EARLY 

HEAD 

START 

NATIONAL 

RESOURCE 

CENTER 

Technical Assistance Paper No. 

6 

The Foundations 

for School Readiness: 

Fostering Developmental Competence 

in the Earliest Years 

Prepared by 

Early Head Start National Resource Center @ 

ZERO TO THREE 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 

Administration for Children and Families 

Administration on Children, Youth and Families 

Head Start Bureau 
EARLY HEAD START NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER


TA Paper No. 6 

The Foundations for 

School Readiness: 

Fostering Developmental Competence in the 

Earliest Years 

This document was developed by the staff of the Early Head Start 

National Resource Center @ ZERO TO THREE in collaboration with 

the Head Start Bureau. The contents of the paper are not intended to 

be an interpretation of policy. 

Early Head Start National Resource Center @ ZERO TO THREE 

2000 M Street, NW, Suite 200 

Washington, DC 20036-3307 

Phone: 202-638-1144 

Fax: 202-638-0851 

Web site: www.ehsnrc.org 

The EHS NRC is funded by contract #105-98-2055 

U. S. Department of Health and Human Services 

Administration for Children and Families 

Administration on Children, Youth, and Families 

Head Start Bureau 

On the Cover 

CESA #11 Early Head Start, Turtle Lake, WI 

TN CAREs, Early Head Start, Weakley Co, TN 
Technical Assistance Paper No.
 

6
 

The Foundations for 

School Readiness: 

Fostering Developmental Competence in the Earliest Years 

E

arly childhood programs recognize the 

importance of preparing children for success in 

school and later in life. Head Start has long been 

a leader in this effort and in defining the goal of social 

competence. Considering recent media attention on the 

importance of the early years of life, policymakers, 

researchers, parents, and child advocates have an 

increased interest in what it takes to fully prepare 

children to succeed in school. In addition, the rising 

number of working parents has increased the demand for 

high-quality child care for very young children. 

Comprehensive early childhood services such as Migrant 

and Seasonal Head Start and Early Head Start are 

available to children from birth, raising new questions 

about what school readiness means for programs serving 

infants, toddlers, and expectant families. 

New research has revealed that the social and 

emotional development of young children and, more 

specifically, the nature of early relationships plays a 

critical role in fostering cognitive development. Both the 

parent-child relationship and the relationships that 

children develop with other significant caregivers, for 

example, in child care settings have an effect on child 

development (National Research Council & Institute of 

Medicine, 2000). In fact, the emotional and social 

characteristics are what provide children with the skills 

to learn and the motivation to want to learn (ZERO TO 

THREE, 1992). 

In this paper, we explore the scientific knowledge base 

concerning the remarkable developmental tasks that 

occur in the first 5 years of life. We identify the 

capacities that equip children with the skills they need 

to negotiate the relationships, responsibilities, and 

challenges they will face throughout their lives. We 

illustrate how early childhood programs, beginning with 

support to expectant families during the prenatal period 

and through the first 5 years of life, can play a pivotal 

role in this process. Indeed, comprehensive early 

childhood programs such as Head Start and Early Head 

Start have the potential to dramatically influence the 

future of children most vulnerable to school failure. In 

this paper, we explore school readiness to illustrate how 

early development influences later learning. However, 

the characteristics we hope to inspire in the children 

with whom we work are ones that not only equip them 

for success in school but also prepare them to become 

competent, resilient, effective human beings in all areas 

of their lives. 

page 

1 

Children’s Home Society of Washington, Auburn, WA 
E ARLY HEAD S TART NATIONAL RESOURCE C ENTER 

WHAT DOES SCHOOL READINESS MEAN FOR 

PROGRAMS SERVING INFANTS AND 

TODDLERS? 

From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of 

Early Childhood Development 

The National Research Council and Institute of Medicine convened a committee of national 

experts to evaluate and integrate the science of early 

childhood development. The result of this effort is 

published in the report From Neurons to Neighborhoods: 

The Science of Early Childhood Development (National 

Research Council & Institute of Medicine, 2000). The 

information in this 550-page document analyzes the 

most current research on brain development and the 

latest findings from the social sciences. The authors 

synthesize what is known about early childhood 

development and draw conclusions for policymakers, 

practitioners, researchers, and others invested in the 

healthy growth and development of children. 

The authors of the report (National Research Council 

& Institute of Medicine, 2000) emphasize three critical 

developmental tasks that characterize the importance of 

the first 5 years of life 

1. Acquiring self-regulation — Self regulation is the process 

of “negotiating the transition from external to selfregulation, including learning to regulate one’s emotions, 

behaviors and attention. This captures the emergence of 

self-control and independence and can provide an 

analogy for the movement toward competent 

functioning that characterizes development as a whole” 

(p. 92). 

