This document summarizes key aspects of autonomy from a chapter on fostering autonomy in children. It discusses three main components of autonomy: wonder, confidence, and motivation. It provides examples of how to support the development of autonomy through choice, problem-solving opportunities, long-term projects, and a child-centered approach. The document emphasizes balancing safety with allowing children to explore, try new things, and find their own solutions.

1. Fostering Autonomy: Wonder,
Confidence, and Motivation
Chapter 7 in Guiding Children’s Social and Emotional Development: A
Reflective Approach; Katz, Janice Englander; 2014

2. Autonomy
• Autonomy = independence; “ability to think for herself and govern
her own decisions and direction” (Katz, 2014)
• Remember: not all cultures value independence in the same ways.
• 3 main components of autonomy
• Wonder
• Confidence
• Motivation

3. Theory in Practice
• Consider Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages on p. 122 in your text
• Note the “Outcomes”. That’s what we want to happen if each stage is
resolved well. If the stages are not resolved in “healthy , respectful,
supportive, and challenging” ways a child is more likely to have social
and emotional problems along the way and even into adulthood,
according to Erikson’s theory.

4. 3 Components of Autonomy
• Wonder – curiosity mixed with amazement!
• Confidence – one’s belief in his/her abilities and influence
• Does a child believe he is capable of accomplishing a task?
• Does he recognize that effort contributes to his success?
• Or, is he fatalistic? In other words, does he believe stuff happens and there is
little in his control that can change it?
“I’m a Great Believer in Luck. The Harder I Work, the More Luck I Have”
(While this is often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, there is no evidence that
this quote is from him. Good quote, nonetheless)

5. 3 Components of Autonomy (cont.)
• Remember “Not in Praise of Praise” and similar articles and video clips
from an earlier module? Look carefully at the bottom of p. 124 in your
text.
• Consider the research! Rather than telling a child “You are so smart!”,
encourage the child and his efforts. Help him build that intrinsic
motivation! Be specific in offering praise: “How did you manage to balance
all of those pieces to build that awesome tower?”
• Caveat: Children with challenging behaviors (often your children with
special needs) may need extrinsic motivation as they learn new behavior
skills. The challenge is to know when to wean children off of extrinsic
motivators. People are rarely satisfied over the long term with extrinsic
motivators.

6. Trophies for Everyone
• Carefully read the bottom of p. 125 to the next section on p. 126. You
will have a Discussion Board on that section 
We’re All The Best All
of the time!!!!

7. What Happens to Wonder, Confidence, and
Motivation?
• Do we encourage curiosity and wonder or do we hamper children’s
interests?
• Are we still full of wonder, too, or do we squash children’s excitement
and wonder?
• Do we encourage kids to complete exciting projects or are we always
telling them it’s time to clean up and, no, they can’t keep it out to
finish it tomorrow?
• Do we encourage creativity or expect everyone to complete
worksheets and get the “right” answers?

8. Bruce Perry’s Path
Exploration
and
Discovery
Mastery of
New Skills
Confidence
More
Curiosity
More
Exploration
Curiosity
Increased Autonomy

9. Contributions to Good Self-Concept and Self-
Esteem
• New skills and increased confidence
• Ability to self-direct and self govern
• Confidence to work hard, take healthy risks and tackle challenges
• Confidence to try, fail, rethink, and try again while problem solving and striving to reach
goals
• All of these are indicators of self-confidence and a positive self-esteem
• Note: those suggestions do not include meaningless “praise”, extrinsic motivators, or
getting all the answers right! We must allow our children to face and accept challenges.
We do them no favors if we work too hard to make life easier for them or expect them to
follow our carefully orchestrated script! Of course, all of this needs to be done based on
our knowledge of child development. A healthy dose of the familiar with new challenges
help our children grow and learn in “healthy, respectful, and supportive environments”
(NAEYC Key Element 1c)

10. Other Benefits
• Cognitive flexibility
• Success in the workplace – begins in the early childhood years
• Positive relationships
• Even today, employers tell us at CCC that they want employees who
can problem solve and are team oriented. They say they can train
employees to do needed tasks, but it is the soft skills associated with
autonomy make the best employees.

