Infant

Early Childhood Developmental Nurturance Academy

6 weeks - 18 months

Stepping Stone School teachers establish secure and positive relationships welcoming you and your infant into a warm, safe, and clean environment. Our low teacher-to-child ratios allow time to create a trusting relationship between parents, their children and our caring educators.

Teachers’ one-to-one interactions are opportunities to connect and stimulate healthy brain development (Lally). Holding, soothing, establishing eye contact, playing, singing, talking and responding vocally all help create an engaging and nurturing experience for your infant.

Consistent and frequent communication with parents is provided. Teachers send daily electronic reports describing your child’s eating, sleeping, diapering and developmental activities. Effective communication is a cornerstone of Stepping Stone School.

Our high-quality early care and education begins with the use of Stepping Stone School’s Platinum Learning for Life™ curriculum. Our youngest children are provided weekly learning plans which incorporate the classical Piagetian learning domains and our progressive curriculum.

Curriculum Components

Language Development

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  • Teachers will facilitate language development by:
  • Modeling language and verbalization.
  • Increasing vocabulary by naming objects.
  • Acknowledging your child’s feelings or sounds.
  • Introducing and regularly using American Sign Language [ASL]. Research shows that children as young as six months can begin making signs to communicate needs, and that signing enhances verbal language acquisition.

Physical Development

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  • Infants will develop physically by:
  • Crawling, pulling up, standing, climbing on or walking around the safe age-appropriate structures.
  • Exploring independently and encouraged through praise and gentle guidance by teachers.

Social Development

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  • Infants will develop socially via:
  • Caregiving that is genuine, responsive, prompt, balanced, personal and sensitive.
  • Expressing their feelings and receiving respect and support from their caregivers.
  • Comforting hugs and genuinely cheerful smiles that will nurture your infant.
  • Providing predictable responses to help children learn what to expect and to feel more secure.

Cognitive Development

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  • Infants will progress cognitively by:
  • Interacting joyfully with faculty and other children providing in-the-moment learning opportunities.
  • Participating in sensory experiences with a variety of textured toys and learning materials.
  • Experiencing age-appropriate exploration of S.T.R.E.A.M (Science, Technology, Relationships, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) concepts such as; showing children items of the same color, sorting from largest to smallest or by color and recognizing the difference between two items they are presented with.

Platinum Learning For Life