Introduction
Early Childhood Development
Definition
The domains of ECD consist of intellectual, physical and social development of young children. During the process of development, disturbance in one domain affects the other domains. Therefore, child development is a continuous process of maintaining equilibrium between various domains to achieve an optimal level of physical and economical efficiency of a human being, with psycho-socially acceptable features.
Situation
Traditionally, families and communities have formed beliefs and practices regarding provision, security, shelter, clothing, hygiene and feeding needs of younger children. Irrespective of factual status, emphasis is laid on these practices; consequently, the concept of childcare and expectations for development were narrowly focused on responding only to basic needs for survival and physical growth.
There has been no conscious effort towards meaningful interaction and stimulation as a child's basic need, while the case of linking investment during early childhood to achieve greater assets of human development in the future is also missing. The obvious dilemma at family, community and even country level is to consider why and what to invest, and what to expect in terms of optimal growth and development during early childhood.
This vision of child development is further augmented by the prevalent service provision infrastructure and community development projects, which are again focused on narrowed vision, emphasizing mainly on physical growth and survival rather than as a wholesome concept of child development and care. The primary reason for this publication is ease in demonstration of change in a child's physical growth, morbidity and mortality, as evidenced by changing indicators. These changes are also reflected in a child's holistic development, including social and intellectual aspects, which also require relatively more insight, rigor, resources and especially – commitment.
In addition, standards and expectations of intellectual and social development are based on the local cultural perspective as opposed to standards of physical development that are universally accepted and used for comparison.
Concept
Modern literature in the discipline of child development is concentrated in two domains in an integrated manner; it includes processes of child development and environment which influences the pace and modification of such processes. Any effort to lift the status of children requires proper philosophical underpinnings of both.
it is important to expand the prevailing narrow concept of mere child survival to quality of survival. This implies the process of enabling the child to reach the broader pedestal of human performance in society, and development of expertise and skills which contribute to social competency.
'It takes a village to raise a child'; this African proverb is valid for every culture by highlighting the significance of responsibilities and collective function of the community to nurture their children. Child and family units are always implanted in the larger socio-economic and cultural framework of the community. This framework has all the potential to manipulate functioning of the family unit, especially the process of child development, by availability of necessary persons, places or resources, e.g., schools, playgrounds, health care systems etc. This contextual outline is vital for continuum of the conceptual understanding of ECD to facilitate execution of initiatives at individual and communal level. The entire book is distinctively focused on the theoretical framework of “Ecology of Human Development” suggested by Urie Bronfenbrenner; child development is primarily influenced by child's interaction with the critical elements of the environment, which extend from family to neighbourhood, community services, social institutions, and socio-cultural conditions. The perspective of critical elements of the social environment is throughout maintained in the descriptions of the processes involving child development as well as methods and actions required for optimal child development and growth.
Understanding
In ECD, a culturally contextualized approach leads to better understanding of specific dynamics and expectations. At the family level, critical elements of the social environment can be identified; the configuration is unique for each individual child, while at community level, appreciation of its concepts of achieving more productive and responsible members is developed. It requires information at three levels i.e. status of prevailing childcare and nurturing practices, their effects on growth and development, and understanding of the basis for cultural practices.
In order to progress and achieve holistic child development and care, it is important that ECD projects shift from authoritarian and dictated approaches of following global standards of certain limited aspects of child development, which expect conformity for every child, (e.g., optimal height and weight), irrespective of cultural, ecological and even genetic differences. Currently, the need for such a paradigm shift is clearly needed by practitioners in the field of child development.
Initiatives
ECD is a broad based scientific discipline with its roots in medical, behavioural and social sciences. Consequently, an ECD practitioner requires broad based knowledge as well as skills. In addition, ECD requires purposeful and well-designed integration of relevant services to achieve holistic child development. However, for all practical purposes, the public health system due to its diversity and multi-sectoral nature, and overlapping interest seems closest in link with ECD to develop initiatives for child development. The theoretical framework of all the relevant disciplines needs to be considered primarily under the umbrella of Public Health, so that ideas can reach the stage of practical implementation, and can become components of the service delivery system, thus keeping its feasibility, multiplicity and integrity intact.
