Development and Learning in Early Childhood

Catalog description

This course focuses on the historical, philosophical, and theoretical bases of early childhood education and practice, recent trends, and issues affecting the education of young children from birth through age 8. This course provides an understanding of typical/atypical development of young children, diverse learning styles, and developing a framework for nurturing diversity and equity. The course covers all the major themes of childhood: social, academic, physical, and speech development, particularly how to screen for speech disorders. The characteristics of developmentally appropriate practice and early childhood programs will be examined. This course incorporates developmentally appropriate instructional technology into the diverse classroom, and the value of modeling and studying the social justice dispositions in very young children from birth through age eight. Additionally, this course addresses the foundations of speech language development, including screening and support of students with speech/language, articulation, and communication disorders in very young children.