards), guidance on what content to deliver to young children
(i.e., curriculum), and assessment procedures that document children’s progress. However,
attending to each independently is insufficient; effective curriculum is well aligned with
standards and assessments.
Check Your Progress

1. Explain the Sensitive Periods of Learning.
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2. Write a short note about Maria Montessori’s Framework & Windows of Opport Blocky
& Learning
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2.7 UNIT SUMMARY

Curriculum, or the content of what children learn, is central to supporting and
strengthening young children’s learning and development because it is the “front line” of
children’s experiences. Curriculum is different from beliefs about children, pedagogy, learning
standards, and children’s skills. Nonetheless, curriculum is central not only to the knowledge
and skills children gain, but also to the application of particular pedagogical approaches and to
the nature of teacher/caregiver-child interactions. With increasing numbers of children in early
care and education programs, coupled with the increasing focus on school readiness, effective
curriculum is crucial. Moreover, as the press for accountability increases, children must be
exposed to the content for which they and their teachers will be held accountable
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2.8 ASSIGNMENT
1. What are Sensitive periods of learning?
2. Explain about Maria Montessori’s method of learning.
3. What is Timelines of Development in Young Children?
4. Explain about Integrating Theories of Development & Learning for Early Childhood
Education Curricula.

them below:

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..........................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................
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Key Words
Sensitive periods
Montessori method
2.10 REFERENCES
• National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research
Network. Child-care structure -> process -> outcome: Direct and indirect effects of childcare
quality on young children’s development. Psychological Science 2002;13(3):199–206.
• Vandell DL, Wolfe B. Child care quality: Does it matter and does it need to be improved?
Madison, Wis: Institute for Research on Poverty; 2000. Available at: http://
ecti.hbg.psu.edu/docs/publication/vandell.pdf. Accessed June 07, 2006.
• National Research Council. Eager to learn: Educating our preschoolers. Washington,
DC: National Academy Press; 2001.
websites ;
• https://www.webmd.com › Parenting › Baby › Feature Stories
• www.earlyyearscount.earlychildhood.qld.gov.au/.../timeline-brain-development-birth/
• www.child-encyclopedia.com/preschool.../preschool-programs-effective-curricula https:/
/www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/9679_010979.pdf
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BLOCK – II EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION OF
CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
Introduction
The purpose of this block is to provide an overview of disability in early childhood and
highlight the importance of development of activities in through curriculum during this period
to ensure children with disabilities have the same opportunities as all children to reach their
development potential and participate meaningfully in their home, school and community
environments.
Early childhood spans the pre-natal period to eight years of age. It is the most intensive
period of brain development throughout the lifespan and therefore is the most critical stage of
human development. Before birth and in the first few years of life plays a vital role in health
and social outcomes.
While genetic factors play a role in shaping children’s development, evidence indicates
that the environment has a major influence during early stage.
Early childhood development (ECD) is a generic term that refers to a child’s cognitive,
social, emotional and physical development. The same term is often used to describe a range of
programmes which have the ultimate goal of improving young children’s capacity to develop
and learn and which may occur at many different levels such as child, family and community,
and across different sectors such as health, education, and social protection.
In this block unit – 3 describes about the children at risk, causes of risk factors and,
how to observe the behaviors each stage, identify where the child requires further support,
development of system approach of Gurlanick (2000) was discussed. Development of curricular
activities each domain wise , importance of symbolic play, development of literacy skills and
development of cultural activities in early child hood was discussed, finally Evidence based
practices for children with disabilities were discussed in unit- 4.
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UNIT-3 EARLY CHILDHOOD INTERVENTION –
YOUNG CHILDREN AT RISK & CHILD
TRACKING
Structure
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Objectives
3.3. Children at Risk,
3.3.1 Causes for Risk Factors
3.4 What is Tracking Observation?
3.4.1. Why child Tracking is Important?
3.5 Interdisciplinary Assessments & Intervention Plans
3.6 Developmental Systems Model for Early Intervention (of guralnick, 2001)
3.7 Unit Summary
3.8 Assignment
Key Words
3.10 References
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Early childhood is the period from prenatal development to eight years of age. It is
crucial phase of growth and development because experiences during early childhood can
influence outcomes across the entire course of an individual’s life). For all children
earlychildhood provides an important window of opportunity to prepare the foundation for
life-long learning and participation, while preventing potential delays in development and
disabilities. For children who experience disability, it is a vital time to ensure access to
interventions, which can help them reach their full potential.
Despite being more vulnerable to developmental risks, young children with disabilities
are often overlooked in mainstream programmes and services designed to ensure child
development .They also do not receive the specific supports required to meet their rights and
needs. Understanding children-at-risk is especially important in the 21st century.
3.2 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit the reader will be able to;
• Understand the definition of child at risk , causes of risk factors ,
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• Explains the child tracking , why child tracking is important
• Understands about interdisciplinary assessment in early childhood education
• Explains the development system approach in early intervention of gurlanick
3.3 CHILDREN – AT- RISK

Definition;
Children-at-risk are persons under 18 who experience an intense and/or chronic risk
factor, or a combination of risk factors in personal, environmental and/or relational domains
that prevent them from pursuing and fulfilling their God-given potential. Many factors surround
children as they grow up. Some of them are related to the classroom; many more are family ad
environmental factors. .
At risk is a term used to describe a number of different categories of children. At risk
refers to infants and young children who are physically, medically, or psychologically in danger
of failing to thrive and also includes children who are affected by diverse economic,
environmental, and geographical factors.
Risk factors are the biological or environmental causes of potential disabilities. When
children are considered high risk or at risk, they are seen to be more prone to developing some
form of disabling condition or for adverse effects of school learning and behaviour.
The Importance of Etiological Considerations

Etiology is the process of finding causes to explain how a particular problem came into
existence. A behavioral phenotype refers to patterns of behavior or the specific and characteristic
behavioral repertoire exhibited by individuals with a certain condition.
Knowledge of the patho physiology, symptom logy, and treatment of exceptional conditions
is important for educational professionals because:
• The causes of disabilities cannot easily be separated from the developmental
consequences;
• Effective treatment requires an appropriate theoretical understanding of a problem;
• Recent genetic research provides dramatic evidence that students affected by different
genetic conditions present quite different profiles;
• Teachers’ knowledge imparts confidence in their ability to cope;
• Teachers’ understanding of medical conditions aids them in becoming sensitized to the
social, emotional, and educational problems resulting from a child’s disabilities;
• Medical management for health problems can be a significant part of a child’s daily life;
• Some children with disabilities require medication on a regular basis;
• Some children with disabilities have difficulty participating in certain physical activities.
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3.3.1 Causes for Risk Factors
Risk connotes a given probability but does not imply certainty and not all children who
fall within these categories of increased vulnerability become disabled. The thousands upon
thousands of risk factors can be slotted into three major categories: established risk, biological
risk and environmental risk.
Some children seem to be more resilient than others are. Resilience has been shown to
be associated with a number of factors that include good cognitive skills, curiosity, enthusiasm,
and high self-esteem.
A. Established Risk
The established risk category refers to medical conditions and anomalies that invariably
result in a disability or developmental delay. Established risk is most often related to genetic
and chromosomal problems, and includes conditions such as Down syndrome, fragile X
syndrome, and Tay-Sachs disease. Problems may range from relatively minor through to major
difficulties, called the continuum of reproductive casualty.
B. Genetic and Chromosomal Differences

All individuals are born with a unique combination of genes that are theirs alone from
the moment of conception. One tiny flaw in the genetic structure can have tragic results.
C. Chromosomal Disorders
Chromosomal problems result from chromosomal disjunction, a malfunction in cell
division. Problems occur when there is an extra chromosome, or when pieces or parts of
chromosomes attach themselves to other chromosomes. The most common chromosomal
aberration is Down syndrome. Fragile X syndrome is second only to Down syndrome among
genetic abnormalities associated with intellectual disabilities.
D. Genetic Disorders
There are a large number of confirmed or suspected dominant genetic disorders that can
result in mental retardation and other disabilities. Congenital abnormalities, or hereditary
abnormalities, are present at birth.
Patterns of inheritance may be dominant, recessive, or multifactorial. Some disorders
are linked to the genes on the twenty-third pair of chromosomes. In X-linked inheritance, the
sons have a fifty-fifty chance of inheriting the condition through the mother.
Inborn Errors of Metabolism-factors

Metabolic problems due to heredity are termed inborn errors of metabolism. Most
inborn errors of metabolism are the result of the action of a single pair of genes. Many result in
missing or defective enzymes. The absence of, or defect in, one of the enzymes means that the
normal chemistry of a cell is altered by the inability to provide or dispose of a critical chemical
or protein, which leads to unusual levels of particular chemicals in the body.
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A. Tay-Sachs Disease
Tay-Sachs results from an enzyme deficiency caused by a single autosomal recessive
gene. Infants appear normal at birth, but the nervous system is gradually destroyed because of
the missing enzyme, hexosamidose A. Death is inevitable, usually occurring between four and
six years of age.
B. Phenyl ketonuria
PKU is a problem with modifier genes-genes that act on other genes and determine how
the other genes express themselves. In PKU, the condition is marked by an inability to normally
oxidize the amino acid phenylalanine, which is found in fish, dairy products, and most protein
sources. Early screening and a special diet eliminates or diminishes the effects of PKU.
C. Deletion Syndromes
In these rare diseases, is it not a case of aberrant genes. Rather, there is too little genetic
material or there is at least one gene missing.
D. Syndromes with Abnormal Chromosome Numbers

In a relatively high number of births (1 in 400), a disorder can be caused by an abnormal
number of X or Y-chromosomes. The most common variation is Klinefelter syndrome, which
is found in 1 in every 700 male births.
E. Biological Risk
Children who are at biological risk have a history of developmental events, such as
prematurity, that place them in the at-risk category.
Prenatal Period factors

From the moment of conception until delivery nine months later, the human being is
more susceptible to the environment than at any other time. The opening third of pregnancy,
the first trimester, is the most important to development. Potentially dangerous prenatal factors
include infections and intoxicants as well as chromosomal and genetic aberrations.
a. Infections and Intoxicants

Many agents act deleteriously on the developing fetus. Teratogens are environmental
agents that can cause damage.
b. Rubella
Rubella is a potential source of a variety of disabilities; when the mother contracts the
virus in the first trimester of pregnancy, approximately 70 percent of fetuses are damaged. The
fetal organs likely to be affected by rubella are those whose development is underway when the
mother contracts the virus. The eye, ear, nervous system, and heart are especially vulnerable.
c. Syphilis
Syphilis affects the fetus after the sixteenth or eighteenth week of gestation. It does not
affect the developing organs as does rubella, but produces destructive lesions (abnormal changes
in structure) on already developed organs.
29
d. Drugs : Drugs include over-the-counter drugs, prescription drugs, hard drugs, and
alcohol and nicotine. In terms of children’s development, researchers are unable to conclusively
identify a set of characteristics that represent prenatal drug exposure. Not only is it difficult to
attribute specific characteristics to certain drugs, but care giving of the infant serves to strengthen
or mitigate unfortunate outcomes.
e. Prescription Drugs. Prescription drugs have been shown to have an adverse effect on
fetal development.
f. Cocaine. Some neurochemical studies on cocaine in utero suggest that if it is present
during gestation it may affect developing fetal neuromotor systems, which could have a
significant impact on the developing nervous system.
g. Heroin. Heroin passes through the placenta so that infants of addicted women are
born addicted. Withdrawal symptoms can prove fatal to the tiny infant. Survivors suffer a
number of difficulties, but it is not known whether these extend beyond infancy.
h. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. A syndrome is a constellation of findings similar from
patient to patient. A proportion of children of drinking mothers are born with Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome (FAS). In children affected by FAS, intellectual disability is a major characteristic.
FAS exists on a continuum ranging from the full-blown syndrome to minor developmental
defects. Full-blown FAS affects the whole body system, causing malformations and anomalies
in the nervous system, the musculoskeletal structure, and internal organs, especially the heart
and urinogenital tracts.
i. Maternal Smoking. Very heavy smoking in mothers may have a severe enough
cumulative effect to contribute to spontaneous abortions, bleeding during pregnancy, premature
rupture of the amniotic sac, fetal deaths, and deaths of newborns.
j. Maternal Nutrition. Inadequate prenatal nutrition can affect the relationship between
the body’s biochemistry and the functioning of the brain. Severe malnutrition can stunt brain
growth and produce a significant lowering of intellectual ability. Postnatal nutrition, especially
during the first six months of an infant’s life, is also a critical factor in brain development.
k. Unknown Prenatal Influence. There are a number of conditions present at or before
birth for which there is no known cause. Microcephaly is a rare phenomenon in which brain
development is impaired by an abnormally small cranium. Macrocephaly refers to an enlargement
of the head, most frequently caused by hydrocephalus, a build-up of cerebrospinal fluid in the
brain.
Birth and Neonatal Development factors

Birth can be dangerous for the child or the mother.
a. Neological Impairments
Neological impairments can occur pre or post-natally. Sometimes, inadequate uterine
environments pose additional risks. If the child is overly deprived of oxygen, the condition is
called anoxia; most birth injuries result in deprivation of oxygen to the immature brain, which
30
then leads to abridgment of nervous system function. If supplies of oxygen to the nerve cells of
the brain are too greatly reduced, brain damage or death can result.
b. Pre term and Low-Birth-Weight Infants

Prematurity occurs in ten or twelve births per hundred. Preterm or premature babies are
generally defined as those born before the completion of thirty-seven weeks, a full week short
of the full thirty-eight-week term. Research has clearly established that preterm infants have a
higher incidence of developmental problems in childhood than do full-term infants.
An abnormal length of pregnancy can also be problematic. Infants born two weeks or
more beyond the expected due date are said to be post mature. These children are somewhat
more at risk than children born at the normal 266 to 270 days.
C.CMV and Herpes ;Two potentially harmful or fatal conditions transmitted to the
baby at the time of delivery are cytomegalovirus (CMV) and herpes.
D. Pediatric AIDS ;Pediatric AIDS. AIDS contracted by children less than thirteen
years of age is a cause of developmental and physical disabilities and death among infants and
children in North America. The vast majority of children with pediatric AIDS obtain their
infection during birth from the mother who used intravenous drugs or was sexually active with
an infected partner. AIDS in children may also be the result of tainted blood transfusions.
Rarely, it may be contracted through the mother’s milk.
Postnatal Development factors

Infections: In the postnatal period, infections such as meningitis and encephalitis can
present dire sequel. Child abuse and child battering are further potent causes of childhood
handicapping conditions.
f. Environmental Risk
Both heredity and environmental factors are crucial to child development. A child’s growth
factors will be seriously hampered by environmental risks. These conditions occur when a
child is biologically normal but does not develop age-appropriate behavior at the normal rate.
In this grouping, at risk refers to students who have characteristics, live in an environment, or
have experiences that make them more prone to developing some form of disabling condition
and/or more likely to fail in school.
g. Family Structures
Teachers must be aware that today’s child population is different from earlier generations.
One factor is destabilization of the institution of the family, shown in mounting divorce rates
and increases in the number of single-parent families. As families change, new problems emerge.
h. Poverty
Lower socio-economic status (SES) negatively correlates with eight adverse socializing
factors-harsh discipline, lack of maternal warmth, exposure to aggressive adult models, maternal
aggressive values, family life stresses, and mother’s lack of social support, peer group instability,
and lack of cognitive stimulation.
31
i. Cultural and Linguistic Differences
To live and develop in two culturally different systems is sufficiently challenging for
students without exceptional conditions. The difficulties multiply for students who are culturally
and linguistically diverse, and disabled.
J. Culturally Different Students with Special Needs

Culturally diverse students are represented in all categories of exceptionality and can
experience any disability that is found in other children. Disability and cultural and linguistic
concerns are not unrelated phenomena; rather, they play interconnected and complementary
roles in children’s development and progress. Programs must address the interacting influences
of all student variables.
India is having h the largest number of children in the world, significantly larger than the
number in China. The country has 20 per cent of the 0- 4 years’ child population of the world.
The number of live births in the country is estimated to be 27 million which again constitutes
20 per cent of the total number of live births in the world. Although the number of births is
expected to gradually go down in the coming years, the relative load of India in the world in
terms of child population is not going to lessen significantly for a long time to come. Therefore,
the progress that India makes towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
and targets related to children will continue to determine the progress that the world will make
towards achieving the MDGs.
3.4 WHAT IS TRACKING OBSERVATION?

The purpose of tracking children’s development in the early years is to provide a picture
of the child’s progress and to identify any areas for further support. It is also a tool to share with
parents and professional. Parents will be able to understand their child’s learning and support
any improvements at home. Tracking observations are a method that can begin at any point
during a day and wherever a child is within their environment. It helps to collect evidence that
identifies a child’s current interests and the duration that different activities hold an individual’s
attention.
3.4.1 Why Tracking is Important?

Early childhood education is not about teaching, it is about exploration and learning, and
observations play an important role in meeting the developmental needs of young learners.
Observation is often seen as one of the most simple, yet effective methods of assessing young
children as they develop.
It is highly important that children’s development is tracked across the EYFS, there is
clear guidance stated in the EYFS that practitioner are to identify how children are progressing
and document this for others to see. Documenting children’s progress enables parents and
other professionals to recognize the child’s progress and also highlights and areas for concern.
There are different forms are assessing children’s development, a, summary of a child’s
achievements at a particular point in time so that their progress can be tracked is known as
32
summative assessment. Formative assessments consists of annotated photographs, spontaneous
and planned observations, information from parents, samples of children’s experiences, all of
these will build up a picture so that the practitioners can make a best fit judgment of where the
child is working at in relation to the EYFS age bands.
Formative assessments enable practitioners to plan the provision and meet the needs of
the children’s interests and next steps; this type of assessment is ongoing all day as practitioners
are gathering evidence through observations, which will then feed into the planning. Assessments
such as the Progress Summaries and Tracking documents are a summative assessment that is
best completed together.
3.5 INTERDISCIPLINARY ASSESSMENTS & INTERVENTION

PLANS
An Interdisciplinary Assessment is a comprehensive evaluation performed by a team of
health professionals. The assessment can:
• Determine or confirm a medical and/or psychological diagnosis
• Determine the level of impairment, functional limitations and disability
• Identify the various factors that may have contributed to the emergence and maintenance
of the client’s condition, and that may impact recovery
• Provide a prognosis with timelines for recovery, treatment recommendations, and expected
outcomes of recommended treatment interventions
Many factors are, involved in carrying out an effective interdisciplinary team assessment.
At a minimum, the specific purposes and associated interdisciplinary processes must be designed
to address the initial concerns that families present to the team as well as those that arise as the
process unfolds. Often parents are referred to an interdisciplinary team for assessment because
of their own concerns about their child’s development. Sometimes these concerns are highly
specific, perhaps relating to their child’s cognitive or motor development. In other instances,
the problems are more difficult for caregivers to articulate, reflecting a general sense that
something is not quite right or a lingering fear that the child’s development has been
compromised by a medical condition (e.g., prematurity and low birth weight, maternal diabetes).
Occasionally, certain issues are raised by the family physician or a childcare professional
or perhaps even a close relative. Increasingly, however, interdisciplinary teams are also asked
to become involved with children who have well-established developmental delays but are
now exhibiting unanticipated difficulties. Concerns about unusually slow progress, even when
early intervention services are being provided, or the appearance of behaviour problems are
common. Finally, interdisciplinary teams often form specialized groups within the larger team
to address specific disorders such as phenylketonuria (PKU) or matters such as feeding
difficulties. As might be expected, the diversity of child, family, and community circumstances
likely to be encountered by an interdisciplinary team is considerable. Biologically based
conditions that can adversely affect development, including genetic disorders and congenital
infections, are numerous and complex (Lipkin, 1996).
33
Conditions associated with poverty, the risks of adolescent parenting, the impact of
prenatal illicit drug or alcohol exposure, and concerns related to parental mental health conditions
and limited intellectual abilities are among the risk factors that increasingly challenge a child’s
development as well as community service and support systems. Often environmental and
biological risk factors co-occur, as in the case of many children born prematurely at low birth
weights. The number of children facing other forms of multiple risks, either due to the
combination of environmental risk and disability factors or the co-occurrence of multiple
problems for children with established disabilities (e.g., cognitive delay, epilepsy), is increasing
as well. When one adds to these circumstances the cultural diversity of the families seeking
services and the variability in resources found in home communities, it is apparent that all
concerned face extraordinary challenges in developing a meaningful set of recommendations
and programs.
Context of the Interdisciplinary Process

