Early Head Start - Important Areas of The Early Head Start Program

Important Areas of The Early Head Start Program

1.Child Development: "Programs must support the physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language development of each child." This also includes educating and supporting parents and positive parent-child relationships. The program must provide the following services or it must refer families to outside services that provide these:

-Developmentally appropriate education services for young children this includes developmentally appropriate settings, activities, and resources;

-Home-visits;

-Parent education and parent-child activities;

-Complete health and mental health services; and

-High quality child care services provided by or in partnership with local child care centers

2.Family Development: Programs must help families develop and reach goals for both parents and children. Each family will work with the staff to create a family development plan that focuses on all different needs of the family including social, economic, and the child's developmental needs. Families involved in multiple programs will receive help to integrate all programs into one plan and system of services. The services that programs must provide directly or through referral include:

-Information on child development;

-Complete health and mental health services, this includes alcohol and substance abuse treatment and assistance with quitting smoking;

-Parents will receive adult education, literacy, and job skills training to foster family's independence.

-Families will get help in obtaining income support, safe housing, or emergency cash; and

-Families will receive help with transportation to early head start program services to allow all participants access to the program and services.

3.Community Building: In order to create a complete network of services and support for pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers, Early Head Start Programs must assess a community and its services. The goal is to create a network in the community to support these families and their needs by giving them access to services and making these services more efficient for all families in the community.

4.Staff Development: The quality of the staff is a key structure of the Early Head Start program. Staff members involved with the program must develop supportive relationships with parents and children. Staff will have a continuous learning process which includes trainings, supervision, and mentoring in order to keep them focused on the main goals of the program and help them build better relationships with both families and children. Development will be focused on child development, family development, and community development.

5.Administration/Management: The administration and management used with the Early Head Start programs will follow the practices which uphold the nine principles and four cornerstones set forth in the Early Head Start initiative. All staff must be cross-trained in the areas of child, family, and community development. Relationship-building will be the focus and basis for interactions between children, families, and staff members.

6.Continuous Improvement: On-going training and technical assistance is provided by the Infant/Family Network and the EHS NRC, this in addition to other trainings, mentoring, research, and evaluations enables the Early Head Start program staff and services to meet the needs of families and their children better. Continuous training ensures that staff will be up to date and constantly informed on program policies and guides.

7.Children with Disabilities: Early Head Start programs will be responsible for coordinating with different programs and services in their areas in accordance with Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The Early Head Start program ensures that children with disabilities will not be excluded, and that these children will receive all the services they need and be included in all program activities. This gives all children equal access to services and resources to ensure proper child development.

8.Socialization:The Early Head Start program focuses on socialization of infants and toddlers the most important relationship at this age is between children and their parents. Socialization between infants and toddlers and their peers is also important but is not the main focus. Socialization gives parents a chance to be in a setting where they can interact with their child, other parents, and qualified staff in order to learn more about their child's development and develop more as a family. It is one more way families can receive support and education. Socialization also helps with community and team building by bringing many different members together and increasing communication and relationship.

9.Curriculum: The Early Head Start curriculum plays an extremely important role in the development and education of young children in the program. The curriculum includes five aspects: 1-the goals designed by staff and parents for the child's growth, development, and learning; 2-the experiences and activities through which the child will achieve the goals set for them; 3-what the staff and parents will do to support and help the child achieve these goals; and 4- the materials needed to facilitate and support the implementation of the curriculum in order for the child to reach these goals.