Accessibility
In the child care field, the term refers to the availability of child care when and where a family needs it.
Adult-Child Ratio
A ratio of the qualified caregivers to children in a child care program.
Age Appropriate
The age, or level, that most children can accomplish the tasks being considered.
Age appropriateness
Human development research indicates that there are universal, predictable sequences of growth and change that occur in children during the first 9 years of life. These predictable changes occur in all domains of development-physical, emotional, social, and cognitive. Knowledge of typical development of children within the age span served by the program provides a framework from which teachers prepare the learning environment and plan appropriate experiences.
Anti-bias
Anti-bias is an active commitment to challenging prejudice, stereotyping and all forms of discrimination.
Assessment
In early childhood, assessment is the process of observing, recording and otherwise documenting the work children do and how they do it, as a basis for a variety of educational decisions that affect the child, including planning for groups and individual children, and communicating with parents. Assessment also is used to determine the extent to which an instructional strategy or program is working.
Attachment
A psychological bond between adult and child. It is believed that secure bonding leads to psychological well being and resistance to ordinary as well as extreme stress experienced throughout a lifetime.
Best Practices
A term used to denote the ways of delivering services that have been found through research or experience as the "best" ways to achieve desired outcomes.
Bias
Bias is an inclination or preference either for or against an individual or group that interferes with impartial judgment.
Capacity
The total number of children that may be in child care at any one time in a particular program.
Center Based Childcare
Programs that are licensed or otherwise authorized to provide child care services in a non-residential setting.
Childcare Provider
An institution or individual who provides child care services. Professionals who provide care for children when parents or primary caregivers are not available. A mother may place her child in an infant daycare setting with a childcare provider, for example, while she is at work.
Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR &R)
Local and statewide services including (1) guidance and referrals for parents seeking child care; (2) the collection of information about the local supply of child care; and, (3) provider training and support. Some CCR&R agencies also administer child care subsidies.
Child Development
The process by which a child acquires skills in the areas of social, emotional, intellectual, speech and language, and physical development, including fine and gross motor skills. Developmental stages refer to the expected, sequential order of acquiring skills that children typically go through. For example, most children crawl before they walk, or use their fingers to feed themselves before they use utensils.
Child Development Associates Credential (CDA)
A credential earned by an early childhood educator who has demonstrated his or her skills in working with young children and their families by successfully completing an established credentialing process. The CDA credentialing process is administered by the Council of Early Childhood Professional Recognition
Child Initiated
The child chooses an activity or creates an activity within a supportive learning framework created by the teacher.
Child Protective Services (CPS)
An official public agency, usually a unit of the public county social services agency, responsible for receiving and investigating reports of suspected abuse or neglect of children and for ensuring that services are provided to children and families to prevent abuse and neglect.
Cognitive
Refers to the process of thought, or thinking.
Cognitive Abilities
The various ways people become mentally aware of their surroundings. These mental processes include functions such as, learning, perception, memory, imagination, and use of language.
Cognitive Development
The development of the functions of the brain including perception, memory, imagination, and use of language.
Communicate
Passing information from one person to another; to make something known. People communicate both verbally (through words) and non-verbally (through facial expressions, body movements, etc.).
Communication
The process of passing information from one person to another; to make something known. People communicate both verbally (through words) and non-verbally (through facial expressions, body movements, etc.).
Communication Development
The process of growth whereby a child acquires and masters the necessary skills to pass information to, and receive information from, another person.
Culture
Culture is the patterns of daily life learned consciously and unconsciously by a group of people. These patterns can be seen in language, governing practices, arts, customs, holiday celebrations, food, religion, dating rituals and clothing, to name a few.
Development
The process of growth whereby a child acquires and masters skills in the areas of motor, cognitive, language, social-emotional and adaptive functioning.
Developmental Assessment
Measurement of a child's cognitive, language, knowledge and psychomotor skills in order to evaluate development in comparison to children of the same chronological age.
Developmental Milestones
A memorable accomplishment on the part of a baby or young child; for example, rolling over, sitting up without support, crawling, pointing to get an adult's attention, or walking.
