Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government

memory; synapses associated withexperiences not chosen will begin towither away…when play is limited,fewer modalities are active andemotions such as motivation adverselyaffect brain function – so child-centred,play-based programmes are important.Children usually display high levels ofmotivation in play.Play seems to help lay down implicitmemories of skills, dispositions andschemas.Play in a complex environment affordschildren lots of opportunities to satisfynovel preferences. (Adapted fromMeade 2001: 22-24).Additionally, Meade draws attentionto children’s need, among other things,for opportunities which allow them todevelop theories about themselves andother people. She advocates educatorsshould be warm, responsive and capableof fostering young children’s braindevelopment through appropriateplay activities.Further key messages from the researchare that young brains are exceptionally‘plastic’ so they are shaped by experienceand the plasticity allows for catching upif development and learning arehampered in anyway. However, they arealso incredibly active and thirsty forinteractions and activities which will fosterfurther learning and brain development.EMOTIONAL WELL-BEINGBeing special to someoneIn chapters 1 and 3 we outlined re s e a rc hon the importance of ‘being special tosomeone/mattering’. Here we look furtherat these aspects of early development andlearning, through some of the studieswhich inform us about emotionalwell-being.In a rigorous research study in the USA,theNICHD Early Child Care Research Network(1996) observed 576 babies in fivedifferent types of ECEC settings, makingthe first observation when the baby waswithin two weeks of being six months old.The aim of the study was to tease out thecharacteristics of settings contributing to‘positive’ care-giving – defined in terms ofsensitivity, warmth, and being cognitivelystimulating. They identified the structuralaspects of the settings (eg. ratio of adultsto children,safe environment) as well asqualitative characteristics (eg. stimulation,staff attitudes and approaches). The teamfound that the main factors associatedwith positive caregiving were:- low adultchildratios – the closer the ratio is to oneadult per child, the higher the probabilityof the adult being sensitive to individualchildren and thus fostering attachment(this factor is consistent with findingsabout ratios for toddlers by Clarke-Stewartet al 1994); practitioners having nonauthoritarianbeliefs about child-rearing –such workers tended to have a highernumber of positive interactions withchildren; the physical environment being119