I believe DAP is the foundation for teaching young children. Educators need to know where each child is at developmentally and how we can help them reach the next stage. Early Childhood Professionals need to be educated and trained in early childhood education and child development. Caring for and educating young children with an understanding of how children grow and develop as well as what practices work for their own personal teaching style or that of the program they work for requires an firm understanding of Developmentally Appropriate Practices. It also means that educators need to take the time to get to know the child on an individual level, their temperament, personality, where they are at developmentally, and their learning style. "By continually observing children’s play and interaction with the physical environment and others, we learn about each child’s interests, abilities, and developmental progress." (NAEYC, 2014, DAP) It is so vitally important to connect with the families in your program. This can take some time but by developing a relationship with a child's family it will allow you to get to know a child through their first teachers eyes, their parents. This extends to learning about what is culturally important to each child and their family. Educators need to take the time to get to know each family in the program. Finding out what values they find important, the expectations that they have for their child and for us, as well as how the community plays a part in their lives will "help us provide meaningful, relevant, and respectful learning experiences for each child and family." (NAEYC, 2014, DAP) Developmentally appropriate practice means that we must
take into consideration factors like, meeting to the child where they are at
developmentally when developing goals to help promote their growth and
development. DAP is strongly rooted in teachers basing their practices on
researched based theories and approaches so that they are providing the most
age and developmentally appropriate practices for the children in their
program. In my own practice this means that I look at every child as an
individual, see where I can help them advance into the next stage of
development and then combine these individual needs with that of the goals for
the whole class.