Early Child Care

The New Perspectives

Stuart Piggott, Reginald S. Lourie

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138522510
• eBook ISBN: 9781351312707
• Topic: Politique et relations internationales
• Subtopic: Politique sociale

Early Child Care is about the very young child--infant, toddler, and early preschool--in today's world. It grew out of a series of conferences sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health, the Children's Hospital of Washington, D.C., and the Committee on Day Care of the Maternal and Child Health Section of the American Public Health Association. Each of the sponsoring agencies represents a focal point for pressures from groups concerned with improving the care of the young child. Faced with common concern, the three sponsoring agencies brought together a number of experts in the field to pool information and experience and to review research findings as a basis for sound planning for children less than three years of age.

The authors included in Early Child Care are pioneers in the true sense of the word.. Until recently, no one has tried to specify exactly what goes on between mother and her baby, who does what to whom in the exchange, and what happens if, instead of one mother, there is no mother, an alternating day and night mother, or many different substitutes for the mother. Until all that transpires between the mother and her baby in the best of circumstances is comprehended in sufficient detail that it can be confidently reproduced, it is impossible to make alternative plans. Early Child Care is an effort to identify what is known about young children and apply it to day-by-day programming.

Millions of mothers give their babies a good start, providing devoted and painstaking care. Such mothers somehow know when a child needs to be let alone--and when to respond. This volume attempts to define how such instincts can be reproduced in other settings.

PART I

A New Look at the Young Child: Development and Individuality

Texts on growth and development of children abound and appear at about the same rate of increase as the children themselves. It is not the intention of this book to present in abridged form the steps by which a child grows. Rather, certain psychosocial factors have been selected for a fresh examination. As background for the focus on the first three years the reader is asked to begin with Leon Yarrow's thoughtful reconceptualization of the factors and transactions in the environment as they affect and are affected by the child. In the following chapters, Sally Provence, Eleanor Pavenstedt, and Peter Neubauer discuss the development of the child in each of his first three years. Finally, Lois Barclay Murphy specifies in meticulous detail how any one of the elements in the child's environment —the child himself, the people around him, and the psychological climate—can be selectively manipulated by a sensitive caretaker.

1
Conceptualizing the Early Environment

Leon J. Yarrow

Programs for the care of young children outside their own homes have usually been developed on a purely pragmatic basis and often in a somewhat haphazard way. This has been true with regard to congregate care of young infants in institutions, as well as group care of toddlers and preschool children in day-care centers.

The development of programs for substitute and supplemental care of infants and young children has been hampered by a lack of clarity about the significant parameters of the environment. It is time that we became more articulate about the theoretical rationale underlying the kinds of environmental conditions and the specific experiences provided young children in institutionalized child-care programs. We need to establish some links between theoretical concepts and practical details of programming. Such conceptual links should provide an orderly framework within which to plan programs and to experiment with specific environmental variables.

There are many different levels on which the environment can be conceptualized. It can be analyzed on a simple descriptive level in terms of physical properties, such as the intensity of light or the decibels of sound at a given moment in time. In relation to the experiencing child, the physical dimensions of the environment can be described in terms of perceptual characteristics, such as brightness or loudness. Finally, the environment can be conceptualized from a more complex phenomenological orientation in terms of psychological dimensions, such as warmth or permissiveness. These higher order properties can be defined in terms of variations in simpler physical and perceptual dimensions. Each of these levels of environmental analysis has meaning and relevance for different purposes.

In recent years there have been major developments in theoretical thinking about organism-environment relationships. Several concepts are of special relevance to developing bridges between programs and theory: the concepts of the effective environment, the direction of action of environmental influences, and environmental contingencies. The rigid separation of organism and environment which has characterized psychological theories in the past is giving way to a recognition of an interdependence on many levels. Although we can define environmental events objectively in terms of their physical properties, we recognize that the effective environment at any moment must be considered in relation to the characteristics of the responding organism. The impact of any given set of environmental conditions will depend on the child's sensory thresholds for specific kinds of stimulation, his capacity for discriminating differences among stimuli, his level of cognitive complexity, and his immediate motivational state. Thus, for a two-week-old infant, a complex, multicolored visual stimulus may have no different value than a dull, black cube in eliciting attention. Similarly, a three-month-old infant may be relatively unresponsive to a rattle or a bell when hungry; whereas these same stimuli may elicit strong approach responses when he is well fed.

Traditionally, analysis of environmental influences has been in terms of a unidirectional model—that is, the environment has been seen as a set of antecedent conditions acting on the child to elicit behavior. Only recently have we begun to shift from this simple antecedent-consequent orientation to an interactional framework. From this orientation, the environment is conceptualized as a medium in which there is a constant bidirectional flow with the organism. In more concrete terms, this means that the child responds selectively to stimulation and uses certain aspects of the environment discriminatively for gratification of drives. With regard to the human environment, the implications of an interactional orientation are profound. It recognizes that the child is not simply a recipient of caretaker actions, but rather he elicits responses from others. Moreover, the kinds of responses he elicits are significantly influenced by his own physical and psychological characteristics, his own unique stimulus properties.