Consider the remarkable transformation that 

occurs in all areas of development during the first 5 

years of life. A newborn is completely dependent on 

his or her caregivers to meet every physical and 

emotional need. Over time and in the context of 

supportive relationships, young children become 

increasingly competent in all areas of development. 

Typical preschoolers have developed many of the 

skills for feeding, bathing, and dressing themselves; 

have some understanding of societal and familial 

norms, values, and morals; and can share their own 

unique opinions, preferences, and interests. 

2. Communicating and learning — Communication 

and learning refers to “acquiring the capabilities 

that undergird communication and learning. This 

includes the early development of language, 

reasoning, and problem solving”(p. 92). 

The ability to communicate effectively begins in 

the earliest moments of life as newborns experience 

having their needs met through the sensitive 

response of attentive caregivers. Parents learn 

The Ounce of Prevention Fund, 

Chicago, IL 
page 

3 

In CAREs Early Head Start, Weakley, CO 

through experience and with support how to successfully 

read their child’s cues and begin the back-and-forth 

“dance” of communication that sets the stage for 

language and learning. This process evolves in the 

preschool years into increasingly sophisticated skills such 

as the emerging ability to reason, think logically, and 

problem solve. 

3. Getting along with peers — Developing positive peer 

relationships involves “learning to relate well to other 

children and forming friendships. This highlights the 

emerging capacity to trust, to love and nurture, and to 

resolve conflict constructively” (p. 92). 

Later in this paper, we illustrate how relationships are 

the vehicle through which learning takes place. Clearly, 

the parent-child relationship is a child’s first opportunity 

to experience trust, love, and nurture, and this 

relationship forms the basis for learning to relate well to 

others. Thus, programs that serve infants, toddlers, and 

their families focus on strengthening parent-child 

relationships throughout program activities and services. 

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PAPER NO .6 

Heart Start: The Emotional Foundations for 

School Readiness 

Before the publication of From Neurons to Neighborhoods, 

ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, 

and Families published a series of monographs that 

similarly pointed to the social and emotional development 

of infants and toddlers as the precursors to success in 

school. The authors identified seven characteristics of 

children who are best prepared to thrive in the school 

environment (ZERO TO THREE, 1992): 

1. Confidence — A sense of control and mastery of one’s 

body, behavior, and world; the child’s sense that he or 

she is more likely than not to succeed at what he or she 

undertakes and that adults will be helpful. 

2. Curiosity — The sense that finding out about things is 

positive and leads to pleasure. 

3. Intentionality — The wish and capacity to have an 

effect and to act on that desire with persistence, a 

characteristic that is clearly related to a sense of 

competence and of being effective. 

4. Self-Control — The ability to modulate and control 

one’s own actions in age-appropriate ways; a sense of 

inner control. 

5. Relatedness — The ability to engage with others based 

on the sense of being understood by others and 

understanding others. 

6. Capacity to Communicate — The wish and ability to 

exchange ideas, feelings, and concepts with others, a 

characteristic that is related to a sense of trust in others 

and a sense of pleasure in engaging with others, 

including adults. 

7. Cooperativeness — The ability in a group activity to 

balance one’s own needs with those of others. 
page 

4 

E ARLY HEAD S TART NATIONAL RESOURCE C ENTER 

Characteristics such as these enable children to 

respond to direction, pay attention, communicate 

effectively with peers and adults, cope with stress, and 

feel motivated to learn. Children who are lacking these 

qualities face much greater challenges and typically 

experience both behavioral and academic problems. 

These children are at a greater risk to disrupt the 

classroom environment, become ostracized by their 

peers, fall behind in academic skills, and eventually 

experience greater behavioral and learning problems that 

lead to academic failure and school drop-out (PethPierce, 2000). 

Support is strong for the idea that school readiness is 

best considered in the context of fostering children’s 

overall developmental competence so they can manage 

the demands and responsibilities of school and life. 

Developmental competence refers to optimal functioning 

in all areas of development and is expressed as curiosity 

and the motivation to learn; the resilience to cope with 

stress; and the ability to solve problems, communicate

effectively, and develop close, satisfying relationships 

with peers and adults. This developmental competence is 

the result of positive, nurturing early experiences with 

sensitive, responsive caregivers and is equally important 

to the acquisition of specific academic skills. These 

nurturing experiences are what teach children to manage 

one’s emotions and behavior, effectively communicate 

and learn, and sustain positive relationships with others 

(National Research Council & Institutes of Medicine, 

2000). 

