NAEYC Position Statement

Of the 12 principles of child development and learning set forth in the NAEYC Position Statements the three that were of greatest interest to me were #1 “All the domains of development and learning-physical, social and emotional, and cognitive-are important, and they are closely interrelated. Children’s development and learning in one domain influence and are influenced by what takes place in other domains.” (Copple, 2009, p.10) In which case I see where a child who is playing with blocks can learn math. Adding blocks together to make a tower higher or subtracting blocks to make a tower lower. Along with block playing, they can interact with other children and learn the skills of socializing with peers and with socialization the development

10) Here, I feel, the implication I see for early childhood professionals is that professionals need to realize how differently every child develops as stated “Children’ development follows individual patterns and time; children also vary in temperament, personality and aptitudes, as well as in what they learn in their family and within the social and cultural context or contexts that shape their experience” (Copple, 2009, p.10) I see where parents can withhold their child learning because they want to do everything for their child, yet an early childhood professional needs to bring out the skills of these children and let them learn with guidance. I worked in an EC autism program where one child, in particular, had a mother who was still feeding him at age 3, whereas the other children were self-sufficient. Working to teach this child how to hold a spoon to feed himself was a great task, but he was able to pick it up after a couple weeks. Yet, there are greater learnings an EC professional has to do with young children and yet keep those who already have mastered the skill interested in learning what the other children do not know. I find that having patience

13) To me, this is a must with early childhood professionals because children can sense when an adult cares. The child may test the professional, but a true professional will give the child time to adjust and accept them and not pressure for a child to bond with them, therefore “When children and caring adult have the opportunity to get to know each other well, they learn to predict each other’s signals and behavior and establish attunement and trust.” (Copple, 2009, p.13) In this instance I personally worked with a child who was unable to make a connection in another classroom, he was reassigned to the special education classroom I was reassigned to and he was my student. He did everything in his power to get out of doing anything and everything, yet all I could do was make sure he was safe and “wait it out” in which case after his meltdown, I would say in a calm voice “Are you alright? Are you ready to work” in which many cases this little boy would have tears in his eyes and shake his head yes. He would then come to me crawl into my lap and cry. As a professional working with children like him takes a lot of strength and guidance to earn his trust. Never once