The book…
The idea here is not to create a comprehensive text, especially in the context of knowledge, when ECD as a discipline is evolving fast. Discipline-specific details about child development can be found in the relevant advanced texts. The purpose here is to create a unifying set of ideas of balanced views, to address the core issues of younger children in developing countries, which is conceptually acceptable to all disciplines without overpowering any one of them. The scheme is to create generic guidelines for the relevant ECD practitioner, as to conceptualise the understanding of ECD, determine its stature and understand intervention to pace up the process of child development
The book has been compiled with the perspective of human capacity building for ECD endeavours. From household to professional ECD practitioners, any organised effort to improve the status of young children requires understanding at multiple levels, apart from compassion for the cause. The design of the book has considered the following framework to facilitate the progress of the reader from understanding to initiatives. The fundamental assumptions of each step of this hierarchical paradigm are important for the understanding of theoretical knowledge from the viewpoint of its utility; the effort has been to achieve a harmonious blend of theory and practice.
1. The conceptual framework of ECD is primarily predetermined by the human genetic potential, but the pace and extent of developmental achievements is determined by the environment. This leads to an understanding of expectation from the child in terms of age appropriate growth and development. In addition, the extended role of caregivers for their relative control over the environment is envisaged.
2. Critical elements of the social environment, which influence ECD outcomes, include the child's interactions with family and community, and the socioeconomic and cultural context in which these interactions take place. This scenario highlights the interaction of ECD stakeholders with a variety of disciplines. It leads to multiple avenues of intervention and prevention, as well as numerous combinations of partnerships to achieve holistic child development.
3. Appropriate scientific assessment, both quantitative and qualitative, is based on determination of the status of growth and development of the child. Any evidence regarding the individual or communal status requires diligent and judicious quantitative estimation of performance to make that information eligible for the decision-making process. The systematic process of measuring is a prerequisite for comparison of the child's status with the additional resources required for remedial action. This in turn implies that the data generation and interpretation capacity of any ECD endeavour is imperative.
4. Child assessment should always be accompanied by a proposal for an appropriate course of action. For ECD practitioners, it is a component of their responsibilities by virtue of their position; provision of comprehensive advice of guided actions for the caregiver for further improvement, and remedial activities.
5. Child-centred community development approach is vital for lasting solutions for child's as well as the community's prosperity. It is the capacity building of people to recognize their requirements and priorities, and to seek solution for their own community development through focussed achievement of holistic child development. It is important for ECD practitioners to realize that such investment by the community is necessary to improve the existing state of social and economic deprivation, and ensure that improvement on a permanent basis. This philosophy encompasses participation, empowerment, equity and social justice for every vulnerable subgroup of the community.
6. Diversity in involved child caregivers is imperative. Despite equal significance of each of them, their capacity to contribute varies; programming mechanism evolved through public health to train the stakeholders and integrate their efforts to bring efficient child development.
The contents…
The book primarily has four (4) thematic parts, which form the basis of chapters related to respective themes. The continuum has been maintained from development of basic understanding of the discipline to transformation of theory into practice, in order to facilitate a learner in confidently taking ECD related initiatives.
Part A - Core Concepts: The objective of this part is to introduce theoretical concepts of childhood developmental milestones and underlying philosophy of interactions of the child with the social environment. Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive review of the premise of early childhood development, by focusing on appreciation of basic definitions and concepts of growth and developmental domains during this phase. It concludes with a discussion on various factors affecting child development. Chapter 2 examines the context in which child development takes place by addressing the potential role of sensory stimulation in growth and development, and its relationship with the social environment. In addition, it explores various considerations for caregivers to evaluate the qualitative aspects of the social environment for its capacity to stimulate a child.
