Featured Speakers:
- Arlene Paxton, Senior Director of Infant Toddler Care, WestEd
- Elizabeth Crocker, Director of PITC Training and Certification, WestEd
- Amber Morabito, PITC Curriculum Manager for Infant Toddler Care, WestEd
Host:
- Danny Torres, Associate Director of Events and Digital Media, WestEd
Danny Torres:
Hello everyone, and welcome to the 31st session of our Leading Together series. In these 30-minute learning webinars, WestEd experts are sharing research and evidence-based practices that help bridge opportunity gaps, support positive outcomes for children and adults, and help build thriving communities. Today’s topic, PITC and Early Head Start. We’ll be talking about how we’re aligned in purpose and in practice. Our featured speakers today are Arlene Paxton, senior director of Infant Toddler Care, Elizabeth Crocker, director of PITC Training and Certification, and Amber Morabito, PITC curriculum manager for Infant Toddler Care. Unfortunately, Dr. Kerry Kriener-Althen can’t join us today. Thank you all very much for joining us.
My name is Danny Torres. I’m associate director of events and digital media for WestEd. I’ll be your host. Now, I’d like to take a moment to introduce WestEd. As a nonpartisan research, development, and service agency, WestEd works to promote excellence, improve learning, and increase opportunity for children, youth, and adults. Now, it’s time to pass the mic over to Arlene. Arlene, take it away.
Arlene Paxton:
Thank you, Danny. And it’s great to see everybody’s names and where you’re from in the chat. I have to say, my heart is with those of you in Humboldt County. That’s my home territory. I grew up in Eureka, so I’m glad you’re with us today. And we’ve got folks all the way from South Carolina, from the Midwest, and California. So, we’re really happy to have you here today. Today, it’s myself, and as Danny said, Elizabeth Crocker and Amber Morabito to share with you a little bit about how PITC is aligned with purpose and practice with Early Head Start. You’ll be hearing from each of us today. And as Danny said, we’re hoping to have just a few minutes to answer your questions at the end. So, I’m going to jump right into it.
Today, we’re going to talk, and some of you may know this as, again, I saw lots of friends in the chat saying hello, we’re going to describe what it means to be engaged in responsive and respectful relationships with infants, toddlers, and their families. We’re going to identify some PITC strategies and practices that can enhance their Early Head Start implementation. And then we’re going to, at the very end, take a few minutes to explore some professional learning opportunities that PITC has available to you to support your ongoing staff development and program quality improvement. Okay, PITC and Early Head Start. You will notice we’re going to, throughout this morning, talk about different windows that you can connect with PITC, promoting caregiving practices, supporting child development.
We do have and must note that we have in California our partnership with the California Department of Social Services who we have been in a 40-year partnership to support infant and toddler care in California, and we can also partner with your state too, as well as building capacity and observing practices for ongoing quality. So, as we’ll talk a little bit more about each of those categories at the end of our session and what professional development opportunities are available to you, but mostly, I want to share that, you know, these core ideas of PITC meet Early Head Start expectations for safe, nurturing learning environments and intentional teaching for infants and toddlers.
So, this is a handout that Danny is going to share a link for, for you, and it talks a little bit about how the PITC philosophy and approach is aligned in purpose and practice with the Early Head Start performance standards, actually, Head Start performance standards, they go across. And that, you know, we think about what Early Head Start requires most, and that’s high-quality, relationship-based care that promotes healthy development, strengthens families, and advances equity for infants and toddlers. Through PITC, we view infants and toddlers as curious, motivated learners who can thrive through meaningful relationships rather than passive recipients of care.
So, this slide is just a little bit of a summary. It’s a closeup look at what’s in the handout, but we wanted to show you. On the left part, we have four bullet points that really talk about PITC’s approach and philosophy to care. And then, we gave you a quick overview of where in the Early Head Start or the Head Start performance standards that we are aligned to and can support those requirements that the Early Head Start programs are responsible for each day. And in my next slide, what I’m going to do is turn it over to Elizabeth Crocker, who is our director of Training and Certification, and has run Early Head Start programs for many, many years, and is going to talk to you a little bit more from the perspective of a Head Start director, how PITC can support your work in Early Head Start programs.
Elizabeth Crocker:
Thank you, Arlene. And I’m so happy to be with all of you. I so miss being in Head Start programs. I was in Head Start for 27 years working in Head Start, Early Head Start, and also home-based services. And I just love the quality of services that families receive and the sense of community. So here, what we’re going to talk about are the PITC’s six essential program policies. They’re going to be very familiar to you, because you’re already doing them quite sure. First, is primary care. And the reason for primary care means that each care provider, they have one group that they’re responsible for of three to four children. And the child really understands that caregiver, the caregiver can read their cues.