FROM RESEARCH TO PRACTICE: IMPLICATIONS 

FOR PROGRAMS 

The experiences of children and families in your program influence how they will approach 

experiences later in life. Comprehensive birth-to-five 

programs offer a tremendous opportunity to foster the 

competence necessary not only for school success but 

also in all areas of development. For staff members to 

effectively support the three developmental tasks 

discussed above—acquiring self-regulation, 

communicating and learning, and getting along with 

peers—they need to understand both child development 

and the critical link between social and emotional 

development and early learning. 

In the section that follows, we identify four key 

concepts that describe the link between social and 

emotional development and early learning, and we 

explore how parents and significant caregivers help 

infants and toddlers regulate their emotions and 

behavior, communicate and learn, and develop healthy 

relationships with others. These four concepts follow: 

Cognitive and social-emotional development are 

interrelated. 

Relationships facilitate learning. 

Curriculum is delivered through relationships. 

Staff members can best support children by supporting 

parents. 

Cognitive and Social-Emotional Development Are 

Interrelated 

For all children, but especially those in the earliest years 

of life, each area of development—physical, cognitive, 

social, and emotional—is related to and influences the 

others. For example, a 6-month-old baby will express his 

delight with a smile and a full body wriggle. During 

infancy and toddlerhood, it is impossible to separate one 

developmental domain from any other. In fact, because 

of the infant’s complete dependency on his or her 

caregivers, all areas of infant development unfold within 

the context of the child’s relationships with others. 

Through these most important relationships, a child 

develops not only his or her self-concept but also the 
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PAPER NO .6 

characteristics noted above—confidence, curiosity, 

motivation, cooperation, self-control, and relatedness. 

This dynamic explains why we focus on relationships as 

the central component of early childhood experiences 

that support developmental competence and school 

readiness 

As children mature, their strong sense of attachment 

to significant people in their lives nurtures the 

motivation to interact with the world around them. 

When an infant is reaching overhead for a toy swinging 

from the mobile and the adult says “That’s right, you can 

get it,” the baby is learning that his or her activity 

matters to someone. When a crawling infant pulls up to 

stand on an unsteady surface and the caregiver extends a 

supportive hand and says “No, no, that’s too wobbly,” the 

baby is learning that adults will keep him or her safe. 

When a toddler takes her first wobbly steps to the 

applause and delight of her parents, the child is learning 

that others share in the joy of her accomplishments. In 

each of these examples, the relationship is what guides 

the learning process and makes the difference in how the 

child develops a sense of self, what he or she can do, and 

the effect he or she has on others. This awareness 

ultimately builds the social and emotional characteristics 

that have been identified as the precursors for readiness 

to learn. 

Grantee and delegate agencies 

must support the social and 

emotional development of infants 

and toddlers by promoting an 

environment that: page

5 

Encourages the development of 

self-awareness, autonomy, and 

self-expression; and 

Supports the emerging communication 

skills of infants and toddlers by 

providing daily opportunities for each 

child to interact with others and to 

express himself or herself freely. 

Head Start Program Performance Standard 

1304.21(b)(2)(i) 

Hamilton Center, IN 
page 

6 

E ARLY HEAD S TART NATIONAL RESOURCE C ENTER 

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE 

Learn more about how infant development unfolds 

by observing infants and toddlers during everyday 

routines and play. Use the two examples below to 

increase your understanding of the connections 

between each area of development. 

Pay close attention to your interactions with a 

particular child during a feeding routine. Reflect on 

the different ways the child was experiencing the 

feeding. What motor skills was he practicing? 

Perhaps he was reaching for the spoon or using his 

small motor skills to pick up a bite of food between 

his finger and thumb. What language learning took 

place? Did the child coo and babble, imitate sounds, 

and hear words associated with eating? What cognitive skills did he practice? Perhaps he was engaged 

in a favorite game of throwing his food and utensils 

over the edge of the high chair for you to retrieve 

again and again (this popular activity demonstrates 

cause-and-effect learning and the emerging concept

of object permanence, or how things continue to 

exist even when out of sight). And what were the 

social and emotional messages that were communicated during this feeding? How did the child signal 

that he wanted more food or had eaten enough? 

From your actions, the child learns that eating is 

pleasurable, his hunger will be satisfied, people care 

about him, and many other lessons, depending on 

the tone of the interaction. 