Part B – Assessments and Advice: The purpose of this section is to outline the technical skills and expertise necessary to assess the processes and status of child development. The explanation of methodologies is kept simple but scientific enough for use in any professional and/or non-professional avenues, including community-based settings. Acquisition of assessment skills without any guidance for further action is not going to bring any meaningful change in the status of children. Therefore, feasible suggestions for possible actions are provided along with assessment methodologies, to promote the growth and developmental status of the child. Chapter 3 presents the general guidelines and prerequisites for child assessment. The focus is on rapport building from the perspective of an assessor. Conceptual understanding of a child's nature in terms of personality and temperament has been described as the potential consideration for any type of assessment. Chapter 4 introduces the several echelons of nutrition, one of the primary concerns for child development in any resource-scarce setting. Discussion is on the understanding of nutrients, balanced diet and alternate sources of nutrition. Differential nutritional needs of pregnancy and the early childhood period are also highlighted. The chapter then presents a detailed account of anthropometric measurement, and its significance for decision making at individual and programmatic level. Chapter5 begins by explaining the concepts of intelligence with emphasis on contribution of hereditary and environmental factors. Reflection on the relationship between intelligence and learning including some of the challenges encountered during the learning process of a child (such as learning styles and disability) are presented. Chapter 6 begins with a brief overview of scientific observation and the importance of its contextualization to obtain an inclusive analysis. Observational skills have marked implication for the identification of child-rearing practices, in particular care and nurturance, which require modification and promotion; this is exemplified further with examples of parent and child behaviour, such as parenting styles, play, reinforcement and punishment. Chapter 7 is dedicated to interviewing skills with special consideration on development of questionnaire and guidelines for conducting the interview process in a community setting. Additional information is also provided on the methodology to identify the eligible interviewees. Chapter 8 covers the comparison of focus group discussions with other forms of scientific inquiry and its process. The focus group discussions are then linked with detailed accounts of positive deviance inquiry. This is inquiry into the reasons for positive deviation from regular child rearing practices, which result in more than expected growth and developmental status of child. In addition, the process facilitates the implementation of intervention of identified practices through community mobilization and participation. Chapter 9 examines the basic components and domains of human communication. Consideration is also given to the communication skills of ECD practitioners for formal interactions. Apart from interviews, attention is drawn to the importance of counseling of caregivers for provision of information and guidance, with persuasion to adopt a more conducive attitude and practices for child development.
Part C - ECD Community Based Programming: The objective of this section is to familiarize ECD practitioners with community-based ECD programming, with application of the planning cycle to the stage of conceptualization, implementation and management of ECD community-based projects. We believe that the process of providing care and supportive environment for children is learnt through experience and therefore, we do not have a model to describe, nor do we recommend its adoption by others. The assumption is that individual practitioners would act as resource persons for their specific community set-up. Within the limits of its context and resources, they will be able to successfully develop and implement ECD model activities. Chapter 10 deals with the understanding of community dynamics from the perspective of ECD. Principles for community orientation as well as selection of the appropriate community for ECD-related initiatives are outlined. Chapter 11 introduces the concept of community-based ECD programming; the planning cycle with all its components has been discussed in detail, from situation analysis, setting priorities and objectives to planning activities for achieving holistic child development through integrated efforts of stakeholders at community level. The remaining part of this chapter reviews the ingredients of documentation for ECD programme planning. Chapter 12 emphasizes the actual implementation of programming concepts into practice. ECD programme management is extremely dependent on the interest of the community and their representatives. Field coordination is important for transformation of their interest into motivation towards child centered community development. Technical details of community-based programming are elaborated from team formation, capacity building, and baseline assessments, followed by monitoring and evaluation of the implemented strategies. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the documentation of programmatic activities, as this plays a significant role in reporting and dissemination of the successful endeavours.
Part D – Teaching and Training: Capacity building of ECD practitioners is a major concern for the implementation of ECD initiatives, especially in developing country scenarios. The experiential learning approach is adopted, as it requires integration of existing skills with the newly acquired knowledge, and reflection by the learner, to assimilate and utilize that information for problem solving in his/her current context. The professional background of learners could be quite diverse, due to the multidisciplinary nature of child development itself. However, the only criteria suggested are affection, care, concern for conditions that support growth and development of children, and a sense of community responsibility. Special efforts have been made to develop training contents relevant for the caregivers, especially practitioners, as well as clear enough for trainers, so that it can be used as resource material for course planning. Teaching and training have been innovatively linked with concepts and discussion, in each of the preceding twelve chapters; objectives for the lecture session are followed by detailed account of an assortment of activities, to develop the attitude and skills required for an effective ECD practice.
The sessions are arranged in specific sequence for a complete text for ECD programming. However, it is flexible enough for components to be selected according to the specific teaching and training purposes. It is recommended that the examples and instructions should be contextualized according to the respective needs of the learner. Due to the diversity of the audience who will use the text, from caregivers to practitioners to academics and students, special attention has been given to provision of sufficient information, with clear and straightforward learning objectives and plan. In theoretical content, we intentionally tried to give simple definitions and descriptions, but kept intact the abstract conceptual soul and idea of child development. In addition, the attempt has been to achieve coherence between initiatives of child development and the scope of culture and communities for whom this book is intended.
Conclusion
The idea behind this book is to create awareness among all caregivers, especially ECD practitioners, that child development is not the end, but merely a means to community development. Thus by creating a conducive environment for children, they can contribute in human development. It requires commitment and conscientiousness to establish successful integrated ECD community-based programmes with community participation.
By no means is this text the last word on ECD; rather, only the development of the basic conceptual framework and guidelines for ECD-related initiatives in a developing country set-up.
