1. Infant & Toddler Group Care
PITC Philosophy & Essential Policies and Ages of Infancy
Welcome back!
In this session we will explore the PITC Philosophy, the Six Essential Policies and the three different “ages of infancy”.

2. Learning Objectives Participants will be able to:
Explain the PITC Philosophy.
Identify and describe the three “ages of infancy” including the primary developmental issues and needs of each age.
Discuss the six essential PITC Policies and describe the ways in which they support optimal development of infants and toddlers in group care.
Narrative: Learning Objectives for this session are:
Participants will be able to:
Identify and describe the 3 “ages of infancy” including the primary developmental issues and needs of each age.
Explain the PITC Philosophy.
Discuss the Essential PITC Policies and describe the ways in which they support optimal development of infants and toddlers in group care.

3. The PITC Philosophy
Is an approach to providing care for infants and toddlers that best matches their inborn capacities and needs.
Research indicates that infants need responsive care provided in close, caring relationships for optimal development in all learning domains.
PITC essential policies support the development of warm, nurturing relationships between infants and a limited number of caregivers in an intimate setting.
The PITC Philosophy focuses on creating emotional and physical environments that support the creation of close, caring relationships between the care teacher and child, the care teacher and parents and between children. Thus, PITC is often referred to as relationship-based.

4. Close, Caring Relationships:
Support a child’s social- emotional well being.
Are at the heart of high quality care.
Provide trust, comfort and security to children.
Allow the primary caregiver to make an emotional investment in each infant.
This slide describes the benefits of having close, caring relationships in infant/toddler care.

5. Fundamental Needs of Infants in Group Care
For care teachers to be knowledgeable and responsive.
For care to be inclusive of infants with disabilities and other special needs.
Infants need be knowledgeable about infant/toddler development in general and since infants change so rapidly, care teachers need to be responsive to each infant in that moment.
Responsive, individualized care meets the needs of all infants and toddlers, including those with disabilities and other special needs.

6. “Ages of Infancy” Activity
In small groups:
Discuss the developmental characteristics and needs of infants for the “age of infancy” assigned to your dyad/small group (birth to 8 months, 8 to 18 months, and 18 to 36 months).
Make a list of program policies and practices that would need to be present in order to meet the needs of each “age of infancy.”
Each dyad/group shares the results of their discussion.
Depending on the number of participants, form dyads or small groups so that one age of infancy is assigned to each dyad or small group. Allow 15 minutes for discussion and 3 minutes per group to report back to whole group.

7. Ages of Infancy
View Ages of Infancy Introduction which covers the 3 ages of infancy. Ask participants to reflect back on their discussion about the issues and needs of each age of infancy.
The Ages of Infancy: Caring for Young, Mobile, and Older Infants, 1990.

8. Three Ages of Infancy: Primary Issues
Young Infant
Birth to 8 months:
Security
Mobile Infant
8 to 18 months:
Exploration
Toddler
18 to 36 months:
Autonomy
Review the age span and the primary issue for the three ages of infancy.

9. Needs of Young Infants: Birth to 8 Months
Close contact
Primary caregiver
Prompt responses
Interesting things
Moderate stimulation
This slide summarizes the needs of you infants. Is there any item on this list that they didn’t identify during their discussion?

10. Needs of Mobile Infants: 8 to 18 Months
Caregiver acts as a secure base
Safe environment
Opportunities to move
Toys at child’s level
Child allowed to explore
Care teacher to share child’s joy in competence
Remind the participants that each of us always has a need to feel secure, a need to explore and a need for autonomy throughout the life-span. During this critical period of development, we need to recognize and respond appropriately to the primary issue for the age the infant is in order to facilitate optimal development.

11. Needs of Older Infants: 16 to 36 Months
Patience with “NO!”
Provide guidelines
Offer choices
Support fantasy and creativity
Assistance in play
For some care teachers the older infant’s primary issue of autonomy and independence is very challenging. This is a period of identity of self is being established. The child will say “NO” just to say no, even if he or she doesn’t mean it. This is a time for providing behavioral guidelines or “house rules” of what is acceptable behavior and what is not. It is important to allow the child to have choices by offering two choices that are acceptable to you so it doesn’t matter which choice the child makes.

12. PITC Essential Policies and Practices
Small Group Sizes
Primary Care
Continuity of Care
Individualized/Personalized Care
Inclusion of Infants with Disabilities and other special needs
Cultural Responsiveness
During the course you will learn what PITC means by “small groups, primary and continuity of care, individualized/personalized care, inclusion of infants with disabilities and other special needs and cultural responsiveness.

13. Small Groups
Need separate indoor and outdoor space so the group does not have contact with other groups during the day.
General Rule: The younger the infants, the smaller the group needs to be.
Group size should be limited based on the age of the infants:
Young Infants 0-8 mos 6
Mobile Infants mos 9
Toddlers mos 12

14. Benefits of Small Groups
Protect infants and toddlers from over-stimulation.
Promote quiet exploration by limiting distractions.
Allow infants and caregivers to be more relaxed and experience less stress.
Have smaller “germ pool”, i.e., less illness for children and adults.
With small groups of mixed-age children the care teacher can create more family style like connections.

15. Why Have Primary Care?
Supports a strong relationship between the child and an adult.
Means one adult is primarily responsible for most of the child’s care.
Supports a child’s need for stability with the consistent attention from one adult.
Is particularly crucial to children with special needs.
It doesn’t mean that they are the only one to care for the child. P.C. should be done in a team situation with a secondary c/g to provide support.

16. Primary Care (continued)
Allows for partnerships between a caregiver and family as well as specialists working with individual children.
Supports children’s identity and cultural connection to the family.
Happens naturally in small family child care.

17. Benefits of Continuity of Care
Allows infants to remain with the same caregiver and peers for at least the first three years in care.
Allows relationships to develop, building trust, which is the basis for exploration, learning, and discovery.
Supports continuity between families’ cultural practices and program practices.
Continuity of care support the development of relationship over time between the infant and care teacher and the infants and peers.

18. Continuity of Care (continued)
Provides a secure base during the rapid developmental changes in the first three years of life.
Is often built into the family child care model.

19. What is 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.
Feeding, napping and diapering are key elements in infant curriculum, depending on the age/stage, temperament, interests, biological rhythms of the infants and families caregiving practices, the caregiver will adjust their care strategies.

20. Why is Individualized/Personalized Care Important?
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.
Honoring each child’s unique characteristics are honored in personalized care.

21. Benefits of Inclusive Care
Inclusive care makes the benefits of high quality care accessible to all infants.
PITC philosophy supports the inclusion of infants with disabilities and other special needs.
With personalized care, all children’s disabilities and special needs can be included in care.

22. What is Culturally Responsive Care?
Program policies that are culturally responsive provide care that:
is in harmony with the home culture.
provides representative staffing at all levels.
uses the child’s home language when possible.
makes the environment culturally relevant so that the child feels at home.

23. Why is Culturally Responsive Care Important?
Culture is a fundamental building block in the development of a child’s identity.
To be supportive of families, caregivers need to understand how their own beliefs and experiences influence their perceptions.
Caregivers can enhance their practice by listening to family members and being responsive to their needs.

24. Activity: How do the PITC Policies Support Relationship-Based Care?
Take a few minutes to silently reflect on the PITC policies.
With a partner, identify the PITC policies that you currently practice and those that you would like to explore more.
Allow at least 5 minutes for the silent reflection and then invite participants to select a discussion partner to discuss their reflection.