Why developmentally appropriate practice

Children are more likely to stay engaged for longer periods of time if they are given opportunities to make choices based on their interests and preferences. Activities that meet children where they are, regardless of development and abilities, are essential to maintaining their engagement and furthering their development. Classrooms must be inclusive. As mentioned, social and cultural contexts must be considered when teachers are deciding how to structure their classrooms.

In addition to those contexts, teachers must also consider where the children are in their development and create an environment and plan activities that are accessible for all abilities.

What are examples of developmentally appropriate practice? Developmentally appropriate classrooms offer a variety of activities, and learning opportunities, that are child-centered, engaging, and inclusive.

Here are some examples:. Developmentally appropriate classrooms are welcoming spaces that allow children the opportunity to express their individuality.

Teachers act as guides, encouraging children to develop and explore their interests. The cultures and backgrounds of the children are always respected and incorporated into the classroom. Teachers who prioritize developmentally appropriate practices are creating the best learning environments for children to thrive.

Paper Pinecone is the 1 most trusted childcare directory. Childcare providers list free so parents can find the best daycare and preschools in their area. Fill openings quickly! Register today! A Guide to Understanding Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Education Early childhood teachers want to provide the children in their classrooms with the best care and education possible. In addition, they must simultaneously understand the way that social and cultural contexts influence learning and development.

It is important to understand that most research is based on norms catered to a Western scientific-cultural model, and applying these norms to non-Western cultures is problematic; often any deviation from the Western norm is viewed as a deficit in skill, which further perpetuates privilege and systems of power that help to maintain structural inequities.

The cultures, backgrounds, and experiences of all children must be considered when utilizing research to inform decision making in the classroom. Consider this example. Joe, a preschool teacher of eighteen 3- and 4-year-olds, is striving to use DAP in his work with children. He observes the children every day to note their interests, strengths, and challenges. Based on these observations, he plans and leads small group activities in the classroom, such as blocks with dinosaurs, painting at the easel, and letter recognition using letter stamps.

He uses further observations to note which children are struggling and plans additional support for them in future activities. Joe is dedicated to the children and their families and realizes that each year his class is vastly different and requires different activities and strategies in the classroom.

DAP helps him plan for each and every child so they all can make progress and enjoy their time in preschool. DAP was updated in to recognize the growing racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity of national and global communities.

The current DAP also has been expanded to include a wider age band that focuses on practices that support the learning of children ages birth through age 8 rather than just 3- and 4-year-olds. Children master these developmental tasks at very different paces. Hurrying the child through any stage can actually slow him down. There are various ways in which the stages of child development have been described. Greenspan has outlined six functional developmental capacities.

These basic functions show the way his mental capacities work together as a team. Cognitive, motor, language, emotional, and social skills act together to help the child deal with his world. One of the first abilities that all children need is to be calm and regulated and, at the same time, interested and engaged in their environment That means being interested in and attentive to people, things, sights, sounds, smells, and movements.

Normally, children start learning this task in the early months of life. If a child doesn't have this ability at any age, then we need to work with the child. You can't jump over this vital internal milestone. The inner security that makes it possible for a child to pay attention also gives the child the capacity to be warm, trusting, and intimate, both with adults and peers.

Normally, we see this ability reaching an early crescendo between 4 and 6 months. An infant studies her parents' faces, cooing and returning their smiles with a special glow of her own. The third basic ability builds on the first two you must be able to focus on and relate to people before you can communicate with them.

From an early age, children learn to use and read signals that are expressed not through words, but through behavior, facial expression, body posture, and the like. Children's ability to communicate unfolds in a sequence of stages starting between about 6 and 18 months of age. At first, children communicate only nonverbally, but they can carry on a rich dialogue with smiles, frowns, pointing fingers, squirming, wiggling, gurgling, and crying.

By 18 months, children are often very good readers of non-verbal cues "referencing". Children who can use and understand nonverbal communication comprehend the fundamentals of human interaction and communication much better than children who can't. This ability to read and respond to nonverbal cues, which a child learns very early in life, plays a continuing part in a child's ability to socialize and learn.

During this stage, toddlers are learning how the world works.