Developmental Stage
An extended period of time during the growth process where the thoughts, behaviors, and feelings of an individual remain relatively the same.
Developmentally Appropriate
A way of describing practices that are adapted to match the age, characteristics and developmental progress of a specific age group of children.
Developmentally Appropriate Practices
A concept of classroom practice that reflects knowledge of child development and an understanding of the unique personality, learning style, and family background of each child. These practices are defined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
Diversity
Diversity means different or varied. The population of the United States is made up of people from diverse "races," cultures and places.
Early Childhood Classroom
The curriculum in these programs targets children three to seven years old. It provides developmentally appropriate activities focusing on enhancing language development as well as each child's personal development.
Early Intervention
A range of services designed to enhance the development of children with disabilities or at risk of developmental delay. Early intervention services under public supervision generally must be given by qualified personnel and require the development of an individualized family service plan.
Emotional Development
Emotional development involves the ways children understand, express and learn to regulate their emotions as they grow.
Family Child Care
Child care provided for a group of children in a home setting. Most states have regulatory guidelines for family child care homes if they serve a number of children or families over a specified threshold or it they operate more than a specified number of hours each month.
Fine Motor Skills
Abilities that require coordination of the small muscles of the body such as picking up a small block with a thumb and finger.
Free Play
An unhurried time for children to choose their own play activities, with a minimum of adult direction. Providers may observe, intervene, or join the play, as needed. Free play may be indoors or outdoors.
Gross Motor Development
A child's development of large muscle movement and control.
Inclusion
The principle of enabling all children, regardless of their diverse abilities, to participate actively in natural settings within their communities. For children with special needs or disabilities, inclusion means full participation in programs designed for typically developing children.
Individual appropriateness
Each child is a unique person with an individual pattern and timing of growth, as well as individual personality, learning style, and family background. Both the curriculum and adults' interactions with children should be responsive to individual differences. Learning in young children is the result of interaction between the child's thoughts and experiences with materials, ideas, and people. These experiences should match the child's developing abilities, while also challenging the child's interest and understanding.
Language
There are two different parts of language, the type we receive (receptive language) and the part we send (expressive language). Receptive language involves the understanding of thoughts, feelings, desires, and the needs of others. Expressive language involves the verbal and non-verbal elements of communicating to others.
Language Development Skills
The process through which an infant and young child acquires the capacity to communicate his or her wants, needs, feelings, and thoughts with another. Language development includes both receptive and expressive language development. Receptive language is the ability to receive and understand language. Expressive language is the ability to speak and use language to communicate with others.
Learning
The process of gaining knowledge and skills.
Learning Center
In an early childhood program, this is an area that contains materials, such as blocks, pretend household items or art supplies, where children can explore their own interests at their own pace.
Learning Disability
An impairment in a specific mental process which affects learning.
Licensed Child Care
Child care programs operated in homes or in facilities that fall within the regulatory system of a state or community and comply with those regulations. Many states have different levels of regulatory requirements and use different terms to refer to these levels (e.g., licensing, certification, registration).
Manipulative Toys
Small toys that foster fine-motor development and eye-hand coordination, such as nesting cups, puzzles, interlocking blocks, and materials from nature.
Mastered Skills
Children gain or acquire abilities at different stages of their growth. These abilities are gained in different areas or domains, such as movement (e.g. walking), thinking (e.g. the ability to solve certain problems), and language (e.g. speaking three-word sentences).
Mixed Age Grouping
Grouping children or students so that the chronological age span is greater than one year. Multiple-age grouping is prevalent in family child care.
Multicultural
Multicultural means many or multiple cultures. The United States is multicultural because its population consists of people from many different cultures.
Memory
The mental process of retaining information that is learned and recalling it at a later point in time.
Motor
Movement of the body carried out by a combination of the brain, nervous system, and muscles.
Motor Development
The process of growth whereby a child acquires and masters skills to be able to move their body. These are carried out by a combination of the brain, nervous system, and muscles.