An interdisciplinary team is its ability to integrate and synthesize information from
numerous disciplines through an interactive, group Interdisciplinary Team Assessment for
Children 5 decision-making process (Garner, l 994a; Rokusek, 1995). Yet, it is important to
note at the outset the parameters within which this interactive process unfolds. In particular,
this is an expensive undertaking, one that not only requires the involvement of professionals
from many different disciplines but also a staff to coordinate and schedule assessments and to
help organize relevant information. In addition, there is the investment of time from the family,
the child, and perhaps community professionals. Moreover, families may be required to travel
considerable distances in order to locate a team with adequate resources to meet their needs. As
a consequence, most interdisciplinary assessment teams try to complete the entire process within
l or 2 days. Although vital questions can be addressed during this time, numerous other issues
are often raised that must be considered in revaluations or as part of another component of the
service and support system for children and families.
Interdisciplinary team assessments are most valuable if they contribute information to
help the child and family in the larger home community context. By including community
professionals as much as possible either in the process itself or through extensive
communications, the team’s recommendations are more likely to be implemented effectively
and to be realistic.
Early intervention systems vary dramatically from community to community, and this
fact must be recognized as part of the team’s deliberations and recommendations. Similarly,
interdisciplinary assessment teams must work closely with other teams in the service system,
particularly those involved in developing individualized family service plans (IFSPs) for infants
and toddlers and individualized education programs (IEPs) for preschool-age children. The
composition, scope of effort, and location of interdisciplinary assessment teams can vary
considerably as well. However, this book emphasizes the operation of comprehensive
interdisciplinary teams, often located at major medical centres and universities. These teams
are similar in many respects to the child development teams addressing the concerns of children
with developmental disabilities or those at risk for developmental delays as described by the
seminal ork of Holm and McCartin (1978).
34
Purpose of Interdisciplinary Team Assessments
The overarching purpose of the interdisciplinary team assessment of young children is
to develop plans and recommendations, including locating community resources to meet the
identified needs of the child and family. To accomplish this, the interdisciplinary team assessment
process should yield at least five outcomes. First, it is essential to establish the child’s
developmental and health patterns and to profile family functioning in a community context.
This outcome is achieved through assessments by representatives of disciplines considered
relevance to the presenting concerns. In essence, this process begins by ensuring that team
members from each discipline are able to gather information and to understand thoroughly, in
relation to their domains of expertise, child and family functioning. These discipline assessments
that establish patterns of strength and concern form the core of a more complex process that
integrates and reconciles this material.
Principles of Interdisciplinary Team Assessment

The purposes and processes of the interdisciplinary team assessment are governed by
what might best be referred to as a set of principles. These principles are intended to represent
late 20th century values and practices in the general fields of child development, early
intervention, and developmental disabilities. It is these principles that provide guidance for the
behavior of team members toward one another, the way in which assessments are conducted,
the type of relationships established with the family and with community pro0ders, and the
team members’ understanding of the child as a developing individual. The following discussion
provides a number of such guidelines for the attitudes and actions of the team. This list is
certainly not exhaustive, but it highlights the many underlying issues faced by interdisciplinary
team assessment members and how late 20th century values and practices can influence the
entire enterprise.
Ecological Validity of Assessments Standardized formats are required in many assessment
situations, and information gained from these assessments is correlated with important
developmental and behaviour patterns that occur in everyday activities. Yet, many test situations
themselves do not enable the child to express important abilities, characteristics, and skills.
Accordingly, whenever possible, team members should maximize the ecological validity of the
assessment by careful selection of tests and the use of informal as well as formal procedures
(see Bailey & Wolery, 1989). By including naturalistic situations, for example, as part of the
evaluation plan or by involving the family in the process whenever possible, the child’s comfort
level is increased, and different perspectives of the child’s functioning can be obtained. The
ecological validity of the assessments is enhanced as well by obtaining input from multiple
sources (e.g., family, friends, teachers, childcare workers, community professionals). Ultimately,
it is the convergence and consistency of information from these multiple sources that will
ensure that the interdisciplinary team assessment yields a meaningful outcome. Recognizing
Uncertainty Variability in test performance and the existence of potentially conflicting
information is likely even in the most ecologically valid assessments. Moreover, a simple
snapshot of a child’s performance must always be considered suspect, but confidence in the
team’s conclusions can be enhanced by obtaining other information, especially in relation to
35
the stability of a child’s developmental patterns. Issues of surveillance and timely revaluations
must be considered in this context, yet recognizing, accepting, and communicating the
appropriate level of uncertainty remains an important principle. Coordination and No redundant
Testing The gathering of prior information and scheduling and conducting the assessments
require a high level of coordination.
The stress on children and families is extraordinary, and the interdisciplinary assessment
team must maximize smooth functioning among all facets of the process. Similarly, team
members should ensure th~t testing is as no redundant as possible, as many disciplines utilize
similar assessment strategies arid instruments. Moreover, the era of managed care has made it
even more critical to select disciplines and tests that yield results in the most efficient and cost-
effective manner possible. Dynamic Nature of the Assessment On the surface, the organization
and scheduling of the process suggest a fixed series of events for the interdisciplinary team
assessment. However, there are always surprises. It is not uncommon for new information to
emerge during interviews with parents or providers or for major discrepancies to appear regarding
the child’s development in relation to past information. During the assessment itself, these
developments must be communicated to team members · and families as rapidly as possible so
adjustments can be made prior to synthesizing information and developing recommendations.
Respect for Contributions of Other Disciplines Extensive literature is available on
interdisciplinary team functioning and the type of interpersonal relationships that should
characterize an effective team. Interdisciplinary
Team Assessment for Children For example, issues of communicative style, protocol,
the ability to listen, leadership, and establishing common ground philosophies have been
examined in considerable detail (Garner, l 994a, l 994b; Spencer & Coye, 1988; Stoneman &
Malone, 1995). All of these concepts notwithstanding, perhaps the most fundamental requirement
for establishing a true interdisciplinary team is an essential respect for each discipline’s
contribution to the overall process and, equally important, for the perspective each provides
with respect to the biosocial and ecological-developmental approaches that constitute sound
early intervention plans. Ideally, the training for each individual discipline included an
understanding of contributions by other disciplines. If not, team members must work hard to
learn from others, both within and outside the team’s activities. Cultural Competence As the
diversity of the population increases, considerable demands are placed on interdisciplinary
team members to understand and relate to children and families whose cultural backgrounds
differ radically from their own. The importance of becoming “culturally competent, is essential
for the accuracy of any assessment and equally important in establishing an effective
collaboration with the family (Lynch & Hanson, 1993). Clearly, for recommendations to meet
the needs of families and to be realistic, differences in ethnic and religious backgrounds as well
as family roles and expectations must be considered. Of course, these sensitivities should be
part of any assessment centred around the family, yet the emergence of cultural issues poses a
new level of complexity for the entire service and support system. Perspectives on the meaning
of a child’s disability and even the benefits of mildly intensive individualized interventions can
become issues that must be thoughtfully addressed in a cultural context (Harry, 1992).
36
Role of Family The central role of the child’s family in the interdisciplinary team
assessment process is well established. A family’s input with respect to their child’s development
is critical, and, for the most part, parents are the team’s clients. Because parents are responsible
for their child’s development, it is .Through their actions that the team’s recommendations will
be realized. Failure of the team to build an appropriate relationship with the family, to understand
their values, and to communicate effectively will diminish the contributions of the entire process.
Indeed, concepts with respect to forming parent-professional premierships and ensuring that
families are empowered to carry out their responsibilities must be reflected throughout the
entire assessment (Dunst & Trivette, 1989; Pearl, l 993). This principle implies that the family’s
perspective be accorded considerable, if not absolute, weight. In practice, however, there are
circumstances that make this principle difficult to implement in its most complete sense.
Occasionally, the team may perceive that the child’s best interests and Guralnick those of the
family diverge, and there are instances in which the values of .the team may not be concordant
with the family’s values. Disagreement may occur over priorities or attitudes within the family
(e.g., insufficient time for recommended child therapies, lack of belief in efficacy). Some of
these conflicts can be traced to cultural differences, as discussed previously. Unfortunately, no
easy solution is likely in these instances, but a vigorous negotiation process should be initiated
in which the team states its case in a context of open communication (see Bailey, 1987). Finally,
this principle also implies that the family should be able to participate in every activity and
team discussion if they so choose.
However, there may be instances in which the team or a subgroup wishes to deliberate
with the caregivers absent, such as when there are strong indications of parental abuse or
neglect. Moreover, given the complex, dynamic nature of the interdisciplinary process, and.
the numerous hypotheses that are generated as part of any clinical activity, team members often
feel most comfortable “thinking out loud” without familial scrutiny. Although no simple answer
to this question emerges, it seems that a useful operating strategy, and the one most consistent
with this particular principle, is to include the family at all points in the process unless a clear
reason not to do so is articulated and agreed upon by all team members. Each team should
establish its own operating framework and try to apply it on a case-by-case basis. This case-by-
case approach may be unsatisfactory to some, but it places the burden for excluding parents,
even for a brief time, on having a well-developed framework and a corresponding set of
arguffients. If exclusion becomes more than a rare occurrence or considerable dissension exists
among team members, the team should revaluate its framework and operating principles. This
entire family-focused process may prove to be a useful exercise in clarifying individual
disciplines or the collective values of the team with respect to the roles of families. Role of
Community Providers In order for the team’s recommendations to be useful, it is essential not
only that parents take responsibility, but also that community providers be involved as much as
possible. For children already enrolled in an early intervention program, active participation of
educators and other early .intervention specialists is critical. It is less likely that the
interdisciplinary team’s recommendations, even general ones, will be translated into practice
without extensive involvement of practitioners from the child’s home community. Seeking
input from key providers who are familiar with the child is certainly one vital part of this
37
process, but conducting follow-up communications with providers-particularly the child’s service
coordinator identified as part of the IFSP or IEP process-is perhaps even more critical. If the
circumstance permits, having the child’s community service coordinator or other key provider
participates as an observer and resource is ideal.
Interdisciplinary Team Assessment for Children Inclusion and Support The
interdisciplinary process often leads to an initial dissection of the child into specific
developmental domains before reconstructing the “whole child” within the larger family and
community context. Nevertheless, this reconstruction process can easily fall short, as team
members emphasize identified issues and link them to an often fractionated service system. To
minimize this problem, teams should adopt the principle that their recommendations be designed
to include the child and family in typical home and community activities. By having
interdisciplinary teams address issues related to maximizing inclusion, particularly in relation
to the child’s social world, recommendations are more likely to address the child as an individual
functioning within a larger ecological context. Increasing the inclusion of children and families
has, of course, been a major theme since the mid-l 970s in the field of developmental disabilities
and is reflected in well-articulated ethical, legal, and value systems (Guralnick, in press).
Similarly, thinking about how best to organize and develop supports within the larger community
for the child and family places the “whole” child at the centre of the team’s efforts. As
thoughtfully articulated by Stone man and Malone (1995) in the context of the interdisciplinary
team assessment, the assessment itself and the recommendations that follow should consider
strategies that involve the entire community of family, friends, providers, and others who can
provide needed supports.
Early Childhood Intervention Services

Early Childhood Intervention Services (ECIS) support children with a disability or
developmental delay form birth to school entry, and their families. These services build on
opportunities for learning and development that are provided at home and through Maternal
and Child Health Centres, childcare, and kindergarten.ECIS recognise that families are children’s
first and most influential teachers. Families are the primary influence on children’s learning
and development. A child-and-family-centred approach based on a partnership between parents
and professionals is at the core of ECIS.The overall aim of these services is to provide parents
and families with the knowledge, skills and support to meet the changing needs of their child
and to optimise the child’s development and ability to be part of family and community life.
Intervention Plans and Strategies

When students experience challenges in academics or behaviour you may need to put an
intervention plan in place to get them back on the right track. In the classroom, interventions
are activities that you would use to help students become successful in their class work or
decrease negative behaviour towards others. They should be a team decision, based on students’
needs and available resources.
Plans may target academic or behaviour challenges. Academic challenges are issues the
student may have in areas like reading, math, science, and social studies. Behaviour challenges
38
may include lack of social skills, fighting, disrespect for authority, or disrespect for peers.
Several interventions that may be used are personal educational plans, behavior contracts, and
behavior intervention plans.
Academic plans
An academic plan is an intervention plan created by the teacher describing how he is
going to help a student who is failing his class. For example, you may have a student who is in
danger of failing your math class. As the teacher, you may create an intervention plan for this
student that includes activities like tutoring, small group instruction, or one-on-one work with
you. Your school district may require you to create an academic plan for any student who is
failing or in danger of failing at any time during the school term.
One type of academic plan is personal educational plans. A personal education plan
details the activities that are going to use in order to help the student become successful. These
activities could include tutoring, one-on-one assistance, or shortened assignments for the student
to complete. Let us say you are a language arts teacher and had a student who was struggling
with reading comprehension. The student is in danger of failing your class because of his poor
test scores, lack of class work completion, or a combination of the two.
Behaviour Plans
Depending on the nature and severity of the behaviour, several options may be used to
deal with discipline issues. The behaviour plan should outline your expectations, rewards, and
consequences and should be clear so that the student understands what is expected.
The behaviour contract is an agreement between the student, teacher, and, in some cases,
school administration when the student has not been on his or her best behaviour. The contract
with the student should be based on the behaviour that needs to be decreased or eliminated. For
example, if you have a student who has a problem excessively talking during class time, your
contract may state: ‘Johnny will talk only during the appropriate times in class.’ You could
even include recommendations for replacement behaviours and rewards for students when the
behaviour does not occur. If the behaviour contract is not helping the student decrease or eliminate
the problem behaviour, you may want to consider switching to a behavior intervention plan.
3.6 DEVELOPMENTAL SYSTEM MODEL FOR EARLY

INTERVENTION – OF GURALNICK -2001
The major thrust of the Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986 (Public
Law 99-457, now Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) in the US was the
development of state-wide comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary, interagency systems
for serving children from birth to 3 years with disabilities, and at-risk for disabilities, and their
families. In the Developmental Systems Approach to Early Intervention, Dr Michael J. Guralnick
revisits the need for comprehensive and coordinated systems for infants/toddlers and their
families, and in addition provides a clear conceptual framework and supporting how to implement
the components of an effective intervention system.
39
Developmental Systems is clearly organized into three sections} ‘Principles,’ ‘Practices:
National Perspectives’ and ‘Practices: International Perspectives’} with a total of 24 supporting
chapters. The first section, Principles, begins with an excellent overview of the Developmental
Systems Model by Dr Guralnick, which appeared several years earlier in an Infants and Young
Children article (Guralnick, 2001).
The framework for a cohesive and coordinated early intervention system, including nine
critical components: screening and referral; monitoring and surveillance; point of access;
interdisciplinary assessment; eligibility; assessment of stressors; development and
implementation of a comprehensive programme; monitoring and outcome evaluations; and
transition planning is described. Principles of early intervention undergirding this Developmental
Systems Model are also described: a system centered on families with integration and
coordination at all levels; inclusion and participation of children/families in community
environments; early detection and identification; and surveillance and monitoring as integral
system components. Finally, all parts of the system must be individualized, with strong evaluation
and feedback processes, supported by cultural sensitivity, based on empirical practices, and
maintained by recognizing interrelationships among all components.
The Developmental Systems Model is a comprehensive, step-by-step analysis of a model
and implementation guidelines for successful intervention programs for young children and
their families.
Components of the Developmental Systems Model

The key structural components and relationships among the components of the
Developmental Systems Model are presented in Figure 1. Diamonds represent decision points,
and rectangles represent activities. Each of the major components constitutes its own micro
system involving relationships with other components, a process to follow in order to establish
and carry out goals and activities, and protocols and related tools to gather information and to
guide decision-making. As noted, each structural component is intended to be compatible with
and to some degree represent the overarching developmental framework as well as the core and
related principles. This section briefly considers each component (see Guralnick, 2001b, for
additional details) from an organizational perspective. Of note, the term community is used
here in its most general sense and can be applied to an entire state, a single county, a designated
service area, or any entity capable of incorporating all systems components. The central point
here is that the Developmental Systems Model is intended to provide an overall framework for
communities, including an organizational structure and corresponding principles, capable of
guiding actual practices. There are issues and concerns associated with each component that
must be addressed to properly implement the Developmental Systems Model from a practice
perspective, and those are discussed next. For this model or any other approach to become a
reality, however, the detailed functions of each component must be established and achieve
some reasonable level of consensus. Accordingly, a major purpose of this volume is to begin
that process with respect to the Developmental Systems Model, Screening Program and Referral.
The Screening Program and Referral component of the model is quite complex and is
intended to be consistent with the principle regarding the importance of early detection and
40
identification. For a variety of reasons, including the difficult task of integrating health,
educational, and social services agencies in the process of screening and referral; concerns
about the psychometric properties and cultural relevance of many screening tools; and the
absence of a coherent cross discipline approach to screening, community-based programs are
highly variable (see Belcher, 1996). Important tools relying on parent reports are available
(Bricker & Squires,1999; Glascoe, 1998) as are well-developed protocols focusing on specific
disabilities .Risk indices also are useful and available for the screening and referral process,
despite considerable statistical uncertainty (Burchinal et al., 2000). Nevertheless, evidence-
based practices certainly can be developed to guide the design of this micro system for individual
communities.
The creation of an effective and efficient community-based Screening Program and
Referral component will require an extraordinary level of cooperation among relevant parties
to reach decisions and implement practices regarding even fundamental issues such as whether
to emphasize targeted or universal screening. How to best involve primary care health providers,
what algorithms should be established to guide decisions for referral, and which instruments
and related protocols should be selected to direct the entire activity remain key issues requiring
resolution by communities.
Monitoring and Surveillance A similar set of issues is relevant to the Monitoring and
Surveillance component of the Developmental Systems Model. For children screened who do
not meet referral criteria or who maintain some risk status, a decision must be made as to the
degree of Monitoring (i.e., frequency, form, cost) and Surveillance required. Given the variability
and ongoing vulnerabilities in children’s development, decisions must be made on an
individualized basis in accordance with well—thought-through protocols. Such comprehensive
protocols remain to be developed. Point of Access When a concern about development reaches
some criterion (including parental concerns resulting in self-referral) or risks to development
are deemed high enough, entry to the next component in the model occurs in the form of a Point
of Access to the early intervention system. At some location, the process of gathering, integrating,
and coordinating information occurs, and families are introduced to the possible services and
supports the system can provide. In addition, the way the Developmental Systems Model is
currently constructed; a distinction is made at this point between children at biological and
environmental risk for developmental problems and those already exhibiting developmental
delays or disabilities. This distinction reflects current practice as systems for preventive
interventions for risk conditions largely are functionally separate from systems focusing on
children with documented delays or disabilities. This is not necessarily an ideal structure, and
efforts are under way to address this issue at many levels. This distinction further suggests
usually different Points of Access for these two groups of children and perhaps for other
subgroups as well, even within local communities. Indeed, determining how many Points of
Access should be available is an important community decision as Points of Access will vary
with respect to size, complexity, comprehensiveness, family friendliness, and the like. Available
evidence suggests that very few comprehensive community programs exist, including the
component related to Points of Access that thoroughly integrate child and family services for
all children at this early stage in the process (Harbin et al., 2000). This includes both preventive
41
and early intervention activities. Of note, the Overview of the Developmental Systems Model
way communities address Points of Access serves as an index of the overall level of integration
and coordination of the service system in general—a core principle.
Comprehensive Interdisciplinary Assessment For children with possible delays or
disabilities, whatever the Point of Access, an important responsibility is to organize a
Comprehensive Inter-disciplinary Assessment to obtain a general developmental profile for
children, to evaluate aspects of family functioning, to gather information for diagnostic/etiologic
purposes, and to make general recommendations (Guralnick, 2000c). This extremely valuable
and complex assessment is often temporarily bypassed due to the need to move forward quickly
or the limited availability of such comprehensive assessment teams in communities. In this
case, a more streamlined assessment occurs with focused teams, often at the Point of Access.
More formal interdisciplinary or single discipline assessments will follow as the need arises. In
view of the demands on the system for Comprehensive Interdisciplinary Assessments,
communities must find ways to increase availability and increase the efficiency of teams.
Moreover, the development of specialty teams for autism (Filipek et al., 2000) or metabolic
disorders such as phenylketonuria (Trahms, Leavitt, Heffernan, & Garretson, 2000) must be
included to optimize the effectiveness of this microsystem. Eligibility Whatever path is taken
(see Figure 1), Eligibility decisions are made based on community determined criteria, the next
component of the model. This is the case for children entering the early intervention program
(children with delays or disabilities) or those entering the preventive intervention program
(based on biological and environmental risk factors).
Two issues are important here. The first concerns the need for communities to ensure
that those children not meeting Eligibility criteria remain in the system through the Monitoring
and Surveillance component noted previously. Second, strong consideration should be given
toward establishing consistent Eligibility criteria across states and certainly within states. To
be sure, this decision will carry important financial implications, but having common Eligibility
criteria is compatible with the spirit of IDEA ‘and addresses important issues of equity.
Assessment of Stressors Once families enter the Intervention component (either preventive or
early intervention), they will usually begin to receive services and supports immediately based
on available information in what is generally referred to as a preliminary intervention program.
This program, however, is modified and refined as the Assessment of Stressors component is
implemented. In many respects, this component is at the heart of the Developmental Systems
Model and embraces many of its principles. It most clearly reflects the overarching developmental
framework, especially the focus on families; it sets the stage for the highly individualized
nature of the Comprehensive Intervention Program to come; and it tests our ability in a very
direct way to be sensitive to cultural differences in the formation of parent—professional
partnerships. For this component to be effective, processes and protocols must be available to
guide professionals in their interactions with families. Determining families’ information needs,
possible interpersonal and family distress, resource needs, or threats to their confidence to
parent appropriately, as well as obtaining information about relevant family characteristics, is
a complex and challenging task. If not carried out well, however, then the entire early intervention
enterprise is jeopardized because the Assessment of Stressors is the key to ultimately supporting
42
families to enable them to create optimal family patterns of interaction. Develop and Implement
a Comprehensive Program Discussions between families and professionals about service options
during the Assessment of Stressors component (information needs) certainly require knowledge
of evidence-based practices. But this principle is most critical when families and professionals
become involved in the component of the model referred to as Develop and Implement a
Comprehensive Program. Together, a plan specifying resource supports, social supports, and
information and services thoughtfully tailored to the stressors identified earlier must be developed
in an effort to minimize the stress on family patterns of interaction. If carried out properly, then
the plan will fit well within family routines and maximize active family participation where
appropriate. Professionals must be particularly thoughtful here in applying the core principles
of developmental framework, inclusion, and integration and coordination for this component
to be effective. Much can be lost in the implementation phase. The availability of decision-
rules for individualizing would be helpful as well, but substantial deviations from this principle
are not likely by this point in the process. Monitoring and Outcome Evaluations Ensuring the
effectiveness of any early intervention system requires an array of well-designed monitoring
and evaluation approaches. As the principle requiring a strong evaluation and feedback process
indicates, evaluation must occur at many levels, including evaluating progress toward goals
and objectives, determining when it is necessary to reassess stressors, and deciding when
comprehensive interdisciplinary assessments or reassessments are needed. Structurally, this
constitutes the Monitoring and Out-come Evaluations component of the Developmental Systems
Model.
Evaluation at the systems level is also important as effectiveness depends on the ability
of the components of the system to link together. It is also critical to validate whether the core
and related principles are being realized for each of the systems components. Parent reports,
self-evaluation protocols for administrators and early intervention professionals, or external
evaluations are relevant strategies for this important component of the Developmental Systems
Model. Much needs to be developed for this component of the model.
43
Developmental Systems Model
44
Transition planning; the final component of the model is Transition Planning. Such plans
are essential because the developmental and behavioral patterns of children who are vulnerable
are highly fragile and easily disrupted. Ensuring continuity and creating as seamless a transition
as possible are vital. Transition can take many forms, including the shift from infant—toddler
to preschool programs, when children move to an inclusive childcare program, or when the
transition is made from preschool to kindergarten. Numerous strategies are now available to
maximize the effectiveness of this component (Pianta & Cox, 1999; Sainato & Morrison, 2001)
but need to be developed further to enable communities to adopt and adapt these strategies to
meet their needs.
Check Your Progress

