Foundations of Developmentally Appropriate Practice for Toddlers

Required Resources

· Course Text: Swim, T. J. (2017). Infants and toddlers: Caregiving and responsive curriculum and curriculum development. (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

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· Chapter 1, " A Developmental Perspective on Educating Infants and Toddlers" (pp. 1-21)  Note: You read this material in a previous course, EDUC 4205. Please review the chapter.

· Chapter 5, "Effective Preparation and Tools," up to "Impact of Teacher Education on Quality of Care and Education" (pp. 98-106)

Directions:

Respond to each item. Each response should be concise and between 2–3 paragraphs in length.

Use MS Word to write your responses, and submit your answers to all three questions in one Word document.

Copy and paste each question within the document, so that your Instructor can see to which question you are responding.

"Good, affordable child care is not a luxury or fringe benefit for working families but essential brain food for the next generation" (Swim, 2017, p. 19). Reflect on what you have learned about the current needs of toddlers and families as outlined on pages 10-18 of your course text and in the article "Supporting the Earliest Years" by former NAEYC President Anne Mitchell. Then explain ways in which "good, affordable child care" serves as "essential brain food."

Current theoretical perspectives emphasize the critical importance of quality interactions between toddlers, their physical environments, and significant persons in their lives. Explain how attachment theory, ecological systems theory, and sociocultural theory—presented on pages 14-23 of your course text—each emphasize the importance of bidirectional relationships between the toddler and the physical and human factors in his/her environment.

As you have been learning throughout your program of study, quality infant/toddler programs are based on developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), individually appropriate practice (IAP), and culturally appropriate practice (CAP). Review pages 105-110 of the Swim course text and consider the information presented by Janet Gonzalez-Mena in the "Foundations" media segment. Explain how considering DAP, IAP, and CAP enables a teacher to make decisions that support every toddler's well-being and growth.