The Department of Developmental Services has recently approved the digital publication of Darby’s Legacy: Best Practices When Serving Families with Infants and Toddlers Who Are Medically Fragile. This document, endorsed by the California Interagency Coordinating Council on Early Intervention, is now available here on the Neighborhood, and elsewhere, to assist Early Start personnel who provide supports and services to families with young children who are medically fragile and likely in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Darby’s Legacy can be downloaded for later retrieval, emailing to a colleague or family, or for printing to share with others. Producing Darby’s Legacy, which honors the memory of Darby Jean and her family, was a labor of love for all involved. …

This week’s post was inspired by a blog by speech-language pathology professors Carole Zangari and Robin Parker, called “PrAACtical AAC.” (Their blog is a great find, too, if you’re interested in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).)

The post we are featuring is from 2014, and it’s entitled, “Does AAC Really Work with Infants and Toddlers?” The blog post provides a link to a valuable research article on AAC, but you can access the article itself here:…

This resource is quite the find! It’s chock full of great ideas to share with families about ways to “encourage infants to focus attention, use working memory, and practice basic self-control skills”—core components in the development of executive function and self-regulation. The suggestions the authors provide range from lap, hiding, and copying games to simple role plays, finger plays, and conversations. Many of the ideas will sound familiar and serve as a great way to reinforce the importance of supportive, responsive interactions between adults and children. They can also help parents recognize the incredible brain-building benefits of activities they already enjoy doing with their young children.…

Head Start’s Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center recently updated their brief on “Infant and Toddler Behaviors that Can Challenge Adults.” The article includes information about what the research says, what challenging behaviors look like, and ideas to try. The authors do an excellent job in succinctly describing all these elements and provide links to other related articles and learning opportunities. The strategies offered are clear and seem easy to implement. Give this brief a read at the link above or the attachment below. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section. We love hearing from you.…

This week we’re featuring a series of articles from our friends at Zero to Three. They’re all about “What You Can Do to Support Babies’ Brain Development,” and are divided up by the age of the baby: 

From 2 to 6 Months 

From 6 to 12 Months 

From 12 to 18 Months 

From 18 to 24 Months 

From 24 to 36 Months 

Each handout is subdivided into sections about the various domains of development pertinent to each age group and offers tips…

This week’s resource comes to us from the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center at Gallaudet University. It’s entitled Sign Language Use for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Hearing Babies: The Evidence Supports It, and it may be just what you’ve been looking for.  You can access it on the Clerc Center’s website under Resources, then Publications, or below for your convenience.

The Clerc Center collaborated with the American Society for Deaf Children to provide a Spanish translation to this publication.  This colorful handout is perfect to share with families who may be considering introducing signed language to their child. 

The Clerc Center also offers a wide variety information in an array of formats, including the following webinars you might find…

This week we are highlighting a resource from the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) entitled, “Understanding Your Child’s Behavior: Reading Your Child’s Cues from Birth to Age 2.” It’s a very interesting and quick read, filled with practical examples and age-specific suggestions. The authors also include, “Three Steps to Understanding Your Baby’s or Toddler’s Behavior,” which is intended to help parents sort out the meaning of the cues they may see and hear from their young child. There’s also a fourth bonus step on viewing tantrums as communication with a variety of effective ways to respond. Check out this week’s resource…

Last year, Head Start’s Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center (ECLKC) updated their “Effective Practice Guidelines” on social and emotional development. This Web resource is divided into four subdomains:

• Relationships with Adults,
• Relationships with Other Children,
• Emotional Functioning, and
• Sense of Identity and Belonging.

Each subdomain is further divided into four sections: Know, See, Do, and Improve.

In these sections you will find teaching practices for infants and toddlers; videos featuring young children; suggested practices for teachers and home visitors; and planning goals, actions steps, focused observations, reflections, and feedback to support the work of professionals who work with very young children… including Early Start service providers.

There’s a lot of information in this…

How Do Babies Learn to Crawl? is an interesting article from our colleagues at Zero to Three. The authors take the pressure off parents who might be expecting crawling by a specific age. They also define three different types of movement that many babies go through, which includes the traditional hands and knees crawl pattern, with the caveat that “it can take a while to get moving, and that’s okay.” They offer half a dozen strategies parents can try to support their babies in learning to move. Ultimately, the authors say, “there’s no wrong way to crawl” and note that some babies skip that stage altogether! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

The…

As part of their Parenting for Social Justice series, Zero to Three has published Celebrating Differences: Antiracist Parenting Right From the Start. The article includes “five facts about how children come to understand differences.” These include:

1. All children notice differences;
2. It’s not okay to use differences as an excuse to stereotype others;
3. Racism is learned;
4. Racial bias starts early, between ages two and four; and
5. Diversity makes a difference.

The author supports the idea that “talking to children about racism is part of our responsibility as parents” but acknowledges that this may not always be easy. She suggests reflecting on one’s own biases and re-thinking one’s views on race. This…