Video Links
1: Introduction to holistic development
Rae Pica has a wide range of short videos that describe and explain active learning in a number of areas of learning and development, from maths and literacy to active listening. Engaging and practical, they are sure to be useful.
www.youtube.com/channel/UC-d20r_dzRuJdQ7J0TEZOMQ
There are over 30 vignettes on these videos, illustrating children’s learning and development from birth to three in regular situations. Excellent for starting discussions about good practice and how babies and young children learn.
www.zerotothree.org/resources/series/learning-happens-video-series
There is a large range of examples of developmental milestones across the ages on the free HelpMeGrowMN YouTube channel.
2: Personal, social and emotional development
In this excellent YouTube video, Anthony Schullo, while talking at TEDxNorthCentralCollege, discusses fluidity of gender, and communicating gender identities to our children in positive ways.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O9BKRJDqNA
This experiment by Joseph Campos is called ‘The Visual Cliff’. It looks like the table top drops away, but in actual fact it is covered by strong, clear plexiglass that the baby can crawl on. The babies check the safety of the ‘cliff’ before attempting to proceed by checking with their mums, who are watching. See how the different responses of the mothers affect the babies’ choices.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6cqNhHrMJA
This is a very interesting interview with Professor Ferre Laevers, talking to Early Years Scotland about his thoughts on wellbeing, involvement and the improvements in children’s outcomes.
3: Physical development
In this fascinating lecture, Katie Hinde discusses breast milk, how it grows babies' bodies, fuels neurodevelopment, provides essential immunofactors and safeguards against famine and disease.
www.ted.com/talks/katie_hinde_what_we_don_t_know_about_mother_s_milk
In this series of videos, babies’ and young children’s physical development is explored, along with the holistic links to communication and the social-emotional.
www.zerotothree.org/resources/series/magic-of-everyday-moments
4: Language development
In these videos, Colwyn Trevarthen, Emeritus Professor of Child Psychology and Psychobiology at the University of Edinburgh, discusses the development of language in very young children.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBYQz71Sybs
‘Improving early child development with words’ by Dr Brenda Fitzgerald was filmed at TEDxAtlanta. Language at age three is a huge predictor of a child’s health and wealth. Hear how Dr Fitzgerald explains the use of language and its importance for babies and young children.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8qc8Aa3weE
Patricia Kuhl shares astonishing findings about how babies learn one language over another, by listening to the humans around them and ‘taking statistics’ on the sounds they need to know. Clever lab experiments (and brain scans) show how six-month-old babies use sophisticated reasoning to understand their world.
www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies
5: Play and holistic development
A pioneer of research on play, Dr Stuart Brown says humour, games, roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age. www.ted.com/talks/stuart_brown_says_play_is_more_than_fun_it_s_vital
This video is a short exploration on the meaning and importance of children's play, featuring Sir Ken Robinson and Peter Gray.
6: Early mathematical development
A great set of videos explaining how children from birth to three learn mathematical concepts from doing everyday things at home. Also available in Spanish.
www.zerotothree.org/resources/series/let-s-talk-about-math-early-math-video-series
The videos in this series describe children’s early mathematical development and provide examples of how early childhood professionals can both explicitly teach maths skills and support their development through daily routines and play.
www.easternct.edu/cece/supporting-mathematical-development-in-young-children/
How do babies learn so much from so little so quickly? In a fun, experiment-filled talk, cognitive scientist Laura Schulz shows how our young ones make decisions with a surprisingly strong sense of logic, well before they can talk.
www.ted.com/talks/laura_schulz_the_surprisingly_logical_minds_of_babies
7: Cognitive development
In ‘The Biology of Attainment’, Dr Suzanne Zeedyk explains in her keynote how Scotland should take greater account of biological factors in its thinking about educational improvements. Scotland has set itself the goal of being the ‘best place in the world to grow up’. That is not possible, Dr Zeedyk argues, unless we begin to give much greater attention to children’s emotional needs. Until we help our children feel safe, we cannot help them learn.
The holistic theme of this video fits very well with the messages of the book.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM8-V5Va1f0
These two series of videos illustrate a range of interactions between baby and carer, during everyday moments, that support intellectual development. The first series is ‘Building Blocks of Development’ and the second is ‘Brain, body and mind’.
www.zerotothree.org/resources/series/magic-of-everyday-moments
In these clips, there are a range of milestone videos that include cognitive development by Shirael Pollack, a paediatric physical therapist and owner of Watch Me Grow Sensory Gym and Speech Language Center in Manhattan, New York.
www.howcast.com/guides/1125-child-development-stages/
In this video, science writer Annie Murphy Paul talks through new research that shows how much we learn in the womb, from the lilt of our native language to our soon-to-be-favourite foods.
www.ted.com/talks/annie_murphy_paul_what_we_learn_before_we_re_born
8: Special Educational Needs
There are some beautiful videos on the Down’s Syndrome Association website, from families, children and adults.
www.downs-syndrome.org.uk/about/your-stories/
There are a huge range of videos, including speech and language assessments and treatments, available here.
www.nhs.uk/Video/Pages/Speechandlanguagetherapy.aspx?searchtype=Video&#browse-media-top
9: Suitable physical environments
Penelope Jagessar Chaffer was curious about the chemicals she was exposed to while pregnant: could they affect an unborn child? So she asked scientist Tyrone Hayes to brief her on one he studied closely: atrazine, a herbicide used on corn.
www.ted.com/talks/tyrone_hayes_penelope_jagessar_chaffer_the_toxic_baby#t-919884
This set of videos demonstrates different physical skills at different ages, through a Montessori Curriculum.
Nine months old: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdfr665jFio
One year old: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGV5jX7p74Q
Two years old: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P4w9zwcmgw
10: Effective partnerships
In this TedxUCLA talk, ‘What is the most important influence on child development?’, Tom Weisner discusses the wellbeing of the child, particularly in relation to it being contextualised and dependent on where in the world the child lives and is growing up.
11: What does the future hold?
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) regularly updates their website with recommendations based on the latest research. You will be able to find research, articles and YouTube clips here about specific areas (such as ‘media use in the under twos’) as well as general guidance.
Biologist Paul Knoepfler estimates that, within fifteen years, scientists could use the gene-editing technology CRISPR to make certain ‘upgrades’ to human embryos, from altering physical appearance to eliminating the risk of auto-immune diseases. In this thought-provoking talk, Knoepfler readies us for the coming designer baby revolution and its very personal, and unforeseeable, consequences.
www.ted.com/talks/paul_knoepfler_the_ethical_dilemma_of_designer_babies