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If you have questions or comments, you can communicate with your instructor by email at professionaldevelopment@clarendonees.org.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
- Completeall lessons and activities.
- Share your thoughts on the Course Discussion Boardwhen required in the lessons by responding to the instructor’s questions. Feel free to offer positive comments to other participants! You must engage with the Discussion Board to pass the course.
- Complete the Knowledge Check.
- Complete the Course Evaluation.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
PARTICIPANTS WILL:
- Describe the basic process of infant brain development, including how neural connections are formed in the first three years of life.
- Explain the concept of serve-and-return interactions and how responsive caregiving supports healthy brain architecture.
- Identify how everyday caregiving routines (feeding, soothing, talking, and play) influence brain development.
- Recognize the impact of stress on infant brain development, including the difference between positive stress and toxic stress.
- Apply practical, relationship-based strategies to support secure attachment, emotional regulation, and early learning in infant care settings.
- Reflect on current caregiving practices and identify one or more strategies to strengthen brain-based care, including in mixed-age environments.
Education Assistance
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Activity: Please respond to Question 1 on the course message board: What are some everyday moments when you interact one-on-one with an infant?
Activity: Please respond to Question 2 on the Course Message Board: How do you build relationships with the infants in your program?
Activity: Please respond to Question 3 on the Course Message Board: Serve and Return Interaction Shapes Brain Circuitry. Answer the question, what are three ways you do serve and return with the infants in your program?
Activity: Please respond to Question 4 on the Course Message Board: “Choose one routine and describe how you can make it more brain-building.”
Activity: Please respond to Question 5 on the Course Message Board: Identify examples of supportive vs. stressful environments
Activity: Please respond to Question 6 on the Course Message Board: https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/svg/1f449.svgWhat is one change you will make in your daily interactions with infants to better support brain development, and how will it impact the children in your care?
Activity: Please respond to Question 7 on the Course Message Board: Early Relational Health and its connection to child care – EdNC Watch the video and respond to the question. How can you support healthy brain development in babies?
I build relationships with the infants by talking to them all the time along with signing songs and listening to music. The kids and I love to play peekaboo with the infants during the day.
I interact one on one with an infant when I am feeling the baby a bottle and holding the baby. I like to talk to the baby and smile to see what the baby will do. Another time is when I’m changing the babies diaper or clothes.
1. I respond to infants’ coos and babbles by talking back to them.
2. I make eye contact and smile when they look at me.
3. I follow their interests during play by responding to their gestures, sounds, and facial expressions.
Routine: Diaper changing.
I can make it more brain-building by talking to the child, making eye contact, and naming body parts and actions. This helps develop language, social skills, and strong caregiver-child connections.
Supportive environment: A calm, safe, and nurturing space where caregivers respond to children’s needs, provide encouragement, and maintain consistent routines.
Stressful environment: A loud, chaotic, or unpredictable space where children experience frequent conflict, neglect, fear, or lack of emotional support.
One change I will make is talking more with infants throughout the day by describing what I am doing and responding to their sounds. This supports brain development by building language skills, strengthening connections in the brain, and helping children feel secure and engaged.
I believe that we can help baby’s development by teaching, loving and caring every time we interact with them. Is very easy when you love what you do since babies are adorable and get attached to you quick specially if you’re a lovely, patiente person.
Q #6
I will now have the infant who has been with us for 2 months to play more with all the other children in care, he is now able to stand on his own, learning to take steps and I’m sure the children will love to intagrate him in the daily routines.
Stressful environment has no organization, is hard for infants to play and explore when toys are not accessible, crawling space is limited or crowded. Supportive environment, babies have the space to go around, crawl, play, touch and have the educator by their side to help, instruct and provide.
There are many animals that the older children play with every day. The infant’s brother usually brings him one to play with so I started to give him a different animal and make the animal sound along with naming them. Since he and his brother share the same environment, he will most likely adapt to playing with the things his brother is interested in.
Playtime is the best time, where we talk, make noises, gestures, touch and move along with infants to let them play a big part and with that we let them do more and more every day.
A supportive environment is one where soft toys are available for infants to play with and explore. Along with other age appropriate toys, they are safe from older children running around and invading their space. On the other hand, that space could be stressful if older children are allowed to take the toy the infant is using, running around in the area and being loud, making it unsafe for the space to be shared. When infants are just learning to move around and explore, I gate off a separate space for them where they can explore safely.
Always active and alert to let the infant know we are here ready to respond, if crying we talk to them, comfort them and look for signs that leads us to find out what they need/want that we can answer and offer them a safety net.
Every day we great the infants with a smile, calling them by their names, let them see and recognize us, feeding time is also very important so, we talk to them, let them grab the food, tell them what we’re doing, when changing diapers, we also talk, ask them to repeat and mimic us, play and say short words so they can start repeating it.
*greet
During story time, as the infant gets older, I have them help me turn the pages. When the book is read, I take them over to the bookshelf and put the book away. I remove it and give it to the infant and ask them to put the book away. Eventually they understand what to do
Along with the answer to question two, I describe what I am doing to my infants and whenever they are curious about objects or toys, I name them and demonstrate how they are used while repeating these actions several times.