1. What is Tracking Observation? And why it is important?
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2. What is an interdisciplinary assessment? Explain.
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3. Explain about guranlnick developmental systems model.
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3.7 UNIT SUMMARY

Although the importance of early development and providing various services both to
Young children and to their families has been recently recognized in legal acts and practices,
enough attention has not been paid regarding nationwide policies. Early intervention with
children at risk or facing developmental problems is a practice defined by three fundamental
characteristics: being family-centred, being based on the community and on the child’s life
context, and being conducted by a team with inter disciplinary practice.
3.8 ASSIGNMENT
1. Write about the causes for child risk factors.
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2. Interdisciplinary assessment strategies for children with disabilities.
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them below:

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KEY WORDS
Interdisciplinary assessment
Children at risk
Child tracking
3.10 REFERENCES
1. Early childhood development and disability: discussion paper. ISBN 978 92 4 150406 5
NLM classification: WS 368)
2. Garner, H.G. (1 994b). Multidisciplinary versus interdisciplinary teamwork. In H.G. Garner
& F.P. Orelove (Eds.), Teamwork in human services (pp. 19-36). Woburn, l\11A:
Butterworth-Heinemann.
3. Guralnick, MJ. ( 1997). Second-generation research in the field of early intervention. In
MJ. Guralnick (Ed.), 17ze effectiveness ef ear!J interoention (pp. 3-20). Baltimore: Paul
H. Brookes Publishing Co.
4. Guralnick, MJ. ( 1998). The effectiveness of early intervention for vulnerable children:
A developmental perspective. Amen’can Journal on Mental Retardation, I 02, 319-345.
5. Guralnick, MJ. (in press). A framework for change in early childhood inclusion. In MJ.
Guralnick (Ed.), Ear!J childhood inclusion: Focus on change. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes
Publishing Co.
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6. M. J. Guralnick (Ed.). 2000). Interdisciplinary clinical assessment of young children
with developmental disabilities (pp. 3-15). Baltimore,MD: Paul H. Brookes.
Websites;
• https://depts.washington.edu/isei/iyc/powell_19.1_05.pdf
• https://www.cadth.ca/media/pdf/105_autism_tr_e.pdf
• adai.washington.edu/courses/socwl579a.pdf
• wps.pearsoned.ca/ca_ph_winzer_children_8/66/16944/4337710.cw/index.html
• www.unicef.org/sitan/files/SitAn_India_May_2011.pdf
• backinmotion.com/comprehensive-assessment-services.../interdisciplinary-assessment
47
UNIT–4 CURRICULUMS –EARLY CHILD HOOD
EDUCATION
Structure
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Objectives
4.3 Curricular Activities for Development of Skills
4.3.1 Imagination
4.3.2 Imaginative Play
4.3.3 Suggested Activities for the Development of Imaginative Play
4.3.4 How does Imaginative Play benefit Development and Learning?
4.4 Development of Creativity in Early Childhood Education
4.5 Symbolic Play
4.5.1 Importance of Symbolic Play
4.5.2 Benefits of Symbolic Play to the Child’s Cognitive Development.
4.5.3 Suggested Activities for the Development of Symbolic Play
4.6 Development of Language/Linguistics
4.7 Development of Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood Stage
4.7.1 Importance of Early Literacy
4.7.2 Emergent Literacy Meaning
4.7.3 Facts about Emergent Early Literacy
4.7.4 Relevant Literacy Experiences/ Activities to Be Provided to the Children
4.8 Development of Music Skills
4.8.1 Effective Music Teaching in the Early Childhood
4.8.2 Best Practices/ Suggested Activities
4.9 Aesthetic Development in Early Childhood
4.9.1 The Theorists Supported Aesthetic Development
4.9.2 Aesthetic Activities for Kids
4.10 Development of Scientific and Cultural Skills
4.10.1 Role of Teachers in Development of Scientific Skills
4.10.2 Activities for Development of Scientific Skills
4.10.3 Cultural Development
4.10.4 Activities for the Development of Cultural Skills
4.11 Evidenced Based Practices for Early Intervention
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4.11.1 Evidence Based Teaching Strategies
Check Your Progress
4.12 Unit Summary
4.13. Assignments
Key Words
4.15 References
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The overall aims of education set out by the Education Commission in 2000 are:”To
enable every person to attain all-round development in the domains of ethical, intellectual,
physical, social skills and aesthetics according to his/her own attributes, so that he/she is capable
of life-long learning , critical and exploratory thinking, innovating and adapting to change.
.”Since early childhood education is the foundation for whole person development and life-
long learning, the curriculum goals of this stage are summarized as:
To nurture children to attain all-round development in the domains of ethical intellectual,
physical, social skills and aesthetics, and to develop good habits, so as to prepare them for life;
and to stimulate children’s interest in learning and cultivate in them positive learning attitudes,
in order to lay the foundation for their future learning.
The aim of early childhood education is to foster children’s whole person development.
In light of this, the core of the curriculum framework is with the four developmental objectives
for young children, namely “Physical Development”, “Cognitive and Language Development”,
“Affective and Social Development “and “Aesthetic Development”.
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Physical Development
Children use their five senses and their body to perceive and interact with the outside
world. These serve also as tools to receive and deliver messages. Therefore, all learning and
communication rely very much on body control ability, the development of gross and fine
motor skills and the application of sensory ability. The following developmental objectives
should be considered for pre-primary curriculum planning:
i. To develop children’s sensory perception and abilities of concentration and observation.
ii. To cultivate in children good habits, self-care ability and a healthy life-style.
iii. To facilitate the development of children’s gross and fine motor skills.
iv. To enable children to understand the limits of their physical capability and
Develop awareness for self-protection.
Cognitive and Language Development; The cognitive development of children begins
in infancy. They construct knowledge of the world through physical activity and sensory
experience.
The sensory-perceptual ability of children, as well as the use of language and symbols,
marks the beginning of the preliminary stage of children’s learning. These abilities enable
children to construct knowledge and develop their intelligence through real-life situations and
experiences. The relevant developmental objectives of this domain include:
i. To arouse and fulfill the curiosity of children, and to cultivate in the man inquisitive and
proactive attitude towards things and people around them.
ii. To develop children’s simple logical concepts in mathematical literacy, so as to help
them in analysis, reasoning, judgment and problem-solving.iii.to develop children’s
abilities in language and thinking.
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Affective and Social Development; Everyone has his/her own thoughts, emotions, senses
and imagination, which make an individual unique. These personal traits, together with other
learning elements such as cognition, skills and attitudes that an individual acquires in later
learning lead to a more comprehensive and whole person development.
The sensory-perceptual ability of children makes them inquisitive and active learners.
If coupled with positive reinforcement these attributes lead to pleasurable learning.
Furthermore, the experience of social interaction gives them a sense of identity,
Self-confidence and self-esteem. It also encourages them to be more proactive and self-
motivated in learning and in establishing social interaction with others. This developmental
cycle is conducive to whole person development, which is the ultimate aim of education. The
relevant developmental objectives of this domain include:
i. To encourage and help children understand their thinking and emotions, and express
their feelings and needs through appropriate use of language and non-linguistic means.
ii. To help children develop a positive self-concept and build up self-esteem, self-confidence,
a sense of achievement and an optimistic attitude.
iii. To enrich children’s life experiences and strengthen their interpersonal and
Communication skills.
iv. To assist children to attain a balance between their personal interests and those of the
community, to learn to establish good interpersonal relationships through negotiation
and co-operation, and to accept basic social values and behavioral norms.
v. To foster in children positive attitudes towards people and an understanding of the roles
and responsibilities of individuals in the family, school, society and country.
vi. To cultivate children’s care for society, awareness with respect to environmental protection
and respect for different cultures.
Aesthetic development; Aesthetic sensitivity is cultivated through observation and
feelings. Imaginations stimulated when one observes the environment with one’s senses and
compares the forms of different things. Children express their inner thoughts, feelings, emotions
and imagination through the language of different media.
i. The objectives of arts education for early childhood include; to allow children to explore
different art media and symbols in an esthetically rich and diversified environment.
ii. To enrich children’s sensory experiences and encourage them to express their thoughts
and feelings.
iii. To stimulate children’s creative and imaginative powers, and encourage them to enjoy
participating in creative works.
iv. To enhance children’s quality of life and foster their interests in life by guiding them to
appreciate the surrounding environment.
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4.2 OBJECTIVES
After read this unit you will be able to:
• The development of curricular activities for young children.
• Explains development of literary skills, in early child hood education
• Define the meaning and concept of emergent literacy
• Understand the different types of play activities for the development of child learning
like imaginative play, creative play & symbolic play.
Explain the concept of evidence based practices for early intervention
4.3 CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF

SKILLS
The study of this unit would facilitate your understanding of the domains of activities
that enhance the development of children in early years and to organize the developmental
activities of children. The following curricular activities need to develop each domain wise
in early childhood education and as follows.
4.3.1 Imagination
Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Imagination is the door
to possibilities. It is where creativity, ingenuity, and thinking outside the box begin for child
development. Imaginative and creative play is how children learn about the world. During
imaginative play, children manipulate materials, express themselves verbally and non-verbally,
plan (intentionally or unintentionally), act, interact, react, and try different roles. Great
opportunities for learning are possible when children participate in creative play with dolls,
vehicles, blocks, rocks, cardboard, or boxes. Employing creative thinking while manipulating
play dough, creating recipes by mixing dirt and water, working with art materials, splashing in
puddles, or pretending to fly can further child development.
Imagination fosters cognitive and social development. Everyone wants to raise children
who reach their highest intellectual and social/emotional potential. In early childhood education,
critical thinking skills and creative problem-solving abilities are goals for children’s development.
Imagining, trying new ways of doing things and experimenting help develop critical thinking
in children and foster creative problem solving. Furthermore, imagination builds social-emotional
development by allowing children to contemplate different resolutions, thus boosting children’s
confidence, which can be used in interactions with others. Imagination and creativity are also
skills that our children will need when they join the workforce of the future.
Good quality play provision begins with providing activities to stimulate all the areas of
development and learning. This includes Imaginative (Pretend) Play.
4.3.2 Imaginative Play

Imaginative play includes pretend, fantasy and symbolic play, often referred to as role-
play. Through imaginative or pretend play, children can practice and come to terms with different
52
aspects of daily life. Role reversal is very common in imaginative play and many children like
to use dressing up clothes as part of their imaginative play-these are wonderful props and allow
children to extend imagination and play. Fantasy play is common between the ages of three and
eight, when children pretend to be, for example a super hero or an action figure. This type of
play decreases as a sense of reasoning increases. Symbolic play happens when children use an
object in their play but pretend it is something else, for example, pretending buttons are money.
4.3.3 Suggested Activities

Activities imaginative Play Felt Pizza: Create an opportunity for your child to take on
the role as a pizza chef and play creatively as they pretend make different pizzas using felt
pizza toppings and other props.
Imaginative Play Wet Washing: Imaginative play washing line is so simple to put
together but yet so effective for kids to pretend, engage and make sense of their world. Practising
and experimenting with the various skills, they will take into adulthood
Washing a Toy Baby: Watching Mum and Dad washing a baby sibling is an example
of an experience that children copy and re-enact. Watching and learning from this experience
then practising, imitating and experimenting this through imaginary playcan you give some
suggestive activities for each development in order to make it more clear and help them to
adopt the same.
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Baker’s Shop: Bakers shop was inspired by our mini cupcakes, which we made
previously. They make a brilliant prop to encourage the imaginary world in a bakers shop.
4.3.4 How does Imaginative Play benefit Development and Learning?

Imaginative play develops self-expression as well as giving children the opportunity to
explore their experiences. Children solve problems during imaginative play, as they act out
things that have happened or could happen. Imaginative play helps children to see things from
others’ point of view. It develops social skills, as children often play together for such activities,
and fine and gross motor skills – for example dressing up will require children to use fine
manipulative skills, whereas running around pretending to be an action figure will help develop
co-ordination.
4.4 DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVITY IN EARLY

CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Through play, children learn and become creative. Through simple everyday actions
and play, young children develop physical, social, intellectual, emotional and creative abilities
known as creative development. Early childhood education often focuses on children learning
creative abilities through play. Children’s creative abilities may be explored through their ideas,
curiosity and feelings towards the arts, movement, music and imaginative play. Children of all
ages delight in expressing their ideas through sounds, colors, shapes and role-playing activities.
Creativity in children can be developed by engaging them in activities that enable them share
their ideas, thoughts and feelings. There are different aspects of creative development in children.
a. Emotional Creativity
Emotional creativity is a measure of how children respond to their environment, the
objects and people around them. Children respond in different ways to what they see, hear and
touch. They can also communicate their own feelings due to the nature of their surroundings.
Centre-based child care arrangements may help develop social skills in young children and
prepare them for kindergarten. The interaction with other children their own age goes a long
way in improving social skills and people acceptance in kids.
b. Exploring Media and Materials

Exploring media and materials is the aspect of a child’s creative development in which
his reaction to media, pictures, toys and three-dimensional objects are observed. Toys like
building blocks and representations of television characters can help a child develop creative
instincts. For example, many dolls and action figures can be distinguished as characters from a
fictional world rather than real objects or people. The role of media and materials cannot be
overemphasized in regard to creativity in children. Positive building skills and role play are
developed by providing proper toys for kids.
c. Creative Imagination and Imaginative Play

Creative imagination and imaginative play in young children deal with how they respond
to dance, stories, music, role-playing and art. Imaginative writing and drawing characters go a
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long way in developing a child’s creativity. Dealing with different colours and painting pictures
of different characters build the child’s mind and improves her ability to test different colour
variations. The creative arts have a significant bearing on the early creative development of a
child. Writing skills can also be harnessed by engaging the child in creating replicas of written
symbols and objects.
d. Creative Music and Dance

A child’s ability to distinguish different sounds such as the banging of a door or the
running of tap water and musical sounds that elicit dance movements is important at an early
age. Children exposed to different musical tones and patterns of dance movement may be able
to adapt quickly to these tunes and mime or sing songs easily from memory. Such children are
likely to develop ample creative instincts at an early age.
e. Knowledge and Understanding

It is important to support your children in understanding the world around them. Give
them the opportunity and tools they need to grow and learn. Expose them to people, plants and
animals and show them how to act and respond to different objects in their environment. Allow
them to investigate and explore their surroundings in a safe manner. Your support and
encouragement gives your child the courage they need to grow, learn and succeed in life.
4.5 SYMBOLIC PLAY

Symbolic play is the ability of children to use objects, actions or ideas to represent other
objects, actions, or ideas as play. The developing ability to use actions, objects, or ideas to represent
other actions, objects, or ideas. At around 18 months of age, children use one object to represent
another object and engage in one or two simple actions of pretend play. Symbolic play is the
ability of children to use objects, actions or ideas to represent other objects, actions, or ideas as
play. A child may push a block around the floor as a car or put it to his ear as a cell phone.
4.5.1 Importance of Symbolic play

Symbolic play is so important in a child’s development. As a child shifts from infancy to
early childhood, their mental development begins to change through what we know as pretend
play. Children at this point begin to treat one thing as if it were another. For example, in this
picture this child is pretending to feed her baby by using a marker, but in her mind it is a bottle.
Children will often use a block as a phone and, yesterday in our office; a little girl was using a
spoon from the play kitchen as a pencil. Children begin to give names and character traits to
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inanimate objects and make up environments to accommodate the world they are forming
through their imagination.
Children live by example so often times they tend to model what they see in their
environment whether that be through parents, siblings, peers and/or the media. Children have a
tendency to act out actions they see others do. For example, children will pretend to talk on the
phone and they will walk around while they are talking. Or, they will often pretend to build by
using the play tools the way they see their parents use the tools. We even had a little girl that
was building right beside her brother and they both were using the tools and using symbolic
play with the tools. It is important to understand how important pretend play is in children, and
how they need time to have unstructured play so their imagination leads the play. Imagination
play allows the child to build their language skills, independence skills, social skills and their
cognitive skills.
4.5.2 Benefits of Symbolic play to the Child’s Cognitive Development.

