For more information
Call 1-800-351-0222
Call 1-800-351-0222
IMPACT OF CHILDCARE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT.
Term Paper ID:30017
Get This Paper Free! or
Essay Subject:
Discusses the cognitive and psychosocial development of infants and toddlers who attend daycare.... More...
6 Pages / 1350 Words
6 sources, 10 Citations,
APA Format
$24.00
More Papers on This Topic
Paper Abstract:
Discusses the cognitive and psychosocial development of infants and todders who attend daycare. Examines recent research studies on the topic that identify characteristics of a good child-care situation. Need for high quality care. Complexity of the issue due to complex variables outside the childcare setting that effect the development of young chilldren.
Paper Introduction:
Introduction
The topic of this paper is the effects of childcare on the cognitive and psychosocial development of infants and toddlers. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 65 percent of mothers with children below the age of six are working. The Children’s Defense Fund estimates that as many as six million infants and toddlers go to childcare centers. Thus, it is little wonder that over the last 15 years, many studies have been conducted to analyze the impact of childcare on the development of young children (Patten, 1999, p. 1). In this paper, the literature dealing with this topic over the last four years will be summarized and evaluated for their strengths and weaknesses.
Discussion
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
Furthermore, the language measurements of thechildren at 15 and 24 months old were derived from mother report, ratherthan standardized testing. Available: www.WestEd.org/wested/news.html [2 1, April 24]. The results showedthat childcare centers could enhance the cognitive and language developmentof infants and toddlers if they could provide the children with an ideallearning environment with low adult-child ratios and well-trainedcaregivers. Child Development, 71(4), 96 -1 2 .Patten, P. 3, 5).Conclusion The research over the last four years has provided valuableinformation about the impact of childcare on child development. (2 ). 353-355). Child Development, 71(6), 1629-1655.Signer, S. Apart from questionnaires givento mothers and caregivers, the children were tested in laboratories andobserved in childcare at 24 and 36 months of age. 2). In comparing the effects of childcare centers andchildcare in home settings, the researchers found that children who went tochildcare centers scored higher in the ratings on both cognitive andlanguage measurements. Child Development, 71(2), 339-358.National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Based onstructural information and the observations of the activities in the infantclassroom, the researchers reported that children in higher qualitychildcare facilities fared significantly better than their counterparts inlow quality childcare centers. Mothers of anxious/ambivalent infants: Maternal characteristics and childcare context. Introduction The topic of this paper is the effects of childcare on the cognitiveand psychosocial development of infants and toddlers. The interaction between the variables of childcare and parenting andtheir effects on infant attachment security offers another perspective inunderstanding how children are affected by childcare. Signer's (1999) description of an innovative program fortraining caregivers illustrates the effectiveness of using creative andresponsive approaches in providing a stimulating environment for youngchildren. Thus, thechildren's language development might not necessarily be due to thestimulating environment; rather the children's naturally developing abilitycould have inspired the caretakers to respond to the children with languagestimulating activities (NICHD, 2 , p. This relationship-based approach also involvescooperation with the family by integrating their cultural values andtraditions in raising the children (p. These results indicated that the exposure ofchildren to a richer environment with many language opportunities inchildcare facilities is important in stimulating cognitive and languagedevelopment. The Program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers (PITC) incorporatesresearch in infant development in its training and teaches caregivers howto form a relationship with the children by providing them withindividualized care. Early childcare and self-control, compliance and problem behavior at twenty-four and thirty-six months. This study is highly significant in identifying the differentcharacteristics of a high quality childcare situation. Essentially, the significance of this study lies in pinpointingthe fact that parents who leave their children in childcare stillconstitute a significant influence in their children's development (pp.1166-9). In WestEd [Online], 1-12. For example, the working mothers' tension and stressin their effort to juggle their work and home responsibilities also had anegative effect on their infants (pp. 1646-7). These results of the NICHD study were also corroborated by anotherstudy analyzing the impact of center-based childcare on early cognitive andlanguage development. Most ofthese studies have illuminated the fact that childcare does not necessarilyhave a negative impact on the development of young children so long as high-quality care is provided. Therefore, the negative effects of the childcareexperience on these infants cannot be generalized to all situations. 