INFANT AND TODDLER DEVELOPMENT

Infant and Toddler Development



Infant and Toddler Development

Introduction

Research has demonstrated that the quality of interactions with both people and their surroundings affects brain development and formation of neural pathways in infants and toddlers. While more attention has been paid to preschool and early childhood education as it has been indicated that it is vital to devote both time and resources to this stage of development.

Discussion

Community/Direct Service

The need for affordable education and child care services for all American children is great. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's 1997 Study of Early Child Care revealed that 72% of infants experienced care by someone other than their parents during their first year of life. The average age at which infants entered non-parental care was 3.31 months. According to a report by Action for Children, Chicago Metropolis 2020, and Illinois Facilities Fund (2005), titled The Economic Impact of the Early Care and Education Industry in Illinois; the cost of year-round fulltime infant care in a child center is more than the annual tuition for an undergraduate resident at the University of Illinois. Based on the extensive research demonstrating the importance of the early years of life, there is a clear need to provide high-quality and affordable child care and education services. (Facilities Fund, 2005)

Early Head Start

The goal of Early Head Start is to provide essential child development services to disadvantaged pregnant women and families with children under the age of 3. Early Head Start focuses on health, cognitive, and language development for infants and toddlers in addition to socio emotional well-being and family development. A variety of organizations offer Early Head Start services through center-based programming and home visits. A randomized assignment evaluation of Early Head Start found mostly small positive effects at ages 2 and 3 years on cognitive and school-related outcomes such as improved cognitive development and language skills, increased child engagement with parents, and improved parental outcomes

Research and Advocacy

Research conducted by several organizations has helped to demonstrate best practices for infant and toddler education. This research has also helped to influence advocacy on the part of infant and toddler education, with the goal of influencing policymakers and legislators to increase funding and support for such programs.

The Infant Health and Development Program

The Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP) is a comprehensive multisite intervention for low birth weight and premature infants funded by the March of Dimes Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human development, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Stanford Center for the Study of Families, Children, and Youth, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Promising Practices Network). (Beatty, 1995)

The purpose of the IHDP was to reduce the health and developmental issues that are commonly associated with low birth weight and prematurity. The IHDP was planned as a randomized clinical trial and studied free intervention services provided to study participants, including home visits, attendance at a child development center, group meetings for parents, and pediatric follow-up. Infants began the program discharge from the neonatal nursery and continued until the age of 36 months

In this study, 985 infants were analyzed, with one third receiving the intervention services and the ...