Reviewed By Lucy P
Oct 22, 2008
DVD - 67 minutes
Booklet - accompanying notes to the film + transcript
Siren Films Limited
£89.00
This DVD follows Orson, during the first twelve months of his life, focusing on his social, emotional, physical and cognitive development.
Throughout the film, links are made to how Orson's brain is growing and being shaped by his experiences.
The film is divided into three sections:
Each section sub-divides into particular aspects of the baby's development, which illustrate important features of each stage, such as:
I found this DVD exceptionally informative and very useful for staff training on all levels.
The sub sections demonstrate aspects such as attachment theory and the key person approach, treasure baskets and heuristic play and schemas well, which my colleagues and I found very relevant to our setting.
It beautifully highlights Orson's development through video clips of his normal routine at home, showing his parents engaging with him at key moments to extend his awareness of himself and others around him.
The film describes how simple interactions are essential for Orson's development to proceed and gives good examples of how this can be achieved with all children.
The film places a strong emphasis on how close relationships make Orson feel safe and secure, which has highlighted the importance of the EYFS theme ‘Positive Relationships' within my setting, particularly the ‘Key Person' commitment.
I would strongly recommend this DVD for the purpose of staff training. In my experience it has improved colleagues general understanding of early child development from the baby unit right through to the preschool.
In addition, we showed this film at our parents evening recently and all parents responded positively to the insight they gained into aspects of child development that they had not been aware of, particularly early brain development.
The DVD and accompanying booklet are quite expensive for settings with limited budgets, however, I have recommended that some of the funding from the cluster group is used to purchase the whole set of DVD's to ensure many settings can access these fabulous resources.
