Background and aims: Caregiver-delivered programs are a recommended best practice to support young autistic children. While research has extensively explored children's outcomes quantitatively, minimal qualitative research has been conducted to understand caregivers' perspectives of program outcomes for themselves and their children. Hearing…

Family engagement is essential to high quality services for all children in early childhood care and education. From the beginning of life, families nurture their children and the capacities they will need to be ready for school. The Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework for Early Childhood Systems is a guide to understanding…

Child- and family-serving programs in community-based settings wield tremendous power for improving the lives of infants and toddlers. In this article, three authors, from Ohio, Montana, and Sierra Leone, describe the principles of adaptive leadership and will share their real-world applications. Their stories explore critical questions for…

This brief summarizes the working paper, "The Science of Neglect: The Persistent Absence of Responsive Care Disrupts the Developing Brain," and explains why neglect, or the absence of responsive, supportive care, can affect the formation of the developing brain, impairing later learning, behavior, and health. The brief also includes…

Discusses issues of concern related to children who spend long days in childcare centers. Suggests that mother-child attachment is the biggest concern, and that consistent long days for babies require special planning for both parents and teachers. Suggestions for reducing children's stress in these situations by making life predictable and calm…

This guide details the core competencies for early care and education professionals in Kansas and Missouri. The guide's introduction provides background information about what core competencies are, why they are important, and how they can be used by practitioners, directors, trainers, higher education faculty, agencies, and professional…

Maintains that parents and teachers of toddlers need to see "toddlerhood" as a special and distinct stage of development with its own set of tasks and behaviors, when creating age-appropriate activity programs in home or group settings. Gives eleven ways that such programs can be made to fit toddlers. (BB)

This report details the development and evaluation of a model program for inservice training of full-time child day care personnel. Based on a survey of licensed day care centers in Virginia, the program involved 100 participants, ranging from day care aides through center directors. The 10-week training element was presented three successive…

This discussion of the development of a child development associate (CDA) program at Edmonds Community College (ECC) for family day care providers is placed in the context of developments in day care training in Washington State. The first sections provide an overview of the development of day care provider training in Washington State from 1974…

Intended for use in Florida training programs for caregivers of infants and toddlers with disabilities, this guide presents an overview of the Model of Interdisciplinary Training for Children with Handicaps (MITCH); offers a user's guide to the series; and provides specific information for presenting Module 6, which focuses on planning an…

This handbook provides both general and specific information on child development and child care to help adults who are providing child care in their homes. Information is presented in six sections which describe: (1) the family day care system, the occupation of caregiver, and the development of relationships; (2) development of a health program,…

One of a series of curriculum materials developed for training Child Development Associates, this set of training materials focuses upon program planning skills. After successfully completing this area of the curriculum, trainees should be able to perform in several ways, including the following: (1) develop awareness of the scope of the 13…

This annotated bibliography provides references of practical use to those concerned with infant/toddler caregiving. While many of the works cited concern quality group care for infants and toddlers, some works cited deal specifically with parenting, the parent/child relationship, and activities parents may share with their very young children. In…

The 34 brief articles in this sourcebook for family day care providers are presented mainly in two large sections: (1) management of family day care business, and (2) interaction with children. Many of these articles pose and provide answers to questions that are likely to occur to child caregivers, such as "Does the IRS really expect me to keep…

This handbook defines children with special needs and develops guidelines for providing services to them. It answers questions commonly raised by staff and describes staff needs, training, and resources. It discusses problems related to communicating with parents, questions parents ask, parents of special children, and communication between…