One of the most significant theoretical developments in recent years has been the growth of a more differentiated conception of the early environment based on an analysis of the components of early experience. Such differentiation is necessary if we are to understand more completely the relationship between environmental influences and the development of the child. Such an analytic approach provides a basis for systematically examining natural home environments, as well as different kinds of substitute care—foster homes, day care, and institutional settings for children of various ages. For purposes of systematic analysis we can distinguish three major aspects of the environment: the properties of the inanimate environment, the characteristics of the human environment, and the conditions under which these stimuli are provided.

The Inanimate Environment

The importance of adequate sensory stimulation for the development of cognitive and problem-solving abilities in young children has now been well documented. Among the significant dimensions of stimulation are amount, intensity, variety, and complexity. It is likely that there are optimal levels on all of these dimensions. The optimal level of intensity, the degree of complexity, the amount of stimulation per time unit in a given modality probably varies significantly at different developmental levels, and depends also on individual differences in thresholds.

For the very young infant, stimuli have important evocative functions. They arouse him, they direct and focus his attention on the external environment, they elicit active approach or avoidance responses. For stimuli to be effective in eliciting responses and maintaining behavior, it is essential that they be of appropriate intensity, above the child's threshold of awareness but not so intense as to be physiologically disruptive or painful.

Variety in stimulation has been emphasized from both neurophysiological and psychological perspectives. During the period when the underlying neurological structures are developing, young children need stimulation in a variety of sensory modalities. Central to Piaget's concept of differentiation of schemata is the notion of a gradation of variation in properties of stimuli. Stimuli that vary in a number of dimensions enable the child to develop and consolidate concepts through the processes of assimilation and accommodation. It is likely that monotonous, unvaried stimulation leads to habituation, so that a given level of stimulation or a given degree of complexity loses its evocative power.

Intensity and amount of stimulation are fairly simple dimensions to manipulate. Consequently, we know much more about the effects of variations in these dimensions on capacity to elicit behavior and to sustain attention and goal-directed activity. The effects of complexity, patterning and degree of structure of materials are less well known. We might assume that the degree of structure is an important determinant of the degree of stereotypy or creativity of the response elicited. Unstructured stimuli that provide a variety of response possibilities are likely to elicit responses of a higher level of creativity than highly structured stimuli. Similarly, the degree of complexity of a stimulus is probably directly related to the amount and quality of exploratory behavior evoked. Stimuli of limited complexity are likely to elicit less exploratory behavior than are highly complex stimuli.

In analyzing the stimulus properties of the environment, we must consider not only the stimulation from specific objects, events, and experiences, but also the stimulation derived from the general environmental context. The context in which any given stimulus is provided is important to the extent that it influences the distinctive-ness or cue value of stimulation and important to the extent that the value of any given level or pattern of stimulation may be modified by background stimulation. In the emphasis on the harmful effects of deprivation there is danger in assuming an intrinsic value in quantity and intensity of stimulation. It is clear that there is a point beyond which stimulation itself may become traumatic. Stimuli that are too complex, too intense, or inappropriately timed may be as harmful as lack of sufficient stimulation. Excessive or inappropriate stimulation may result in the development of defenses, resulting in varied forms of withdrawal or an elevation in the threshold of responsiveness. The concept of optimal levels of perceptual and sensory stimulation is an important one. The intensity, the complexity, and the patterning of stimulation that is optimal will vary at different developmental levels and will depend also on individual sensitivities and vulnerabilities.

From a somewhat different theoretical perspective, we can analyze the human as well as the inanimate environment in terms of predominant functional characteristics. We can distinguish the following kinds of conditions: conditions which elicit or evoke responses; stimulus conditions which facilitate expression of certain kinds of behavior; conditions which inhibit the expression of specific behavior patterns; environmental conditions which sustain given levels or kinds of responses; stimuli which enhance the intensity or level of a response; conditions which reinforce or increase the probability of reoccurrence of certain kinds of responses; and conditions which decrease the probability of the reoccurrence of certain kinds of behavior. Some of these conditions are determined primarily by the properties of the stimuli; others are based on contingency relationships; others are dependent on the interaction between a specific stimulus event and a cumulative historical sequence—for example, permissive attitudes which facilitate exploratory behavior or the expression of feelings.

The Human Environment

The human environment can be conceptualized in terms similar to the inanimate environment, that is, the amount, quality, and intensity of stimulation in different sensory modalities. In addition, there are variables distinctive to the human environment: the affective and affectional characteristics of interaction; the level or depth of relationship with caretakers and other significant persons; the extent of individualized sensitivity to the child; the behavior and personal characteristics of caretakers and peers as identification models; the consistency and predictability of the behavior of caretakers; and the continuity of significant people.

