Developmentally Appropriate Group Care for Infants

Fowler, William. “A developmental learning approach to infant care in a group setting.” Merrill-Palmer Quarterly of Behavior and Development 18.2 (1972): 145-175.

1. Responsive Caregiving: involves observing and responding to the cues of young children. Infants need appropriate and prompt responses to explore and grow. For instance, if a child reaches out to a toy it encourages learning and exploration.
2. Consistent Routines: such as feeding, sleeping, playing, learning, and awakening contribute to the emotional stability of infants which enhances development and learning. An unpredictable schedule leads to infants feeling insecure and irregular as they try to understand the world around them.
3. Stimulating Environment: creates a space that is both nurturing and safe so that infants can explore and learn with all their senses. Such an environment is rich with objects and a variety of resources such as sounds, textures, and colors to promote motor and cognitive skills in young children (Jipson).

Jipson, Janice. “Developmentally appropriate practice: Culture, curriculum, connections.” Early education and development 2.2 (1991): 120-136.

• Attachment Theory: emphasizes the secure attachment between the infants and their primary care providers which means that caregivers provide a nurturing environment to the infants that responds to their specific needs (Cortazar and Herreros). I think attachment theory posits that early emotional bonds with caregivers are essential for the infants’ social, emotional, and cognitive development providing them a secure base from which they can explore, learn, and grow.
• Socio-Cultural Theory: highlights the role of parents and teachers, the more knowledgeable others, in guiding the learning process of the infant as young children learn through their social interactions within their cultural contexts (Sanders and Farago). In my view, developmentally appropriate practice involves social and cultural practices for providing opportunities in order to promote learning through meaningful social interactions.
• Ecological Systems Theory: in relation to developmentally appropriate practice outlines how an infant’s development is affected by different systems in their immediate environment and how these systems interact to influence infants’ learning and growth (Odom et al.).

Cortazar, Alejandra, and Francisca Herreros. “Early attachment relationships and the early childhood curriculum.” Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 11.2 (2010): 192-202.

Sanders, Kay, and Flora Farago. “Developmentally appropriate practice in the twenty-first century.” International handbook of early childhood education (2018): 1379-1400.

Odom, Samuel L., et al. “Inclusion at the preschool level: An ecological systems analysis.” Social Policy Report: Society for Research in Child Development 10.2-3 (1996): 18-30.

Lee, Ok-Hee. Deconstructing developmentally appropriate practice. Indiana University, 2004.

Physical Environment: The facility would be designed with age-appropriate equipment such as toys to encourage motor skills development. The practices would ensure safety while stimulating the senses such as avoiding toxic materials, a variety of colors, shapes, and textures, and ensuring proper sanitation.

Caregiver-Child Interactions: The group facility would include a consistent set of care providers who will engage in “serve and return” interactions to promote emotional development. They would respond to the cues and needs of the infants to support secure attachments which will promote neural connections in young children’s brains.

Routine and Schedule: In my facility, the daily routine would be scheduled keeping infants’ needs for sleeping, awakening, playtime, eating, and quiet time in consideration. This would suggest a predictable schedule to infants which will give children a sense of security.

Individualized Care: Care plans in my infant group care facility would be individualized and flexible enough to adapt to individual infant’s needs. These care plans will be created taking the child’s temperament and interests into account for which families would be encouraged to create care plans along with caregivers to ensure culturally and socially appropriate care for each child (Moore).

Moore, Gary T. “The Developmentally Appropriate Design of Child Care Facilities.” (1994).

• Social Development: An exploratory physical space and a responsive interaction among infants, their families, and their caregivers encourages young children to interact with the world around them based on social responses and cues which foster social skills. Tailoring individualized care and a predictable routine schedule helps infants adapt to social structure and develop a sense of belonging to society.
• Emotional Development: A consistent environment where warm interactions are nurtured helps infants feel safe and develop a secure attachment promoting emotional strength and stability. Moreover, consistent routine and focus on each infant’s emotional needs in the infant care facility stimulate learning and foster confidence.
• Cognitive Development: A physical space rich in learning stimuli and materials enhances motor skills while caregiver-child interactions stimulate cognitive growth. Regular schedules based on individual abilities actively stimulate memory formation and promote cognitive milestones.
• Physical Development: An environment that provides areas for physical activity and movement supports and enhances coordination and motor skills development. Customizing routine schedules and physical care in the group care facility addresses developmental concerns and promotes healthy physical growth and quality (Wilson).

Strategies such as observation and assessment to tailor care and learning experiences, space with varied sensory experiences, responsive relationships with caregivers, and flexible yet consistent routine schedule can help support developmentally appropriate care across all domains. Incorporating these strategies thoughtfully can create an interactive environment that would respond and respect to the individuality of infants.

Wilson, Elaine. Developmentally appropriate practice: A sign of quality child care. Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, 2007.

Murphy, Catherine, et al. “Partnership with families in early childhood education: Exploratory study.” Australasian journal of early childhood 46.1 (2021): 93-106.

Tyilo, P. N., S. K. Luggya, and V. N. Mdaka. “Challenges Faced by Educators in Implementing Early Childhood Development (ECD) Policies.” Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology 8.4 (2017): 209-214.

• Consistent Caregiving: Assigning primary care providers can secure effective relationships and promote consistency to infants.
• Family Engagement: Involving parents and families can encourage regular communicative practices between parents and care providers.
• Health and Safety Standards: To ensure the well-being of young children in group care environments, adherence to strict health and safety standards and regulations is crucial (Beker and Maier).
• Staff Training: Ensuring staff training and development helps understand the principles and standards of developmentally appropriate practice.
• Professional Support: In order to continually improve the care quality, providing support and mentoring staff helps infants to learn as well as caregivers to provide care professionally.
• Small Group Sizes: Care groups should be divided into small group sizes so that care can be individualized. This would foster secure caregiver-infant relationships and attachments.

Beker, Jerome, and Henry W. Maier. Developmental group care of children and youth: Concepts and practice. Routledge, 2014.