How PITC and Early Head Start Are Aligned in Purpose and Practice 

July 16, 2026

In WestEd’s recent Leading Together webinar, PITC and Early Head Start: Aligned in Purpose and Practice, three WestEd experts came together to show how the Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) supports and strengthens Early Head Start implementation. PITC is a comprehensive, research-based professional development system that provides training, curricula, assessment tools, and regional support to help educators and providers deliver high-quality, nurturing, and developmentally appropriate care for infants and toddlers. The webinar panel featured 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. Together, they walked participants through the shared philosophy, the six essential program policies that bring it to life, and a hands-on strategy for staying responsive to the youngest learners. 

A Shared Foundation: PITC and the Early Head Start Performance Standards 

Early Head Start requires high-quality care that promotes healthy development for infants and toddlers. PITC’s philosophy is built around that same idea, viewing infants and toddlers as curious, motivated learners who thrive through meaningful relationships rather than as passive recipients of care. 

WestEd has maintained a 40-year partnership with the California Department of Social Services to support infant and toddler care across the state, and similar partnerships can be built with other states as well. Together, these pieces show how PITC’s approach maps directly onto what Early Head Start programs are already responsible for delivering every day.

Six Essential Program Policies for Relationship-Based Care

PITC is built around six essential program policies, many of which will feel familiar to educators already doing this work, even without a formal name attached to them.

• Primary Care. Each caregiver is responsible for a small group of three to four children, giving each child the chance to develop an emotionally secure relationship with an adult who knows them well.
• Continuity of Care. A child stays with the same teacher from infancy until their third birthday, allowing the relationship and the caregiver’s understanding of the child to deepen over time.
• Individualized Care. Individualized care is about adapting care to each child’s unique interests and needs and is often built through ongoing conversations with families about what works at home.
• Small Groups. With just eight or nine children and two or three caregivers, small groups make it possible for them to notice and respond to what each child needs in the moment.
• Inclusive Care. Programs include children with disabilities or developmental delays alongside their peers, supporting learning, development, and sense of self for the whole group.
• Culturally Responsive Care. This is about connecting a child’s cultural experiences at home and in the community with the care provided at the program rather than asking the child to navigate two separate worlds.

Getting in Tune: The Responsive Process

At the heart of PITC is responsiveness; an example of this is tuning in to a child’s verbal and nonverbal cues, achieved through listening, observing, and deepening relationships with both children and families over time.

Responsiveness doesn’t require getting it right every time. What matters is consistency. Children learn that their caregivers will keep making a good-faith effort to meet their needs. A simple, cyclical strategy, known as the responsive process, can help build this skill:

• Watch. Observe what the child is trying to convey.
• Ask. Reflect on the moment—ask the child (even if they are preverbal), a colleague, a family member, or yourself what the child needs.
• Adapt. Adjust expectations, environments, or routines based on what you’ve learned.

This cycle plays out many times a day, often without caregivers realizing there’s a name for it. The payoff is significant: When they follow an infant’s lead, the infant learns that their messages are understood, becomes emotionally connected to their caregiver, and begins to trust that their needs will be met. That trust becomes a secure base from which the child can explore, first visually, then physically, as they begin to move.

As PITC founders Dr. Ron Lally and Dr. Peter Mangione put it, when caregivers are mindful of how a child’s whole experience shapes the developing brain, they can offer caring relationships that help a child feel secure enough to open up to a lifetime of exploration and learning.

Learn More About Supporting Infants, Toddlers, and Their Families 

Watch the full webinar and view other webinars in the Leading Together series.  

Explore the Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) to learn more about training, coaching, and certification opportunities for your team and continue learning about WestEd’s work in Early Childhood Development, Learning, and Systems.