Little Pickle Press is at the NAEYC Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA

By Rana DiOrio, Founder, Little Pickle Press

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has joined forces this year with the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) to provide an opportunity to share, exchange, and learn from a broad range of practitioners and advocates across the country at the 2010 NAEYC Annual Conference and Expo. Rana DiOrio (Chief Executive Pickle), Judy O’Malley (Editor), and Leslie Iorillo (Art Director) will all be in attendance. We are grateful for this opportunity to learn from the innovators of early childhood education. 

Educators will come to Anaheim, CA from across the country and around the world for hundreds of well-planned workshops, seminars, and presentations on the latest research and information on early childhood development. They also come for the exciting Exhibit Hall, with more than 1,000 booths featuring the best materials, services, and ideas for early childhood teachers, administrators, and programs.

The opening keynote address on Wednesday, November 3rd features T. Berry Brazelton, MD and Joshua Sparrow, MD and focuses on Touchpoints: Caring for Children, Parents, and Other Caregivers. According to the conference collateral, Dr. Brazelton’s concept of “touchpoints” represents opportunities for educators and clinicians to help parents and children through difficult and predictable phases of development. Developmental growth spurts become opportunities for hope and confirmation for parents caring for children with developmental delays. As a child approaches a spurt, he/she often experiences periods of frustration and disintegration or regression. This is likely to be an anxiety-laden time for parents. If parents understand the underlying reason for their child’s regressive behavior, they can support and comfort their frustrated child, and not just be baffled by him.

Since there is a predictable map in each developmental line, clinicians, and educators can join with parents in their struggle to understand by sharing with parents the concept of the next spurt, how powerful it is, how critical it is, and why it leads to a child’s unwanted behavior. Each biobehavioral shift or “touchpoint,” which occurs just before a new spurt in development, becomes a powerful opportunity for entering into the system of the parent and infant or young child. As providers and parents grow closer in their efforts to understand the child's behavior, they can share their dreams for his/her future and face differences in beliefs about what children need to learn and grow with comfort, confidence, and mutual respect.

To learn more about the conference, please visit http://www.naeyc.org/conference. To follow the conference on Twitter, search the hashtag #naeycAC. We’ll be tweeting live from the floor of the conference (using the #naeycAC hashtag, of course) and our blog post on Friday will reveal our impressions of the event.