Pair up with another staff member (or have parents 

pair up with each other during a socialization) to 

observe each other in a free play situation with a 

child. Each caregiver will take a turn playing and 

then observing. With a sheet of paper that lists each 

developmental domain on the left side (see appendix 

A for an example), the observer should write down 

what the child is learning or experiencing in each 

area of development during the play. For example, 

consider a caregiver helping a toddler negotiate the 

playground equipment. In the area of motor development, the child is using her large muscles to 

climb, pull her body up, balance, and jump. In the 

area of language development, her vocabulary is 

expanding as she and the caregiver label the new 

experiences she is having and by how the caregiver 

talks to her during her play. In the area of cognitive 

development, she is learning concepts such as up, 

down, through, over, and under. Socially and emotionally, she is learning that her caregiver supports 

her as she tries new things, negotiates conflict with 

others, keeps her safe from harm, and brings joy to 

her play. She is learning to have confidence in herself, to be curious, to trust adults, and to get along 

with her peers. 

Relationships Facilitate Learning 

Early studies of institutionalized infants provide welldocumented evidence of the physical, social, and 

cognitive deterioration that occurs in infants who 

experience a lack of intimate emotional relationships 

with significant caregivers (Spitz, 1945). More recent 

studies of children adopted from orphanages around the 

world demonstrate how these children, who did not 

receive stimulation or consistent relationships with 

caregivers, dramatically improved their developmental 

functioning when placed in a nurturing and loving 

environment. For example, a child who is withdrawn 

and lethargic will begin to brighten and show interest in 

the surrounding world when he or she is with attentive, 

loving, 

focused 

caregivers. 

The most 

recent 

research 

on early 

brain 

Murray Early Head Start, Murray, KY 
development highlights the “pruning,” or the “use it or 

lose it,” process that occurs in the connections among 

brain cells. This process strengthens the connections 

among frequently used cells and weakens, and eventually 

eliminates, the connections among brain cells that are 

not used. This “pruning” of the brain occurs during 

normal, everyday activities and experiences, and it 

literally shapes the structures of the brain (National 

Research Council & Institute of Medicine, 2000). 

Daily caretaking routines such as holding, rocking, 

bathing, feeding, dressing, and talking to infants all help 

create new connections in the brain. Expensive toys, flash 

cards, or other gadgets are not necessary to get a jump 

start on cognitive development or to “make a smarter 

baby.” Children play creatively and learn from the most 

ordinary of items—by crawling through cardboard boxes, 

sorting and banging with plastic bowls and lids, or playing 

peek-a-boo with mommy’s scarf. Parents and early 

childhood programs need materials that capture the 

child’s imagination and interest, but they do not need to 

purchase special items that are marketed to boost “brain 

power.” (See the Resources section of this paper for 

publications that can give you ideas for materials, activities, 

and play experiences for infants and toddlers.) 

Relationships guide learning in a number of ways. For 

example, adult caretakers are responsible for the child’s 

environment and the amount of sensory stimulation in 

that environment. One of the first developmental tasks 

of the newborn is to regulate his or her states of arousal 

from deep sleep to drowsy awake to alert to fussing or 

full-blown crying. In each of these states, the infant is 

more or less able to respond and interact with his or her 

environment. The infant is most open to social 

interaction and exploration when in a quiet, alert state. 

Parents and other caretakers play an important role in 

helping infants regulate their states of arousal by tending 

to their needs: changing a wet diaper, feeding a hungry 

baby, rocking a tired baby to sleep, keeping sounds and 

visual stimulation at a comfortable level. Significant 

adults are the guides for learning who and what is “safe.” 

For example, a 9-month-old baby will look at a parent or 

a childcare teacher when a new person comes into the 

page 

7 

Murray Early Head Start, Murray, KY 

room to check whether it is okay to interact. Or a 

crawling baby will look at her father when approaching 

what looks like an area too steep to navigate. 

During this kind of responsive caregiving is when 

infants begin to develop a sense of trust in the people 

who care for them and form the bonds of attachment 

that hold the parents and other caregivers in a special 

place in that child’s life. In a secure relationship, a child 

learns “I matter,” “Someone understands me,” “My needs 

will be met,” forming the basis for self-esteem as well as 

the expectation that people are good and the world is 

safe. This confidence and security ultimately builds the 

self-regulation that is necessary for young children to 

become successful learners and it promotes competence 

in all areas of development. 
page 

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E ARLY HEAD S TART NATIONAL RESOURCE C ENTER 

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE 

The relationships that you build with the children 

in your program enhance or inhibit their learning. 

How do you build an effective relationship with a 

child? What happens when you have a child in your 

care that you just do not “click” with? How do you, 

the caregiver, take care of yourself so you have the 

energy to care for the children? 