And through primary care, each child has the opportunity to develop an emotionally secure relationship with an adult who knows the child well and is attentive to the child’s personal interests and needs. And so, the child doesn’t have to learn about how to be with every teacher in the classroom. They can go to their special person that they have that primary care relationship with. Then there’s continuity of care. So, the primary care offers the ability to have a special relationship that winds up being an attachment relationship with their special caregiver in the setting. Continuity of care is how we make that relationship last and grow with time.
So, in continuity of care, the child is with the same teacher over time from when a child enters the infant care program until the child’s third birthday. Each child has this special relationship over time, and that teacher really knows how to support that child’s learning because these relationships take a long time to develop. That special connection doesn’t happen overnight, and we want to make sure that the child continues to benefit from that. And the longer the child has the primary care relationship, the deeper the care teacher’s understanding of the child can become and the more sensitive and responsive their care teacher can be with the child.
And what I’ve seen in my work in Head Start, is this not only benefits the child, it benefits the care educator. The care educator, they can understand the child more easily. It’s easier to know what the child wants, what the child needs, where the child is going in their learning. And so, it benefits not only the child, but the care educator and the family. And then we’re going to move into individualized care. And this is really made possible by the first policies that we chatted about. And we’re adapting and personalizing care to the individual child in order to ensure responsiveness to each child’s interest and needs. So, it’s not every child gets things in the same way.
Every child gets what they need, because of the way they are and what they want. And so, we’re thinking about each child. So, the individualized care recognizes the uniqueness of each child and family and the uniqueness of the relationship a care teacher develops with them. And one of the ways individualized care begins is through that great parent-teacher conversation and that relationship. So, when we know from the families what they want from their child, how things go at home, what the child likes or doesn’t like. Again, this makes it easier for us as care educators, us, I used to be a care educator, for care educators to really get the child what they need, have a relationship that really flows and works well for the grownup and the baby, and really moves forward that learning and that development.
So small groups, you’ve got the individualized care, you know your babies, you know the three or four that are assigned to you. But small groups make it possible for you to notice what your child, the children in your care group really need from you. Are they vying for your attention? Are they trying to catch your eye? Are they frustrated? Do they need something? Are they wanting you right now? In small groups, that’s possible, because in Head Start, it’s eight or nine children with two caregivers for eight and three for nine.
And when the group is that small, the space is calm. It’s easier to see your child and spot them in a big room full of loud children, because we know that they get boisterous and loud and happy, it’s hard to know what the one child assigned to you needs, one of the children that you work with. And so, we really want the children to be able to have the small groups where they have opportunities for predictable and emotionally-nurturing interactions that are enhanced, because their caregiver can see them and notice them. And primary care is not exclusive care. If your hands are really busy, another teacher in that room can really support the child who needs some attention in the moment.
Arlene Paxton:
Sorry about that. Oh, I got a little, slide… There you go.
Elizabeth Crocker:
Okay. So inclusive care. As we know, all children benefit with being with their peers. And I’ve heard from many early interventionists that they felt like so happy when their child transitioned to Head Start, because they had been working with that child for two years and the child didn’t talk, didn’t walk, and didn’t use the toilet. But as soon as that child showed up to Early Head Start and the other kids were walking, talking, managing some of their routines, that child did all of those things. And that’s why we really want to make sure that children who may have a disability or a delay are included with their typically developing peers in the classroom. And that there is such a benefit from that child having that relationship with the other children in the program that really supports their learning, development, and sense of self.
And then culturally-responsive care, where we’re really thinking about is how do we connect a child’s cultural experiences at home and in the community with the care that we provide. We don’t want the child to have to think, “Ahh, I’m at Early Head Start and so this is what the teachers want from me. Oh, I’m home, this is what my mother, or father, or grandmother wants from me.” When we know what the family wants for their child, how they manage routines, what are their goals, and they empower us as educators to think about how to be with their child, and doing this deepens the care teacher’s understanding of a child and provides a window of how to meet the child’s needs and support the learning in connection to what happens in the home. Are we ready for the next slide, please? And then turning it over to Amber Morabito, and she’s going to talk about what PITC means by responsiveness.
Amber Morabito:
Thank you, Elizabeth. Hello, everyone. It’s great to be with you this afternoon and lovely to see so many familiar names. So, as you’ve gathered, as Arlene talked about the alignment between the PITC and the Head Start Performance Standards, and Elizabeth walked us through our six program policies, you may have gotten the sense that we are talking about relationship-based care. And so, with relationship-based care, we’re really at the PITC focusing in on responsive caregiving, being connected and close with our infants and toddlers, respecting and affirming them, being predictable so that they know what to expect and feel that sense of security. And when we’re responsive, and we wanted to talk about responsiveness to really give you a takeaway, a strategy, that you can take away this afternoon with the children and families you support and/or the care educators that you support, the strategy of responsiveness.
