WestEd News
Spotlight: Promoting Equitable Early Childhood Development and Learning
Many child care centers have remained operational during the pandemic, providing much needed assistance for essential workers and first responders. This month, we are highlighting resources designed to support early childhood practitioners, educators, and families with dealing with challenging behavior, reaching rural preschoolers, explaining the coronavirus, and more.
Preventing suspension and expulsion
As a child care provider since 2008, Michelle Melendez has coped with a wide variety of toddler and preschool behaviors. But one situation became particularly challenging. At a loss for what to do, Melendez turned to the California Inclusion and Behavioral Consultation (CIBC) Network. Working with CIBC consultant Amy Kaiser, Melendez was prompted to reflect on possible underlying causes of the three-year-old’s frequent outbursts. Read in this R&D Alert how reflective practices empowered Melendez to respond constructively to the challenging behavior and keep the child in her program.
Taking the classroom on the road
One nonprofit in rural Nevada brings preschool to students where they live via a “herd of COWs” — a fleet of five old school buses, now painted white with tan spots to look like cows, with each one retrofitted inside to serve as a self-contained preschool classroom. Read about these inspiring classrooms on wheels (“COWs”).
Home-based activities for young children
The Center for Child & Family Studies created an activity book that provides quick access to tips and practical guidance to engage children aged birth to five with fun and creative at-home learning. Learn more and download your copy.
Strategies and tools for explaining COVID-19 to children
This California MAP to Inclusion and Belonging Newsletter contains a wealth of resources that can help caregivers, families, and educators explain the coronavirus to children. Check it out for links to webinars, videos, and other tools to support your conversations.
Honorarium: Remembering Ron Lally
At the beginning of the year, young children everywhere — along with their families and caregivers — lost one of their best friends and most passionate champions with the death of our dear colleague Ron Lally. Ron’s commitment to ensuring that infants, toddlers, and other pre-K children receive the quality of early care and education they need for later learning and success was the throughline in a career that spanned more than 50 years — 42 of them at WestEd. Read more about this pioneer in infant/toddler development and care, and watch “The Social Womb: Building Babies’ Brains,” written and narrated by J. Ronald Lally.
Program for Infant/Toddler Care Online Training Now Available
This course focuses on the Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) approach to infant/toddler care and addresses in particular how to support healthy social-emotional development and learning in group care settings. Course topics include:
- an exploration of different temperament tendencies
- stages of social-emotional development
- development of self-esteem, security, and social competence
- socialization and guidance, and program policies that best support the healthy social-emotional development
- learning, culture, and families
The course also covers early brain development and learning; discoveries of infancy; culture; partnerships with families; and working with children with special needs.
Visit our Early Childhood Development & Learning web page for more resources and solutions, and stay tuned for more discussion about early childhood issues in our E-Bulletin and on social media — Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Posted on November 4, 2020