The Role of Early Child Care & Education.
Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 2
The Role of Early Child Care and Education ................................................................................. 3
The Role of Early Child Care and Education ................................................................................. 3
The Role of Parents/Caregivers in Early Child Care and Education .......................................... 4
Role of the Teachers .................................................................................................................... 5
Role of the Professionals (health care providers)........................................................................ 5
Prevention and Intervention for special needs in early childhood .................................................. 6
What is early childhood intervention (ECI)? .............................................................................. 6
Why early childhood intervention (ECI)? ................................................................................... 7
What is early childhood prevention? .............................................................................................. 7
How to undertake prevention and intervention? ......................................................................... 7
Activities for early childhood care and education .......................................................................... 8
Multiple Choice Questions ............................................................................................................. 9
Fill in the blanks............................................................................................................................ 10
TRUE or FALSE Questions.......................................................................................................... 11
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 12
References ..................................................................................................................................... 13
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The Role of Early Child Care & Education.
Introduction
Inclusive education is to teach our children how to live and work together, not only tolerating but
valuing differences in culture, ethnicity, language, background and, yes, even dramatically
different cognitive, social-emotional, and sensory-physical abilities, we almost always teach the
opposite – systematic forms of segregation, oppression and elitism. (Loreman, Deppeler and
Harvey, 2006).Children with special educational needs all have learning difficulties or
disabilities that make it harder for them to learn or access education than most children of the
same age. These children may need extra or different help from that given to other children to the
same age (DfES 2006a: n.p. as cited in Westwood, 2007. p. 1).The inclusion isn’t only at
schooling years of a child but it is also the early childhood stages before the age of six in
Bhutanese context.
This write up is mainly of early childhood care and education (ECCE) and early childhood
development (ECD) and their role. It also comprises of prevention and intervention for special
needs in early childhood that can bring about development of a special needs students as of the
other non-disabled child. Inclusive early childhood care & development strategies are another
component of our assignment. The activities and questions like multiple-choice questions, fill in
the blanks and true/ false encompass this write up.
Early childhood care and education refers to a wide range of programs, all aimed at the physical,
cognitive and social development of children before they enter primary school-theoretically from
birth to about age 7 or 8.. Early childhood development (ECD) also refers to the combination of
physical, mental, and social development in the early years of life. (Mishra, R.C.2011).
Prevention and intervention for special needs in early childhood and Inclusive Early Childhood
Care & Development strategies could be the key measures for early childhood care, education
and development.
It is vital for educators and curriculum designer to consider and implement inclusively valuing
all the differences.
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The Role of Early Child Care & Education.
The Role of Early Child Care and Education
The terms such as early childhood, child development, and child care, and early education
contributes to early childhood development (Mishra, 2011, p. 93). Early childhood encompasses
the period from conception until the age of 6 or 7(p. 93). Child development a multifaceted,
integral, and continual process of change as children become able to handle ever-more complex
thinking levels of moving, thinking, feeling, and relating to others(p. 93-94). Childcare consists
of the actions taken by caregivers in the home or a nondomestic setting to ensure children’s
survival and to promote their growth and development (p. 94). Early education, or early
learning, is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, habits, and values through experience,
experimentation, reflection, observation, and/ or study and instruction during early childhood (p.
94).
According to Mishra (2011), the early years of childhood are critical for formation of
intelligence, personality, and social behavior, and that a child who develops well during these
years will have greater opportunities in life, be more productive, and, very likely to have a better
citizen(p.95). Therefore, the care and education for early childhood stages are vital for their
development.
For the better care and education for early childhood the various agencies,
personalities, professionals plays vital role for development.
For the young, care and education should be inseparable. For the very first, children’s care
should be attentive to capacity to learning and development, while their early education focus on
social skills and development. There are different roles and responsibilities for early childcare
and education. The role includes the parents, teachers and professionals in early childhood care
and education.
The Role of Early Child Care and Education
The general role of early childhood care and education includes to:
 Enable children to be "more ready" for primary school education.
 Identify of special needs like visually impaired, dump, duped, etc.
 Able to begin education at an appropriate starting age.
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 Pay attention to the individualized needs and progress of the child.
 Improve group socialization,
 Inculcate of healthy habits,
 Stimulate of creative learning processes,
 Monitor communication development and to ensure that all children normal from birth as
it’s integral of all aspects of development.
 Avail Treatment of communication disorders as early as possible.
 Develop a system that identifies, from an early stage, the potential and needs of all
students.
 Identify of needs and improvement of health and nutrition.
The Role of Parents/Caregivers in Early Child Care and Education
Parents are a child’s first and most important teachers. They play most important role in life
raising their children through several means for early childhood development (Mishra, 2011)
According to Mishra (2011), parents also have important role in helping professionals make
decisions about assessment and treatment goals for the child. They also play crucial role in the
identification and assessment process. Informing and involvement of the parent provides
opportunity for them to be active participants in the care for their child.