11. Causes of Variations in Skill Levels
• Temperament – set by nature, influenced by experiences
• Reactions to new situations – who is uninhibited and who needs prompting?
• Ability to adapt – Who adjusts to change easily and who lacks flexibility?
• Ability to persist – Who can follow through to achieve results and who fails to finish?
• Attachment and relationships
• Secure attachments or failure to bond? – may be the result of family dynamics
and/or exceptionalities
• Social referencing – a typical behavior in young children with healthy and secure
attachments. As they wander away to explore new experiences, they will look back
or come back for approval before continuing on.
• Responding to a baby’s cry helps develop secure attachments and does not spoil a
baby! As a baby gets older, she is developmentally ready to begin comforting herself
and should be given the opportunity to do so.

12. Safety and Security or Crushing Autonomy
Skills?
• Childproofing or “I’ll teach them what they can’t touch”
• A safe area for gross motor development or “Don’t climb (jump, run)
because you might get hurt”
• Multiple items and/or lessons in taking turns or “If you can’t share, we will
just put the toy away”
• Places for long-term projects to continue or “We have to put everything
away because center time is over”
• “What an interesting idea for ____. What made you think of that?” or
“Stay in your center and do not get items from one center and take them to
another.”
• Read the vignettes on pp. 130 and 131 in your text. Tilly certainly is a “good
little girl”, huh?

13. Reflections
• Consider the paragraph that begins on p. 132 in your text with “What
are you passionate about?” (Katz, 2014)
• Unfortunately, many of us have had our curiosity and wonder
discouraged and squashed. Consider the “Looking in the Mirror. . .”
questions on pp. 132 and 133. How can we regain some of our
wonder, confidence, and motivation so we can model and share with
the children in our care?
• How do we balance Developmentally Appropriate Practice with the
current academic school climate that focuses on math and reading
and testing?
• If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the
way they learn. Michael J. Fox

14. What to Do!
• Know each and every child as individuals.
• Provide interesting, creative (not cookie cutter!) activities and
opportunities based on their interests
• Find ways to understand children’s behaviors to help them learn to find
fulfillment in more appropriate ways (rather than always reacting with
punishment)
• Know child development so that materials and activities that are provided
are safe and developmentally appropriate for the age and development
• Allow children to get messy in positive ways but utilize natural
consequences
• Provide choices on developmentally appropriate levels

15. More Vignettes!
• Read the vignettes on pp. 136 and 137 in your text
• How often do we limit the number of children in a center?
• According to ECERS (Harms, Clifford, and Cryer, 2005) and Item 35. Free
Play, children should have free play that “occurs for a substantial portion of
the day both indoors and outdoors” in 5.1. In Notes for Clarification for
Item 35 in general, it says “Child is permitted to select materials and
companions, and as far as possible manage play independently. . .
Situations in which children are assigned to centers by staff or staff select
the materials that individual children may use do not count as free play.”
• And, in Notes for Clarification 3.1 – “. . .The number of centers may be
limited as long as the children may choose where, with what, and with
whom they play. . .”

16. What to Do! (cont.)
• Notice how the opportunities provided in the vignettes allowed
children to work through the following process:
Choice
Resulting
Problems
Problem-solving
• Provide long-term projects that require multiple steps to complete.
• Mental model your own thought processes related to skills of
autonomy
• Provide child-centered experiences rather than teacher-centered
classes
• Practice, practice, practice! This does not happen automatically!!!

17. References
• Harms, T. (2005). Early childhood environment rating scale: Revised
edition (Rev. ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.
• Katz, J. (2014). Guiding children's social and emotional development:
A reflective approach. Boston: Pearson.
• Perry, Bruce D (2001, March 1). Curiosity: The Fuel of Development.
Retrieved October 15, 2014, from Scholastic:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/curiosity.htm