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Savannah Ard

Robertson

CHILD 230

May 6, 2019

The impact of Developmentally Appropriate Practices

Developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) are principles that have been created

based on ideas from theorists, practitioners and philosophers. Many people have worked with

children over many years and have published their works and guidelines to help future

teachers. These principles focus on the age, individuality and culture of the children. All children

are unique and learn differently; therefore, teachers that apply DAP teach curriculum according

to each child’s needs. As teachers follow DAP, children should be able to learn and develop at

their own rate in a safe and positive environment. There are many factors in DAP and as we

consider each of them when setting up their environment, writing curriculum and lesson plans

it can be of great benefit to children.

There are many childcare centers and Preschools. How can you know which facilities are

good quality? Personally, I feel that one way to know children are having a good experience is if

the facility follows the principles of DAP, because this means children are being cared for

individually by professional’s that understand how children develop. They are not just being

cared for as a group of busy preschoolers but rather as an individual with their own interests,

needs, concerns and learning pace.

Some preschool experiences without DAP may be like Aaron’s. Aaron, a preschooler

enters his classroom. It seems loud today, his classmates are running around, and some are
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arguing. The teacher is trying to calm them all down. His mom needs to leave quickly for work

so he is left alone to take off his coat and shoes, but he would like some help. He signals the

teachers attention for help so she comes over and quickly takes off his shoes and coat for him

so she can get back to calming the other children down. Aaron has been working on taking his

shoes of all by himself, but he will practice that later.

During self-selected time a few children gather at the dramatic play area. The children

begin to shop at the grocery store. Aaron approaches them and wants to join; however, the

other children do not talk to him. He eventually gives up trying and walks away. The teachers

do not notice because they are busy with other children. Later on, in the day Aaron is found

painting the tables instead of the paper. The teacher quickly takes the paint brush away and has

him sit in time out with no explanation. Aaron feels sad that he is no longer able to paint his

picture. The classroom is so busy that eventually Aaron leaves time out and none of the

teachers talk to him. He decides to practice his writing, but he can only find paper but no

pencils. He looks around but gives up and chooses another activity. Aaron is not sure what

activity to do. He has been really into tools at home, but he does not see any books or toys that

he would like. He finally decides to try cutting paper with scissors but is having a hard time

using them and none of the teachers offer him help.

At the end of the day when Aarons mom picks him up she talks to the teacher about her

concern with Aarons recent delay in talking. The teacher acts concerned and involved but

truthfully she has not spent enough time talking with Aaron to understand his delay.

Throughout the day we saw how Aaron struggled to learn and develop because his

individual interests and developmental needs were not being met. The teacher did not take the
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time to build relationships with Aaron or his parent which is one principle of DAP. Aaron was

not given the opportunity to practice taking off his own coat and shoes, even though through

DAP we know children learn by doing. Aaron had a tough time during self-selected center time

because he struggled engaging in one activity either because of a lack of materials, or a lack of

teacher support or a lack of planned curriculum. The teachers should have performed a pre-

assessment for Aaron. From the pre-assessment they might have learned more about his delay

in talking, his love for painting, his interest in tools and his interest in learning to use scissors.

The teacher missed another opportunity to build a relationship with Aarons mother because

she was not aware of his delay in talking. Sadly, other children may have similar experiences as

Aaron did at school.

In contrast, let’s take a look at a preschool that follows Developmentally Appropriate

practices. Many of these practices will be seen as we go through Amanda’s first day of

preschool. Amanda comes in to her first day of preschool. She is very nervous, but she is

welcomed warmly. The teacher is there to greet her by squatting down to talk to her. Amanda

thinks she looks nice and happy. The teacher warmly greets her father and remembers his

name from the home visit they had a week ago. They both say goodbye to Amanda’s dad and

then work on taking her coat and shoes off together.

Throughout the morning Amanda finds some activities that she loves like, building

blocks. At home her and her brothers have been making large towers and she is happy she can

continue that at school. While Amanda is building, another boy comes over and knocks her

towers down. This makes her very sad, so the teacher comes over and has the boy work with

the puzzles instead. She is glad that she can continue to build her towers.
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Later in the day the class goes outside. Amanda notices many of the children gather to

play a game on the grass. There are many children over there she does not know so she feels

nervous about joining them. Luckily the other teacher notices Amanda and invites her to

participate with her. Amanda decides to try it and begins to make friends with the other

children. She also learns new songs with the class during the game and she has fun singing

along.

Next, the class goes back inside and reads a story together. Amanda has not read very

many books, however the teacher is reading a book about dogs which she loves because she

has a new puppy at home. She enjoys hearing the story, she even learned a few new words

about dogs.

As we observe the day Amanda had we can see examples of many DAP practices. First,

we see that the teachers are focusing on building relationships with each child and with their

parents. It was a good practice of the teacher to get to Amanda’s level, making her feel

welcome. She also greeted the father and they all separated on a good note.

We can also see that the teacher planned her curriculum well because Amanda found

something she was interested in. The teacher remembered watching Amanda and her brother

build towers during her home visit. During that same visit the teacher observed the new puppy

they have. Amanda had been excited to tell her all about their new dog. These two pieces of

information helped the teacher build the day around Amanda’s needs, so she felt more

comfortable coming into her first day of school.

Throughout the day the teacher was sad to see she was nervous about joining new

activities. She noticed Amanda had a quiet, more timid temperament which is why she invited
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her to join the outdoor group game and why she allowed her to play with her blocks alone. The

teacher helped Amanda have good experiences of learning in both of those activities. The

teacher even noticed she had learned new songs and new words because of the prior

knowledge she displayed during their pre-assessment. Her first day had been full of fun and

learning.

Aaron and Amanda had different experiences in preschool because of the principles the

preschools followed. Comparing these two examples, I would much rather have my children

attend Amanda’s preschool because the teachers understand how to focus on each individual

child. There are many benefits for children, as teachers use the principles of DAP, such as

emotional regulation, development of communication skills, language development, and

development of gross and fine motor skills. It shows that DAP focuses on the whole child, social,

cognitive, physical and emotional development. Another benefit is that children are under less

stress than high academic programs because they are learning at their own rate and interest.

Families benefit from DAP as the teacher communicates with them regarding the development

of the child so they can have unified goals.

Developmentally Appropriate practices give children a safe, meaningful environment to

develop in because they are free to be exploring children. Children in DAP programs are valued

for who they are individually and where they are developmentally. DAP also helps build self-

confidence in children’s own skills and abilities because they are given space to naturally learn.

Preschool is a significant part of some children’s lives; developmentally appropriate practices

help children have a more meaningful experience in preschool.

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References

Copple, C. & S. Bredekamp (editors). (2009). Developmentally Appropriate Practice In Early

Childhood Programs (3rd Edition). Washington, D.C.: National Association for the

Education of Young Children.

Dunn, L. & Kontos, S. (1997). Developmentally Appropriate Practice: What Does Research Tell

Us?. ERIC Digest. Retrieved from: https://www.ericdigests.org/1998-1/practice.htm

Mincemoyer, C. (2016). Exploring developmentally appropriate practice. Retrieved from:

https://extension.psu.edu/programs/betterkidcare/early-care/tip-pages/all/exploring-

developmentally-appropriate-practice