Children learn many new skills through imitation. While engaging in symbolic play,
they act out behaviours and scenarios they have observed in their daily life. While acting out
these activities or behaviours, children develop their interests, or likes and dislikes. Given the
opportunity to act out adult behaviours, a child may realize that they love tending to a baby but
have less interest in driving a race car (or vice versa!).
They gain an understanding of relationships between people and build social skills. When
children are young, they may hug, rock, and kiss a baby doll or stuffed animal, demonstrating
their understanding of relationships and interactions between adults and babies. As children
get older, their symbolic play becomes more in-depth and interactive. They assign roles to
others, communicate, and take turns while role-playing. This type of play also encourages
children to work out social issues and deal with different emotions while playing with children
and adults around them.
They solve problem. Acting out different scenarios allows children to be presented with
a variety of issues or problems along the way. In a single symbolic play scenario, such as
making dinner, a child could face multiple problems or complications:
The child may imitate a problem they’ve observed their parent solve, such as burning
dinner.
They may have an issue finding the right surface or materials to make a “stove”.
They may have to solve a problem with a peer when both want to be the parent in this
play scheme.
4.5.3 Suggested Activities for the Development of Symbolic Play

Different sized boxes – a single box can be an airplane one minute and a barn the next.
Adult clothing – what better way to feel like a grown up than wearing dad’s old dress
shirt and tie?
Stuffed animals or dolls – this allows children to imitate their own life and explore
different feelings and thoughts.
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Activities at home; Grocery Store: Instead of disposing of your trash, clean out milk
jugs, jelly jars, cracker boxes, etc. and provide a few grocery bags. You can even expand the
play scheme to create a shopping list or use construction paper to make money to pay for
groceries.
Post Office: Save your junk mail and your child can be a mail carrier! Those handy
boxes mentioned above can be created into mailboxes. This also provides exposure to numbers
and letters.
Restaurant: Collect the take-out menus from your favourite restaurants and have a
restaurant in your own home. Provide your child with some paper and a crayon and they can
take your order (or the other way around).
4.6 DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE/LINGUISTICS

Children are born with innate powers of communication. Before they acquire language
skills, they use body language or facial expressions to communicate with parents or caretakers.
Early childhood is the golden period for language learning. There is a close relationship between
the development of language ability and thinking. Children can learn and think effectively if
they are proficient in language communication.
It is suggested that language learning should be facilitated naturally and based on life
experience. Children can learn more effectively in meaningful and authentic situations. Thus,
a pre-primary language curriculum should aim at creating a language-rich learning environment,
in which children can develop their language proficiency through try-outs, exploration and
interpersonal interaction.
Teachers need to provide children with integrated language learning experience based
on their language ability and developmental needs. In a meaningful language learning
environment, children can practice the four language skills-listening, speaking, reading and
writing. In doing so, children can be guided to use the spoken and written languages appropriately.
Children’s natural developmental sequence is that they acquire listening and speaking abilities
before they learn how to read and write. To give teachers a better understanding of the
developmental objectives in respect of children’s basic language skills, the learning objectives
and principles of teaching in listening, speaking, reading and writing are shown below.
Taking into account the local context of language learning, spoken language normally
refers to the mother tongue (Cantonese) and Putonghua, whereas there is only one type of
written language. In this connection, institutions should arrange for teachers to attain the relevant
language proficiency to facilitate suitable language learning opportunities for children. The
following learning objectives and principles of teaching with respect to listening, speaking,
reading and writing are applicable to both mother tongue and Putonghua learning.
Listening and Speaking

l. Learning Objectives: Children are enabled to -a. listens to and understands conversations
and stories, which enrich their everyday vocabulary. Use the vocabulary and short phrases
they have learnt in order to express their ideas and needs;
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c. speak politely, clearly and fluently in dialogues with others;
d. ask and answer questions, make simple inferences, solve problems and predict the
outcomes of events; and share with others what they experience and encounter in everyday
life.
Principles of Teaching
a. Listening and speaking skills are prerequisites for verbal communication. Teachers should
motivate children by using everyday experiences and objects that interest them, and
encourage them to listen, describe,
b. Teachers should initiate casual conversations with children at appropriate moments such
as during morning assembly, playtime and snack time, and allow children to engage in
conversation with others.
c. When talking to children, teachers should use words and phrases easily understood by
children, and then gradually increase the choice of vocabulary as appropriate. They should
also encourage children to accumulate and expand their vocabulary. Teachers should
listen to children with patience, allow children sufficient time to think, and give feedback
appropriately. Conversation should be carried out in a relaxed and pleasurable atmosphere.
If children have any difficulty in expressing their ideas, teachers should give them guidance
and encouragement to build up their confidence in speaking.
f. Open-ended questions should be employed to stimulate children to develop their thinking
ability.
g. Children should be allowed to express different views and have different responses. It is
not necessary to insist on consensus or definite answer.
h. If teachers encounter errors in children’s speech, they may demonstrate the right
pronunciation or correct sentence structure in a friendly and natural manner during
conversation with the children, to act as a model for their imitation.
i. Listening to stories can develop children’s abilities of concentration and imagination.
During story-telling activities, children should be encouraged to raise questions and
have discussion, to promote critical thinking skills. Children should also be encouraged
to create stories verbally in order to develop creativity.
4.7 DEVELOPMENT OF EMERGENT LITERACY IN EARLY

CHILDHOOD STAGE
Have you ever wondered about the stage before children learn to read and write? Anyone
who spends time with young children knows that they love to play with language: they talk,
sing, chant, and even explore books and writing. This is because young children are in a stage
called emergent literacy. During emergent literacy, children cannot read or write independently
in the conventional sense, but they are moving along a constant continuum toward literacy. As
they explore language, investigate books and try their hand at drawing and writing, you can
help them develop by providing them with opportunities to test out their new skills and interests.
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Early childhood is marked as the period in which the child begins to develop literacy and
numeracy skills, which serve as foundation for academic performance and success of the child
in personal and socio-economic spheres in the later life. In this section, we will discuss the
emergent literacy and numeracy skills in terms of their importance, meaning, facts and activities
which facilitate the building of these skills.
4.7.1 Importance of Early Literacy

Children who do not learn to read, write and communicate effectively at primary level
are more likely to leave school early, to become underemployed in low skilled jobs, to have
poorer emotional and physical health and are more likely to end-up in poverty.
Literacy difficulties are also linked to truancy, exclusion, social consequences such as
alcohol or drug abuse, increased health risks and greatly reduced life chance.
- Unsatisfactory literacy and numeracy abilities affect school achievement in the later
years of a child’s life. It has shown noted effects on job choices and economic prosperity
in adulthood.
- Children’s self-esteem may also get lowered.
- Inadequate development and ignorance of emergent literacy may skills may lead to
development of lack of confidence in children’s ability to succeed.
4.7.2 Emergent Literacy Meaning

Emergent literacy is a term first used by Marie Clay to describe how young children
interact with books and when reading and writing, even though they could not read or write in
the conventional sense. Emergent literacy is a gradual process that takes place over time from
birth - until a child can read and write in what we consider to be a conventional sense. The
definition of literacy includes “the capacity to read, understand and critically appreciate various
forms of communication including spoken language, printed text, broadcast media and digital
media”. Literacy is therefore, the integration of listening, speaking, reading and writing for
communication and learning to learn. This integration is a key to early literacy.
Literacy emerges gradually during the early years. Literacy begins with learning language
and looking at the books in early infancy. This process continues from birth throughout the
early childhood years and it is never too early to begin reading to a child.
In early childhood, the development of literacy involves babies hearing sounds and having
them identified by sensitive adults, babbling, repeating sounds and rhymes, later sharing books
and stories, listening to music, looking at and talking about the pictures with others, and making
marks in sand and on paper. Literacy learning occurs during meaningful interactions, experiences
with abroad range of materials, texts, digital technologies and events.
4.7.3 Facts about Emergent Early Literacy

Literacy is not rooted in letters and words initially but in communication and language
giving utmost importance to non-verbal communication and warm reciprocal relationships.
1. Literacy development starts from birth and linguistic skills i.e. speaking, listening, reading
and writing develop concurrently rather than sequentially.
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2. Emergent early childhood literacy skills have been identified as strong predictors of
later literacy achievements.
3. The greater is the children’s experience of literacy and language, the greater is the chance
of reading fluency.
4. Language and literacy learning mostly happen naturally during play and everyday
experiences.
5. Difference in children’s home language and culture can affectliteracy development in
each of their languages, i.e. the socioculturalcontext of children’s families should be
included in literacy curriculum.
6. It is what parents, carers, and educators ‘do’ with children, more so than with their socio-
economic status, which causes difference to children’s literacy learning outcomes.
4.7.4 Relevant Literacy Experiences / Suggested Activities to be Provided to

the Children
• Oral Language: refers to listening and comprehension. Facilitating activities: talking,
description, story-telling, explanatory talk, puppets, drama, reading in interactive way
• Phonological Awareness: constitutes the general ability todecipher the sound patterns
within the words.
• Facilitating activities: repeating sounds, rhymes, finger plays,breaking and pronouncing
sounds
• Alphabetic Codes: includes knowledge of alphabets (letters).Facilitating activities:
writing names, stories, titles of paintings/arts, structured attempts to read and write in
reading and writing areas, magnetic alphabetic play
• Print Knowledge/Concepts: includes knowledge andexperiences of environmental print
• Facilitating activities: organized play, exposure to printedmaterial, free scrabbling/writing
etc.
• Emergent Writing or Mark Making: includes how marks arerepresentations of ideas and
can develop into letters and then words can be read. Facilitating activities: drawing,
marks on paper/in sand etc.writing and reading back the words.
4.8 DEVELOPMENT OF MUSIC SKILLS

Making music provides children with opportunities to express their feelings, investigate
rhythm, develop an understanding of their bodies in space, explore movement and strength,
and experience concepts such as loud and soft, fast and slow, and high and low. Musical
experiences provide arenas for children to connect with their own bodies and with their
peers. Music can be used to soothe, excite and interpret feelings. Musicland movement can
foster the development of listening skills, promote oral language, strengthen auditory
discrimination, and provide countless opportunities for problem solving. Music and movement
go hand in hand in early childhood classrooms. Young children need to be “hands-on” as
well as “minds-on”.
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The National Association for Music Education reminds teachers that:
• All children have musical potential;
• Children bring their own unique interests and Abilities to the music-learning environment
• Very young children are capable of developing critical thinking skills through musical
ideas;
• Children come to early childhood music experiences from diverse backgrounds;
• Children should experience exemplary musical sounds, activities and materials
• Children should not be encumbered with the need to meet performance goals;
• Children’s play is their work;
• Children learn best in pleasant physical and social environments;
• Diverse learning environments are needed to serve the developmental needs of many
individual children; and• children need effective adult models (MENC,1994).When
parents and teachers speak and sing to children, they foster awareness and the development
of musical intelligence. Experiences such as bouncing toa steady beat, rocking, and
dancing to music all build sensitivity to beat, rhythm, tempo, pitch, etc. It is not Surprising
that children who grow up in homes with a variety of opportunities for singing and
listening become more interested in music and look for experiences that involve singing
and listening.
Children also distinguish sounds in their musical sounds they begin to experiment with
sound. This same experimentation is found when children play with sounds, words and rhymes.
Early childhood classrooms build upon these playful opportunities and provide children with
numerous experiences playing with, hearing and recognizing the sounds of language. Research
has indicated that the more proficient a child is with sounds, rhymes and language patterns, the
more likely she or he is to be successful in later reading skills(Neuman, Copple and Bredekamp,
2000.
4.8.1 Effective Music Teaching in the Early Childhood

• Music teaching should support the child’s total development —physical, emotional, social
and cognitive;
• Recognize the wide range of normal development in early childhood -age children and
The need to differentiate their instruction;• facilitate learning through active interaction
with adults and other children as well as with music materials;
• Include learning activities and materials that are real, concrete and relevant to the lives
of young children;
• Provide opportunities for children to choose from among a variety of musical activities,
materials and equipment of varying degrees of difficulty; and• allow children time to
explore music through active involvement (MENC, 1994).
Group experiences in music are only one aspect of a good music curriculum. Musical
instruments and materials provide children with opportunities to explore sound. As children
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become more familiar and comfortable with exploring vocal and other sound sources, guided
experiences can help develop understanding, skills and vocabulary.
Early childhood music curriculums also can develop listening skills. Paying attention
to directions in a song, trying to keep a steady beat, and playing musical games all require
listening and responses. Children enjoy such musical experiences and often find success in
the new and the different .Individual opportunities for music exploration should be available
just as blocks, dramatic play, sand and water are available in an early childhood setting.
Experimenting with sound and how to produce it with instruments real and “home-made”
provide children with opportunities to learn about sounds, tones and pitch. The classroom
setting can encourage children to feel free “to get into the music” and interpret it in their own
ways. It may sound like children are making noise, but this is part of free experimentation in
music, the language of sound.
4.8.2 Best Practices/ Suggested Activities

Early childhood educators recommend the following best practices in music instruction
for consideration.
• Make music a daily and natural part of the classroom by playing music often, even as
background during other experiences.
Demonstrate musical concepts through stories, e.g., using high and low character voices
in the Three Billy Goats Gruff.
• Encourage singing and dancing as part of other routines and activities, such as during
dramatic play or on the playground.
Encourage children to notice rhythms in their environments, such as birds, rain or
construction crews outside.
• Provide children with the vocabulary of music, e.g. high and low for pitch; loud and soft
for dynamics; and fast and gradual for tempo.
• Use children’s literature, such as Down By the Bay or A Hunting We Will Go, that can be
sung or played.
• Sing songs of many cultures, especially those represented by the children in the group.
Help children to discover ways to make sounds on instruments. Make your own
instruments using materials like boxes, sticks, rubber bands, sandpaper and beans. Use
instruments and “sound-makers” to create rain, thunder, birds and other sounds to
accompany stories.
• Create a music center that includes tapes, tape recorder, songs on charts, and stories with
accompanying music. Add props to use when enjoying a song, such as felt cutouts to
represent the characters in songs like The Wheels on the Bus
.• Avoid attempting performances that require long rehearsals, because these can create
stress for parents.
Collect several sound producing objects such as, wooden and metallic spoons, wooden
sticks, hard plastic tubes, metallic and plastic bowls.
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– Engage children in exploring sounds produced by various objects when they are struck
with another object, (such as a spoon or stick) or tapped with the fingers. Provide
opportunities to explore the difference in sound when a bottle/container is filled with
different levels of water and when it is empty.
– Engage children in producing repetitive sounds using various objects, leading to musical
patterns. For examples, gently tapping a metallic bowl and plastic cup with a metallic
spoon in sequence and listening to the sound and then changing the sequence and observing
the difference.
– Demonstrate beats and rhythms by clapping out number patterns, for example, 1-2-3
stop 1-2-3 stop. These beats can then be played out by tapping or shaking various sound
producing objects.
– Engage children in reciting poems, folk songs and national songs in chorus and in solo
with rhythm and appropriate actions and expressions.
– Sound boxes/shakers can be made with empty boxes, grains and pebbles.
4.9 AESTHETIC DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

Helping children understand the world around them plays a key role in early childhood
development. Children not only need to be taught the core subjects, but they need to learn an
appreciation for the arts.
Aesthetic is connected with beauty and the study of beauty. It can stimulate children’s
senses in the form of art, music, dance and drama. A stimulating environment created for such
activities will enhance children’s learning and thinking.
Aesthetics, or a set of values relating to nature and the appreciation of beauty, should be
incorporated into early childhood development. In doing this, young children will see the
connection and importance of music, visual arts, and pretend play in their education. It will
help increase motivation and develop appropriate interpersonal skills. Through carefully planned
activities, exploration, and use of manipulative, we can foster aesthetic development in your
students.
There are various theories out there that support aesthetic development in early childhood
education. Let us check out some perspectives!
4.9.1 The Theorists Supported Aesthetic Development

Dewey; Dewey believed that children learn best by forming their own views and can
enhance their education through their own experiences and interactions. Positive experiences
will lead to a positive view of their surroundings. As students gain new experiences, relate
information to previous knowledge, and form their own thoughts on beauty, they will continue
to develop. Dewey also believes that early childhood educators need to provide students with
opportunities to experience aesthetics for cognitive, social, cultural, and psychological
development.
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Steiner: Steiner’s Anthroposophy movement on aesthetic development states that children
need intellectual, creative, moral, and spiritual development. This perspective focuses on the
fact that children ages 0 -7 learn about their environment through their senses. Incorporating
music, art, and pretend play fosters students’ abilities to retain information through imitation or
impressions. By including aesthetic development, educators provide approaches that set students
up for a successful future and encourage imagination.
Vygotsky: Vygotsky is most known for the idea zone of proximal development (ZPD),
which is the distance between the level a child can perform independently versus their potential
level with guidance. This is key to a child’s development because learning takes place just
above their independent level.
There’s great emphasis on learning through play with Vygotsky’s theory. As with the
other views, it is believed that children learn from their experiences. Role play, imagination,
and imitating others fosters a child’s growth and development. By reenacting what students see
in real life, they begin to master various concepts.
Housen;Through her own research and studies, Housen believed that people grow
aesthetically through distinct stages. These five stages of aesthetic development include:
1. Accountive - senses and experiences help people make observations of art and figure it
out
2. Constructive - how people perceive things affects their view in how they look at art
3. Classifying - by understanding art’s history and categorizing it, people gain a deeper
understanding
4. Interpretive - people look for the underlying meaning in art
5. Re-Creative - long history of viewing and reflecting art
Piaget: Piaget’s main focus was on children’s cognitive development. He emphasized
that development is a process acquired through maturation and environmental experiences.
Piaget strongly believes that children use schemas, or their own experiences, to build upon
when learning something new. Children make adaptations as they learn in order to make new
experiences fit in with their prior knowledge. The main stages of development include: sensori
motor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Within each stage, a child’s
brain continues to become more advanced and sophisticated.
Young children learn through active exploration of their environments. Curriculum must
include both handsonand minds-on experiences. In early childhood curriculum planning art,
music, movement and drama are woven together throughout projects, themes and centers in the
classroom. Engaging children’s senses, using more than one avenue for learning, and physical
involvement allow young learners to make connections with previous experiences and build
bridges to new learning. Whether performance standards are tied to dance, music, movement,
visual arts or physical skills, the child is making decisions, solving problems, communicating
and representing. When early childhood curriculum plans provide varied experiences that
acknowledge the aesthetic and physical developmental domains, each child (with his or her
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learning style, intelligence, culture, language and ability) is given an opportunity to understand
and represent his or her learning.
“We know people truly understand something when they can represent the knowledge in
more than one way”
4.9.2 Aesthetic Activities for Kids

Aesthetic activities for kids includes art, puppetry, drama, creative dramatics and even
creative food projects. Aesthetic learning engages the senses in a memorable and fun way.
• Getting Ready
Learning that is artistic, imaginative, tasteful and sensual can get messy. Prepare an area
that can withstand paint, glue and amateur theatricals. Use drop cloths, paint aprons and any
other preventative gear needed. Set up some ground rules so that the aesthetic play is fun for
everyone. Provide materials that spark imagination such as old newspapers, string, odd socks,
dress-up clothing, paper, scissors, glue and paint. If you have an appropriate space, even include
cooking supplies.
b. Edible Creation: Pudding paint, peanut butter play dough and even traditional rolled
cookies or candy making can provide a satisfying creative platform. Pudding paint is made
using regular pudding mix. It works well for the age 3 and younger crowd, but can be enjoyed
by older kids as well. Edible play dough can be made by mixing peanut butter with powdered
milk and powdered sugar. Experiment with using smooth or crunchy peanut butter. The sugar
can be left out if it is a concern. Rolled cookie dough can be cut in a variety of shapes and
decorated after baking. Young cooks can finish off the experience by eating their creations.
c. Fine Arts : Although art techniques can be taught, an aesthetic art experience requires
giving the child the materials and letting her experiment. The early results might not turn out a
cute, recognizable picture, but the child will enjoy drawing, coloring, painting and creating
with minimal supervision. Three-dimensional supplies such as paper mache, paper clay and
reusable modeling compounds can provide hours of fun and sometimes even astonishing results.
The keys to success are good preparation and safety rules.
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d. Drama and Role Play
From dressing up and playing “pretend” to putting on small stage plays, dramatic
expression provides an outlet for emotions and creativity. Tools for dramatic creation might
range from a box of old clothing to word processors and even cartoon creation tools such as
Xtranormal. Creative dramatics, acting out traditional stories and preparing holiday presentations
fall into this category. Finger plays and choral reading are also a part of drama. Each of these
activities provides a way to try out emotional expression.
e. Music and Dance

From banging on the pots and pans to playing in a youth music group, music is an
important part of aesthetics. It can be added to your child’s education in a variety of ways.
These can include adding tuned musical toys to preschool play supplies, such as xylophones
and small keyboards, having a supply of recorded music selections for listening and providing
a place to move to the music. For school-age children, adding tonettes, English flutes or recorders,
and similar pre-band instruments with easy instruction may spark a later interest in music
production.
4.10 DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL

SKILLS
Natural phenomena and objects such as wind, rain, thunder, lightning, flowers, birds,
worms and fish, which children encounter in their everyday life, can all be topics of natural
science. These fascinating science topics are excellent learning material for children, who are
curious by nature. Children will gain a deeper understanding of the things and phenomena
around them, and experience the joy of science, through observation, exploration, questioning
and verification. Many modern inventions, such as I.T. products (e.g. television, video recorders
and computers), advanced means of transportation and objects that are easily accessible to
children (e.g. electric fans and toys), are applications of science in everyday life. Through
contact and niplation, children can learn and experience the close relationship between science,
technology and living. Under proper guidance, children will also develop their awareness of
the environment and quality of life.
Children are enabled to -
A. Develop curiosity about the environment;
B. Gain interest in exploring the physical world;
C. Master basic exploration techniques such as observation, questioning and making
assumptions;
D. Maintain an objective and open attitude;
E. Develop problem-solving ability;
F. Care for animals and plants, and develop concern for environmental protection;
G. Understand the relationship between humans and nature, and explore the relationship
between technology and living; and. Have initial understanding of technology.
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Principles of Teaching;
a. Children can understand their own abilities and strengths through various kinds of learning
activities or free choice activities.
b. Teachers should provide children with opportunities to make decisions on their own, so
as to enhance their critical thinking skills, and self-confidence and independence.
c. Children are encouraged to participate actively in group and class activities; and they
should be given sufficient time and opportunities to interact with people and the
environment, and to experience the social norms.
d. Teachers should make good use of the natural environment and community resources to
organise suitable activities which allow children to obtain first-hand experience and
know more about society. This will also foster children’s awareness with respect to
environmental protection and appreciation of the cultural and historical features of the
Community.
4.10.1 Role of Teachers in Development of Scientific Skills

a. Teachers should encourage children to be conscious of their surroundings and learn
through observation, analysis and inference.
b. When organizing science activities, teachers should note the following points:
The learning activities, which they arrange, should be easy to observe, with immediate
results and conspicuous changes. The procedures of the activities should be simple. Teachers
should conduct trial experiments before asking children to do them, to ensure that the activities
are feasible and safe, and can meet children’s developmental needs and achieve the learning
objectives.
Teachers should encourage children to try things out and learn from mistakes. The aim is
to help children develop an inquisitive attitude, and the process of observation is far more
important than the outcome. Therefore, teachers should not stick to any “standard
Answer” or disclose the result too early. Teachers should encourage children to observe
attentively during the activities and to report their observations afterwards. Children can share
and discuss the outcome in groups or with the whole class. Meanwhile, the teacher can also
help them make hypothesis, guess, ask questions and make records.
c. Teachers should discuss the applications of technology (such as radios, telephones,
computers, etc.) with children by relating them to their everyday life, so that they develop
a basic understanding of the benefits brought about by technology to society as well as
relevant concerns about using it.
d. Time spent on using technological products (e.g. computers) as teaching aids should not
be too long, so as not to hinder the overall teaching arrangements. Over-dependence on
technology will deprive children of the opportunities to learn from reality.
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4.10.2 Activities for the Development Scientific Skills
Suggested activities to develop a range of scientific skills, either explicitly or implicitly.
The following is one such list:
• Explore objects, materials, and events.

