by Lisa Sunbury
This year our annual conference was held on April
sixth at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill California, in conjunction
with the Contra Costa Child Care Council. Before there was RIE as we know
it today, Magda and Doctor Tom Forrest, a neurological pediatrician,
started the Demonstration Infant Program (DIP) in nearby Palo Alto. This
year's conference enabled RIE to return to it's original home in a sense,
and to bring the philosophy to some new friends as well.
The theme of the conference was "School
Readiness: A Journey from Cradle to Classroom." About 200 childcare
professionals attended, and for many,
this was their first introduction to the RIE philosophy. Judging from the
evaluation forms we received, their response was overwhelmingly positive.
Many reported that they had been given new food for thought and planned to
try to implement some of what they had learned in the workshops in their
work with infants and toddlers.
Polly Elam, a RIE Associate and the Administrator for
the Navy Region Southwest Child Development Programs, gave the keynote
speech. Entitled "Exploration in Infancy and Toddlerhood: The Keys to
Cognitive Development and School Readiness," Polly reminded us (as
Magda would) to trust young children to be initiators, explorers, and
self-learners. She went on to say that as teachers and caregivers, we can
best support young children in their learning by being interested,
emotionally available observers, and by providing them with lots of time
and space to investigate the world at their own pace. We don't need to
worry too much about direct teaching nor should we be invested in
eliciting "correct" solutions to problems. Instead, we need to
provide young children with a safe environment in which they can try out
many different ways of approaching their world and solving the problems it
presents. In this way children will maintain their joy and curiosity and
become ever more competent in their abilities to function well as learners
in all areas. Polly also reminded us that it's important to maintain our
own sense of fun and open, questioning minds if that's what we hope to be
able to support in the children in our care.
We at RIE would like to thank everyone at the Contra
Costa Child Care Council who made it possible for us to be able to hold
this conference this year.
P.S. Don't forget to mark your calendars! Next year's
RIE Conference will be held at Long Beach City College, Long Beach, CA, on
Saturday, May 3rd, 2003. Our keynote speaker will be Anna Tardos, Emmi
Pikler's daughter and the current director ofLoczy, the orphanage in
Budapest Hungary, which was founded by Dr. Pikler, and remains a model for
truly respectful care for infants to this day.
Lisa Sunbury is a RIE Associate and Board Member.
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