The Importance Of Videatives In Early Childhood Children

As a childcare practitioner it is important that I am able to recognise when a child in their early years may have a range of learning needs. To be able to understand the way I need to work with others to ensure that the learning plan that is in place for this child has a positive impact on their health, development and learning. To ensure I am offering an inclusive practice where the child is supported and feels valued and is helping them towards achieving the Five Outcomes of The Every Child Matters Framework.

Setting : Observation took place in a classroom of Richmond Preschool . There were 18 children who are 4 years old, 3 ECE teachers and 1 volunteer during this observation.

The key to attain this solid foundation is through communicating effectively and clearly with the adults associated with the play setting. For example, it is important that parents and carers are aware of any issues that may have arisen during the session, any difficulties their child is encountering, or if their child has behaved or responded particularly well to a certain situation. Essentially, this involves being ‘updated’ on their child’s general behaviour and well-being. The importance of clear communication can be evidenced here. Being vague in ones communications can lead to problems such as misunderstanding, the child being reprimanded for something they didn’t do by parents, or by parents not grasping the full extent of the problem. Not only would this affect the support the child would receive, but many could argue that such misinterpretations or misunderstandings could result in conflict between play setting and parent.

Making relationships: children play co-operatively, taking turns with others. They take account of one another’s ideas about how to organise their activity. They show sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings, and form positive relationships with adults and other children.”

The early years framework emphasises a personal and individual approach to learning and development because valuing a child’s individuality, ideas and feelings is an important part of developing an individual approach to the learning and development. A child has universal physical needs such as food, drink and shelter and psychological needs such as love, affection, security, friendship which are essential to maintaining their quality of life. In recognising and trying to meet an individual child’s needs each child’s age, physical maturity, intellectual abilities, emotional development, social skills and past experiences and relationships need to be considered.

The way in which we interact with each other demonstrates how much we value each other’s opinions and input. Through the art of positive communication children can be made to feel part of the school community. Our behaviour and communication needs to be adapted according to the age of the child or young person. This is because they require different levels attention and reassurance depending on their age and any added factors which may be affecting them at the time. For example when they transfer to secondary school young people can feel fragile and emotionally vulnerable – as a result they may require a gentler approach and may also need to have more physical contact .The older a child gets the more they may need help with issues such as puberty and hormonal matters.

To understand the whole child you have to understand the pieces which create a whole and balanced child. Development of social and emotional needs, physical needs, language learning needs, and cognitive development needs all come together cohesively to create a whole child. The best way to encourage and educate the whole child is through play because all needs for developing the whole child can be met during play. The keys to creating a whole child play environment is by incorporating age appropriate toys and materials into centers created by using development appropriate practices. The DAP’s (development appropriate practices) are created by investigating and identifying the child’s current stage of development. Once you identify where they the child is developmentally, you encourage and aide the child in learning and growing through play by using the DAP’s. Each part of the whole child’s needs must be investigated and identified before you can create a successful whole child environment. The child’s present cognitive abilities and struggles must be identified, you should know what physical abilities or struggles the child is facing, the child’s language needs must be identified, and last but definitely not least is the social and emotional needs. To

• Every child is an individual – with different needs depending on their age and abilities, for an example, when physical play is involved more consideration must be given to a child who has become mobile than to an older child, when

The interaction a preschooler has with the surrounding environment, whether it be physical or social, has a significant impact on the child’s development. Ramani (2012), had taken a look at playful environment versus a structured environment to see which one benefited children more when it came to social interaction and joint problem solving. The interaction shown in the experiment showed that a playful environment benefits children more because they are free to communicate and interact with other children, they were more observant of their environment, would imitate more to get their point across, and were overall more positive. Denham, Bassett, Zisser, and Wyatt (2014) evaluated the child’s engagement with the surrounding physical and social environment, along with taking a look at the ways social-emotional learning can predict how academically ready the children are.

Through play, children are also able to form relationships with their peers, therefore developing socially. They are able to “learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, to resolve conflicts, and to learn self-advocacy skills” all of which are important skills in a child’s world as well as the adult world (Ginsberg 183). This is especially prevalent in young school age children, who have had relatively few social encounters without the presence of their parents before entering school. These young children will often make life time friends by sharing a popular treat at snack time or borrowing a color crayon to another child who has broken theirs.

There were twelve children in each pre-school class, and there were two classes in the room I was assigned to. The children I interacted with ranges from four to five years old and came from socially diverse backgrounds. Hence, the observation and interaction I had with each child is different but did not entirely deviated from the expected level of maturity based on the various developmental theories. During this assignment, I observed the children regularly interacting with each other, honing their interpersonal skills through various activities. Although, the children tend to be egocentric at times, fighting over every pieces of Lego, as they struggle to see things from the perspective of other children. In particular, the children often bickers in vying for play time with me and the other teachers. However, in most cases, the children themselves resolved their squabble; a testament to Erikson’s theory, as they develop a sense of initiative and security in their ability to lead and make decisions. A true sign of the children’s developmental maturity.

Clark and Moss (2001) illustrated the importance of observation, observations that involve watching, hearing and listening to all children’s voices. Nevertheless, Clark and Moss noted that observations signify adult’s understandings of a child’s world and environment. We should always consider children’s own interpretations to form the complete mosaic. I adopted the Mosaic approach (Clark and Moss, 2001) because their focus is on research with young children in early years

During the early years, the roles of the average child are characterised by play. Children actively explore and interact with people and objects in their world. These interactions provide the child with an understanding of control and connectedness. Children repeat actions to establish relationships between materials and objects. Students then modify their interactions to examine new relationships. During the first few years of life language develops and play evolves, from exploration to using objects to pretend and mimic activities in the world. This paper will firstly look at what play is and how it benefits children, secondly the paper will look at how play is similar and different for children with and without special education needs (SEN), thirdly the paper will explain why this knowledge of play is valuable to professionals in education, and lastly the paper will suggest recommendations on knowledge that professionals should have when supporting children in

Secondly, it is important to consider the strengths of naturalistic observation as a method. This was identified when the child was consistently moving and doing different activities that allowed me to understand how he communicates with other children, how he behaves and what he learns from others. In the play setting the child was able to develop his thinking and according to the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (DOH, 2000) through social relationships, the child was encouraged to express his feelings, emotions, which was achieved by the setting creating an enjoyment environment.

The pedagogy of listening is one that is closely intertwined with early childhood education (ECE) and, within this context, it is acknowledged as being more than the word itself implies. Listening in an early childhood setting is not merely to hear what a child says and act on it, rather, it is to open yourself to different perspectives and be willing to not only act on but also adopt new ways of thinking (Davies, 2014). To truly use this as an effective pedagogy is to turn the act of listening into an intentional and meaningful interaction (MacNaugton & Williams, 2010). In doing so, relationships you are forming with everyone that you interact with – be they two feet tall and in nappies or fully grown and in uniform – can only be strengthened as you show them the respect and reciprocity that is needed to achieve meaningful bonds (Gonzalez-Mena & Widmeyer Eyer, 2018).