The Young Child: Development from Prebirth Through Age Eight

A thorough updating of topics including: standards for early childhood programs, the mandates of IDEA, developmental theories, changing demographics, assessments, child care practices and bullying .

For child development courses that cover prebirth through age eight, this widely used text discusses major development theories as they relate to physical, social and emotional, and cognitive domains. The book contains extensive applications for those who teach and work with young children, making it particularly appropriate for early childhood education programs.

Donna Wittmer received her Ph.D. from Syracuse University in 1985 in Child, Family, and Community Studies. She was a professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Colorado for 17 years and received Emerita status in January 2008. Donna is the author of numerous articles in Early Childhood Education Journals, including Young Children, and the co-author to a variety of early childhood education and development texts, including The importance of peers in the early years (2009) published by ZERO TO THREE Press.

Sandy Petersen is the Director of Outreach, Research, and Innovation at the Early Head Start National Resource Center at ZERO TO THREE. Her previous work includes directing training and technical assistance for early childhood at the Colorado Department of Education, heading a grant to explore inclusion of medically fragile infants and toddlers in community child care, and providing infant-parent psychotherapy at the Infant- Parent Program in San Francisco. Petersen created and teaches the Special Needs workshop in the Program for Infant Toddler Care.

Together, Wittmer and Petersen have co-authored the following three textbooks on development and curriculum:

Wittmer, D.S. & Petersen, S.H. (2008). Issues in infant/toddler programs. In S. Feeney, (Ed.), Issues in Early Childhood Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Petersen, S.H., & Wittmer, D. S. (2009). Endless Opportunities–Curriculum for Infants and Toddlers. A Relationship-Based Approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill-Prentice Hall.

Wittmer, D.S., & Petersen, S.H. (2009). Infant and toddler development and responsive program planning–a relationship-based approach (2nd Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice-Hall.