Relationships take time and attention. Recognize 

that, like adults, children come to your program 

with a history of relationships that will influence 

how they approach a new relationship. Think about 

the characteristics of important relationships in your 

own life and the qualities that make them special— 

trust, acceptance, feeling understood, having your 

needs met. These are the same qualities that you 

want to bring to your relationships with children. 

Typically, we have difficulty acknowledging that 

we do not always hit it off with all of the children in 

our care. Children affect us differently, and we need 

to recognize when a child in our care “pushes our 

buttons.” Think about the children that you feel 

particularly close to and those who often leave you 

feeling frustrated. Although these feelings of closeness and frustration are normal, it is your responsibility to manage them so they do not interfere with 

the care of the children. Talking openly with a 

supervisor in a safe and supportive setting about your

relationships with the children in your care provides 

the opportunity to get the support you need to 

respond to challenging children with sensitivity. The

children who challenge us as caregivers are also the 

ones who provide us an opportunity to increase our 

self-awareness and understanding of how our own 

experiences influence what we bring to the caregiving role. 

Who you are as a person, your own temperament, 

past experiences, family and cultural values, and current life circumstances shape how you respond to 

the children and families in your program. Working 

with young children and families is challenging, 

rewarding, and emotionally hard work. As a caregiver, it is vitally important that you pay attention to 

your stress level and how you take care of your own 

needs. Stress relief means different things to different people. Explore what helps you—exercise, time 

with friends, time alone, a good book, a hot bath, 

listening to music, going out dancing—and recognize when you need to nurture yourself so you have 

the emotional energy to nurture the families and 

children with whom you work. 

CESA #11 Early Head Start, Turtle Lake, WI 

Curriculum Is Delivered Through Relationships 

The idea of a curriculum for programs serving infants 

and toddlers has raised many questions in the early care 

and education field about what it means to support the 

development and learning of very young children. The 

Head Start Program Performance Standards (1996) 

define curriculum as a written plan that includes “the 

goals for children’s development and learning; the 

experiences through which they will achieve these goals; 

what staff members and parents do to help children 

achieve these goals; and the materials needed to support 

the implementation of the curriculum” [(45 CFR 

1304.3(a)(5)]. 
page 

9 

Murray Early Head Start, Murray, KY 

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PAPER NO .6 

In a comprehensive approach to curriculum, learning 

goals address all the developmental domains—motor, 

sensory, language, cognitive, and social and emotional 

skills. Furthermore, the concepts of learning and skill 

development are different for infants and toddlers than 

for older children. Rote teaching of discrete skills is 

developmentally inappropriate. Infants and toddlers learn 

through play, exploration, and interaction with objects 

and people in the context of meaningful relationships 

with trusted adults. See the box titled “Learning Through 

Play: for examples of the amazing amount of learning that 

happens through play. 

Learning Through Play 

What do we mean when we say that play is children’s work? What are infants and toddlers really 

learning in their play that forms the foundational 

skills for later work in school? The table below provides some examples of typical infant and toddler 

play experiences, their relationship to academic skill 

areas, and the unique role of social and emotional 

development as a bridge between play and learning. 

The parents and the EHS staff collaborative to 

develop learning goals, identify the experiences they 

want children to have in the program, and do what is 

necessary to create these learning opportunities. The 

ongoing developmental assessment of children provides 

the information that is used to individualize the 

curriculum by identifying a child’s unique skills, interests, 

resources, needs, and progress. Some of the strategies for 

PLAY EXPERIENCES SKILL AREAS WHAT CHILDREN MAY BE LEARNING 

Cognitive Social-Emotional 

Playing pat-a-cake Language Imitation I feel understood when you 

respond to my gestures. We 

have fun together. I like to 

imitate you. 

Manipulating and 

mouthing books; being 

read to 

Literacy Vocabulary, memory I like being close when we read 

together. It feels good to snuggle 

with you and hear my favorite 

story. 

Group play at the water 

table with different-sized 

containers 

Science Concepts of weight 

and volume 

I learn how to take turns and 

share. 

Building with blocks Math Counting, sorting, and 

classification skills 

I feel so proud when you clap 

for me as I build my block 

tower. 
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E ARLY HEAD S TART NATIONAL RESOURCE C ENTER 

ongoing assessment might include; 

(a) recording children’s behavior to identify current functioning and emerging skills; 

(b) communicating with parents and other caregivers 

about behavior in the home and other settings; 

(c) identifying different ways children learn and expanding the experiences to incorporate different learning 

styles; and 

(d) modifying the materials, experiences, or environment 

to encourage new skills. 

In addition, through the relationships with children, 

caregivers are able to individualize learning goals and use 

the informal “teachable moments” that provide rich, 

responsive, and relevant learning experiences in 

unplanned and, often, unexpected ways. These are the 

learning experiences that usually have the greatest effect. 