One way is to pretend that I understand what they are babbling and answer them back with a statement/s like “Oh wow, I didn’t know that you went to the zoo this weekend, did you have fun? Can you tell me about the animals you saw there”? This keeps them engaged in babbling back and forth with me.
We interact with infants every day when we greet them, play with them, feed them, sooth them, change them, and talk to them.
Supporting a baby’s brain development comes down to one core concept: Early Relational Health, which means building a safe, responsive connection through everyday moments. You do this by practicing “serve-and-return”—responding warmly whenever a baby makes a sound, cries, or points—which literally wires the physical pathways of their brain. Because infants can’t soothe themselves, your calm presence, predictable routines, and gentle touch act as an emotional anchor, lowering their stress levels so their nervous system can step out of survival mode and focus entirely on growing, learning, and thriving.
One thing I will change, is to make a room less noisy for them with softer lighting. More comfortable
For babies, a supportive environment is all about feeling safe and secure. Think soft lighting, quiet rhythm, and a calm, responsive caregiver whose steady energy helps them relax. On the flip side, a stressful environment is just pure sensory overload—harsh lights, sudden loud noises, and unpredictable energy. Because babies can’t soothe themselves or filter out the noise, a chaotic space puts their little nervous systems on high alert. When their surroundings are peaceful and predictable, they can finally step out of survival mode and use that energy to grow, learn, and thrive..
A routine that I can make more brain building is by plying peek a boo. But to make it more brain building I would use a hand pupppet with different colors and shapes. Or a toy that moves or sings
three ways you i serve and return with the infants in your program is by responding with a tone based on emotions.smile. You hand gestures and movement with them. Speak to them with care
I build relationships with infants in my program by creating a bond with them where they feel safe, trusted and loved.
PLAYING ROLL THE BALL , PEEK-A-BOO , AND SINGING TO THE BABIES
You can support healthy brain development in babies by providing consistent, responsive care and building strong, nurturing relationships. Interacting through talking, singing, eye contact, and serve-and-return interactions also helps babies develop communication and emotional skills.
HOLDING BABY CONVERSATIONS WITH THE INFANT AND THE BABIES RESPOND WITH THE COOS AND LAUGHTER AND RECOGNIZING FACES AND THE SOUND OF YOUR VOICE INTERACTING WITH THE BABY
A supportive environment is a safe, stable place where children feel cared for and have consistent, nurturing adults. A stressful environment is one that feels unpredictable or overwhelming, such as frequent changes in caregivers or starting a new daycare.
A stable environment for a child could be a safe home, a quality childcare program, or a trusted caregiver who provides consistent care, support, and nurturing relationships.
After learning about serve-and-return interactions, I realize how important they are for building a strong connection with infants. I would make a greater effort to respond consistently to a baby’s cues because these interactions support both learning and healthy development.
Relationships are the foundation of an infant’s learning. The strong connection between a caregiver and a child supports early development, while responsive and nurturing care helps build healthy brain development and shapes a child’s emotional well-being.
Relationships with an infant is the curriculum for them.the connection sets up instruction for early learning. Responsiveness and care the the foundation for brain development. It shapes the brain and heart of the child.
I would have to serve and return more than before as I understand the value of this simple technique as it serves as a connection between the baby and me. It would be more work and more detailed .
Staple environment would be a safe home..school or a caregiver that trusted and caring
Example of stressful..the first day of daycare ..meeting new people…a scary incident. Example of stability would be at a safe home..with a trusted caregiver…
When greeting in the morning. Ask the children what color is the sky?why we wash hands when we come in? Is the water hot or cold? How many fingers do we have?
Look for clues as to what they are focusing on or trying to what they want to communicate about. Then respond with words, sound, or expressions. Let them know that you are giving them attention. And respond and listen back and forth.
By paying close attention to their unique cues, maintaining eye contact, and turning routine tasks into opportunities for interaction
I think unplug time to prevent from sensory overload. We usually play lullabies before lunch but I think going forward having dinner quiet time before lunch will prevent from sensory overload and will allow them to have a calm body before seating together to eat lunch
Smile and speak to them often and hugs.
Creating a safe space for the child, to listen to the child and show them that it’s ok to feel emotions and express them selves by doing so then we can teach them how to deal with their worries and to self regulate. In the other hand childhood trauma does impact the child’s brain development and can carry into their adulthood’s.
When diapering I can implement more brain building by taking about body parts or even singing instead of a rush routine.
Some ways I use as serve and return is actively playing with the kids pretend cooking and talking about what they are cooking and how it taste, we play hand games and we play feelings gesture and talk about them
By building a connection with the infant thru close positive interactions. From little coos to a simple peak a boo, mimicking sounds and lots of smiles
by giving responsive care, stimulating play, proper nutrition.
I will be more active with my engagements with the infants in my program, dance with them and play more active games like simon says
creating a safe environment supports the infant, doing regular checks and practice routines.
childhood trauma can lead to stress and poor brain development, not to full potential as an adult
Narrating your day will help build the brain, I would narrate for myself as im making food or cleaning and then repeat it to the infant while making face expessions
use eye contact. attend to the serve, use face expressions when engaging.
I currently dont have infants in my program. When I did, I would try to have the infant follow my fingers with their eyes, and point at different objects