With regard to stimulation, the caretaker's activities can be conceptualized along a number of dimensions. She is an initiator of stimulation (tactile, kinesthetic, visual and auditory), a mediator of stimulation, and an agent of response. In her capacity as an initiator, we can distinguish two broad categories of stimulation provided by the caretaker to an infant: stimulation derived from physical contact with her body and stimulation involving behavior directed toward eliciting responses from the child. During the very earliest months of life, simple contact stimulation seems to be most important; with increasing age, evocative stimulation becomes increasingly significant.

Stimulation associated with physical contact serves several functions. It has an arousal function, that is, it raises the infant's general level of awareness and responsiveness to his environment. The tactile-kinesthetic stimulation derived from holding probably also serves a very primitive need-gratifying function. To the extent that this kind of stimulation reduces tension, it frees the infant to become aware of and to respond to perceptual stimuli in his environment.

The second type of stimulation involves more active manipulation of the environment by the caretaker. It includes bringing the child in contact with appropriate materials and objects, manipulating situations in order to elicit appropriate intellectual and personal-social responses, as well as varied forms of indirect and focused teaching— that is, encouraging the child to attempt his own solution of problems as well as demonstrating and guiding him in the solution of problems.

With regard to modes of stimulation, the significance of given modalities changes at different points during infancy and early childhood. The importance of tactile-kinesthetic stimulation probably decreases rapidly after the first few months of life when more directed and active stimulation takes on increasing importance. Nevertheless, during the period from eighteen months to three years, physical contact with the mother still provides a very basic form of gratification. Visual and auditory stimulation become increasingly important in later infancy and early childhood.

The mediational activities of the caretaker are extremely important for the young child. Because of the infant's extreme helplessness, the caretaker must bring him in contact with appropriate stimuli. A most important aspect of maternal mediation in early childhood is the regulatory function. The mother or caretaker can enhance or reduce the intensity of stimuli by regulating the ways in which the child comes in contact with stimuli. She determines the context of events by regulating the background conditions. In addition to being a direct source of gratification, she serves as a source of frustration, providing aversive as well as reinforcing stimuli. In distinction to the inanimate environment, which may be rewarding or unrewarding indiscriminately, the human environment responds selectively to the child. This is perhaps one of the most significant aspects of the human environment: the active interaction with the child which involves response to his behavior rather than simply doing things for him. This selective responsiveness is the basis for very important learning in the young child. In addition to providing conditions for learning appropriate behavior, as, for example, rewarding the child when he responds appropriately, this kind of interaction provides the basis for the child's acquisition of the response patterns involved in the development of reciprocal relationships with people.

The aspects of early experience that are most distinctive for the human environment are the affectional components of interaction with caretakers. These components of the environment are part of a complex of interpersonal variables. The elements of maternal behavior described under the protective, buffering, gratifying, and responsive functions are the basic behavioral units of affectional interchange. These variables traditionally have encompassed both personal characteristics of the caretaker, underlying feelings and attitudes, as well as specific categories of behavior. Included are such variables as the degree of emotional involvement (the gratifications which the caretaker derives from the relationship with the child); the degree of individualization (the extent to which the caretaker is aware of the uniqueness of the infant and the extent to which she differentiates his characteristics and responds to him with an awareness of his individuality); and acceptance (the degree to which she is able to respond positively to the infant and all of his characteristics). From this perspective, affectional interchange becomes definable in terms of specific behavior characteristics rather than being a vague, global entity. It is likely that the child's capacity to respond to inanimate stimulation is significantly influenced by the broader context of affectional relationships.

Separation-Continuity of Persons

After a time, the caretaker acquires distinctive properties for the infant. To the extent that her responses become predictable to him, the environment acquires continuity for the child. Such continuity in infancy is thought to be extremely important in the earliest development of concepts of object permanence and object constancy. There is some speculation that development of the concept of time is intimately related to continuity of person and general environmental predictability.

Recent research and theoretical writings have emphasized the importance of continuity in maternal care. The harmful effects of discontinuity have been dramatized by the studies of young infants who have been suddenly separated from their mothers and placed in institutional care. This is one extreme form of discontinuity. In planning programs ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half title
• title Page
• copy Page
• Foreword
• Contributors
• Content
• Introduction
• Part I. A New Look at the Young Child: Development and Individuality
• Part II. Translating Child Care Goals into Procedural Terms
• Part III. Contemporary Programs and Strategies
• Part IV. New Research in the Prevention of Culturally Determined Retardation
• Epilogue: Implications for Future Planning
• Appendix A: The Vulnerability Inventory
• Appendix B: A "Typical Day" for the Groups at the Children's Center
• Index