Susan L. Recchia

Learn how to create and nurture communities of care for diverse children, families, and practitioners through responsive practice. In this text, the social and emotional worlds of babies and toddlers, their peers, and their caregivers come to life in the everyday moments of infant-toddler care and education. The authors show infants and toddlers as active, agentic, and intentional social partners from the start of life, highlighting their unique capacities for social engagement with both adults and peers. Interwoven within each chapter's narrative are insights culled from extensive observations, teacher interviews, and video analyses. Part I emphasizes play, peer friendships, and humor as essential elements of infant learning, illustrated throughout with anecdotes of praxis in early care and education settings. Building on these aspects of babies' ways of being in group care, Part II examines the complex roles of infant-toddler professionals and the critical importance of supportive and caring environments. Readers will explore the elements needed for in-depth and specialized professional preparation, including overarching principles of relationship-based practice.Book Features:Illuminates particular and understudied ways that infants and toddlers actively contribute to their own social learning and development.Shares how teachers learn to engage with and nurture infants' and toddlers' social capacities and experiences within child care settings.Uses anecdotes and vignettes from the authors' research and practice with infants, toddlers, and caregivers to bring their experiences to life.Discusses themes that are important and unique for infancy and toddlerhood, such as play, friendships, humor, and professional love.Presents a unique set of chapters that reveal infants' and toddlers' perspectives, while also considering the caregiver's actions within a responsive care framework.

Learn how to create and nurture communities of care for diverse children, families, and practitioners through responsive practice. In this text, the social and emotional worlds of babies and toddlers, their peers, and their caregivers come to life in the everyday moments of infant-toddler care and education. The authors show infants and toddlers as active, agentic, and intentional social partners from the start of life, highlighting their unique capacities for social engagement with both adults and peers. Interwoven within each chapter's narrative are insights culled from extensive observations, teacher interviews, and video analyses. Part I emphasizes play, peer friendships, and humor as essential elements of infant learning, illustrated throughout with anecdotes of praxis in early care and education settings. Building on these aspects of babies' ways of being in group care, Part II examines the complex roles of infant-toddler professionals and the critical importance of supportive and caring environments. Readers will explore the elements needed for in-depth and specialized professional preparation, including overarching principles of relationship-based practice.Book Features:Illuminates particular and understudied ways that infants and toddlers actively contribute to their own social learning and development.Shares how teachers learn to engage with and nurture infants' and toddlers' social capacities and experiences within child care settings.Uses anecdotes and vignettes from the authors' research and practice with infants, toddlers, and caregivers to bring their experiences to life.Discusses themes that are important and unique for infancy and toddlerhood, such as play, friendships, humor, and professional love.Presents a unique set of chapters that reveal infants' and toddlers' perspectives, while also considering the caregiver's actions within a responsive care framework.

Conversations with Families of Children with Disabilities creates a space for diverse families of children with disabilities to share their stories with pre-service and in-service teachers. Specifically designed for professionals preparing to work with families of children with disabilities, this text invites the reader to listen in as families reflect on their personal journeys in conversation with the authors. This powerful book helps educators develop a deeper understanding of families and enhance their capacity for authentic partnerships.

Conversations with Families of Children with Disabilities creates a space for diverse families of children with disabilities to share their stories with pre-service and in-service teachers. Specifically designed for professionals preparing to work with families of children with disabilities, this text invites the reader to listen in as families reflect on their personal journeys in conversation with the authors. This powerful book helps educators develop a deeper understanding of families and enhance their capacity for authentic partnerships.

The ICP™ manual guides users on understanding, implementing, and scoring the ICP.How well is your early childhood program implementing quality inclusive practices? Now there’s a comprehensive, field-tested observational tool that uncovers the answers. A one-of-a-kind tool for classrooms serving children ages 2–5, the Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP™) assesses 12 key practices with the strongest research base for supporting the education and development of young children in inclusive programs:•Adaptations of Space, Materials, and Equipment•Adult Involvement in Peer Interactions•Adults' Guidance of Children’s Free-Choice Activities and Play•Conflict Resolution•Membership•Relationships between Adults and Children•Support for Communication•Adaptation of Group Activities•Transitions between Activities•Feedback•Family-Professional Partnerships•Monitoring Children's LearningBenefits The in-depth ICP™ evaluation process gives you the rich information and insights you need to:•assess your program’s current inclusive practices•establish a baseline for measuring future progress•apply recommended inclusive practices for young children•guide quality improvement efforts by linking assessment data with instructional decision-making•tailor professional development to teachers' specific needs

In this engaging book, the authors share stories from their practice and research about several young children with a variety of developmental delays and disabilities and their teachers. They explore the ways that teachers and children respond in real classrooms to real challenges, examining both those opportunities that are capitalised on as well as those that are missed. The book addresses a wide array of issues that contribute to our understanding of ''what makes a difference'' in the inclusive early childhood classroom: the role of development, ways of honouring different learning styles, building a sense of classroom community, addressing power dynamics, and responding to conflict with both teachers and peers. This practical resource introduces a framework that will inspire early childhood teachers to reflect on their own practices and take action to develop new strategies for teaching in inclusive classrooms.