A parent or caregiver can have a vast impact on a child’s development by the amount of time that
is spent talking with and reading to a child.
Every caregiver can, in appropriate cultural ways, help infants and toddlers grow in linguistic
skills, play skills, social skills, emotional skills, motor skills via play, etc.
Their roles in special needs child would include:
1. Receive the information on typical language development in infants and early childhood.
2. Indentify possible communication disorders.
3. Frame steps to take if possible communication disorders persist.
4. To be an active partner with health care providers.
5. Be informed advocates.
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The Role of Early Child Care & Education.
Role of the Teachers
The general role of teachers in the early child includes:
1. Provide a safe psychological climate and environment
2. Be fair and consistent in dealing with lapses from good behavior
3. Know each child individually by name
4. Show a knowledge of children’s background
5. Be aware of individual learning needs
6. Accept children’s initiatives in work or activities
7. Get down physically to the children’s level
8. Provide a range of exciting sensory experience in the classroom
9. Encourage warm classroom relationships between pupils
Mishra (2011) cites the roles (p. 47-52) as follows:
1. Create the outdoor passion environment that enables to ask open-ended questions to
prompt, coach and support a child’s exploration.
2. Support and encourage children’s interests, use their questions to guide them in
understanding the world, which they live.
3. Spend time observing the play patterns of the children.
4. Provide art and manipulative- Room for art projects, manipulative materials, puzzles,
games, animal figures for easy learning.
5. Provide sensory table for sensory experience like sand, water, bottle, mud, etc, as they
would love to play kitchen chores.
6. Avail reading materials and areas- Choose books that support curriculum, themes,
children’s interests, and topics about nature like weather, insects, animals and plants.
Role of the Professionals (health care providers)
The general roles are:
1. Receive the information on typical language development in infants and early childhood.
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2. Indentify possible communication disorders.
3. Frame steps to be take if possible communication disorders persist.
4. To give accurate information to parents and families about disorders like hearing, visual,
communication, speech, cognition, etc.
5. Recognize the possible impact of disorders for development of a child.
Prevention and Intervention for special needs in early childhood
The early childhood prevention and intervention can have a lasting effect on intellectual
capacity, personality and social behavior. Early prevention and intervention means services that
work with children and their families identifying and addressing needs at an early stage to
prevent the difficulties that they can experience from arising. It aims to ensure that children and
young people receive the right support at the right time, so that problems are addressed well
before things reach ‘crisis point’.
The early childhood intervention (ECI) has the provision of programes run by multidisciplinary
teams of professionals for early detection, assessment and treatment of impairment. This could
prevent, reduce or eliminate disabling effects (U.N. 1993, Rule 2 §1). Early childhood care and
education programmes for children aged up to six years ought to be developed and/or reoriented
to promote physical, intellectual and social development and school readiness. These
programmes have a major economic value for the individual, the family and the society in
preventing the aggravation of disabling conditions (UNESCO, 1994, §5).
What is early childhood intervention (ECI)?
Guralnick (2001) as cited in European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education
(research, 2005) defines ECI as a system designed to support family patterns of interaction that
best promote child development. For Guralnick, the focus is placed upon parent-child
transactions, family-orchestrated child experiences and on the help provided to parents in order
to maximize their child’s health and safety. ECI is a composite of services/provision for very
young children and their families, provided at their request at a certain time in a child’s life,
covering any action undertaken when a child needs special support to:
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• ensure and enhance her/his personal development,
• strengthen the family’s own competences, and
• promote the social inclusion of the family and the child.
These actions are to be provided in the child’s natural setting, preferably at a local level, with a
family-oriented and multidimensional teamwork approach.
Why early childhood intervention (ECI)?
For Shonkoff & Meisels (2000), the main objectives are to: promote child health and well-being;
enhance emerging competences; minimize developmental delays; remediate existing or emerging
disabilities; prevent functional deterioration; promote adaptive parenting and overall family
functioning. According to Blackman (2003) considers that “the goal of early [childhood]
intervention is to prevent or minimize the physical, cognitive, emotional, and resource
limitations of young children with biological or environmental risk factors”.
What is early childhood prevention?
Early prevention includes measures preventing disorders or circumstances that might lead to
disability (WHO, 1980). According to Mrazek and Haggerty (1994) it refers to “interventions
that occur before the initial onset of a disorder”. According to Agency research it also to reduce
the number of existing cases of an identified problem by acting after the onset of the problem,
but before it is fully developed and to reduce the complications associated with an identified
problem or condition, to limit or to reduce the effects of a disorder or disability by acting when
these are already present.
How to undertake prevention and intervention?
As cited in Agency research (2005) they need to either ensure systematic monitoring and followup of the child (mainly in the case of biological risk factors) or to take active care of the family
(mainly concerning social risk factors). The difficult role that prevention services need to
perform has to be emphasized: their task is to succeed in prevention of further difficulties (which
is not easy) and to be aware of risks related to the ‘wait and see’ attitudes.
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Activities for early childhood care and education
1. The teacher must provide the typical learning opportunities like free conversation with
the class members, talking freely with the peers, visiting the staffroom time and again,
learning in co-operative group work in the classroom, eating lunch together with peers,
parents and teachers, etc. These activities would help early learners to develop the social
skills which can later help them to be active learners.
2. Make students involve direct experience like looking after pets, helping their neighbors,
give responsibility for a classroom chore, involve in the play, and indirect experience like
narrating a stories and making them to read stories like “ The Wild Things”, a pathetic
and loving stories which can help children to cope with their emotions. Via such
activities children can learn to understand the feelings of losing the pets, can have
confident in peer group and t play anger as mother or father.
3. In order to develop the reading and writing skills, families or care givers can:

Listen and talk with their children a lot about values with humor.

Read out loud the interesting and evoking articles to their children every day.

Keep reading and writing materials where children can reach them on their own
so that they can avail at anytime.

Involve you and children how they use reading and writing to learn, have fun, and
get jobs done.
These activities can be designed and applied at our home or at play field for throughout the life
of children.
4. For the visually impaired children the care givers/parents and teachers can:

Narrate very educational valued stories, and nursery rhymes.

Teach the contents of the subjects through musical forms.

Make children to sing good lyric songs or them to sing their favorite songs.

Teacher should be able to passionate listener and understandable to the children’s
speech, psychic, behavior and their emotions.
Such activities for inclusive children can help to develop normally as they grow adult.
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5. Hearing disabilities children may also be taught by:

Perform different kinds of relevant acts/play in front the students confidently.

Screening a number of good animation video clips or movies to the hearing disabilities
children.

Teacher should be able to organize very interesting role play or drama among the
students by keeping noble theme.
These activities are usually viable and applicable for those with hearing problem in the class so
that their learning development is never become disorders.
Multiple Choice Questions
The following questions are assigned with four options. Choose the most appropriate one and
write the answers separately.
A. According to (Mishra, R.C.2011), Early childhood development (ECD) also refers to:
1. The combination of physical, mental, and social development in the early years of life.
2. The combination of physical, mental, and social development in the adult years of life.
3. The combination of physical, mental, and socio-emotional development in the early years
of life.
4. The combination of physical, mental, psychological, and social development in the early
years of life.
B. The Inclusive Education basically includes the following points EXCEPT:
1. Valuing differences in culture, ethnicity, language, and background.
2. Valuing different cognitive, social-emotional, and sensory-physical abilities.
3. Considering children with special educational needs like learning difficulties or
disabilities.
4. Teaching children the systematic forms of segregation, oppression and elitism.
C. The role of the Early Child Care and Education are mainly shoulder the following
personality:
1. Parents, teachers and ministers
2. Parents, teachers and professionals
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3. Parents, teachers and caregivers
4. Parents, teachers and director
D. The early childhood prevention and intervention are vital for the following reasons:
1. Lasting effect on intellectual capacity, personality and social behavior.
2. Lasting effect on intellectual capacity, emotional, psychological and social behavior.
3. Overnight effect on intellectual capacity, personality and social behavior.
4. Whole life effect on intellectual capacity, personality and social behavior.
E. According to Blackman “the goal of early [childhood] interventionbasicall aims to
1. Prevent or minimize the physical, cognitive, emotional, and resource limitations
of young children with biological or environmental risk factors.
2. Maximize and promote the physical, cognitive, emotional, and resource
limitations of young children with biological or environmental risk factors.
3. Do away with the physical, cognitive, emotional, and resource limitations of
young children with biological or environmental risk factors.
4. Prevent or minimize the physical, cognitive, emotional, and resource limitations
of young children with personal factors.
F. The outdoor passion environment for the development of the children can be created by:
1. Students
2. Teachers
3. Parents
4. Professionals
Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate term.
1. Early childhood, child development, and child care, and early education contributes to
early ………………………….. ………………….
2. early years of childhood are critical for formation of intelligence, personality, and
……………… behavior
3. For the young, care and education should be ………………….
4. The basic role of Early Child Care and Education is enable children to be more
……………… for primary school education.
5. Parents are a child’s first and most important ………………………………
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The Role of Early Child Care & Education.
6. Providing art and manipulative is the role of……………………………….
7. The main objectives of ECI are to: promote child health and
………………………………
8. Teaching our children how to live and work together, not only tolerating but valuing
differences defines……………………
State whether the following statements are TRUE or FALSE.
1. Parents are a child’s first and most important.
2. Early education is values taught by caregivers in the home or a nondomestic setting for
children’s development
3. The major roles of Early Child Care and Education are undertaken by teachers, parent
and………………………
4. ……………………. and intervention works with children and their families identifying
and addressing needs at an early stage.
5. early years of childhood are critical for formation of intelligence, personality, and
physical behavior
6. Parents now each child individually by name.
7. Professionals should provide art and manipulative.
8. Early Childhood Prevention is interventions that occur before the initial onset of a
disorder.
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Conclusion
Inclusive Education is the pedagogical teaching of the children with diverse needs with valuing
and identifying every difference. The care and education of early childhood for both disabled and
non-disabled children is a vital role and responsibilities. Caring and educating the early
childhood are the two different and interconnected needs for every child at the early age for
normal growth and the development. Early child care and education are interwoven and need to
take these issues considerably. According to Mishra (2011) Childcare is the actions taken by
caregivers in the home or a nondomestic setting to ensure children’s survival and to promote
their growth and development (p. 94). Early education, or early learning, is the process of
acquiring knowledge, skills, habits, and values through experience, experimentation, reflection,
observation, and/ or study and instruction during early childhood (p. 94).
For normal growth and development to take place in early childhood the care and the education
are crucial. In order to cater proper care and appropriate education at the early stage, the
prevention and intervention can minimize the physical, cognitive, emotional, and resource
limitations of young children with biological or environmental risk factors”. And early
prevention and intervention means services that work with children and their families
identifying and addressing needs at an early stage to prevent the difficulties that they can
experience from arising. It is also very vital to take the role as parents, teachers, care givers and
professionals for early intervention and prevention for proper child care and right education at
right time.
Therefore, the role of Early Child Care and Education and the early prevention and intervention
are vital. Such strategies can help in preventing disorders or circumstances that might lead to
disability (WHO, 1980). Knowing the developmental strategies for inclusive children for special
needs can prevent the child from leading to disability.
The role of Early Child Care and Education, prevention and intervention for special needs in
early childhood, inclusive early childhood care & development strategies are crucial for
children’s growth and development at early childhood.
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References
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Ireland: Katherine Howard foundation.
Early Childhood Intervention-Analysis of Situations in Europe (2005). Middelfart Denmark and
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http://raisingourkids.com/resources/read/ index.html
Loreman, T., Deppeler, J. & Harvey, D. (2006).Inclusive EDUCATION.A practical guide to
supporting diversity in the classroom. Chennai: Chennai Micro Print (P) Ltd..
Mishra, R.C. (2011). EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION. New Delhi: A.P.H.
Lublishing Corporation.
Mukherjee, N. & Kamath,R. (n.d). Early Childhood care and Education- Understanding Our
Civic Issue. Mumbai: The Bombay Community Public Trust.
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m
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What is Prevention and Early Intervention? (n.d).Retrieved on 25th Sept, 2012 from
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htm
Westwood, P. (2007). COMMONSENSE METHODS FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL
EDUCATINAL NEEDS. New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group
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