What we mean by it is responding to the child and their needs, whether those needs are verbal or nonverbal cues. We learn this by knowing the child, being in relationship, and not just the child but also their families. Through listening and observing and taking the time to build and deepen these relationships, we can individualize, just like Elizabeth was talking about. We learn how to match up their interest and their needs of the child that are predictable. We are attuned to the messages and then we respond. Responsiveness though, we want to really make sure that you know that we recognize it doesn’t mean that you’re always perfect and that you get it right the first time, and maybe not even the second time. But what it does for the child is that it’s consistent and predictable.
Children learn from us that we’re going to make a good faith effort. We’re going to try our best and figure it out until we get it right. The infant receives the message that their caregivers will keep trying to meet their needs. And so, here are a couple of bullet points that help with getting in tune and being more responsive. So, that first one is providing timeliness and responsiveness to the child and their needs. So even if we can’t get to them right away, maybe it’s a verbal, “I hear you. I’ll be right there.” It’s listening and observing, it’s spending time building and deepening those relationships. And again, we’re always talking about the family as we’re thinking about being in relationship.
It’s also being nurturing and affirming. You know, with that second one there with affirming, it’s everyone has the need. It’s a human need to be known, understood, and seen. Seen, known, and understood. And so, when we do that for young children, we are affirming them. And then finally, being predictable. And like I said, most of the time, but not necessarily 100% of the time. So, the relationship between the infant and her caregiver is at the heart of high-quality care for infants and toddlers. And through experiencing the warmth and support of caring adults, children gain this security, which helps support them in their learning and development.
The strategy that we’d like to offer, some of you may have heard of this, it’s called the responsive process. And this responsive process is a strategy to really get us in tune and connected with our children. And so, when we say strategy, you could see it’s a cyclical process in nature. We are asking that you start off by watching. And that’s that observation piece. What is it that this child, these children are trying to convey to me? What is the message that they are sending? And then we move into that ask phase. You heard me demonstrate some of that as I ask those questions. What is it that they need? What are they trying to demonstrate to me?
And so when we ask, we are reflecting on what’s happening in the moment. Maybe we ask the child. Even if that child is pre-verbal, we can ask the child, maybe we ask a colleague as we reflect together. We ask the family, we ask ourselves through our own reflective practices, and then we adapt. And with adapting, we are adapting our expectations potentially. We’re adapting what we though that child wanted. Maybe we’re adapting our environments, our routines. We’re really making a plan to do something different, to get better into tune with what this child needs. So, we have a handout for you. Danny will put it in the chat, and it breaks down this responsive process for you.
And really, it is to support this idea of getting in tune. We would imagine that you are using this responsive process throughout multiple times throughout the day with your children, your families. And I would imagine you’re doing this without even knowing that that’s what this is called. And you’re really just getting in tune with your children. It’s a rhythm where you’re learning their cues. And sometimes it can be various cries. It can be eating or sleeping patterns, smiles, movements. But what we know from the research is that when care teachers follows infants’ leads, the infant learns that their messages are understood. Care teachers and infants become emotionally connected, and the infant begins to believe that their needs have been met.
They trust the trust that’s fostered between this responsiveness and the close relationships helps that infant to then be able to reach out and explore. We talked about that secure base, and with a secure base of security, infants will naturally venture out and explore the environment around them. We might see first it’s visually and then physically when they’re able to move, they start making those movements into exploration. The infants are taking in other people, things, and objects, and they’re using you all, their trusted care teacher, as their safe base for exploration. So, caring for infants requires adults to be physically and emotionally available to each child in order to respond appropriately and accurately most of the time to their particular needs and interests.
So, as care teachers, we hope that this is supportive to your process and those that you support. And I’ve talked about some of the benefits, but here they are on the screen for you. We talked about that affirming piece, so feeling seen, known, and heard. Also that sense of belonging. This place is for me. These adults take care of me. They understand me. And families get that same sense. That sense of security, trust, and competence is also built through responsive caregiving. And then finally, that confidence to explore and learn once that secure base has been established. Dr. Ron Lally and Dr. Peter Mangione, both the founders of PITC say this. “If we are mindful of how a child’s whole experience, particularly the emotional tenor, influences the developing brain, we can provide caring relationships that help the child feel secure and open up to an emerging world of exploration and learning throughout the early years.” We hope that that’s inspiring. And I’m going to turn it over to Arlene to close us out.