1). Child Development, 69(4), 1145-1171.NICHD. (2 , November). Childcare: Is it good for children? While thestructural features provide the context for quality childcare, the qualityof childcare is determined by the responsiveness of the caregiver, theindividualized care and the appropriateness of the activities that takeplace (p. Nonetheless, thequality of childcare was still a relatively strong predictor of childbehavior. According to the U.S.Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 65 percent of mothers withchildren below the age of six are working. In addition, the study also illustrated the importance ofproviding sensitive and individualized care to the children with languagestimulation (NICHD, 2 , pp. Apartfrom the poor quality of the childcare centers, this study also highlightedother interconnected variables that were likely to exacerbate the infants'ambivalent attachment. The Children's Defense Fundestimates that as many as six million infants and toddlers go to childcarecenters. Although this research study highlighted the aspects of childcarethat exerted a significant impact on children, it was limited by the factthat the sample population could not be considered to be representative ofthe situation in the country. The relation of childcare to cognitive and language development. (2 , March April). 1 9). The researchers found nosignificant relationship between childcare and problematic child behavior.In fact, the researchers found that the parenting of the children affectedthe child behavior significantly more than childcare. Available: http://npin.org/pnews/1999/pnew599/int599a.html [2 1, April 24].Scher, A., & Mayseless, O. However, the validity of these results was undermined by the smallsample population and the limited variety of childcare centers. Furthermore, the female child participantsin the classrooms with low child-adult ratios and highly trained educatorshad strong cognitive and receptive language skills (pp. Thus, it is little wonder that over the last 15 years, manystudies have been conducted to analyze the impact of childcare on thedevelopment of young children (Patten, 1999, p. Lastly, the observation of the relationshipbetween language stimulation in childcare and the language development ofthe children might have been due to bi-directional effects. In their study of 98pairs of mothers and infants within the first year, Scher and Mayseless(2 ) found a direct correlation between the number of hours the mothersworked and the rate of insecurity in their infants. The poorquality of childcare centers used in the research is not representative ofall childcare centers. (1999, May-June). While these research studies have tended to associate the quality ofchildcare primarily with structural features such as group sizes, adult-child ratio and the qualifications of the educators, Patten points out theneed to examine the actual practices used in the classroom. (1998, August). (1999, Fall/Winter). Based on the information collected from thechildren's family and child care environments, NICHD found that the qualityof childcare and the amount of language stimulation were the key factorsthat affected the children's cognitive and language development at ages 15,24 and 35 months. Burchinal and others (2 ) examined the developmentof 89 African American children from six to 36 months of age. Besides theunavailability of the mothers, the children also did not receive responsiveand sensitive childcare at childcare centers. In Parent News [Online], 1-7. 1 -8). Nonetheless, because the sample population was limited innumber and in ethnicity, the assessment of childcare and its effects oncognitive and language development in this study could not be consideredrepresentative of American society. The research studies and the articles haveidentified several characteristics of a good child-care situation: lowadult-child ratios, well-trained caregivers, stimulating languageenvironment, individualized care and respectful partnership with families.At the same time, the literature has also illuminated the complexity of theissue because the development of young children is ultimately influenced bya series of complex interactions between different variables beyond thechild-care setting. Because of the high groupsizes and the lack of training of the caregivers, the children who wereexposed to long hours of day care experienced tremendous insecurity. ReferencesBurchinal, M.R., Roberts, J.E., Riggins, R., Zeisel, S.A., Neebe, E., & Bryant, D. In this paper, theliterature dealing with this topic over the last four years will besummarized and evaluated for their strengths and weaknesses.Discussion In a study on the relationship between childcare and cognitive andlanguage development, the National Institute of Child Health and HumanDevelopment (NICHD) (2 ) assessed the experiences of children from birthto age three at ten sites, including childcare in a home setting andchildcare facilities. The psychosocial effect of childcare on young children wasinvestigated by NICHD (1998), using the dimensions of the children's self-control, compliance and problem behavior. The program for infant/toddler caregivers: A relationship-based approach to childcare.
If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:
or
We can write a Custom Essay just for you.
Browse Essays by Subject