Definition of Development Appropriate Practice

Nutrition is a key component of an individual’s healthy well being. Many factors have a significant effect on nutrition and it is important to continuously maintain a balanced one. Having a good nutrition is one of the main defenses for an innumerous amount of illnesses and diseases that can harm the body. One would ask, “What is nutrition per say, and how do we maintain the balance of it?” Nutrition is defined as “the sum of the processes by which [a living thing] takes in and utilizes food substances.” (Merriam-Webster, 2011). It is the responsibility of each individual to assure the consumption of enough nutrients to nourish the body and to be cautious of harmful toxins. A child is dependent on their guardian on being taught how

Bruno (2009) notes “when adults take responsibility for healthy and safe environments, children are free to discover their world without barriers to impede them” (p. 180). As early childhood professionals, we have a tremendous duty of ensuring that all children, their families, and staff members engage in a safe and healthy learning environment. Ensuring health and safety determines the quality standards of an early childhood education and care program. The NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards (Health Standards 5 A-C) and the NACCP’s Components of NAC Accreditation Standards Health and Safety Standards (F1-8) provides guidelines that ensure consistent health and safety practices within early childhood programs. This short composition will compare and contrast the NAEYC and NACCP standards, discuss how the standards impact children’s social/emotional and academic development, and discuss the most important components of the standards.

This includes qualities such as patience, professionalism, and being kind. It should be common sense that if you do not have patience you should not be teaching young children. They are going to be difficult to handle sometimes and if you can’t roll with the punches then you shouldn’t be there at all. It is the teacher’s job to keep them safe. To keep them safe they need a calm environment. As the teacher one sets an example. If one is cool, calm, and collected it can reflect positively through the children. “Our paramount responsibility is to provide care and education in settings that are safe, healthy, nurturing, and responsive for each child.” States NAECY’s Code of Ethical Conduct. Patience is the key.

In order to apply theories and models of child development to support children’s development we must get to know each individual child by building a good relationship with the children through play, communication and answering to their personal needs. Observation and assessment is also key so that we know what each child is capable of and what they are working towards/could be encouraged towards. Good communication with parents is also beneficial as it helps the carer to see what the child is doing at home and to identify if there are things they do or don’t do at nursery that is different from home. It also helps to work out ways of encouraging development at home and at nursery.

Theories of development and frameworks to support development are incredibly important to us working with children and young people. They help us to understand children, how they react to things/situations, their behaviour and the ways they learn. Different theories and ways of working with children have come together to provide frameworks for children’s care, such as Early year’s foundation stage (EYFS) which is used within all child care settings. This encourages us to work together, help and check the development of babies, children and young people, to keep them healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to

* Curriculum – to make children aware of being healthy and safe in all aspects of life

-quality and consistency in all early years settings, so that every child makes good progress and no

* Be able to provide routines for babies and young children that support their health and development.

Effective practice can support children’s well-being and development when looking at a child’s health and physical development. Effective practice means ‘About ensuring that all children get optimum benefit from their experiences in the EYFS. This apparently simple outcome can only be achieved when adults work together to get to know the children s that they can support their play, development and learning.’ (Early years’ matters,2017.) Children’s well-being means the quality of the child and how their life is, and to ensure that they child is happy, comfortable and stable throughout their everyday life. Children all develop at different stages, whether this is through additional needs or family issues or they might have a gap in there learning.

. The blue classroom met DAP practices in that the furniture was sized appropriately to the ages of the children that were in that classroom (approx. 4-5yrs) and in the way classroom was arranged. The centers were easy to access and they were arranged so

In learning setting teachers can discuss news reports, situations, facts which can inform pupil about safety and provide opportunities to debate about possible outcomes of similar situations and different strategies that individual supports. Discussions/debates are perfect to find out various possible ways to protect themselves.

In order to respond this question, we must first review the history of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) and Early Childhood Education (ECE). Although ECE has been around since the creation of kindergarten in the 1800’s, the decade of the 1980’s was an important period for ECE. “By the 1980’s, meta-analysis of the well-designed US projects offered compelling evidence on the positive outcomes of [early childhood education and intervention]” (Woodhead, 2007). Therefore, there was much pressure to improve the state of education, including ECE. “The decade of the 1980’s saw numerous calls for widespread school reform, with changes recommended in teacher education, graduation requirements, school structure, and accountability measures” (S. Bredekamp, R.A. Knuth, L.G. Kunesh, and D.D. Shulman, 1992). At this time, there was an increasing concern about the quality of early childhood education for the influx number of families that needed it. This led the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) to “begin planning a national voluntary accreditation system for early childhood programs”(NAEYC, 2014). With this planning came a need for a more specific description with regards to accreditation guidelines. Therefore, NAEYC issued a formal statement defining DAP.

Several issues are discussed in the NAEYC position statement about Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP). The section points out three main areas that policymakers have addressed because they realize how important these areas are to an early elementary child.

Health, safety, and nutrition are closely connected and can influence each other. The textbook states that each component influences the state and quality of the others. For example, if a child has a good nutritional status, it will play an important role of being a healthy child and also in injury prevention. All of these components has a significant effect in children’s behavior and also in children’s learning. This will determine of being physically active and being alert in her

1. Developmentally appropriate practice as defined by NAEYC is a “framework of principles and guidelines for best practice in the care and education of young children, birth through age 8. Children cannot perform tasks that they are not yet developmentally capable of doing and teachers have to be aware of this. One would not expect a one year old child to be able to write their name, not only because they are not cognitively able to understand this task, but also because their fine motor skills have not developed enough to hold a writing instrument. Therefore, most adults would realize this task is not developmentally appropriate. A kindergarten teacher, for example, can able to expect his or her students to know why it is necessary as