Infants Toddlers and Caregivers: A Curriculum of Respectful Responsive Relationship-Based Care and Education: 2025 Release ISE, 13th Edition

Janet Gonzalez-Mena began her early childhood career as a parent volunteer in a cooperative preschool in 1966. She then became a Head Start volunteer and a teacher in a preschool for Spanish-speaking children and their families in the 1970s. She helped open several pilot programs, including a therapeutic child care program and a home-based bilingual preschool program. In the mid-1970s, she interned with Magda Gerber at the Children’s Health Council in Menlo Park, California. As a child care director, she incorporated much of what she learned into her work and expanded the program to include an infant center. Training and teaching adults has always been a sideline. She worked as a Head Start trainer and as adjunct faculty in 4 community colleges plus the University of California Santa Cruz credential extension program. She taught for 15 years as full-time faculty at Napa Valley College in the Child and Family Studies Program. Since 1991, she has been part of the faculty for WestEd’s Program for Infant-Toddler Caregivers (PITC) Training of Trainer Institutes. Janet has been writing and teaching and is the author of numerous articles and 13 books related to early childhood, including Foundations of Early Childhood Education; Infants, Toddlers, and Caregivers (with co-author Dianne Eyer); and Diversity in Early Care and Education: Honoring Differences (Formerly Multicultural Issues in Child Care). She wrote Dragon Mom about herself as a parent to help early childhood professionals alleviate guilt when their parenting doesn’t live up to their high standards. Her latest passion is understanding more about the Pikler Institute in Budapest, Hungary, where Magda Gerber came from. She has made multiple trips and is fascinated by the approach. She is continuing to learn more about how this approach can be used to improve infant-toddler care and education programs in the United States and is working with a group in Mexico to explore how the approach might fit into their models of residential care for infants and toddlers. Janet has a Master of Arts Degree in Human Development from Pacific Oaks in Pasadena, California.

Dianne has been a Tenured Professor of Early Childhood Education / Child Development at Canada College since 1970 and Department Coordinator since 1978. Dianne has served on various college committees. She received specialized diversity training. In the late 1990’s she was a presenter at the Annual Conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. She is the co-author of Infants, Toddlers and Caregivers, sixth edition. Her community experiences include: Task Force member for the Advancing Careers in Child Development Project (Pacific Oaks College, Pasadena CA); San Mateo County Consortium for Quality Programs; SMC Partnership Council; and membership in SMAEYC. She has been responsible for several grants within the ECE/CD Department including: Foster Care Education, SAFE START/Violence Intervention in ECE (Centers for Disease Control); and the Family Support Program (a PSP and The Council collaboration). She is currently coordinating a grant with First 5 San Mateo County to recruit and retain quality ECE/CD teachers and providers in the field. She is also a Professional Growth Advisor for the Child Development Permit.