Arlene Paxton:
Thank you, Amber.
Amber Morabito:
You’re welcome.
Arlene Paxton:
Just is taking a minute to let that quote soak in. You know, it’s so much about being present with the infants and toddlers in that moment and supporting them in whatever they’re working on. So thank you, again, for sharing with us about the responsive process. And Elizabeth, thank you for sharing about the PITC six essential policies. Both topics are really strategies for thinking about how we can become close and in tune with the children and families that we serve every day. So, I just want to take a minute and this was the last bullet point of what we were going to learn today, but make sure that you all know about PITC professional learning opportunities that exemplify what Elizabeth and Amber talked about today. We have a few categories for you to think about.
If you’re promoting caregiving practices, you can do that with many things that PITC offers. We have onsite and virtual training and coaching. We also have a PITC online class that can help your team members really learn about the philosophy and approach and how to reflect on practice every day in their programs. If you’re wanting to build capacity of your team, have a few of those members on your team that are your torch carriers for the PITC, I’m guessing some of you that are here today are those folks, we have the PITC Trainer Institute and certification.
And for those that are in California, we also have a couple other subsidized offerings by the California State Department of Social Services, which include focus training events for family childcare providers and directors to go deeper into their practice as they support team members’ work with children and families. And then we have a PITC curriculum. And so, if you’re thinking about or need to think about what window can I go through to really support the learning experiences of the infants and toddlers in my program and support that child development, there’s the PITC curriculum. And as Danny said earlier, Amber leads that work. And so, you can be in touch with her to talk about that.
And then finally, we have the PITC PARS, which is a tool. It’s a reflective tool for observing and reflecting on quality. And what I’ll say about the PITC PARS is that it gives you the words for when we talk about, what are we looking for? Just like Amber said, what are we looking for when we think about responsiveness? What are we looking for, for primary care? And when somebody says to me, “Arlene, what does that look like? How do you know I’m doing it?” Right? And I was like, “Well, I would maybe know that a program is implementing primary care, if I see a child who might be in the exploration phase, go a little bit away from their, and then look back at their secure base, which might be one of their teachers or one of their infant care educators.”
And so, the PITC PARS can be used as an assessment, but I would also say for self-reflection and classroom reflection on quality, and even for coaching. To have discussions about your practice every day, the PITC PARS is an excellent tool to support that. And a majority of the PITC materials are in English, Spanish, and Chinese languages. Not everything is in all three, but I would say a majority is, which also opens up access to those who need materials in other languages to support their practice. So, those are the major activities, services. We also have on our website many free resources for all of you that include a set of videos called “PITC in Practice” that our directors, family childcare providers, infant care educators, talking about how their implementation, just what Elizabeth talked about earlier, their implementation of the six essential policies supports them in their work every day and brings joy to the experience.
So on that note, I’m going to turn it back over to Danny. But before I do so, I said I was going to, but I’m not going to do so right yet. But just wanted to give a moment, if there was a question in the chat or that you would like to ask all of us. I think, we have like 30 seconds. So, if there’s any burning question that somebody would like to put in the chat.
Amber Morabito:
Arlene, I had a direct message. Someone asked how do they get started with PITC as being unfamiliar with the PITC. And I would just say, we have so much to offer. I would get started by going to our website, checking that out. It is categorized the way that you see here with the color coding and icons. And start with the seed and practice videos to learn a little bit more about the six essential policies and how other programs are implementing them. And then finally, look at our events calendar, because we have things happening all year round.
Arlene Paxton:
That’s right. Thanks, Amber, for that. And so, on that note, Danny, I’m going to turn it back over to you.
Danny Torres:
Well, thank you, Arlene, Elizabeth, and Amber for a great session. And thank you to all our participants for joining us today. We really appreciate you being here. Feel free to reach out to Arlene Paxton via email. If you have any questions about the work that we discussed today, you can reach Arlene at [email protected]. And if you’d like to learn more about PITC resources and services, visit us online at pitc.org. And you can check out recordings of our past Leading Together webinars online. We’ve covered a range of topics, including literacy, generative AI, assessment, special education, mathematics, and other topics. Our next session is June 17th, and we’ll be focusing on K-12 reading and writing.
To access our Leading Together webinar series recordings and to register for upcoming events, visit us online at WestEd.org/leading-together. And if you’re interested in learning more about WestEd and staying connected, you can sign up for WestEd’s email newsletter to receive updates. Subscribe online at WestEd.org/subscribe, or you can scan the QR code displayed on the screen here. You can also follow us on LinkedIn and BluSky. With that, thank you all very, very much. We’ll see you next time.