Skilled caregivers spontaneously use teachable moments 

to address developmental skills in all areas of 

development. For example, a caregiver is reinforcing 

cognitive skills (color identification, discrimination skills)

when the child with whom she is finger painting notices 

that his red shirt matches the red paint and she makes a 

game out of naming all the other red things in the room 

that the child can find. Similarly, the caregiver reinforces 

social and emotional skills (conflict negotiation, 

emotional regulation) when he or she helps negotiate a 

fight between two toddlers over who had the fire truck 

first, explains how the children will 

play with it together or take turns, 

and identifies and validates the 

feelings—frustration, anger, fear— 

that may accompany this typical 

altercation. 

Child Development and Education 

Approach for Infants and Toddlers 

Grantee and delegate agencies’ 

program of services for infants and 

toddlers must encourage: 

(i) The development of secure relationships 

in out-of-home care settings for infants and 

toddlers by having a limited number of consistent teachers over an extended period of 

time. Teachers must demonstrate an understanding of the child’s family culture and, 

whenever possible, speak the child’s language. 

(ii) Trust and emotional security so that each 

child can explore the environment according 

to his or her developmental level; and 

(iii) Opportunities for each child to explore 

a variety of sensory and motor experiences 

with support and stimulation from teachers 

and family members. 

Head Start Program Performance Standard 

1304.21 (b)(1)(i-iii) 

Save the Children, Early Head Start, Atlanta, GA 
page 

11 

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PAPER NO .6 

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE 

Children’s thinking and learning is guided by 

responsive caregiving. Understanding child development is an important tool for responding effectively 

to the children with whom you work and for supporting families who are learning these skills. 

Learn about the cognitive milestones that take 

place in the early years—the importance of concepts 

such as imitation, object permanence, and pretend 

play—and the progression of learning from simple to 

more sophisticated skills that children demonstrate 

in their play. 

Use this knowledge to individualize the curriculum. Knowing the stages of development will allow 

you to anticipate what developmental task comes 

next and to provide appropriate experiences. Your 

goal is to challenge each child in ways that elicit 

West Medford Early Head Start, Medford, OR 

emerging skills by accurately reading his or her cues
 

and responding with the appropriate support (for
 

example, helping a child learning to crawl by putting a favorite toy just a little out of reach right next
 

to you and giving him a hug or a verbal “yes” when
 

he gets it).
 

Think about how everyday experiences at home 

or in group care involve cognitive concepts and 

social and emotional skills. Recognize how both cognitive and social and emotional skills guide the curriculum. For example, the rituals for arrival and 

departure incorporate the cognitive skill of object 

permanence and help build social and emotional 

skills like resiliency, emotional regulation, and communication. Infants and toddlers at different developmental levels will require different strategies to 

cope with their parent leaving them with the caregiver. You can help parents prepare for the social 

and emotional changes—such as crying, clinging, 

and separation anxiety—which often occur when 

infants develop this new cognitive understanding
 

later in the first year of life.
 

As you think about curriculum development,
 

remember that goals for learning involve all the
 

developmental domains—cognitive, motor, sensory,
 

language, social, and emotional. When these
 

domains are integrated and work together, they promote healthy developmental functioning.
 

Staff Members Can Best Support Children by 

Supporting Their Parents 

Ultimately, the relationships that children have with 

their parents are the most important relationships in the 

children’s lives and the ones that have the greatest 

influence on children’s development. Children from lowincome families are at an increased risk for disturbances 

in their early relationships because of the stress factors 

associated with poverty. Low-income families experience 

higher rates of health problems, family and community 

violence, homelessness, and depression. Parents living in 

poverty are often consumed by their immediate needs for 
page 

12 

E ARLY HEAD S TART NATIONAL RESOURCE C ENTER 

food, safe housing, health care, and other concerns that 

must be met before they can focus on other areas of their 

lives. The EHS program can be instrumental in 

providing the supports and services that families need to 

improve their life circumstances and in developing 

environments where parents are empowered to be their 

children’s first and most important teachers. 

Parents are role models for their children in many 

areas, including social and emotional skills. Their own 

ability to cope, express emotions, communicate, persist in 

tasks, cooperate, compromise, negotiate conflict, and so 

forth can promote or impede the development of healthy 

social and emotional functioning in their children. 

Parents who have safe, supportive relationships with staff 

members can use those relationships as models for how to 

create a nurturing environment for their children. Just as 

children need support to cope, express emotions, 

communicate, persist in tasks, and negotiate conflict, so 

do adults. A parent who is stressed in the morning when 

he is dropping off a toddler feels better when the teacher 

notices and asks how the dad is feeling. The experience 

of being seen and cared for helps us care for others. 

