WestEd.org

Infant & Toddler Group Care

Individualized/Personalized Care

WestEd.org

Learning Objectives:Participants will be able to:

• Describe why young, mobile and older infants need different caregiving strategies, based on their developmental needs and interests.

• Recognize unique individual needs of infants and toddlers based on temperament traits, abilities, interests, and the family’s cultural preferences.

• Discuss how to modify caregiving routines based on the individual needs of children.

  

WestEd.org

What Makes Us Who We Are?

Silently reflect on the following:

• What characteristics make you a unique* individual?

(*“unique” is an adjective and is defined as being the only one of a particular type, without equal or like, very remarkable or unusual)

WestEd.org

What kind of feedback have you received about your unique qualities?

Was the feedback:

• Positive?

• Negative?

• Conflicting?

WestEd.org

How did the feedback make you feel?

Silently reflect on:• How did you feel when the feedback supported, or did not support, your uniqueness? • Find one or two words that describes these feelings.

WestEd.org

Share your unique quality & your feelings about the feedback…

• With a partner, share your unique quality, the feedback, and your feelings about the feedback.

• With the large group, volunteers share briefly their unique qualities and their feelings about the feedback and how it influenced who they have become.

Reflect:

WestEd.org

What kind of messages do infants in your care get about their unique qualities? • The highly active child?

• The child who bites?

• The shy child?

• The messy child?

• The highly sensitive child?

• The irregular child?

WestEd.org

Individualized/Personalized Care

• Promotes each child’s development of a healthy sense of self and well-being.

• Honors a child’s developmental abilities, needs, temperament, interests, home language, and the family’s cultural preferences.

WestEd.org

PITC’s Individualized/Personalized Care:• Adapts to the child rather than vice versa.

• Uses different care strategies for young, mobile, and older infants.

• Respects each child’s unique rhythms, temperament and interests.

• Supports the child’s ability to self-regulate.

WestEd.org

Routines of the Day• Arrivals and Departures

• Diapering and Toileting

• Feeding

• Napping

• Transitions between routines

• Exploration and Play

WestEd.org

Unique Qualities of Infants/Toddlers

• Age of Infancy (young, mobile, older)

• Temperament (e.g., cautious, active, fussy, withdrawing, intense, distractible, irregular, etc.)

• Culture and language

• Family composition

WestEd.org

Activity: How are you personalizing care now and what else could you do?• In dyads, identify a child in your program who has unique qualities that may require different approaches during caregiving routines;

• Identify the particularly unique qualities and make a list of ways that you could personalize care strategies during at least three routines to better meet the child’s needs.

WestEd.org

Report back:

What are some examples of ways in which you will better personalize care to meet the individual needs of infants and toddlers in your care?

WestEd.org

Review of Learning ObjectivesParticipants will be able to:

• Describe why young, mobile and older infants need different caregiving strategies, based on their developmental needs and interests.

• Recognize unique individual needs of infants and toddlers based on temperament traits, abilities, interests, and the family’s cultural preferences.

• Discuss how to modify caregiving routines based on the individual needs of children.