Emotional Growth

• Explain why it is necessary to approach assessment in early childhood differently than assessment with older children.
  • In what ways are assessments similar, regardless of the age of the children?
  • In what ways are assessments in early childhood different?

One of the primary functions of assessing infants and toddlers is to document children’s academic, social, and emotional growth and development. These assessing is important to find out if a child shows any delays to identified them and support them with early intervention. These services to infants and toddlers are grounded in a family centered approach based in the home and the children environment (Howard, V. F., & Aiken, E. 2015 2.1 para12). Older children are assessed through writing and verbal language which are suitable for younger children because their language is not fully develop for this reason “It is not feasible to use the same means to assess young children” (Howard, V. F., & Aiken, E. 2015 2.1 para12).

• Identify how play-based, project-based, and child-directed learning support the implementation of developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood.

When play opportunities and interactions are carefully structured, educators can enhance children’s cognitive connections, vocabulary breadth, social-emotional and behavioral maturity, and creative problem-solving skills. This approach is referred to as play based learning (Howard, V. F., & Aiken, E. 2015 2.1).

Project-based learning prioritizes and values inquiry and allowing children to make their own discoveries, it also naturally aligns with the constructivist philosophy, an approach to learning in which children construct their own understanding based on their prior knowledge and new experiences (Howard, V. F., & Aiken, E. 2015 2.1).

“Child-direct focuses on building language competency and social skills” (Howard, V. F., & Aiken, E. 2015 2.1).

• Compare and contrast your personal stance on assessment with that of either NAEYC or the Division for Early Childhood (DEC). In what ways do they align? In what ways do they differ? Use Chapter 2 of the course textbook to support your response.

The NAEYC is foster high-quality education experiences for all young children and support all ECE professionals. This organization not only leads the field in articulating priorities related to the education of young children, it is the primary accrediting body that evaluates the quality of early childhood education programs. In the other hand the DEC focuses specially on the needs of very young children at risk and those with disabilities (Howard, V. F., & Aiken, E. 2015 2.1). both help children and families with programs that benefit children. The NAEYC the families are required as sources of information if a child’s screening indicates a possible learning disability. The DEC’s recommendations take this a step further, since the children for who it advocates have already been identified as having special needs. The DEC requires family involvement because the early intervention that young children need is very much family oriented (Howard, V. F., & Aiken, E. 2015 2.1).

• Determine what, in your opinion, the role of families is in the assessment-learning process. Thinking about the age of children you desire to work with and the unique needs of that age group, how do you envision working with families during the assessment process? Provide specific examples.

Families are very important because they provide history of a child’s learning and milestones.Parents want the best for their child. Some of the parents don’t hesitate to accept some of the screenings that the school offer to get the best assistance for their child. But some don’t want to because they think that labeling their child is a bad thing. Convincing this type of parents can be hard but not impossible. Teachers need to be very careful on approaching these parents and explain to them the benefits their child will get to help them succeed in school. The mother provided information from his birth to current age about behavior and speech delays.

Howard, V. F., & Aiken, E. (2015). Assessing learning and development in young children.