• Raise questions.
• Make careful observations.
• Engage in simple investigations.
• Describe (including shape, size, number), compare, sort, classify, and order.
• Record observations using words, pictures, charts, and graphs.
• Use a variety of simple tools to extend observations.
• Identify patterns and relationships.
• Develop tentative explanations and ideas.
• Work collaboratively with others
4.10.2 Cultural Development

The importance of promoting quality early learning environments for children that are
culturally and developmentally appropriate. Research suggests adults who engage children in
culturally responsive educational experiences help to:
• Build young children’s self-confidence and skills.
• Increase children’s awareness, appreciation and inclusion of diverse beliefs and cultures.
• Maximize children’s academic achievement and educational success
• Cultural Diversity & Education
From the earliest beginnings of a child’s life, they are experiencing and learning about
their culture and the world around them!
The following are three developmental characteristics of why starting in early childhood
to provide culturally responsive and anti-bias education experiences for young children is critical
to create a more just and inclusive society for all:
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• Children as young as 2 1/2 to 3 years old become aware of and begin to take in socially
prevailing ideas, feelings and stereotypes about people and about themselves.
• A child’s interactions with parents, other children, community, the media, and caregivers
can inevitably shape their perception and judgement of others.
• Young children have the intellectual capacity for undoing any pre-existing unfair
perceptions of others as they engage in meaningful, culturally responsive experiences
with the primary caregivers in their lives.
4.10.3 Suggested Activities; for the Development of Cultural Skills

A. Activity One: Images in Our Minds
For this activity, an educator reads several short stories with a variety of characters, and
at the end of each story, students are asked to consider what images come to their minds regarding
the various people in the stories. The activity allows students to recognize that we associate
particular characteristics (such as gender, race, class, or age) with specific roles, while
simultaneously encouraging students to expand these notions and to challenge stereotypes.
B. Activity Two: Toy Sorting

Students are presented with a variety of domestic, scientific, nursery, and athletic toys,
as well as board and computer games. Children can also be presented with dress-up clothing,
make-up, and books. The students then distribute the toys to their classmates, allowing them to
identify how gender is a major sorting force that can lead to rigid gender roles and discourage
the development of an individual.
C. Activity Three: Image Collage

In this activity, students are asked to go through magazines to identify “in-the-box” and
“out-of-the box” images. “In-the-box” is a metaphor for rigid messages that surround us and
limit free expression to be an individual (for instance, that girls should like wearing feminine
clothes). The students will paste “in-the-box” and “out-of-the-box” images to reflect such
qualities as they learn to recognize the limitations of these messages. The goal of this activity
is to help students discover that they hold ideas about what girls and boys should “do,” and
allow them to identify ways they can break these molds to be themselves.
D. Activity Four: Build a House

For this activity, students are divided into groups and asked to construct a home with a
myriad of materials. Some groups will receive an abundance of materials, while others will
receive limited supplies. The students should create their homes without being able to see the
materials that the other groups received. At the conclusion of building, students come together
and present their homes to one another. After sharing, students are asked to reflect on their
experiences, with the idea of proving that the structure of one’s house has nothing to do with
one’s character. The goal of this activity is to help students understand and dispel stereotypes
related to class.
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E. Activity Five: The Marine Life Story
In this exercise, students hear a story about four marine creatures: a shark, a carp, a crab,
and a dolphin. Each creature has a specific role to play. After hearing the story, students are
asked to discuss times when they have acted like each of these creatures. The goal is to help
students realize that the creatures reside in all of us, but a commitment should be made to work
towards social justice every day.
Parent’s Role in Teaching about Diversity

Early childhood educators may also need to engage parents to encourage tolerance and
equity. Educators may consider involving parents in these efforts through the use of email,
social media, or invitations to participate in various planned activities. In addition, educators
may offer workshops designed specifically for parents to introduce the idea of diversity. Such
gatherings allow educators to gain an understanding of the attitudes and beliefs of parents that
shape their engagement. In addition, the educator may gain a sense of the how a student’s home
environment may affect her views on diversity. During these workshops, educators can stress
the importance of continuous and open dialogue at home in order to enhance the diversity
activities that take place during the school day.
While dialogues about diversity may seem sensitive, it is important that early childhood
educators start these conversations when children are young. Differences between individuals
should be openly (and appropriately) discussed to promote tolerance. Bringing diversity into
the classroom through toys, books, music, and activities will model positive social interactions
that children can carry forward throughout their school careers.
4.11 EVIDENCED BASED PRACTICES FOR EARLY

INTERVENTION
Evidence based practice (EBP) is when the interventionist, clinician, therapist, etc.
Make decisions based on the best available scientific evidence, professional expertise across
disciplines, and understanding of the child’s unique situation.
Evidence Based Practice is critical when deciding what works for which children and in
what contexts – which approaches or interventions might be appropriate for a specific
individual. Because of this, it is important to understand that, within various interventions,
“one size does not fit all.”
Evidence-based practices are defined as practices informed by research findings
demonstrating a functional or statistical relationship (or both) between the characteristics and
consequences of a planned or naturally occurring experience or opportunity where the nature
of the relationship informs what someone can do to produce a desired outcome
Evidence-based practices (also called scientifically based practices) are teaching strategies
or methods that have been tried and tested. Through a series of experiments, these practices
have been proven effective in multiple settings with a large number of subjects. Such experiments
have usually been published in peer-reviewed journals, which indicate that a team of experts in
a particular topic have questioned and critique the research until it’s proven to be scientifically
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effective. Federal law now requires the use of evidence-based practice in public education, as
these methods and strategies are proven to yield positive results.
No Child Left Behind

In 2001, the federal act was passed No Child Left Behind, detailing a plan that would
improve education in all schools for all students. This was the first time teachers were required
by law to implement scientifically based practices in their classrooms. In the past 15 years,
curriculum has been rewritten as teachers and students have been held to higher standards. The
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 goes one-step further in specifically
requiring the use of evidence-based practice in special education.
Evidence-Based Practice in Special Education

Students with disabilities need to receive effective, scientifically based instruction to
help them reach their potential. IDEA requires special educators to use sound research in selecting
methods and strategies to use in their classrooms. As students with disabilities often have
specific and unique needs, this can be particularly challenging for teachers—one strategy does
not fit all. By using strategies that have been scientifically proven to be effective in special
education, teachers are setting up their students for success.
4.11.1 Evidenced-based Teaching strategies -/ Activities

“Clearly specified teaching strategies that have been shown in controlled research to be
effective in bringing about desired outcomes in a delineated population of learners”
• Co-operative Group Teaching — ’Help learners to learn from each other’ and ’Peer
tutoring’
• Review and Practice — ’Practice makes perfect’
• Formative Assessment and Feedback — ’Regularly check and inform learners of their
progress’
• Cognitive Strategy Instruction — ’Help children How to learn as well as What to learn’
• Social skills instruction — ’teach students how to positively interact with others’
• Positive, Motivating Classroom Environment — ’create a positive, motivating classroom
climate’
• Adequate active learning time — ’maximise learning time within and between lessons’
• Adapted curriculum — ’ensure that the curriculum fits all learners’ abilities and interests
—’broadly similar for all learners, but differentiated to suit all learners’
• Adapted Assessment — ’ensure that content and methods of assessment fits all learners’
abilitiesand interests’
• Information and Communications Technology — ’Compensate for learners skill deficits’,
high techand low tech.
• Parent Involvement — ’respect parents’ rights. skills and needs’, very important role in
supporting learners with special needs, should be involved in IEP planning, some will
need counselling
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• Optimal Physical Environment — ’enable a physical environment that enables learning’,
design an arrangement of furniture, acoustics, lightning, temperature, ventilation
• Optimal Success — aim for a 90 % success rate for all learners within the lessons’
Check Your Progress

1. What is Curriculum?
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2. What is a curricular activity?
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3. How can develop music skills in early childhood stage?
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4. Explain about symbolic play.
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5. Explain about role of teacher in development of scientific skills.
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4.12 UNIT SUMMARY

The early years are very important as experiences help to shape the personality of the
Child. The early childhood care and education is necessary for the formal development of
education. By understanding of the domains of activities that enhance the development of
children at early years and to organize the developmental activities for the children .Good
quality of play provision begins with providing activities to stimulate all the areas of
development.
Early childhood is marked for the as the period in which the child begins to develop
literacy and language skills which will be useful child’s performance in later life.
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4.13 ASSIGNMENTS
1. Write about the importance of play in early childhood also test the activities relevant
various domains of child’s development.
2. Discuss the relevant literacy and numeracy skills to be provided to the children in early
childhood.

them below:

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Key words
• Symbolic Play
• Linguistic & Emergent literacy
• Evidence based practices
4.15 REFERENCES
1. Decker. C. A & Decker, J. R (2005). Planning and administrating early childhood
programs (8th edition). New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.
2. Dodge, D.T., Colker, L.J. & Heroman. C (2002). The Creative Curriculumfor Preschool
(4th edition), Washington DC: Teaching Strategies, Inc.
3. Douglas, D. (1999). Child Development: A Practitioner’s Guide. New York:The Guilford
Press.
4. Feeney, S., Christensen, D. & Moravcik, E. (2001). Who Am I in the Livesof Children?
(6th edition). New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.
5. Guide to the Pre-primary Curriculum Issued by The Curriculum Development council
Recommended for Use in Pre-primary Institutions by The Education Bureau HKSAR,
2006
6. Harris A.C. (1993). Child Development (2nd edition). New York: WestPublishing
Company.
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7. Kostelnik, M.J., Soderman, A.K. & Whiren, A.P. (2004). Developmentally Appropriate
Curriculum: Best Practices in Early Childhood Education (3rdLybolt, J & Gottfred, C.
(2003). Promoting pre-school language.
8. Krogh, S.L., & Slentz, K. (2001). Early Childhood Education, Yesterday, Today &
Tomorrow. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
9. Manning, K. & Sharp, A. (1977). Structuring play in the early years atschool. Great
Britain: Schools Council Publications.
10. Ministry of Education and Training (1998). The Kindergarten Program.Ontario: Ministry
of Education and Training.
11. Mohanty, J., & Mohanty, B. (1999). Early Chilhood Care and Education. Delhi: Offset
Printers. Suggested Readings .
12. Range, D.G., Layton, J.R. & Roubinek, D.C. (1980). Aspects of Early Childhood 88
Education.Theory to Reserch to Practice. New York: Academic Press.
13. Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (2000). Curriculum Guidancefor the Foundation
Stage. Great Britain: Qualifications and CurriculumAuthority
14. Spodek, B., Saracho, O.N., & Davis, M.D. (1987). Foundations of Early Childhood
Education. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Switzerland: International
Bureau of Education. Available on the internet:htt p://ww w.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/
user_upload/archive/publications/EducationalPracticesSeriesPdf/prac13e.pdf
websites :
• playworkschicago.com/why-symbolic-and-pretend-play-is-important-in-a-childs-cogn...
• https://study.com/academy/lesson/aesthetic-development-in-early-childhood.html
buildingallchildren.org/child-development/symbolic-play-important
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BLOCK – III INCLUSIVE - EARLY CHILDHOODS
EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES
Introduction
Inclusive education is a process of strengthening the capacity of the education system to
reach out to all learners including those with disabilities—and can thus be understood as a key
strategy to achieve Education for all.
As stated in Article 24 of the CRPD, children with disabilities should not be excluded
from the general education system .On the basis of disability one should have access to inclusive,
quality and free primary and secondary education on an equal basis with others in the community
in which they live. Inclusive pre-school and early primary schooling offers children with
disabilities a vital space in which to ensure optimal development by providing opportunities
for child focused learning, play, participation, peer interaction and the development of
friendships.
Children with disabilities are often denied early years of primary schooling, and when
enrolled—due to a lack of inclusive approaches and rigid systems—they often fail, need to
repeat and are encouraged which forces them to dropout during this critical developmental
period.
The convention on rights of persons with disabilities and EFA initiatives promote
inclusive education for all children, including those with disabilities and call for the provision
of assistance to ensure full and meaningful learning and participation. In many countries separate
schools exist for children with certain types of impairments, for example schools for children
with hearing impaired or children with blind . However, these schools usually accommodate a
limited number of children, often lead to separation from the family at an early age, and fail to
promote inclusion in the wider community. In some countries, children with disabilities attend
mainstream pre- and primary schools; however, they are segregated into special classrooms or
resource centres where teachers are trained in special education.
Education for children with disabilities should focus on inclusion in mainstream settings.
While inclusion is consistent with the rights of children with disabilities and is generally more
cost effective than special or separate schools, it cannot happen without appropriate levels of
support. While additional investments are required, such as progressive national and local
policy, trained staff, accessible facilities, flexible curricula and teaching methods, and educational
resources, these investments will beneficial to all children. For all inclusive early childhood
education and learning interventions, positive attitudes and responses from and interactions
with peers, teachers, school administrators, other school staff, parents and community members
are critical. Assessing and monitoring ECD and school environments for promoting inclusion
is an important part of guaranteeing appropriate educational opportunities for children with
disabilities. Multispectral approaches with effective coordinating mechanisms between such
sectors as education, health and social welfare are required to ensure early identification efforts,
promote holistic responses and link school-based design of learning with home and community
interventions.
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Objectives
The study of units in Block 3 will help the readers to understand about natural
environment and Natural environment for universal design of learning and various service
delivery models in inclusive early childhood education programmes , Adaptations of physical
environment & equipments , visual support materials for children with disabilities , parent
partnership and friendships to promote Inclusive education .
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UNIT- 5 NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS
Structure
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Objectives
5.3 Natural Environments Support Early Childhood Education in Inclusive Practices
5.3.1 Why is Natural Environments Important?
5.4 Service Delivery Models for Educating Young Children with Special Needs.
5.4.1 Home Based Programme Model
5.4.2 Centre Based Programme Model
5.4.3 Home Centre Based Programme Model
5.4.4 Itinerant Teacher Model/Inclusion
5.5 Universal Design of Learning
5.6 Adaptation in Physical Environment.
5.7 Adapting Activates & Materials for Young Children with Disabilities
5.8 Unit Summary
Check Your Progress
5.10 Assignments
5.11 Points for Discussion / Clarification
5.12 References
5.1 INTRODUCTION
Early Childhood Inclusion:
Definition of Early Childhood Inclusion Early childhood inclusion embodies the values,
policies, and practices that support the right of every infant and young child and his or her
family, regardless of ability, to participate in a broad range of activities and contexts as full
members of families, communities, and society. The desired results of inclusive experiences
for children with and without disabilities and their families include a sense of belonging and
membership, positive social relationships and friendships, and development and learning to
reach their full potential. The defining features of inclusion that can be used to identify high
quality early childhood programs and services are access, participation, and supports.
What is meant by Access, Participation, and Supports?

Access – means providing a wide range of activities and environments for every child
by removing physical barriers and offering multiple ways to promote learning and development.
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Participation – means using a range of instructional approaches to promote engagement in play
and learning activities, and a sense of belonging for every child. Supports – refer to broader
aspects of the system such as professional development, incentives for inclusion, and
opportunities for communication and collaboration among families and professionals to assure
high quality inclusion.
Appropriately, planned learning experiences encourage children to explore and experiment
at their own levels in environments where they can use objects to construct relationships and
understandings.
5.2 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
• Understand the natural environment and natural environment for toddlers
• Explain service delivery models in inclusive education.
• Understands the concept of universal design of learning.
• How the partnerships will promote early child hood inclusion.
5.3 NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS SUPPORT EARLY

CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN INCLUSIVE PRACTICES
“Natural environments are those settings that are natural or normal for the child’s age
peers who have no disabilities.” All young children tend to thrive when they are in familiar
surroundings and with the people and objects that are most dear to them. For young children
with disabilities, those reassuring surroundings are an essential part of their early childhood
educational services Called “natural environments,” where the children can practice new skills
and they can full benefit of professional intervention services. Natural environments are more
than people, places, and objects. They are an essential part of your child’s right to inclusive
early childhood special education services. Under Part C of the federal Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) many parents wonder what natural environments are, how
they can help their child, and what role the parent plays. The idea of using natural environments
comes straight from Part C of IDEA. The law says:
• “Early childhood intervention services must be provided in natural environments,
including the home and community settings in which children without disabilities
participate, to the maximum extent that is appropriate.”
• Natural environment is the place where you are a natural fit. The natural environment is
the community in which you live, work and play.
Under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a state must
provide early intervention services in “natural environments” to infants and toddlers, age’s
birth to three, with a disability or developmental delay. Natural environments for infants and
toddlers with disabilities will depend on what is natural for infants and toddlers who do not
have disabilities. Turn, least restrictive environments for preschoolers with disabilities will
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depend on what is natural for preschoolers who do not have a disability. In addition, our country
the natural environment is often a family’s home particularly for infants and toddlers. Any
children today also spend a great deal of time outside of their family’s home in various child-
care arrangements, including centre-based programs. Might be considered the child’s natural
environment or least restrictive setting. In deciding on the natural environment or the least
restrictive setting the answer often is, “It depends” on more than the degree to which the infant,
toddler or preschooler has acquired some ‘fit’ and whether the community has accommodated
to the needs of the young child. It also depends on what services, supports and resources state
or local governments decide to provide to the child and their family and where those services
will be available. Concisely, early intervention and early childhood special education use such
terms as “natural environment” and “least restrictive environment” to express a goal and to
reach an outcome for each individual child.
The natural and least restrictive environment for a child with a disability and their family
will be the same as any other child and family. A natural environment is any place your child
and family live, learn, and play. It includes:
• Settings, such as your home, backyard, or place of work. Settings also include places
such as a child-care site, relative’s home, park, grocery store, or library.
• Materials, which can be anything found in child’s physical environment— toys, pebbles,
books, Swings, grass, spoons, a high chair, or a favourite wagon.
• People, such a s parents, siblings, relatives, friends, neighbours, teachers, or anyone else
with whom your child might interact.
• Activities that incorporate the interests and routines of child and family. These might be
daily activities such as eating, bathing, and dressing; recreation such as playing, reading,
walking, jumping, swimming, and going to the play ground and community participation
such as going to worship, celebrating holidays, taking part in cultural practices, going to
the grocery store, and riding in different forms of it .
5.3.1 Why are Natural Environments Important?

