ERIC Number: ED046883
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1970
Pages: 22
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
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A Training Program in Infant Education for Paraprofessional Staff of Day Care Centers.
Segner, Leslie; Patterson, Charlotte
As part of an early child care program for migrant children in Colorado, 2-day workshops were held to train migrant women--mostly Spanish-speaking Mexican Americans--as teachers and aides for 25 infant education centers operated in public schools throughout the summer of 1969. Major goals were 1) to change attitudes toward the importance of talking to babies and playfully interacting with them and 2) to impart specific information about ways to help babies grow and learn. Sessions were relaxed and informal, one goal being to enhance each woman's role-concepts by reinforcing their identities as teacher and infant educator. Attempts were made to systematize the teachers' practical knowledge of child development and describe specific skills at different age levels which are critical to later learning and academic success. Evaluation data indicated that despite some success in achieving the second major goal, little progress was made in changing attitudes; that initial training is most effective when combined with follow-up sessions by professional consultants; and that the program's most positive feature was the informality of its teaching format. (Included are names of the two films and three booklets used, description of six videotapes used to demonstrate interactions between caretakers and babies at different age levels, and the form used in evaluating the functioning of the day care centers.) (JS)
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Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: from Readings in Day Care, B. Caldwell, Editor. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston (in press)