Partnerships with families have been described as the 

foundation for Head Start success. Relationships with 

families are characterized by mutual respect, trust, 

acceptance, objectivity, flexibility, personalized 

attention, and cultural awareness (U. S. Department of 

Health and Human Services, 1998). The family 

partnership process begins at the time of enrollment, 

evolves as families’ needs and goals change, and 

continues through the children’s transition out of the 

Head Start program into other community settings. 

One of the challenges that EHS staff members face, 

especially in the home-based program option, is the 

delicate balance between supporting parent needs while 

maintaining a focus on the child development goals of 

the EHS program. An example of this balancing act is 

described in the Information Memorandum Child 

Development Services During Home Visits and 

Socializations in the Early Head Start Home-Based 

Program Option (U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services, 2000): 

Grantee and delegate agencies must 

engage in a process of collaborative 

partnership-building with parents to 

establish mutual trust and to identify 

family goals, strengths, and necessary 

services and other supports. This process 

must beinitiated as early after enrollment 

as possible, and it must take into consideration each family’s readiness and 

willingness to participate in the process. 

As part of this ongoing partnership, 

grantee and delegate agencies must offer 

parents opportunities to develop and 

implement individualized family partnership agreements that describe family 

goals, responsibilities, timetables, and 

strategies for achieving these goals as well 

as progress in achieving them.... 

Head Start Program Performance Standard 1304.40 (a) (1) (2) 

Each home visit should focus on the parent as the 

child’s most important relationship and first teacher, and 

through the parent, focus on the needs of the child. 

Child development experiences, which focus on the 

relationship and interaction between the parent and 

child, should occur during each home visit. There are 

times when a parent is so distracted by personal needs 

that it is difficult to establish the focus on the child. It is 

important at these times to ensure that the parent gets 

the support he or she needs so that he or she can then be 

available to meet their child’s needs. A home visitor in 

this circumstance might guide the focus back to the 

child by first listening to the parent’s concerns, 

identifying resources, and then helping the parents 

understand how the family circumstances affect the 

child. The home visitor should ensure that the child 

development goals of the Early Head Start program are 
page 

13 

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PAPER NO .6 

being addressed at the same time that the needs of the 

parents are supported. (ACYF-IM-HS-00-22, 2000, p. 4) 

Although the particular challenges and strategies for 

relationship building between parents and EHS staff 

members are different in the various program models, all 

EHS programs share the goal of strengthening the bond 

between parent and child to achieve the best child 

development outcomes. 

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE 

Building partnerships with families is integral to fostering the skills that promote school readiness. 

Involving parents as early and as fully as possible in 

their child’s education will empower them to remain 

their child’s best advocates throughout his or her 

years in school. Both home visits and center-based 

classrooms provide opportunities to observe and 

Children’s 

Home 

Society of 

Washington 

Auburn, WA 

reflect on the relationship between parent and child. 

Look for the strengths in the infant-parent relationship and point them out to parents. Parents often do 

not recognize how important and special they are to 

their child. For example, when mom or dad is reunited 

with their child, notice out loud, “Look how Mary 

smiles when you enter the room ... and she’s watching 

every move you make. She sure is happy to see you.” 

Notice and appreciate how parents take care of 

their children. Simple statements affirm the effort 

the parent is making to care for his or her child. For 

example, “What a pretty dress mommy put on you 

today” or “Your daddy brought your nice warm coat 

today. You’ll be comfy when we go outside later.” 

Help parents read their child’s cues by wondering 

aloud what the child’s gestures and vocalizations 

might mean. For example, “I noticed that Daniel 

always covers his eyes with his hand when he enters 

the child care room. What do you think that is 

about?” This kind of conversation opens the 

door to talk about how Daniel is managing his 

transition from home to child care, how to best 

work with his particular temperament, and what 

strategies the caregivers and parents can develop 

together to meet Daniel’s needs. 

Use both informal moments and structured 

parent gatherings (such as socialization experiences for the Home-Based Program Option) to 

teach parents about the connection between 

social and emotional development and the mastery of cognitive skills in infancy and toddlerhood. Help parents recognize that the process of 

learning is equally important as mastering a particular milestone such as identifying letters, 

shapes, or numbers. Children will naturally 

learn about these and other literacy and numeracy concepts as their caregivers encourage and 

support the exploration of their environment. 

For example, infants and toddlers do not need 

structured teaching lessons to learn the alphabet. Rather, they will learn preliteracy skills in a 

setting where they have access to books, are 
page 

14 

read to regularly, see the adults in their lives enjoy 

reading, and experience a language-rich environment that includes talking, singing, and storytelling. 

