Understanding behaviour and development in early childhood: a guide to theory and practice

✍ Scribed by Maria Robinson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 133
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

In this accessible and thought-provoking text, the author examines the behaviour of babies and young children in a developmental context, and takes into account the shifts and changes over time as young children grow and mature. Understanding Behaviour and Development in Early Childhood reveals, for example, how behaviour perceived as ‘difficult’ in a young child may be the manifestation of a response to emotional, sensory and cognitive experiences. Throughout the book, readers will find a strong emphasis on emotional well-being and the need to place our understanding of behaviour within a developmental time frame. Based on wide ranging professional experience the topics examined and discussed in this insightful book include: what we understand by ‘behaviour’ how the brain and senses work and mature during early childhood behaviour as a reflection of the child’s internal state what emotions are and how we learn what feelings mean to us as individuals how emotions affect our ability to learn how we develop a sense of self. The book provides suggestions for how adults may think about and respond to changes in children’s behaviour, and how we may support children in learning how to manage their own behaviour as they grow older and encounter wider and more complex situations. Understanding the meaning of behaviour is a constant challenge for anyone working with children. This developmental approach promotes a helpful reflective stance for practitioners and students working in early childhood education and care.

✦ Table of Contents

Introduction......Page 9
A journey through the brain and the senses......Page 16
Part 1: The brain......Page 17
Part 2: Experiencing the world and getting to know the self......Page 33
The importance of touch......Page 36
Vision......Page 38
Hearing and communication......Page 40
Smell and taste......Page 41
The essential nature of movement......Page 43
Interactions, relationships and emotional responses......Page 46
In the beginning......Page 47
The song of the mother (and father too)......Page 49
Lack of communication......Page 51
The voice of the baby – the separation call......Page 53
The importance of faces......Page 55
Food for thought......Page 58
Imitating me, imitating you......Page 59
Attachment security – a defence against danger......Page 62
Time-related emergenceof skills and abilities,growth and change......Page 64
Tick tock – the relentless ticking of the developmental clock......Page 65
A glance back......Page 67
A widening world – towards the child’s first birthday......Page 68
Entering the second year and towards preschool......Page 76
Joy, tears, temper tantrums and ‘little Neros’......Page 79
Little Neros......Page 80
Flights of fancy......Page 83
I’m so afraid – the emergence of fears and phobias, and
aggression......Page 85
The adult......Page 86
Do what I do......Page 90
Attachment needs......Page 91
Separations and settling......Page 92
Loss and grief......Page 93
Something strange where danger lurks......Page 96
Interpreting behaviour......Page 98
Looking through the gender lens......Page 100
The environment......Page 103
Behaviour as the self’s mirror......Page 106
What is a child? A wider view......Page 108
Back to the child and behaviour......Page 114
Notes......Page 115