12 WEEKS THROUGH 18 MONTHS

Infant Program

The Infant program at Welsh Hills School is designed to educate the whole child. In our classroom, we focus on the six areas of development: social and emotional, cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, language, and care of self and environment. During our program, infants will be encouraged to develop skills in all areas through play.

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Social and Emotional Development: All infants are born seeking social relationships, and attachment relationships are the first and foremost relationships for building the foundations of healthy social and emotional development. Through these trusting relationships, infants learn necessary social skills such as taking turns and cooperation. Through positive social guidance, infants begin to show empathy and concern toward others, respect for adults and peers, and to develop the ability to participate in a social group.

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Cognitive Development: Cognitive development is the building of thinking skills and concept knowledge. Children develop cognitive skills through active exploration, meaningful experiences, and trusting relationships with adults and peers. As their cognitive skills develop, infants will begin to make discoveries, imitate others, and figure out how things work.

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Fine Motor Development: Infants learn to interact among themselves and with their environment through fine movement. Gaining mastery over their small muscles allows infants to further develop communication through pointing and gesturing and to participate increasingly in their own daily care.

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Gross Motor Development: Infants develop gross motor skills by learning about their bodies and how to move in their environment. By gaining large muscle strength and increasing control of their bodies, infants are able to sit, stand, and walk.

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Language Development: During the first three years of life, infants and toddlers begin rapidly to understand language, use spoken language and sign language or physical gestures to express themselves, and to use language to get their needs met. Building language skills also allows infants to learn to share meaning with adults
and peers.

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Care of Self and Environment: As infants grow, they become increasingly capable of participating in their own daily care. Through positive modeling and adult guidance, infants learn the basics of self-dressing, self-feeding, and basic health and safety procedures. In addition, infants become increasingly aware of their environment and begin growing a respect for the environment and its care. Infants can be encouraged to take responsibility for their environment and everything in it.