Help parents understand that, although promoting 

literacy to a 6-month-old may look like the child is 

simply mouthing or banging a book, in fact, the 

infant is learning that manipulating books is a fun, 

rewarding, positive experience. These experiences 

are especially powerful when they occur in the context of the child’s relationship with the parent— 

being snuggled in the parent’s lap, enjoying each 

other’s company, and sharing joyful or tender 

moments together. Through these experiences, 

infants will naturally begin to appreciate the importance of words and letters and will enter preschool, 

and eventually kindergarten, as eager learners who 

are ready for more sophisticated academic concepts. 

SUMMING UP 

In this paper, we have explored the concept of school 

readiness and the overall developmental competence of 

very young children as they relate to preparation for 

transitions and challenges along the journey to 

adulthood. We presented four concepts, supported by the 

Head Start Program Performance Standards (1996), to 

guide your program in the effort to foster developmental 

competence in very young children: 

(1) cognitive and social-emotional development are 

interrelated and cannot be separated; 

(2) relationships facilitate learning, and the adult serves 

to focus and regulate the child’s cognitive experiences; 

(3) curriculum is delivered through relationships, and 

how the curriculum is delivered is equally important to 

TN CAREs Early Head Start, Weakley Co, TN 

the learning objectives; and 

(4) staff members who support parents as their child’s first 

and most important teacher provide the best chance for 

children to reach their greatest developmental potential. 

However, no single program or initiative on its own 

can accomplish the goal of fostering competence in the 

earliest years. The authors of From Neurons to 

Neighborhoods (National Research Council & Institute of 

Medicine, 2000) emphasize the importance of social and 

emotional functioning for overall developmental 

competence and make three specific recommendations 

to support the early learning and social-emotional 

development of young children: 

1. Resources equal to those devoted to the development 

of literacy and numerical skills should be available to 

develop “effective strategies for fostering: 

(a) the development of curiosity, self direction, and 

persistence in learning situations; 

(b) the ability to cooperate, demonstrate caring, and 

resolve conflict with peers; and 

(c) the capacity to experience the enhanced motivation 

associated with feeling competent and loved” (p. 387). 

2. School readiness initiatives must pay equal attention 

to how well they improve the performance of those who 

participate and how effectively they decrease any gaps in 

skills that are typically observed at the time of school 

entry among children of different backgrounds 

3. Substantial new investments are necessary to address 

the mental health needs of young children. Resources 

should be devoted to the full continuum of prevention, 

screening and early detection, and intervention for mental health problems. 

The foundations for school readiness are clearly set in 

the earliest years of life, and through significant 

relationships, babies and young children acquire the 

skills that are necessary for competence in all areas of 

development and later success in school. When they 

receive the nurturing, responsive, loving care that 

inspires their initiative, curiosity, and hunger to learn— 

along with the trust, security, and self-confidence 

required to buffer the struggle of new challenges— 

children develop the skills to be fully equipped for 

success in school and in life. 
page 

15 

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PAPER NO .6 

DEVELOPMENTAL 

SKILLS 

Large Motor Skills 

CHILD/CAREGIVER 

INTERACTIONS 

WHAT CHILDREN MAY BE LEARNING 

Small Motor Skills 

Communication/ 

Language Skills 

Cognitive Skills 

Social Skills 

Emotional Skills 

Other 
page 

16 

E ARLY HEAD S TART NATIONAL RESOURCE C ENTER 

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Child Trends. (2000, August). School readiness: Helping 

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Hawley, T. (1998). Ready to succeed: The lasting effects of 

early relationships. Washington, DC: Ounce of Prevention 

Fund and ZERO TO THREE. 

Lerner, C., & Dombro, A. (2000). Learning and growing 

together: Understanding and supporting your child’s 

development. Washington, DC: ZERO TO THREE. 

National Association for the Education of Young 

Children. (1995). NAEYC Position statement on school 

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Parlakian, R. (2001). Look, listen, and learn: Reflective 

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Parlakian, R. (2001). The power of questions: Building 

quality relationships with families. 

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Powers, S., & Lerner, C. (2000). Learning and growing 

together tip sheets: Ideas for professionals in programs that 

serve young children and their families. 

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ZERO TO THREE. (2001). 

Learning and growing together with families video package. 

Washington, DC: Author. 
Early Head Start of the Lehigh Valley, 

Bethlehem, PA 

Morgantown Early Head Start, 

Dorsey, VA 

EARLY HEAD START NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER
 
EARLY HEAD START NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER