The Early Childhood Years For Children

For us as educators this is key to see where children are at. In the early stages of childhood 0-12 months it can be seen from imitation of parents or us as educators as they are grasping the basic tones. We will try and correct children as well who use words that are slurred or incorrectly to help them be able to develop correctly. A child not being able to understand at such a young age even slightly may show signs of deafness or something else with their development. As we progress further into age groups we as educators try and use language more with children, getting them to perfect basic words they are using as well as introducing new words into their vocabulary and environment to give them a broad range of what can be said. As they enter

The state of early childhood profession has rapidly been changing because of the current trends, policies and movements in the rapidly changing 21st century world. This report articulates the key issues of diversity of the early childhood settings, a number of models of early childhood education and care, diversity among people, the status of early childhood profession, the belief that the profession suits female than male, the poor status of the profession and less pay than other professions associate with the early childhood profession The study consisted of analysing the strengths and challenges of the early childhood profession. The study methods of analyses include the National Quality Framework, The National Quality Standards, Assessments

Chapter two discusses various theorists that helped to mold and shape early childhood education to where it is today. There are several different theorists that contributed to the development of early childhood education. Some of these theorists include Alfred Adler, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and John Dewey. Each theorist developed a unique theory that has caused early childhood guidance and education to flourish like it has today. Without learning and building on these theories, early childhood guidance and education would never develop or change. The chapter explains how some theories may seem strange to the contemporary families, but these theories are the foundation of how early childhood education got to where it is today. The book goes

“Early roots of play as a best practice for early learning was documented by Plato, a Greek philosopher, who insisted that play is considered a natural activity of childhood.”(Ingrid Crowther, 2011, Pg. 2) Early Childhood Education is a term that refers to educational programs that are devoted to children from birth to the age of eight. “Children of this age learn by exploring and investigating; therefore, their environment should support and encourage this process.”(Rebecca Isbell and Betty Exelby, 2001, Pg. 11) Early childhood environments should be attractive and exciting. These environments should allow children to work and play using proper resources, materials, and tools.

In the pediatrician’s office that I work, there is a playroom for the children of parents that came to bring a sibling to the office. I work there at this playroom taking care of the children in this playroom. I often observe how the parents, usually the mother, interact with their children, and also how the children act when the mother needs to leave the room and when they come back. It was not until this week that I was able to name the interactions and to understand what is behind the children reactions. This week, in my developmental psychology class I learned about an experiment developed by Mary Ainsworth called ‘Strange Situation’ (Belsky, 2013, p. 115). In this experiment, a mother and a child enters a play room like the one that I work, and after the child is playing with the toys, a stranger comes in and interact with the child; after a while the mother leaves the room, the same way the mothers at the pediatrician’s office leave the playroom; after some minutes the mother returns and the stranger leaves the room; a couple of minutes after the child is situated again and playing, the mother leaves again leaving the child alone, and returns after another couple of minutes (Belsky, 2013, p. 115). While the researchers observed the children, their interaction with their mothers, and their reactions to the situations through a one-way mirror (Belsky, 2013, p. 115), I observed as the stranger that is in the room interacting with the child.

Vygotsky discussed how children learn socially, in a group with others, by using signs and cultural tools (Smidt, 2009). Once children begin to understand the world around them they begin to learn and develop. We can help this, as practitioners, by being their “more knowledgeable others” (Vygotsky, 1978) and furthering their understanding of the world in which they live. In my setting I find we can do this well by listening and responding to their conversations, moving their beliefs along and filling in gaps (Johnston and Nahmad-Williams). Once they have learnt something on a social level, the next step is to complete it individually. Once this has occurred the child has successful learnt something (Vygotsky, 1978) which we can view through planned observations. This is called the Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky and Cole 1978) more sensitive interactions can help children further into the next step of their development and understanding. In my setting I see this displayed a lot, by sitting with the children, firstly observing what they are doing and seeing how I can help them get a better understanding of the task. For