Natural environments make every moment of child’s day an opportunity for inclusion and
for developing new skills. It is important because when children are engaged in activities and
playing with objects in which they are interested, they learn best. Natural environments help your
child model the behavior and skills of family and peers. They also make it more comfortable for
child and family to practice new skills to determine what does and does not work.
5.4 SERVICE DELIVERY MODELS FOR EDUCATING YOUNG

CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
Services for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers may be provided in home-based, center-
based, or home-center programs. Although these programs must be administered by a state
agency, services from other agencies may be contracted to meet the requirement that programs
provide a full range of services. Local education agencies may use a variety of service delivery
options, and the length of intervention time for infants and toddlers and the length of the school
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day for preschoolers may vary. Each model has certain advantages and disadvantages for children,
and their families.
5.4.1 Home-Based Program Model

In home-based programs, an early childhood special educator professional travels to a
family’s home to work directly with the child and the child’s family. The child and the family
are both the focus of intervention .While in the home, the ECSE professional may work directly
with the child (e.g., playing with the child on the floor) or may work indirectly with the child
(e.g., guiding a caretaker as he or she plays with the child on the floor). The pace of interactions,
teaching, and discussion is dictated by the parents’ preferences and needs and by the child’s
ability to profit from what is being offered. The following are considered recommended practices
for home-based programs (Sandall et al., 2005):
• Interventions should be embedded into activities of daily living, such as bathing,
mealtimes, play, family recreation, and bedtime at home and in natural environments.
• Interventions should include all family members who wish to be involved.
• The level of intensity and range of services provided should match the level of need
identified by the family.
During a home visit, the ECSE professional participates in the following activities:
(1) Modelling ways to facilitate the child’s play and learning for family members present
(2) Providing feedback on family members’ interactions with the child,
(3) Observing the child’s ability to use a skill in different ways and in different situations,
and (4) brainstorming with parents/caretakers about ways to promote the child’s skills
and learning.
Home visits may be arranged in the family’s home or occur at other locations, such as
the neighbourhood park or the child’s day-care centre, if the family prefers or requests it.
Environments that are typical for the family, such as the family’s home, the grocery store, and
Sunday dinners at Grandmother’s house, are considered natural environments. With parents’
input, the professional attempts to find ways to logically embedded teaching the child skills
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within family activities. For example, if a child’s outcome is to raise his head and hold it up for
three seconds while engaged in an activity, it is natural to have the child hold his head up while
his shirt is being put on in the morning, while he is playing with Dad on the sofa after work, and
while he is reaching for toys in the bathtub. Although intervention in natural environments is
based on brainstorming with parents and a good deal of common sense, research has found that
experienced practitioners are better able to describe natural environments in terms of their
learning opportunities than are less-experienced professionals (Raab & Dunst, 2004). Many
families find that embedding the teaching of outcomes into their routines feels comfortable and
saves them time. However, a child’s entire intervention program need not be embedded into
existing family routines unless that is the family’s choice (FACETS, 2000).
Interactions during a home visit should be relaxed, structured, supportive, and
professional. A professional’s presence in the family’s home can arouse strong feelings in parents
regarding their attitudes toward their child’s disability, their living circumstances, and their
competence as parents (Peterson, Luze, Eshbaugh, Jeon, & Kantz, 2007). Family members’
reactions to home visits can range from feelings of gratitude to feelings of resentfulness. There
is no one way to handle the range of emotions family members may express during home visits.
Usually by finding a balance between empathy and objectivity, the professional can find a way
to address most of the family’s more significant needs.
Home-based programs offer several advantages for children, families, and professionals:
(1) continuous contact with the child and his or her family in their own environment, (2) time
flexibility, (3) increased contact with all family members, (4) flexibility in the intensity of
services, and (5) the relatively low cost of the services. Disadvantages of this model include:
(1) inconsistency in training and experience among service providers in infant-toddler programs,
(2) limited opportunities to coordinate additional services such as therapies, and (3) limited
contact with other children the same age with and without disabilities.
The best home teaching activities are those that are simple and enjoyable to the child and
family members (Dunst, Hamby, Trivette, Raab, & Bruder, 2000). Home-based programs are
the most common model for providing services to infants and toddlers, and to their families,
but they may also be offered to preschoolers.
5.4.2 Centre-Based Program Model

Children are brought to a central location to receive services in center-based programs.
The services provided will vary depending on the number of staff and the resources of the
sponsoring agencies. In some programs, professionals provide the majority of direct services
to the children and offer regular conferences to their families. In others, parents come to a
centre where they are guided through intervention activities with their children while
professionals act as facilitators or models. Some programs offer information, training, or social
sessions for families that may involve siblings and/or extended family members on a regular
schedule. Recommended practices for center-based programs include the following (Sandall et
al., 2005):
• The physical setting should be safe, clean, barrier-free, and accessible to children to
promote independent play and learning.
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• The ratio of adult staff to children should be such that it maximizes safety, health, and
the promotion of goals.
• Isolated support services, such as speech-language therapy and physical therapy, should
be avoided unless identified child and/or family needs cannot be met within family
routines.
• Materials and toys provided should be developmentally appropriate.
• Activities should stimulate children’s initiations, choices, and involvement/engagement
with adults, peers, and materials.
• Team members should communicate regularly with other staff and families.
The services offered in centre-based programs vary based on the child’s age, the needs
of the child and his or her family, and the resources of the providing agency. For example,
infant-toddler centre-based programs tend to offer a variable attendance schedule, with few
requiring daily attendance. Preschool center-based programs tend to require regular attendance.
Centre-based programs provide many advantages for children, families, and professionals:
(1) a consistent, prearranged program for both children and families; (2) opportunities for
children to interact with other children the same age; and (3) the provision of most services,
including therapies and occasionally transportation, at the center. This model also has some
disadvantages: (1) the difficulty of accommodating the needs of individual children and their
families in groups, (2) the prospect of limited interaction with children without disabilities,
and (3) the gap in services during the summer months.
5.4.3 Home-Centre Program Model

Some states offer a combination of home- and centre-based options to families. For
example, family members may choose to have services provided for their preschool-aged child
in a preschool or day-care program for children with typical development and to have the child
also receive home visits. When home visits are offered in conjunction with centre programs,
visits usually occur about once a month.
Financial considerations and geographic location often dictate whether centre-home
programs are available. Due to limited financial resources and restricted access to trained
professionals, some localities are limited in the range of service delivery options that can be
offered. Despite this, professionals still make every effort to individualize services based on each
child’s characteristics, abilities, and health as well as his or her family’s preference and needs.
5.4.4 Itinerant Teacher Model/Inclusion

In this model, an ECSE teacher serves as an inclusion specialist, supporting infants,
toddlers, preschoolers, and primary-aged students. Young children with disabilities who receive
instruction in general education settings receive it from itinerant ECSE teachers (Raver, 1980).
In fact, nearly 50% of school-aged students with mild disabilities are served with this model
(IDEA, 2004). Despite a growing reliance on consultation as a primary support for ECE
professionals, there is little agreement in the field on a particular approach or set of procedures
to guide the consultation practice (Sadler, 2003).
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In general, itinerant services combine direct services (e.g., work with the child in the
child’s setting) and collaborative-consultative services (e.g., work with another professional in
the child’s setting to support that professional in better including the child). Many early childhood
special educators describe their itinerant teaching activities as involving the following:
· providing direct services to children through individualized classroom routines,
· coaching/consulting with ECE staff on how to address children’s IEP objectives during
the remainder of the week,
· providing emotional support and encouragement to ECE classroom staff, and
· Serving as a resource for information and other services for ECE staff and families.
To support general education staff in meeting individual children’s goals and objectives,
itinerant teachers may help staff develop the organizational strategies needed to systematically
build objectives for children with special needs into the curriculum and the schedule (Raver,
2003). Further, environmental adaptations to maximize a child’s engagement in all activities in
the classroom might need to be discussed and arranged. Commonsense interventions such as
permitting toddlers and preschoolers to participate in only one learning center at a time may
help them experience more productive interactions with that center, rather than moving from
one center to another without an apparent purpose. ECE staff may need guidance in how to
improve the social-communicative environment for a child. For example, by requiring a
preschooler to use picture cards and words to request centre changes, the teacher is structuring
a way for that child to increase communication and problem-solving skills. Itinerant teachers
demonstrate and reinforce general education staff members’ use of specific strategies for teaching
developmental skills. By encouraging staff to wait five seconds before offering assistance
(called time-delay), for instance, communicative responding in some toddlers and/or preschoolers
may increase (Wolery, 2001).
5.5 UNIVERSAL DESIGN OF LEARNING

Universal design for learning is the design of environments, materials, instructional
methods, content, outcomes, and assessment procedures, which are usable for all students to
the greatest extent Possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized Design. It is a
designing in early education settings so all children, as equal and valued members
Of the program, may access and engage in all learning opportunities, learn from a common
curriculum according to their individual strengths and abilities, and demonstrate their learning
in multiple ways.
Universal design of learning Provides alternatives for all learners
• Maintains high standards for all learners
• Allows access and learning goals to be achieved
• Accommodates for differences in abilities to see, hear, speak, move, read, write, and
understand English, Attend, organize, engage, and remember.
• Creates flexible curricular materials and activities
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• Builds upon three principles
Elements/principles of Universal Design for Learning
Multiple Means of: Representation,Engagement,Expression
Multiple Means of Representation

Refers to the use of a variety of materials, visuals, environments and technological devices
that allow all students, regardless of their ability, to understand and master the learning process
and reach intended outcomes.
• This principle ensures questions, expectations, and learning opportunities are provided
in various formats and at different levels of complexity, addressing a range of ability
levels and visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic needs. To teach Infant-Toddler Caregivers
provide toys/materials those Teachers different multiple combine different and multiple
sensory features.
For example:– colourful toys/materials that make sounds toys/materials use and formats
to provide important information. For example, teachers inform children about the daily
schedule by:– presenting the schedule verbally and– with interesting shapes.
Visually and textures.– toys/materials that move, and– toys/materials that can be held,
shaken, and mouthed. Caregivers communicate with children many different ways
which include talking, singing songs, reading books, writing the schedule out with simple
words – making the schedule available on rings of cards or with Velcro pictures to provide
visual reminders of the daily, showing pictures,
· playing music,dancing,sharing toys and materials,
· Playing finger games, and using gestures.
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Multiple Means of Engagement
Multiple means of Engagement refers to the use of a variety of activities for students to
participate and be actively involved in the learning process.
• This principle ensures various opportunities for arousing children’s attention, curiosity,
and motivation, addressing a wide range of interests, preferences, and personal styles.
Engagement is then maintained by providing various levels of scaffolding, repetition,
and appropriate challenges to ensure successful learning. To teach Infant Toddlers
Caregivers ensure that multiple and varied learning opportunities, daily activities, and
toys/materials made available so children can select what appeals to them.
For example: Some activities and toys/materials are very simple, straightforward and
foster play while others require– Some activities and toys/materials are familiar and predictable,
such as an easily activated light-up music box, but others may be new and surprising, such as a
jack-in-the-box.– materials are – The dramatic play area is stocked with an array of creative,
open-ended
Materials such as scarves, writing supplies, and containers of odds and Some toys/soft
and that to cuddly, and others invite active, boisterous play.– Some toys/materials have bright
and colourful patter ns, while others are Uniform or plain.
Multiple Means of Expression

• Refers to the use of a variety of methods the instructor uses to allow students to express
what they are able to do and demonstrate their knowledge in achieving the target outcome.
• This principle ensures children have a variety of formats for responding, using resources,
toys, and materials demonstrating what they know and expressing ideas. Feelings, and
preferences and Addressing individual strengths, preferences and abilities of Infant
Toddlers. Which are as follows?
• Toys and materials can be used in different and multiple ways, allowing children to
interact with them in different ways with them.
• Review the rhymes in the listening centre, and record themselves saying the rhymes or
creating their own rhymes, Caregivers encourage children to communicate through their
use of toys/materials as well as with facial expression, gestures, pictures, signs, and
speech. They also create a visual representation in the art area.
Advantages of Universal Design of Learning

Using the principles (Multiple means of expression, representation, and multiple means
of engagement) of UDL allows educators to create experiences and educational opportunities
where all students can reach target outcomes. Instruction in the class is more effective by
allowing students to have a variety of ways to be involved in the learning process and show,
through a variety of methods their knowledge about the target outcome (s).
Application of Universal Design of Learning for Early Childhood Education

The principles of universal design for learning are clearly applicable to early childhood
education. They can guide professionals in designing programs in which all children and their
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families have full and equitable access to learning and social opportunities. One premise is that
“UDL [Universal design for learning] shifts old assumptions about teaching and learning in
four fundamental ways” (CAST 2003).
Teachers adjust according to the learner differences for all children, not just those with
disabilities;
• Curriculum materials should be varied and diverse, including digital and online resources,
not merely a single resource rather than following a set curriculum, teachers allow
flexibility to accommodate learner differences.
A universal design approach for learning follows principles of good practice in early
education:
(1) Recognizing that a one-size-fits-all approach to education simply will not work;
(2) understanding the need to design curricula to meet the needs of diverse classroom
populations; and
(3) declaring that all children who attend early education programs will be successful in
their development and learning. Universal design framework parallels what early
educators plan for from the start in thinking about the physical, socio-emotional, health,
and teaching dimensions of their environments to assure that every child feels welcomed
as a full and equal member;
Accesses and engages in all learning opportunities, learns according to his or her individual
strengths and interests; and demonstrates his or her learning in ways that reflect the individual’s
strengths.
5.6 ADAPTATIONS IN PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

UDL can be achieved by making the following accommodations whenever necessary
• Expand the group meeting area so that all children can be present and focus their attention
on the activities.
• Provide varied seating options so each child may lie on the floor, sit on a mat or chair, or
use specialized seating. Use other materials of different sizes, textures, and shapes to
help each child actively manipulate the objects for learning
The physical environment enables all children to have access and equitable opportunities
for full participation in all program activities. This includes structures, permanent and movable
equipment and furnishings, storage, and materials.
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Health and safety components promote wellness and minimize risks and hazards for
all children. All children, regardless of health status or conditions, have ongoing access to
learning without interruptions due to illness and injury. Health and safety practices provide
clear, wide paths throughout the classrooms each child may safely and easily reach the meeting
area.
• Ensure safe floor covering for safe passage for any child, including for example a child
who is in a hurry, has visual impairments, or uses a wheeled stander and consider each
child’s energy level and health conditions in planning activities
The social-emotional environment offers all children equitable access to and full
membership in the social-emotional life of the group, and it supports their social-emotional
development.
• Invite and encourage all children to join in, using multiple means of communication
(e.g., speaking English and/or children’s home language, signing,
Displaying symbols). Give simple directions using multiple means (e.g., verbally, signed,
in print, modeled) so each child may see, hear, and understand any rules and expectations.
• Use books, songs, and communication that involve and represent all children, regardless
of cultural predominance or linguistic and skill levels.
The teaching environment gives all children equitable access to learning opportunities
through information and activities in multiple formats and multiple means for engagement,
expression, and learning. This includes the curriculum, teaching practices, materials, and
activities.
For example; If children are listening to a story and are asked to recall events, some may
attend to and repeat back key words; others may recall the names of characters by pointing to
pictures .
• Using signs and gestures even others may predict what will happen next using complete
sentences in English.
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• Present content in multiple formats, including verbal, print, video, or concrete objects,
repeating key words/phrases in children’s home language and using simple sentences
with gestures.
• Use physical cues to focus children’s attention, such as pointing to the picture in the
book, giving verbal prompts to help children begin a response, offering language models
for children to Imitate, and encouraging children to keep thinking and trying.
Individual assessment and program evaluation practices provide multiple approaches to
finding out what children know and can do in order to equitably assess individual learning,
development, and educational progress. Request information or action in various ways including
complex questions, simple phrases, and emphasis and repetition of key words or phrases.
Identify the multiple ways children can show what they learn during activities. For
example, the child who waits for another child to respond to a teacher’s request, to handle a
show-and-tell object being passed around, or to choose the song demonstrates turn taking.
Some children, as in the example above, may respond to the request using complete and accurate
sentences spoken in English, while others may need to point, sign, or use words in their home
language. Others may point to the object or event in the book in response to simple questions
Family involvement practices support the equitable access and engagement of all families
in the full range of experiences. This includes ongoing communication, learning opportunities,
and program involvement activities.
Share information with families through a newsletter written at an appropriate level.
Have key phrases translated into families’ home languages, and include photographs of children
engaged in an activity.• Provide multiple opportunities for families to be involved. Bilingual
parents might be willing to translate the information for monolingual families. Families could
support their child’s involvement by asking specific questions about the activity and/or the
book read to the group.
This framework strives to promote flexible settings and activities that respond to young
children’s diverse strengths and needs.
5.7 ADAPTING ACTIVITIES &MATERIALS FOR YOUNG

CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
The teacher of young children, to choose the adaptation that meets that need of the child,
not the disability label. A variety of adaptations is provided so that you can have several ideas
always ready to try when an adaptation is needed.
Adaptations in Visual Materials

· Printed and video materials offered before classes with captioning (involves synchronizing
text with audio content of a video presentation)
· facing student for lip reading
· reinforce spoken information with visual aids (e.g. writing on the board, slides, OHPs)
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o A student who has been deaf from birth may require the use of a thesaurus, dictionary or
sign language interpreter during lectures and exams.
o When possible, provide the student with class outlines, lecture notes, lists of new technical
terms and printed transcripts of audio and audio-visual materials.
o Do not hesitate to communicate with the student in writing when conveying important
information such as assignments, scheduling, deadlines etc.
The Building Blocks of Partnerships

Building and maintaining partnerships takes time and effort from the people involved.
There are four building blocks of positive partnerships between families and staff. These are
family-centred care, communication, empathy and respect for diversity.
1. Family-Cantered Care
Family-cantered care is about families and staff being actively involved in the care and
education of children. Utilizing family knowledge and understanding, resources, and strengths
assists shared decision making for children in the early childhood service. Family centered
care also occurs when staff share information about children in an open, respectful and
collaborative way. This enables parents and carers to feel acknowledged in their parenting role
and have their own needs acknowledged. This helps provide the base for partnerships between
families and staff. To provide family-cantered care, it is important that staff and families:
• appreciate and value each other’s knowledge and use this in caring for children
• communicate openly
• share information and decision-making
• recognize and respect diversity
• Build support networks as needed.
2. Communication
Effective communication helps build partnerships. Honest, respectful communication
and a genuine interest in one another helps to build trust. Trust allows people to be open about
their thoughts and feelings. For families, effective communication assists them in explaining
how they would like their child cared for in the service. For example, when a family member
describes how they manage behaviour at home so a similar approach can be used in the service.
Communicating well involves two-way sharing of information, helps develop a common
understanding and means it is easier for parents, caregivers and staff to support one another.
What kind of information may be beneficial to communicate?
• Beliefs and values in families and services
• The child’s interests, strengths and challenging behaviours
• Social supports outside of the early childhood service
• Early childhood milestones and expected behaviours
• Family expectations and circumstances
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• Service expectations and practices.
3. Empathy
Empathy is the effort made to understand others by considering and respecting their
thoughts and feelings. It does not always mean people will agree with each other, but refers to
being able to respect and accept differences. Empathy helps people feel connected with one
another and means people are more willing to accept differences, helping relationships and
partnerships survive. When parents, caregivers and staff show empathy and try to see things
from each other’s point of view they can become more connected. For example, when a parent
or carer is too busy to stop and chat at pick up time, having empathy means understanding how
stressful it can be when time is limited.
Ways to be empathetic toward others can include:
• Showing respect for other people’s point of view, even when you do not agree
• Having a sense of goodwill or kindness towards other people
• Valuing the experience, knowledge and commitment the other brings to a partnership
• Being aware of the difficulties and challenges, others face.
4. Respect for Diversity

Diversity refers to differences between individuals, for example differences in family
values, cultural or community background or people with a disability. Diversity also refers to
differences in family structures, such as single-parent/carer families, same-sex parents and
carers or inter-racial family compositions. Respect for differences between individuals means
it can be easier to work with one another and share their background, values and beliefs. This
helps people communicate their needs, find common ground, share an understanding and work
together to achieve shared goals. For example, some individuals may have beliefs about the
type of food they eat or have ways of dressing that are part of their community background. It
helps for both families and staff to understand these beliefs and preferences and then also help
children develop an understanding of diversity.
How do Children Benefit from Partnership?

