A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE FOR CAREGIVERS IN DAY-CARE SETTINGS

Book excerpt: An increasing number of people in our country today acknowledge the fact that there is an enormous crisis in the field of early child care. The first chapter of this book examines the major reasons for the crisis and why the economic reality for most American households will cause the problem to continue to grow in the coming years. Following this, the second chapter discusses the criteria of a good early child care setup, based on professional literature in the field and the author's experience. The remainder of the book addresses the serious problem that most day-care workers are very poorly trained for their jobs. Six chapters are devoted to providing a practical guide for people who work with young children. They discuss, from current research in the field but without using technical language, current practical methods of working with children-at-risk or those who may potentially be at-risk. The focus is on working with children in groups, helping day-care workers and substitute parents to minimize or remediate the at-risk factor in the children in their care. The book also addresses parents of these children and emphasizes the need for cooperation between day-care workers and them so that child care providers can effectively convey the skills presented here. There is also a chapter on approaches to working with special children, such as children with autism, and those with physical or neurological impairments. This informative and sensitive book will be useful in advancing the training of workers in infant and early child care settings.