The Playgroup room was created in order to address all areas in which a child develops, so the physical climate is stimulating for children to find interests in toys that they have been exposed to. The setup of the room caters to the child’s reading, imaginative play, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, skill building, and sensory. This weekly group of children is generally small; they require a lot of attention since some children are so young and have not begun to walk, multiple children who are very active, a few of the children have a harder time with being away from their parents, and all of the children uses English as their second language. Focusing on one mother and her one and a half year old daughter, the initial observation of the two is their close attachment to one another. The mother and child are not separated often which creates some anxiety in the child when the mother chooses to leave.

“This study was based upon the principal of reinforcement. The purpose of the study was to define observable terminal behavior, the use of descriptive adjectives during play; defining an observable terminal behavior, devising a method to record and measure important categories of spontaneous verbal behavior and manipulating the consequences of the children’s use of language, the presentation of social reinforcement and access to materials contingent upon a specific form of verbal behavior”. (Hart & Risley, 1968).

​In the morning, Mrs. Tantourri class works in small groups in areas the children struggle the most. The first hour is geared towards the students own independent goals that’s listed

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study was conducted in the 1990s, and its main goal was to follow 20,000 children from kindergarten to the fifth grade and recorded their academic progress, race, gender, family structure, socioeconomic status, the level of their parents’ education and other survey information. The focal point of the ECLS was to help determine what factors can correlate together when coming from different circumstances. In the study, researchers were able to collect various test scores from the children throughout their years in school, to see if any of the factors correlate to each other. Because the study contained a lot of information, researchers used a tool called regression analysis to weed out excess data, and focus in

Regarding cognitive development, it appears that a drop in family income as a result of divorce or separation has profound effects on the academic achievement of children in single-parent families. Albeit, there are studies suggesting that transitional marriages by single-mothers doesn't improve academic achievement in children. In their study Robert Wagmiller, Elizabeth Gershoff, Philip Veliz, and Margaret Clements (2010) use multiple waves of data in Early Learning Childhood Longitudinal Study- Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) and hierarchical linear growth modeling to test hypotheses about temporal change in the association between single mothers’ marriage and children’s academic achievement trajectories. Wagmiller et al.’s findings appeared to be contrary to their expectations, as it revealed that parental marriage doesn’t benefit children just because it leads to greater family economic resources and increased investments in the child after marriage.

In the first stage of the experiment, children were brought to the experimental room by the controller and the model, who was in the hallway outside the room and was invited to come in and join in the game. The room was set up for playing and the activities were selected because they had high interest for nursery school children. One area was arranged was a child’s play area, where there was a table and chair, potato prints and stickers. After settling the child in its corner the adult model was brought to the other side of the room where there was a small table, chair, tinker-toy set, a mallet and a big inflatable Bobo doll. After the model was seated the experimenter left the experimental room (Diessner, 2008).

Chapter 5 “Early Childhood: Body and Mind” section “Thinking during Early Childhood” teaches about the cognitive development of children during early childhood at around ages 2-6 years old, in which, children targeted at this age do not use logical operations (reasoning process). Such a term is called the “Preoperational Intelligence” conducted by Piaget. Furthermore, Piaget’s preoperational thought establishes that children have language but use symbolic thought where “words can refer to things not seen and that an item, like a flag, can symbolize something else (in this case, a country).” Symbolic thought proves Animism; the belief that young children have thinking that “natural objects are alive and nonhuman animals have the same characteristics of a child” (Berger, 173).

This essay discusses Importance of childhood experience to later life emotional, social and cognitive development into adulthood in the Uk, using the attachment and behaviorism theory to examine childhood experiences, as it forms parts of child’s development.

In this essay, I will discuss my experience during middle and late childhood. I will address three stages which are the physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development. The physical development consists of body and brain growth, health issues, and motor skills. The cognitive development consists of language, memory, and attention. Socioemotional development is based on relationship, employment, and personality.