Young children flourish when the adults caring for them work well together. Families
and staff can share discussions about how children are going and how best to meet their needs.
Families know their child’s strengths, personality, moods and behaviors very well. Staff can
also get to know a child well through their daily experiences and can share their understanding
of how children develop. When families and staff work together they can exchange information
and can focus on meeting each child has needs and supporting their development.
1. Partnerships allow children to see important people in their lives working well together.
When children see positive communication between their parents or caregivers and
staff, they begin to learn it is important to build healthy relationships. For example,
children who see their parents or cares communicating well and being friendly with staff
can learn this is how to relate well to others. Children can trust and feel safe with staff
who are respected and supported by their family and who respect and support their
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family in return. Children can then feel comfortable at their early childhood service and
enjoy positive experiences. Children feel valued and important when families and staff
support and respect each other equally and take an interest in their lives. Parents and
cares
2. Who are positively involved with their children can help reduce mental health difficulties.
3. In a partnership, families and staff can share their experiences with each other and their
understanding of how their bond is important to a child. For example: ‘been really likes
it when we read our farm book together and he just loves the animal noises i make’.
Children are still developing and find it hard to separate their experiences from one
environment to another, like being comfortable in the care of those at home as well as
staff, for example. When families and staff are in a partnership, children are more able to
negotiate differences between settings, such as home and the early childhood service, as
they see the adults who care for them working together. For example, children are able to
manage different rules and routines in different places when they have an understanding
of what the rules and routines are and when they are supported. The greater the
predictability in care, the easier it is for children to develop a sense of who they are and
what they can expect from those around them.
They are and what they can expect from those around them.
Advantages / Benefits of Partnership to the Families
Through participation at their early childhood service, families have increased
opportunities for connecting with other families that attend the service. Families benefit greatly
from having a support network of people they can share information with and work through
challenges together. Early childhood services may be able to connect families with one another
or help access support in their community. With support from staff, families can feel comfortable
leaving their children with people who are working in their child’s best interests. When families
feel understood and supported by those around them they experience better health and wellbeing.
Partnerships can help families and staffs feels comfortable about approaching
each other and relying on one another for support.
Mutual Benefits of Partnerships
Working together can help families and staff trusts one another and communicate openly.
When information is shared, families and staff are able to gain a deeper understanding of how
to work together to support children .partnership is the most effective way to support children,
s learning
• Children’s behaviour at home and at the early childhood service the most effective ways
to support children’s learning. What children enjoy and what their strengths are resources
for addressing children’s difficulties.
• Interacting within a partnership helps families and staff feel welcome, respected and
valued and feel comfortable, confident and supported in their roles
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• Parents and staff feel a sense of satisfaction from the trust others place in them, work
through differences, allowing adults to continue working together to support children
benefit from the resources, ideas and energy that others provide benefit from shared
decision-making and see things from other people’s perspectives develop strong
connections with children.
• Parents and staff feel a sense of satisfaction when children explore, learn and develop
their skills .parents and staffs have more opportunities to discuss child development.
Working together helps develop trust and communication.
Check Your Progress

1. Explain the concept of universal design of learning.
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2. Write about different service delivery models in inclusive education for children with
Disabilities.
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3. Write about the advantages of partnerships.
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4. What type of adaptations, modifications required for children at school for young children?
with disabilities.
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5.8 UNIT SUMMARY

Early child hood inclusive education for the young children with disabilities need
natural environment. To promote the inclusive education universal design is one of the key
factors, there is a need of adaptations in materials, physical environment and curriculum
adaptations for children with disabilities .
For the success of early childhood education in inclusive practices Individual family
services programme, collaboration with parents teachers and other staff members will be helpful.
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5.10 ASSIGNMENT
1. How can universal design in early learning help early childhood professionals to further
assure that all children learn?

After going through the unit you may like to have further discussion on some points and
clarification on other note down those points below.

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5.12 REFERENCES
1. S.A.Raver,2009 Excerpt from Early Childhood Special Education - 0 to 8 Years: Strategies
for Positive Outcomes, 2009 edition, p. 16-20
Sources:
• Joint Position Statement (2009) of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) and the
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC): http://www.decsped.
org/uploads/docs/about_dec/position_concept_papers/PositionStatement_Inclusion_
Joint_up dated_May2009.pdf
• Division for Early Childhood DEC: http://www.dec-sped.org
• National Association for the Education of Young Children NAEYC: http://www.naeyc.org
• Wolery, Mark (2003): http://www.nectac.org/topics/inclusion/research/
RS_conditions.asp?text=1
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UNIT – 6 INCLUSIVE CHILDHOOD PRACTICES
Structure
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Objectives
6.3 Principles for Promoting Inclusive Practices
6.4 Collaborating with Parents and Family & Family Education Family Services
6.5 Developing Individualized Family Service Plan
6.6 School Readiness and Transition to School
6.6.1 School Preparation Activities
6.6.2 The Value of Effective School Readiness and Transition
6.6.3 School Readiness for Children who have Additional Needs
6.7 Making Transitions in Early Childhood
6.7.1 Transition from the Early Years Setting Challenges for Deaf Pupils
6.7.2 Transition Plan
6.7.3 Strategies that could be Included in the Transition Process and Plan
6.7.4 Tips to Support the Child’s Transition to Primary School
6.7.5 Tips to Support Parents Leading up to their Child’s Transition to Primary School
Check Your Progress
6.8 Unit Summary
6.9 Assignments
6.10 Points for Discussion /Clarification
6.11 References
6.1 INTRODUCTION
In fifth unit we have discussed meaning of inclusive early childhood, and how to create
Natural environment for infants, and universal design of learning and various service delivery
model in inclusive early childhood education. now we will discuss principles of inclusive
educational practices and how to collaborating family members , preparation of individualized
family service programme for children with disabilities , and school readiness and transition
services from early childhood to preschool and preschool to primary school . After studying
this unit the following objectives to be achieved.
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6.2 OBJECTIVES
The study of this unit will help the readers to understand about
• The principles of Inclusive educational practices ,
• How to Collaborate with parents and family & family Education Family Services
• Individualized Family Service Programme
• Understand the meaning of transition
• Explain the stage wise transitions
6.3 PRINCIPLES FOR PROMOTING INCLUSIVE PRACTICES

Principles for promoting inclusive practices
While the focus of most Agency work is on the compulsory education sector, these
principles will apply to all sectors and phases of life-long learning and to formal and non-
formal education. The learner-focused principles will apply equally to learners with and without
disabilities, as inclusion is concerned with the quality of education of all learners.
Principles for promoting

inclusive practices
Responding Active Positive Effective Visionary Coherent Inter

to learners’ participation teacher teaching school disciplinary
voices of learners attitudes skills leadership services
I. Responding to Learners’ Voices

Learners’ voices and those of family and advocates should be listened to, particularly
when decisions are made that affect their lives. Learners must be provided with relevant
information in appropriate formats to enable them to take a full part in all discussions and
decisions regarding their education and plans for the future.
Learners should have a voice in decisions that affect them:
• Assessment – choosing different ways of showing what they know, understand and can
do, being involved in discussions about assessment information and how it can support
future learning;
• Learning process – having different ways of accessing information, making it meaningful
and expressing themselves;
• Planning their learning, taking personal factors into account;
• Provision of support to overcome barriers to learning that does not stigmatise them or
separate them from their peers;
• Curriculum – having a say in relevant, meaningful, personalised outcomes; and
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• Evaluating the learning outcomes to ensure educational achievement and well-being.
II. Active Participation of Learners

All learners are entitled to be active participants in the life of the school and community.
All learners should feel part of their class/school, being valued for the
Individual contribution that they make to the life of the community.
Learners should be consulted about any additional support needed to help them participate
in the full range of activities and experiences offered.
Learners should:
• Have a sense of belonging and feel secure in the school environment;
• Have opportunities for collaboration and co-operative learning, with flexible peer groups
to develop social and communication skills;
• Have their achievements recognized and celebrated;
• Take a full part in extracurricular and out-of-school activities;
• Take responsibility for their own learning and an active role in the learning process,
maintaining high expectations and increasing independence in learning; and
• Recognize their responsibilities to others in the school and community.
III. Positive Teacher Attitudes

All teachers should have positive attitudes towards all learners and the will to work
collaboratively with colleagues.
All teachers should see diversity as strength and a stimulus for their own further learning.
In their initial and continuing education, teachers need experiences that will develop positive
attitudes and values and encourage them to research, reflect and find innovative solutions to
new challenges presented by learner difference. In particular, teachers should welcome support
from colleagues with different areas of expertise and work co-operatively moving from an
individual to a collective approach to their work.
Teachers Should:
• Take responsibility for all learners and show understanding of the fundamental needs
that they all have in common e.g. to feel safe, to belong, to enjoy their time in school and
achieve meaningful outcomes;
• Value and show commitment to meeting a broad range of outcomes (including emotional
health and well-being, social skills) and maintain high expectations for all learners;
• Recognize when learners need support and arrange this sensitively together with the
learner, without using potentially limiting labels;
• Have knowledge of a range of resources (including ICT) and the skills to enable them to
be used effectively in the classroom;
• Have a positive attitude to innovation and be prepared to continue their own personal
and professional development;
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• Collaborate with and support colleagues to reflect on practice and build ‘team’ knowledge
and skills in order to help learners (for example in the development of individual support,
classroom strategies or transition plans); and
• Communicate effectively with learners, parents and colleagues from all agencies and
support collaborative practice to benefit learners.
IV. Effective Teacher Skills

All teachers should develop the skills to meet the diverse needs of all learners.
In their initial and continuing education, teachers should be equipped with the skills,
knowledge and understanding that will give them the confidence to deal effectively with a range
of learner needs. Teachers should develop a range of approaches to assessment and pedagogy to
enable them to use these in flexible ways to reduce barriers to learning and enable participation
and achievement. They should develop a clear rationale for the approaches used, recognizing and
reflecting on factors that can influence on learning and the barriers that can occur.
Teachers should: assess learners using a range of approaches which allow them to show
what they know, understand and are able to do in a variety of ways; use feedback to identify
and overcome barriers to learning (physical, attitudinal, organizational) and plan with learners
to ensure that future learning is accessible, coherent and connected to their lives;
• provide a range of learning opportunities with choice for all learners, in line with a view
of intelligence as multi-dimensional;
• Use a range of approaches to teaching, using flexible groups and taking account of learners’
preferences;
• Plan a relevant curriculum that provides coherent opportunities for the development of
core, cross curricular competences and meaningful engagement for all learners; and
• Work with colleagues to develop individual plans to ensure the consistent deployment of
any necessary support, aids and adaptations to meet learners’ needs.
V. Visionary School Leadership

School leaders should value diversity among staff as well as learners, encourage
collegiality and support innovation.
Effective inclusive practice requires visionary leadership at all levels that demonstrates
inclusive values and develops the positive ethos and environment for learning that form the
basis of quality education. Throughout the whole school, inclusive values should be evident in
all policies and development plans and demonstrated through the mutually supportive working
relationships and practice of all school leaders, staff and learners.
School Leaders Should:

• Establish a positive ethos and a learning culture by making their vision and inclusive
values and beliefs explicit in all aspects of school life;
• Ensure that inclusion and learner well-being are central to all policies and evident in all
practice;
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• Organize school in ways that avoid labelling or categorizing learners, e.g. flexible, mixed
groupings for different activities;
• Actively work to promote responses to difference that include learners by extending
what is available in their usual learning environment;
• Encourage and empower staff to develop their capacity and competence to meet a diversity
of needs through different approaches and contribute their expertise to the whole school
learning community;
• Support staff to reflect on their practice and become autonomous life-long learners;
• Manage resources effectively and ensure that they reflect and respect the diversity of
learners within the school;
• Use sources of funding creatively to ensure physical access to buildings and appropriate
support (including aids/ICT) for all learners;
• Develop effective monitoring, self-review and learner-centred evaluation that takes
account of the achievement of all learners and of wider, as well as academic outcomes;
• Use the outcomes of monitoring and evaluation to inform planning and strategic
improvement to develop the school’s capacity to support the best possible progress for
all learners;
• provide effective pastoral support for all staff and work to mediate external pressures by
developing a clear rationale for approaches taken by the school;
• Manage specialist staff and internal and external networks to take joint responsibility
and to work in partnership to facilitate access to the curriculum and extracurricular
activities for all learners; and
• Communicate effectively with the local community, interdiscip-linary support services
and specialist settings to ensure a holistic and co-ordinated approach to learners and
their families that recognizes the importance of meeting broader needs to enhance learning.
vi . Coherent Interdisciplinary Services

Every school should have access to the support of interdisciplinary community services.
Children and young people will not be successful in their learning if their basic health,
social and emotional n needs are not met. This may require support for families and communities
and will need services such as health and social services to collaborate and ensure a holistic
approach.
Interdisciplinary services should:

• Demonstrate good working relationships and effective communication across and between
different sectors/services and schools in the community. They should enable information
to be shared and appropriate and timely support provided to address additional needs
(such as therapies for medical needs, mental health support etc.);
• work closely with parents and learners to strengthen links between the family, school
and the interdisciplinary team; and
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• Work with schools to involve all stakeholders, including local special schools/settings in
their support networks and seek innovative ways to share expertise.
6.4 COLLABORATING WITH PARENTS AND FAMILY &

FAMILY EDUCATION AND SERVICES
Collaboration ; In order to truly address current needs and opportunities, the relationship
between families, schools and the community should be seen as a participatory, multi-centric
experience. Expert agencies and disability organizations encourage specific actions to engage
families and promote community collaboration for inclusive education and need to Provide
support and regular training to the parents and creating a friendly institutional environment
appear among the most frequent recommendations to engage parents and the community.
Families are critical to the development and protection of their children and a close child
caregiver bond is important for both children with and without disabilities. Inclusion begins in
the home environment during the early years and later broadens to school and community
settings. Family services should aim to provide families with the knowledge, skills and support
to meet and advocate for the needs and rights of their child in all settings (1). Service providers
must work closely with families to design and implement interventions that are culturally
appropriate and meet their needs.
Many parents/caregivers of children with disabilities will require information about their
child’s disability and development progress, what steps they can and should take, and the
resources available for support and treatment (.Recognizing that formal assessment processes
are often delayed or not available, the provision of information for parents is critical during the
early stages of support and intervention. Information should be furnished in ways that educates
parents and other family members and that promotes constructive dialogue within the family
and community. Fathers, siblings and other extended family members often play a significant
role in caring for and supporting children with disabilities. Overlooking this potential support
often places additional burdens on mothers. An approach, which encourages father/male
involvement and promotes competency building, would significantly enhance families ‘abilities
to care for children with disabilities.
Group discussions, one-on-one listening, support groups for parents of children with
similar disabilities and other potential interventions can provide opportunities to share
experiences and encourage peer support and guidance. The use of stories that feature children
with disabilities as protagonists is one way to demonstrate to all family members, including the
child with a disability, that many capabilities are present and should be cultivated.
Promoting appropriate activities that caregivers and children with disabilities can do
together to improve developmental outcomes in children with disabilities is essential. Home
visits by community workers combined with centre-based support can be an effective way to
increase the confidence and competencies of parents and engage significant others in supporting
the development of children with disabilities .Providing literacy and educational opportunities
for adolescent girls and mothers can also have a direct impact on improving their care-giving
competencies. Organizations of and for families with children with disabilities can be an
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important resource for parents and other family members, allowing them to learn from others
in similar situations and providing them with relevant information and support. Links with
disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) can: provide a network of support; provide information,
guidance and advice; expand collective advocacy and public demand efforts; and connect parents
and children with other people with disabilities who may serve as role models.
Early intervention services give specialized support to children and families in the early
years (from birth to school entry).Parents are the children’s first teachers. Through play,
communication, and touch, parents convey love to their child as well as information about the
world. During everyday interaction parents teach their children names of objects, how things
work, what is safe, and myriad other lessons. These early experiences prepare a child for
social-emotional development, literacy and higher-level thinking.
When parents find out their child is deaf or hard of hearing, they may be unsure of what
to do. Most parents want help. The early intervention system – for families with children birth
to three with disabilities, including hearing loss – is designed to do just that every state has an
early intervention system. Early intervention services are provided free or at low cost. Services
must be individualized based on the needs of the child and family. Services must be designed
to support each child’s development in the physical, cognitive, communication, social or
emotional, and adaptive areas.
Early intervention services are based on a document called an Individualized Family
Service Plan (IFSP). The IFSP can be thought of as an instruction manual consisting of goals
for your child and family along with a description of the services and service providers necessary
to help achieve those goals. Parents play an active role in the development of the IFSP. Although
at first you may not feel prepared to take on this role – after all, you probably were not expecting
a deaf or hard of hearing child – your input will help shape your child’s and family’s goals and
services. Deaf and hard of hearing children are at risk of developing language delays, therefore
you will want to be sure that your child’s IFSP supports his/her language development in whatever
mode (signed, spoken, or both) the family chooses. If your child has additional disabilities, the
IFSP should address those as well.
6.5 DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALIZED FAMILY SERVICE PLAN

What Is An Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)?
An IFSP is a written plan that describes the specific early intervention services needed to
help a child under age three who has a developmental delay develop and grow. The IFSP lists
who will provide the services and where they will be provided. It also says how often, for how
long and how much of a service must be provided to the child (for example, direct physical
therapy, 2 thirty-minute Sessions per week), and where the service will be delivered. The County
and the Early Intervention provider must provide the children with all of the Early Intervention
services listed in the IFSP.
The first step is to find out if the child is eligible for services, and, if so, the areas in
which the child is having problems. This is done through a formal evaluation. Evaluations are
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free, and should determine whether the child is having problems in thinking (cognition), physical
development (including vision and hearing), speech and language development, social and
emotional development, or self-help skills. A child is also eligible if she has a physical or
mental condition that is highly likely to result in a developmental delay. An example is fetal
alcohol syndrome. An evaluation must also include a review of the child’s records to determine
the child’s health and medical history. For each area in which the child is found to have a
significant problem, the evaluation must identify the types of services the child needs. Services
can include such things as physical, speech or occupational therapy, psychological services,
special instructional programs, and training for parents and other family members.
The family’s needs part of the evaluation and can parents get help in promoting the
development of the child but only if the family agrees. If the family does want its needs reviewed,
the evaluators must also ask about any family member’s concerns and what resources or supports
they may need to help the child’s development. Those concerns and services should then be
included in the IFSP.
What Is an IFSP’s Meeting?

If the child is eligible for services, a meeting is held to write the IFSP. The evaluation
must be completed, and the IFSP meeting held, within 45 calendar days of the date the parents
contact the County Mental Health/Mental Retardation (MH/MR) Office. The services in the
IFSP must be provided to the child no later than 14 calendar days after the IFSP is completed,
unless the family agrees to a delay. There must be an IFSP meeting each year, and reviews
every six (6) months (that don’t have to include a meeting). A parent can ask for a review at any
time. The purpose of the review is to find out if the child is making progress and whether any
changes are needed in the services being provided. If changes are needed, the IFSP must be
revised at a meeting that includes the parents.
The following people must be part of any IFSP meeting:
1. The parent or parents of the child;
2. Other persons the parents want to have attended, such as another family member, an
advocate or a friend
3. The service coordinator, who is the person responsible for make sure that all services are
provided and coordinated.
4. Someone who was directly involved in the evaluation of the Child. If this person cannot
attend, arrangements must be made for the person to be involved through other means
5. One or more of the people who will be providing services to the child or family.
When And Where Is The Ifsp Meeting Held?

