The overall goal of the Early Head Start program is to support all areas of child development - social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and language development.
Education Goals and Objectives follow:
- Social-Emotional Development: To learn about self and others - trusts known, caring adults, regulates own behavior, plays with other children, learns to be a member of a group, and uses personal care skills.
- Physical Development: To learn about moving - demonstrates basic gross motor skills, demonstrates basic fine motor skills.
- Cognitive Development: To learn about the world - sustains attention, understands how objects can be used, shows a beginning understanding of cause and effect, shows a beginning understanding that things can be grouped, uses problem solving strategies, engages in pretend play.
- Language Development: To learn about communicating - develops receptive language, develops expressive language, participates in conversations, understands and uses words, enjoys books and being read to, shows an awareness of pictures and print, experiments with drawing and writing.
Curriculum plays a vital role in achieving the goal of enhancing the social competence and school readiness of children. Early Head Start programs must implement a curriculum that supports each child's individual pattern of development and learning style.
Goals and objectives are what children need to learn. Curriculum is the roadmap for getting there. For young children, it is provided through routines and experiences. The Early Head Start program utilizes the following curriculum resources: Creative Curriculum for Infants and Toddlers, Program for Infant-Toddler Caregivers, First Steps, Conscious Discipline, and Language is the Key, Baby Signs, Games Babies Play, I Love You Rituals, and others.
Individualization
The Early Head Start program recognizes the uniqueness of each child as an individual. Therefore, children's progress and abilities are measured based on their own skills. Using information gathered from screenings, observations, assessment, and evaluations, staff are assisted in developing individualized planning for children.
Parent Involvement & Education
Parents and families are key players in Early Head Start programs. Since parents are recognized as their child’s first teacher, staff seek to inform and support parents so they can guide the early learning of their young children.
- Home visitors and teachers use the Parents as Teachers Born to Learn curriculum to provide families with information about parenting young children.
- Parents learn to be observers of their children during socializations (early learning playgroups) at the Early Head Start center. Through an approach called Parents Interacting with Infants (PIWI), staff strive to support the parent-child relationship and to involve parents in their child’s learning experiences.
- Parenting information distributed throughout the year include materials from United Way Born Learning campaign, Zero to Three booklets, Noodle Soup parenting tips, and others.
A formal evaluation is conducted, if needed, to diagnose a developmental delay. The evaluation process provides an in-depth view into the child’s skills and needs. EHS staff and parents collaborate with the early intervention agency such as Early On or Project find to conduct evaluations and to plan strategies for intervention. Families receive an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) that details expected outcomes.
Info source from: http://www.nemcsa.org/headstart/ecdhs_b.aspx
