Comparison of Two In-Home Child Care Programs - Essay Example

Generalized reading and alphabet reinforcement was grounded in the small volume of teaching methods used here. Most business was word-of-mouth referrals, though it was properly licensed. The second in-home program was operated by Veronica Peters also in Corona, California. (ADD PHONE AND ADDRESS HERE). This service, Marona DayCare, was instrumentally larger than Beck’s in-home program, offering services for up to ten children with specialized assistance. The provider maintained a Bachelor’s Degree in childhood education, similarly the same as one of her most reputable assistants.

Parents paid considerably more for this service than Beck’s program since it reinforced fundamentals of early childhood learning and offered extended service hours. The majority of clients hailed from management or executive level positions, thus expecting higher levels of service and competency. Only observational research occurred at both in-home services and there was no direct intervention during regular operating hours. Program Development in Both Services Beck’s program, despite its limitations, did maintain generalized knowledge regarding childhood development.

However, the majority of this learning was founded on what would likely be considered early university lessons associated primarily with social learning theory. Beck identified her efforts to impose social learning theory as a means to gain positive behavioral control and also facilitate learning effectively. Social learning theory suggests that learning occurs as a result of role modeling in which children learn based on whether observed behavior of a reference individual is rewarded or punished (Neubert et al., 2009). Even though Cassandra Beck did not maintain the credentials of a qualified instructor as part of her daycare program, the interview results identified that it was a goal of the program to ensure that well-adjusted peers in the group were highlighted publicly and identified for personalized rewards based on affirmation of positive attitudes and social abilities.

Beck was rather proud of this structure and felt it had significant results on reducing egocentric behavior, commonly found in children of the late preoperational stage of development as suggested by Jean Piaget (Huitt & Hummel, 2003). Otherwise, this rather unstructured program consisted of circle time activities commonly found in kindergarten and preschool classrooms to facilitate better social learning with the children. Reading and basic comprehension of alphabet characters was facilitated by Beck in order to promote more group-oriented involvement.

Otherwise, her role was much like that of a supervisor similar to that of a caring grandparent. Because of the credentials available with Veronica Peters at Marona DayCare, teaching was a regular part of the system and was directed for pre-school-aged children as well as students in elementary age. Two of these students were recipients of in-home learning provided by qualified parents and did not attend regular elementary school classrooms. Thus, there was a diverse mix of students at Marona DayCare.

Peters believed in the vitality of visual learning, using graphs, visual images and reinforcement techniques for self-esteem development. This concept is supported by Robson (2006) who identifies that having the opportunity to display their unique work