1. Foundations of Early Childhood Special Education
Chapter 1
Foundations of Early Childhood Special Education
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

2. Defining Terms
Early Childhood Education ECE includes ages birth through 8 years or infancy through third grade. Thus, it refers to group settings deliberately intended to effect developmental changes in children from birth to the age of entering first grade and continuing through third grade.
Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) Providing instructional programs that meet the child’s needs, socially, cognitively, physically. It is theoretically and researched based.

3. Early Contributors Jon Amos Comenius (1592-1670)
Advocated for universal education for all children, including children with disabilities
Wrote the first picture book for children called: “Orbis Pictus (The World of Pictures, 1658). Schooling should be for the first 6 years of life provided by mothers.
He advocated learning based on the principles of nature—development is from within so children should be allowed to learn at their own pace.
He also stressed the basic concept of “learning by doing.”
He is most noted for three significant contributions: books with illustrations, an emphasis on education with the senses, and the social reform potential of education.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

4. John Locke ( )
Introduced the concept of tabula rasa (children are born like a blank slate)
Locke advocated the concept that environmental factors influences a person’s behavior.
The purpose of education for Locke was to make man a reasoning creature.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

5. Early Contributors Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
His ideas are still followed today in early childhood classes. Free play is based on his belief in children’s inherent goodness and ability to choose what they need to learn.
Concrete rather than abstract materials for children is still one of the cornerstones of developmentally appropriate curriculum in early childhood
Johann Heinrich Pestallozi ( )
Swiss educator who, used nature study as a part of the curriculum and believed that good education meant the development of the senses.
Advocated for following the children’s interest in designing school experiences
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

6. Early Contributors
Three distinct contributions of Pestalozzi in the field of early childhood education:
Emphasis on the education of the whole child
Parent involvement as an essential factor in education
Multi-age grouping as a teaching strategy
He stressed the ideas of an integrated curriculum that would develop the “whole child.”
He wanted education to be of the hand, the head, and the heart of the child
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

7. Early Contributors Robert Owen (1771-1858)
Recognized for establishing an Infant School in 1816
Believed in early education as a critical period to the development of a child’s character and behavior
Believed that providing early education is key in alleviating poverty
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

8. Early Contributors Friedrich Wilhelm Froebel (1782-1852)
Known as the “Father of the Kindergarten”
Advocated for the value and benefit of “play” as the work of a child
Believed that children should have concrete experiences in order to learn
He believed that play was the highest phase of child development.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

9. Early Contributors Froebel (continued)
Froebel introduced the concept of “gifts” as manipulative activities to aid in learning basic concepts such as colors, shape, counting, and other educational tasks.
Learning tools include: cylinders, wooden blocks, natural objects, balls and cubes
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

10. Early Contributors Froebel (continued)
Froebel’s curriculum also includes “occupations”
fine motor activities to develop eye-hand coordination such as arts and crafts, bead-stringing, and embroidering.
Teachers are considered as facilitators of children’s learning, as reflected later in the work of Montessori and Piaget.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

11. His kindergartens included blocks, pets, and fingerplays.
He developed the first educational toys which he termed “gifts.”(manipulative materials)
Teacher’s role: Facilitator
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

12. Leaders of the Twentieth Century
John Dewey ( )
He was the first American influence on American education Known as the founder of the concept of progressive education where the emphasis is on the child’s interests
He believed that programs for children should be “child-centered”(child centered curriculum and schools)
He is the founder of Progressivism= Child centered.
Dewey believed that children were valuable and that childhood was an important part of their lives
Children should have real-life experiences and programs should be set up so that children were allowed to make choices (They must learn to learn in a democratic society)
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

13. Leaders of the Twentieth Century
Maria Montessori ( )
First female to earn a medical degree in Italy
Physician turned educator
She designed and developed activity-based sensory materials and used them as intervention strategies for children with mental retardation.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

14. Leaders of the Twentieth Century Montessori (continued)
Examples of Montessori’s sensory materials: (see p. 10)
wooden cylinders
material swatches
sound cylinders
tonal bells
green rods
pink tower
Many of Montessori’s materials can be used by young children with disabilities.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

15. Elements of Montessori’s Work
The use of mixed-age grouping
Individualization within the context of a supportive classroom community
An emphasis on functionality within the Montessori environment
The development of independence and the ability to make choices
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

16. Elements of Montessori’s Work (continued)
The development of organized work patterns in children
The classic Montessori demonstration
An emphasis on repetition
Materials with a built-in control of error
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

17. Elements of Montessori’s Work (continued)
Academic materials that provide a concrete representation of the abstract
Sensory materials that develop and organize incoming sensory perceptions
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

18. Leaders of the Twentieth Century
Jean Piaget ( )
Known for the theory of cognitive stages development or how children think
Child learns by constructing and reconstructing what he/she knows.
Developed the concept of the adaptive processes:
Assimilation
Accommodation
Equilibration
Teacher is designer of activities appropriate to child’s level of development
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

19. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor
Birth to 2 years
Preoperational
2 to 7 years
Concrete operations
7 to 11 years
Formal operations
12 years of age
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

20. Lev Vygotsky: Sociocultural Theory(1896-1934)
Introduced the concept of ZPD, zone of proximal development, as “the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers”
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

21. Lev Vygotsky: Sociocultural Theory(1896-1934)
Children progress at their own pace which is influenced by their experiences, present cognitive levels and maturation.
Zone of proximal Development (ZPD)
Scaffolding
First supporter of inclusion!!
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

22. Lev Vygotsky
Another Vygotskian concept, scaffolding, refers to the assistance given a child by adults and peers that allows the individual to function independently and construct new concepts. (Gargiulo, p. 14)
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

23. Erik Erikson: Psychosocial theory
Psychosocial Stages:
Trust vs. mistrust (0 to 12-18)
Autonomy vs. shame & doubt:
(12-18 to 3 years old)
Initiative vs. guilt (3 to 6 years old)

24. The Development of Special Education
See Table 1-4 (page 18)
Compensatory education movement of the late 1960s played a major role in the development of early childhood special education.
Project Head Start came about as a result of the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

25. Compensatory programs: Head Start(1960’s)
To compensate for poor environmental conditions and insufficient early learning experiences.
1964: War on Poverty:HS: Comprenhensive approach
HS not required to serve children with special needs util 1972
1994: Early Head Start: Infants, toddlers and pregnant women

26. Compensatory Programs
Goals of the Head Start Program:
Promoting the child’s physical, social, and emotional development
Developing the child’s readiness for school
Improving health by providing important services
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

27. Compensatory Programs
Early Head Start emerged as an answer to the need of opening programs to serve children in the birth to three age group.
Early Head Start incorporates the “four corner emphasis” which embodies child, family, community, and staff development (Allan & Cowdery, 2009).
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

28. CAN EARLY EDUCATION MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
Human Brain is most active during the first 3 years of life
Early experiences have an impact on the actual structure of the brain (all developmental levels)
Early experiences have a decisive impact in how a person functions as and adult (all developmental levels)

29. Compensatory Programs
Two intervention projects include the Carolina Abecedarian Project and the Perry Preschool Project
programs focused on improving cognitive abilities of young children living in poverty
From these projects, more than 120 disadvantaged students were followed from age three to adolescence.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

30. Program Outcomes
Results from the investigation showed that those individuals who participated in the project as preschoolers:
had higher incomes
were more likely to own a home
had fewer arrests
had less involvement with community social service agencies
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

31. Chapter Summary
Early childhood general education, special education, and compensatory education have all contributed in the emergence of services we have today for young children with special needs.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.