The meeting must be held in a place and at a time that are convenient for the parents. If
parents are unable to attend the meeting in person, they can still participate by telephone.
Parents must be invited to the meeting in writing at least five (5) calendar days prior to the IFSP
meeting.
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Components of IFSP
Every IFSP must include a statement of the child’s current levels in each ofthe five
developmental areas and, with the family’s consent, the results of the Family assessment. In
addition, the IFSP for every child must include:
• Measurable Outcomes and Progress Tools: What the child is expected to achieve,
how progress will be determined, the extent to which progress is being made, and whether
modifications are needed.
• Specific Early Intervention Services: What services the child and family are entitled
to receive and how those services are linked to the outcomes the child is expected to
achieve.
• Location: This includes whether the services will be provided in the “natural
environment.” The natural environment is the setting where the child would be if she did
not have a disability, including home and community settings. Natural settings include
programs for children without disabilities, including early child care and education
programs. If one or more of the services is not being provided in the natural environment,
the IFSP must explain why.
• Place and Time: How often each service will be, and where each will be given and how
long each service will be provided.
• Type of Service: Whether the service will be given directly to the child, or will be given
as consultation to someone working with the child.
• Dates: When the services will begin or end; and the date of review (at least every 180
days).
If it is particularly urgent, and with the parent’s consent, services can begin under a
short-term IFSP even before the evaluation is completed. The evaluation must still be
completed within the 45 calendar day period.
• Name of the service coordinator who will be responsible for the implementation of the
child is IFSP.
• Steps Towards Transition: A statement of the steps to be taken to support the child’s
transition to preschool early intervention at age three (3) including, with the parents’
consent, sending information about the child to the preschool early intervention agency.
• Parents’ Signature: When you sign the IFSP, you are agreeing to everything that is in
the IFSP. Remember, you can agree to some services and disagree with others. The
services to which you have agreed can start while you discuss the problems with the
Infants and Toddlers agency, or go to a hearing, regarding the areas of disagreement.
If the parents don’t agree with the IFSP offered to the child what to do?
Parents have the right to disagree with all or part of the IFSP being offered. For example,
the family may believe that more or different services are needed, or that the services should be
given more frequently or in a different location. At the end of the meeting, the parents will be
asked to sign the IFSP to Show that they were part of the Team. Parents will also be given a
102
Parents’ Rights Agreement, which gives them a number of choices, including rejecting all or
onlySome of the services, listed in the IFSP. The family should list any services they agree
with, and those services should start right away. To work out any remaining Problems, the
parents can have a meeting with someone from the county, ask for a IFSP Facilitator or mediation,
or ask for a hearing. For more details about these options call, ELC’s offices at the number
listed below, or click here for a copy of our publication Resolving Disputes in the Early
Intervention System for Infant and Toddlers under Age of three .
Role of parents in Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)

Through the development of the IFSP, the team must provide individualized services
that meet the unique needs of family and your child with disabilities. Deciding on what those
services should be and where they should be provided, is a key role of the team, which includes
the parents. As a parent and IFSP team member, you will be asked to identify the natural
environments for your child. The team may help you explore other natural environments in
your community as well.
In order to develop the IFSP there first must be:
• A multidisciplinary (from a variety of professions) assessment of the unique strengths
and needs of the infant or toddler
• Identification of all services appropriate to meet the child’s needs;
• A family-directed assessment of the resources, priorities, and concerns of the family;
• Identification of the supports and services necessary to
• enhance the family’s capacity to meet the developmental needs of the infant or toddler.
Role of Multidisciplinary Team

A multidisciplinary team must develop the IFSP including you, the parents. The IFSP
must be in writing. It must be evaluated once a year, and the family must be provided a review
of the plan at six-month intervals (or more often where appropriate). The IFSP must be developed
within a reasonable time after the multidisciplinary assessment is completed.
The IFSP must contain:

• A statement of the infant’s or toddlers present levels of physical development, cognitive
development, communication development, social or emotional development, and
adaptive development. This statement must be based on objective criteria;
• A statement of the family’s resources, priorities, and concerns relating to enhancing the
development of their infant or toddler;
• A statement of the measurable results or outcomes expected to be achieved for the infant
or toddler and the family. These must include pre-literacy and language skills, as
developmentally appropriate for the child. This statement must include the criteria,
procedures, and timelines used to determine the degree to which progress toward achieving
the results or outcomes is being made. It must also address whether modifications or
revisions of the results or outcomes or services are necessary;
103
• A statement of specific early intervention services based on peer-reviewed (peer-reviewed
means that professionals in the field approve of it) research, to the extent practicable,
necessary to meet the unique needs of the infant or toddler and the family. This must
include the frequency, intensity, and method of delivering services;
• A statement of the natural environments (such as home or day care center) in which early
intervention services will appropriately be provided, including a justification of the extent,
if any, to which the services will not be provided in a natural environment;
• The planned dates for initiation of services and the anticipated length, duration, and
frequency of the services;
• The identification of the service coordinator who will be responsible for the
implementation of the plan and coordination with other agencies and persons, including
transition services; and
• The steps to be taken to support the transition of the toddler with a disability to preschool
or other appropriate services.
A representative of the early intervention system must explain the contents of the IFSP
to the parents. Informed written consent from the parents must be obtained prior to providing
early intervention services. If the parents do not provide consent with respect to a particular
early intervention service, then only the early intervention services to which consent is obtained
shall be provided.
Early Intervention Services Include,
• Family training, counselling, and home visits;
• Special instruction
• speech-language pathology services
• Audiology services
• Sign language services
• Cued language services
• Occupational therapy
• Physical therapy
• Psychological services
• Service coordination services
• Medical services only for diagnostic or evaluation purposes
• Early identification, screening, and assessment services
• Health services necessary to enable the infant or toddler to benefit from the other early
intervention services
• Social work services
• vision services
• Assistive technology devices
104
• Assistive technology services and
• Transportation and related costs.
Qualified personnel, including, provide early intervention services:
• Special educators;
• Speech-language pathologists;
• Audiologists;
• Occupational therapists;
• Physical therapists;
• Psychologists;
• Social workers;
• Nurses;
• Registered dietitians;
• family therapists;
• vision specialists, including ophthalmologists and optometrists;
• orientation and mobility specialists; and
• Pediatricians and other physicians.
Children who are deaf or hard of hearing need their language and communication needs
addressed as early as possible. Many parents find that early intervention services help them
acquire the skills they need to support their child’s development and help their child meet his
developmental milestones.
6.6 SCHOOL READINESS AND TRANSITION TO SCHOOL

School can be an exciting, though often anxious experience for young children and their
families. When children move from a familiar childcare environment, with established
relationships and routines, a larger more structured school setting can be overwhelming even
for very confident children. Childcare services play an important role in preparing children and
families for school and easing their transition from childcare to the school setting.
6.6.1 School Preparation Activities

Along with the experiences that services provide, specific activities can be used to prepare
children who are about to start school. Services can also encourage families to continue these
activities at home to create a consistent approach to preparing their child for school. Useful
school preparation activities might include:• encouraging children’s participation in group games
and experiences;
• Supporting children to cooperate with peers and make friendships in free play situations;
• Having regular ‘lunch box’ days so children can practice opening these and eating their
own lunch
105
• Talking positively with children about starting school;• discussing school visits or
orientation events with children, before and after they occur;• arranging visits to the
local school so children can get used to the environment and activities;• inviting guest
speakers to speak with families about school readiness and transition;
• Encouraging children’s independence in all areas of self care;• helping children to use
pencils, crayons, text as, scissors and glue unassisted; and• reading with children regularly.
6.6.2 The Value of Effective School Readiness and Transition

Positive early school experiences through sound preparation and smooth transitions create
good short and long-term outcomes for children. Effective school readiness experiences and
transition programs help childcare professionals and families to identify when individual children
are ready for school and to prepare them with the skills and qualities they need for a fruitful
school experience. Constructive school readiness and transition experiences also create links
between the service, families and schools. Childcare services are well placed to contribute to
the foundations for children’s long and short-term success at school. By supporting all areas of
children’s development and focusing on building strong, responsive relationships with young
children, services provide children with the skills and confidence to continue along a path of
life-long learning.
6.6.3 School Readiness for Children who have Additional Needs

Childcare services need to work with families and with any specialists or professionals
who are involved in the care of a child with additional needs to support the child’s transition to
school. When considering the child’s readiness for school and transition issues, it is important
to clarify the support that will be needed to assist the child to have positive school experiences.
Child care professional can help families to carefully consider the child’s individual needs and
how these will be met in the school environment. It is essential that families talk to the prospective
schools as early as possible to discuss the needs of their child and how these may be
accommodated at school, to allow schools time to prepare for children who have additional
needs. Many schools have specialist teachers for special education, English as a second language,
Aboriginal liaisons well as education assistants that can be called upon to support children who
have additional needs.
6.7 MAKING TRANSITIONS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

One of the most fundamental children’s rights is the right to participate and for children
to have a say in matters involving them. We have seen in previous sections, that listening to
children’s views and giving them a voice to make decisions, choices and to have their say in the
learning process, is central to a truly child-centered approach. Previous sections have also
highlighted that children are active participants in the assessment process by engaging with
them in conversation and through self-reflection and self-assessment. Giving the child a voice
in the transition process is another opportunity to enable children to have their say in matters
involving them. Before children move to a new environment, they have the right to know what
this will involve; they have the right to ask questions and seek explanations and the right to
express their views on the arrangements.
106
Concept of transition; Transition describes the situation that children experience when
they move to a new setting. This can include moving from the child’s first place of learning –
the home, to a pre-school service or crèche, or from pre-school to primary school. The transition
process is essentially the ongoing process of change for children, families and educational
services to facilitate children’s move from one setting to another.
School is a major transition in a child’s life. Each child approaches this change in a
different way depending on the experience and emotional competencies or ‘tools’ that they
possess. As we have seen in section 2, nurturing positive learning dispositions to learn have far
greater long-term impact on children’s lives than the traditionally valued components of early
learning such as knowledge (colours, shapes, numbers, letters) and skills only. A traditional
view of being ‘ready for school’ may conjure up an image of a child who comes armed with a
checklist of things that her/she can do to as an indicator of readiness.
An alternative view of school readiness is a child armed with the positive learning
dispositions that they need to ‘enable ‘them to learn, for example, emotional and social well-
being and a strong sense of self-identity. Children who have developed positive dispositions
such as strength, resilience, independence and self-confidence, will be able to call on these
attributes to support, not only transitions from pre-school to primary school, but also transitions
throughout their lives.
Like adults, children can be hampered in their ability to think clearly and act competently
when they are feeling insecure or vulnerable. Therefore, during the actual process of transition,
avoid any form of early assessment, albeit informal. Instead, view the transition period as a
social learning process and an important component of supporting children during their early
days in a new environment.
6.7.1 Transition from the early years Setting Challenges for Deaf Pupils
Starting school can be daunting for any pupil. For deaf pupils there are extra challenges
that they may encounter.
• New learning environments with varying quality in listening conditions.
• New teaching staff to work with.
• Varying deaf awareness levels among staff and pupils.
• More demanding subject content.
• A lot of new vocabulary.
• Making new friends.
• Differing expectations of behaviour and independence.
It is important for the school’s SENCO and teacher to work with the parents, pupil, early
years setting and Teacher of the Deaf to develop a transition plan that helps overcome these
potential challenges and ensures a successful start.
107
6.7.2 Transition plan
A good transition plan will:
• Be prepared well in advance of the pupil starting primary school to give time for the
support arrangements to be put in place
• Clearly identify the member of staff responsible for preparing the plan and coordinating
its implementation
• Involve the pupil and their parents and address any concerns they have be based on a
thorough analysis of the pupil’s needs and strengths including information from specialist
assessments where necessary (a checklist for collecting relevant information follows)
• Set out what needs to be done to meet the pupil’s needs including:
– What should be provided (for example, hearing technology, Teaching assistant support,
staff training, further assessment, Improvements in classroom acoustics, opportunities
to visit the School, specialist support)
– who in the school is responsible for each identified action
– Time scale for delivery.
• Arrangements for meeting social need including continuity of existing friendship groups.
• Arrangements for having the teaching assistant support/communication support worker
in place for the start of term, if appropriate.
6.7.3 Strategies that could be Included in the Transition Process and Plan
The following strategies could be included in the transition process and plan .
1. Assessing the Pupil’s Needs

Arrangements for assessing the pupil’s needs including information from the early years
setting, supporting specialist services in health, education and social care, parents and the
pupil.
2. Information for the Pupil

• Familiarization/taster days with parents and possibly extra days to meet and get to know
key staff members. These visits should be planned to enable the pupil to fully take part in
the activities.
• Accessible information about the school, such as a map, a timetable, photos of relevant
staff, information about breaks and lunchtimes and information on who can help with
any concerns.
Transition into Preschool

If the child is approaching his/her third birthday the parent may have been informed
that s/he is no longer eligible for “early intervention” services. the teacher may have been told
that s/he will “transition” into the “preschool program.”
108
Early years Setting and Primary School Liaison
• Regular transition meetings and ongoing liaison between key members of staff from the
early years setting, the school and the support service.
• Early year’s staff and the Teacher of the Deaf provide information about the pupil’s
deafness, its impact and their needs.
• Primary school staff visit and observe the pupil at early years setting.
Preparation in the Primary School

– An acoustic audit of teaching spaces that identifies measures required to improve the
listening environment.
– Ensuring that any hearing technology such as radio aids and/or sound field system is in
place in good time.
– Arrangements for deaf awareness training for other pupils.
• Arrangements for providing primary school staff with information on the Pupil’s needs
and how they are best supported in accessing teaching and learning. An example of
information that could be provided follows.
• Arrangements for training and advising relevant staff – this could include deaf awareness
training for staff including lunchtime supervisors.
6.7.4 Tips to Support the Child’s Transition to Primary School

• Talk with children about their Learning Journey Portfolio and encourage them to bring it
to school to show the new teacher.
• Circle time can be used to explore children’s thoughts and feelings about going to school.
The early childhood
• educator can make a list of the queries or concerns children have about school and
incorporate meaningful
• Activities in short term planning to enable children to explore their concerns.
• Build a group scrapbook about all the different schools children will be going to. This
may include photos of the outside of the school, the playground, the uniform and pictures
of some of the children already attending.
• Encourage children to put together an interest table of all the things they might see at
school – photos of older children, schoolbag, lunchbox, uniforms, photos of playgrounds,
classrooms.
• Make a group collage picture involving all the children in the setting with their names
identifying their contribution.
• This picture can be photographed, scanned and printed. Each child can take a copy to
either put in their learning
• Journey Portfolio or to display in their new classroom as a reminder of their pre-school.
109
• Include practical activities such as encouraging children to play games where they have
to introduce themselves to others and say a few things about themselves
• Invite primary school children to come to the pre-school to meet the children and talk
about their school.
• Arrange a visit to the school or schools if practical. Encourage children to explore the
physical surroundings, the playground, toilets and classrooms.
• Use stories with a starting school theme and use the stories to encourage children to
share their thoughts and feelings.
Enabling the Parent to Support the Child’s Transition

• Some parents may already have children attending primary school. However, for many
parents this will be a big transition for them too. Involve parents in preparing for transitions
by providing an outline of the activities being carried out in the service
• Leading up to the end of the academic year.
6.7.5 Tips to Support Parents Pleading up to their Child’s Transition to Primary

School
Arrange an end of year meeting with all parents and use this as an opportunity to:
• Provide an overview of their child’s progress in learning and development. Prepare a
summary of the child’s achievements, add the child’s comments and give to the parent to
take home and add their own comments. Alternatively, offer to add comments on behalf
of the parent if preferred.
• Discuss any recommendations he/she may have for the child over the summer months to
support the child’s transition to school.
• Speak with parents about handing on assessment information. Explain to them the
importance of this information to the child’s progress in learning. Invite them to have
their say on the record of achievement booklet and ask their permission to pass it on to
the child’s primary school.
• Give them ideas of things that they can be doing at home as well. For example, taking the
child on walks past the primary school, borrowing books from the library that portray a
positive story of children starting school, taking the child to concerts, plays or sports
days at the primary school in the lead up to summer.
Provide an information sheet for parents outlining practical tips for preparing their child
for the school day, for example:
– Recognizing their own coat, lunchbox and school bag
– Knowing their name, address and telephone number
– Developing the skills to fasten/unfasten their coat, lunchbox and shoes
– Developing the skills to open a juice carton, peel fruit and open yogurt pots
• Being able to see to their own personal needs.
110
• Effective school transition experiences:
• Give children a positive understanding and experience of school as a safe, enjoyable
place.
• Acknowledge that children have individual needs, interests and skills.
• Involve the community of children, families, childcare, school and relevant others.
• Allow and encourage positive communication between children, families, childcare
professionals and school educators.
Check Your Progress

1. What are the principles of Inclusive educational practices
........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
2. How to Collaborate with parents and family & family Education Family Services
........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
3. Understand the meaning of transition
........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
4. Explain the stage wise transitions
........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
6.8 UNIT SUMMARY

The challenges of educating a diverse population will not diminish. The universal design
of early education is an appropriate framework for addressing these challenges. Collaboration
with family members play an important role in success of inclusive childhood practices .
Based on child educational needs school readiness and transition services are to be provided
for children with hearing impairment.
6.9 ASSIGNMENTS
1. Select any 5 year old Hearing Impaired Child and prepare IFSP report.
2. Write about transition plan preschool child.
111
After going through the unit you may like to have further discussion on some points and
clarification on other note down those points below.

........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
6.11 REFERENCES
1. Baker, A.C. & Manfredi Petitt, L.A. (2004) Relationships, the heart of quality care:
creating community among adults in early care settings. Washington: National Association
for the Education of Young Children, p. 7
2. Connor, J., & Linke, P. (2007). Your Child’s First Year at School: A Book for Parents.
Watson, ACT: Early Childhood Australia.
3. Dockett, S. & Perry, B. (2001). Starting School: Effective Transitions. Early Childhood
Research in Practice, Vol 3 No 2 Fall2001.
4. NSW Department of Education and Training. (2008). Preparing for Kindergarten.
Retrieved March 11, 2008 from http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/gotoschool/primary/
prepareforkindi.php
5. Owens, A. (2008). Family Factsheet: Transition to School. Retrieved March 13, 2008
from http://www.ncac.gov.au/factsheets/transition.pdf
6. Centre for Community Child Health. (2005). School Readiness. Parent Information.
The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne.Child and Youth Health. (2008). Starting
School. Retrieved March11,2008.http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/
HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=122&id=1770
7. Council of the European Union (2009) Council Conclusions of 12 May 2009 on a Strategic
Framework for European Cooperation in Education and Training (‘ET 2020’) (2009/C
119/02) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2009:119:0002:0
010:EN:PDF
FURTHER READINGS
1. Council of the European Union (2010) Council conclusions on the social dimension of
education and training. 3013th Education, Youth and Culture Council meeting 11/05/
112
2010 http://www.consilium. europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/educ/
114374.pdf
2. Council of the European Union (2011) Council conclusions on the role of education
and training in the implementation of the ‘Europe 2020’ strategy (2011/C 70/01) http://
eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/ LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2011:070:0001:0003:EN:PDF
3. NSW Department of Education and Training. (2008). Starting School. Retrieved March
11, 2008 from http://www.schools.
Website:
1. nsw.edu.au/got school/primary/startingschool.php
2. www.ndcs.org.uk www.ndcs.org.uk/livechatunication
3. http://www.pattan.net/files/Forms/English/EI/IFSP-IEPAnn070108.pdf and review
“Section X. Transition Plan.”
4. www.drnpa.org.
5. http://nichcy.org/states.htm
6. https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/styles/iidc/.../ECC_Universal_Design_Early_Education.p..
journal.naeyc.org/btj/200609/ConnPowersBTJ.pdf
7. www.elc-pa.org
113

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BLOCK – I THE EARLY YEARS: AN OVERVIEW

a. The Pattern of Physical Changes

b. Nature Vs. Nurture

c. Keep Up the Baby Talk

d. Language Comes in 4 Stages

f. Baby’s Brain is Rapidly Growing

g. Infants and Toddlers are Smarter Than They Sound

h. Preschoolers Develop a Sense of Self

i. Learning to Understand Others Comes a Little Later

j. Baby Bodies Grow Fast, But Not As Fast As Their Brains

k. Music Is Good for the Mind and Soul

How Children Learn: Stage-Wise

How Infants and toddlers (0 – 2+) learn

1.4 NEURAL PLASTICITY

The Plasticity of Developmental Timing

1.5.1 Development of Auditory System

1.5.2 Development of Visual System

Check Your Progress-2

1.6 UNIT SUMMARY

1.8 POINTS FOR DISCUSSION AND CLARIFICATION

1.8.1 Points for Discussion

1.3 SENSITIVE PERIODS OF LEARNING

Sensitive Periods for learning

Maria Montessori Works in India

The Learning Process

1.4 MARIA MONTESSORI’S FRAMEWORK & WINDOWS OF

2. Sensitivity for Language:

4. Sensitivity to the Social Aspects of Life:

6. Sensitivity to Learning Through the Senses:

1.1 TIMELINES OF DEVELOPMENT IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Timeline of Childhood Milestones

Educational significance of sensitive periods

2.6 INTEGRATING THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT &

Check Your Progress

2.7 UNIT SUMMARY

2.9 POINTS FOR DISCUSSION AND CLARIFICATION

2.9.1 Points for Discussion

2.9.2 Points for Clarification

3.3 CHILDREN – AT- RISK

The Importance of Etiological Considerations

B. Genetic and Chromosomal Differences

Inborn Errors of Metabolism-factors

D. Syndromes with Abnormal Chromosome Numbers

Prenatal Period factors

a. Infections and Intoxicants

Birth and Neonatal Development factors

b. Pre term and Low-Birth-Weight Infants

Postnatal Development factors

J. Culturally Different Students with Special Needs

3.4 WHAT IS TRACKING OBSERVATION?

3.4.1 Why Tracking is Important?

3.5 INTERDISCIPLINARY ASSESSMENTS & INTERVENTION

Context of the Interdisciplinary Process

Principles of Interdisciplinary Team Assessment

Early Childhood Intervention Services

Intervention Plans and Strategies

3.6 DEVELOPMENTAL SYSTEM MODEL FOR EARLY

Components of the Developmental Systems Model

Check Your Progress

3.7 UNIT SUMMARY

3.9 POINTS FOR DISCUSSION AND CLARIFICATION

3.9.1 Points for Discussion

3.9.2 Points for Clarification