ECE 1: Apply Child Development Theory to Practice

Since I have become the lead teacher of the classroom and have taken
on more responsibility, one of my areas that I focus on more is assessing the
children. I do a more academic assessment so what letters do they know
their shapes, colors, patterns, sorting, fine motor, can they hold a pair of
scissors and can they cut a zig zag line or a curved lined successfully, those
are things the assessment looks at. Another assessment we use is the ASQ.
The ASQ is used for early detection but it gives us information on where
children are in communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving,
social and emotional. Because some children may need more guidance in
certain areas. Using the ASQ helps us see that, and with this information we
can ask for the families assistance at home. I create a control sheet (a lovely
control sheet is used many times and it helps tremendously) the control
sheet goes by age and is further separated by domains. Each child has their
own control sheet with information from each domain. When I observe them
and I see them complete a task I write down the date and sometimes a short
anecdotal note. One thing to remember that every child is different and that
the developmental checklist is saying this child should be here by before her
next birthday but she might excel in one area and might need some
guidance and more learning activities in another, but that is why we observe
children. Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards (WMELS) is a useful tool
when observing to see what developmental domain you observed, for an
example if one goal for a child is to learn to recognize their name than I will
go to the WMEL book to see some ways that I can help the child learn to
recognize their name.
I had a parent at a parent teacher conference said she wanted their
child to learn their alphabet, numbers, and colors. I said we do teach them
but we teach them in many different ways, not just sitting at a table and
working on worksheets. We have free play and create activities that they will
learn the alphabet, numbers, colors, and their developmental domains. An
example I gave her was an alphabet seek and find in the sensory bin as a
way to teach and that is away to be exposed to the alphabet. When a child is
playing with others in dramatic play they are working on their
communication and problem solving skills. The things they are working on is
learning, because those are the first steps to academic learning and skills
they will use throughout their lives. Fred Rogers said one of my favorite
quotes play is often talked about as if it were a relief form serious learning.
But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.
For a school-age child play may be a relief from the learning they get at
school but not from serious learning because everything they do with their

hands or bodies they are learning, they are learning how to tell people how
they feel, how to do a new move with their legs, they are learning how to
color a picture without going out of the lines. Every little thing they do
throughout the day they are learning something. As adults we say you learn
something new every day, and its completely true you never stop learning.
Play is a great way to learn and use your imagination, creativity. It shows
who you are as a person, your temperament, interests. Etc.
If you look at any child care center today, you will find small or large
amounts of one or more theorist idea in that center. To me theory gave us
the foundation to broaden our ideas, expand them, use them, and to execute
them. Sigmund Freud prosed that personality has three structures: the id, the
ego and the superego. Freuds theory has been significantly revised by a
number of psychoanalytic theorists, but it was a foundation to start others
ideas and theorys. Erik Erikson recognized Freuds contributions but argued
that Freud misjudged some important dimensions of human development.
Ericksons theory, has eight stages of development that unfold as we go
through life. Piagets theory states that children actively construct their
understanding of the world and go through four stages of cognitive
development, the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, concrete
operational stage, and formal operational stage. Vygotskys theory is a
sociocultural cognitive theory that emphasizes how culture and social
interaction guide cognitive development. From these theorist and others we
have come up with some of the best practices. One is the Montessori way,
Reggio Emelia, developmentally appropriate practices. Montessori approach
is a philosophy of education in which children are given considerable
freedom and spontaneity in choosing activities. The Reggio Emelia approach
is an educational program for young children that developed in the northern
Italian city of Reggio Emilia, and anyone else is not Reggio Emelia but are
similar to Reggio Emelia. Developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), is
based on knowledge of the typical development of children within a
particular age span, as well as on the uniqueness of the individual child. I
have gotten the chance to observe a Reggio inspired center and the center I
work at goes try to do DAP but I would like to observe a Montessori program.