Healthy environments are critical for infants’ and toddlers’ development. In this course you will learn how to create and maintain healthy environments for all infants and toddlers, and how to implement hygiene practices to prevent disease. You will learn strategies to ensure safe toileting and diapering, daily health checks, as well as strategies to support children’s and families’ mental health needs. The importance of healthy nutrition and physical activity will also be addressed.

The first three years of life are an important time of physical growth and development. In this course you will learn about the physical development of infants and toddlers, developmental milestones, and how to plan environments and experiences that support motor skills. You will also learn ways to take care of yourself physically so you can provide the best possible care to infants and toddlers.

Communication skills are vital to the overall development of infants and toddlers. In this course you will learn about communication milestones and what to do if you have concerns about a child’s development. You will also learn strategies to maintain effective communication with families and how to create a communication and language-rich environment.

As a responsive, nurturing caregiver you have the opportunity to positively influence infants’ and toddlers’ sense of self. In this course you will learn about how young children develop a sense of self and the importance of resilience in your work as a caregiver. You will also learn about the influence of culture and ways to support infants’ and toddlers’ sense of self through experiences, activities, and the environment. Stress reduction techniques and adult self-awareness will also be addressed.

Positive guidance impacts the social-emotional development of infants and toddlers. In this course you will learn how to use positive guidance techniques, as well as how temperament can impact behavior. You will also learn strategies for addressing challenging behaviors and how the environment can influence positive guidance. Creating interesting experiences and activities, as well as using relationship-based guidance approaches will also be addressed.

In this course you will learn about how your roles and responsibilities as a direct care staff member contribute to the quality and organization of your program. Working collaboratively with your colleagues, planning and implementing developmentally appropriate experiences, and aligning curriculum with assessment will also be addressed. You will learn how to use evaluation data to improve program outcomes for children and families and how to be a reflective staff member

Approximately 600,000 U.S. children are victims of child abuse or neglect each year. As an infant-toddler caregiver, you are obligated to recognize, report, and prevent abuse and neglect. This course will help you recognize, report, and prevent child abuse that occurs in the home, in your program, and in other settings. You will learn about your legal and ethical obligation to report suspicions of child abuse and neglect, procedures for making a report, and important steps you can take to build resilience in yourself as well as in children and families.