Motor Skills:
Use of the large and small muscles to move different parts of the body. Examples of motor skills are walking, holding and moving a pencil, or opening a door. A person's capacity to move their body depends upon the development of motor abilities. These abilities, or skills, involve the use of large body movements (gross motor skills) and those that require small movements (fine motor skills).
Non-sexist
Attitudes and behaviors that do not simplify children's attitudes or behavior according to their sex. There is no over generalizing a child's skills or behavior based upon an inequitable standard of sex differences.
Non-stereotyping
Attitudes and behaviors that do not oversimplify children's attitudes or behavior according to their sex, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. There is no over generalizing a child's skill or behavior based upon an inequitable standard of sex, ethnic or cultural differences.
Non-Verbal
There are two types of interpersonal communication, verbal and non-verbal. Non-verbal communication includes information that is transmitted without words, through body language, gestures, facial expressions or the use of symbols.
Normal Development
The typical or usual development of children. Development norms are based on years of research and observations of the usual pattern of children's development, noting when most children of a chronological age have mastered specific skills.
Operational Stage
In cognitive or mental development, performing operations involves the ability to reason about events that have occurred (e.g., replaying in the mind the event of pouring water from one beaker to the next). Piaget's theory of cognitive development involves the Preoperational Stage (approx. 2-7), Concrete Operational Stage (approx. 7-11) and the Formal Operational Stage (approx. 11 and older).
On-Site Child Care
Child care programs that occur in facilities where parents are on the premises.
Part-Time Child Care
A child care arrangement where children attend on a regular schedule but less than full time.
Physical Development
A healthy body grows and changes over time in every area, such as height, weight, muscle growth and bone thickness. Physical development encompasses the growth of the entire human body.
Physical Disabilities
Disorders that result in significantly reduced bodily function, mobility, or endurance.
Pre-Kindergarten
Programs designed children who are ages 3-5, generally designed to provide children with early education experiences that prepare them for school. Also sometimes referred to as preschool and nursery school programs.
Preschool Programs
Programs that provide care for children ages 3-5. Normally they operated for three to four hours per day, and from two to five days a week.
Problem Solving
The skill of trying different approaches to resolve a difficulty or problem. Children (and people of all ages) learn from this trial-and-error process helping them to resolve similar problems in a more efficient way.
Professional Development
In the child care field, the term refers to opportunities for child care providers to get ongoing training to increase their preparation and skill to care for children. These include mentoring programs, credentialing programs, in-service training, and degree programs.
Professional Recognition
Expressed or implied acknowledgment of one's professional efforts, qualities, and/or training.
Quality
Quality child care commonly refers to early childhood settings in which children are safe, healthy, and receive appropriately stimulation. Care settings are responsive, allowing children to form secure attachments to nurturing adults. Quality programs or providers offer engaging, appropriate activities in settings that facilitate healthy growth and development, and prepare children for or promote their success in school.
Reasoning
Using systematic logical thinking to solve problems or come to a conclusion.
Regulated Child Care
Child care facilities and homes that comply with either a state's regulatory system or another system of regulation. In the United States, there is considerable state variation in the characteristics of the homes and facilities that must comply with regulations, as well as in the regulations themselves. A related term is "licensed child care," which often refers to a particular level or standard of regulation.
School-Age Child Care
Child care for any child who is at least five years old and supplements the school day or the school year.
School-Based Child Care
Child care programs that occur in school facilities.
School Readiness
The state of early development that enables an individual child to engage in and benefit from first grade learning experiences. Researchers, policymakers, and advocates have described school readiness in different ways, but generally they refer to children's development in five arenas: health and physical development; social and emotional development; approaches toward learning; language development and communication; and, cognition and general knowledge. Some policymakers and researchers also use the term "school readiness" to describe a school's capacity to educate children.
Self-Esteem
An overall evaluation of the self regarding a sense of worth. A person with a positive self-concept generally likes and feels good about who they are.
Self-help:
Having to do with skills that allow a student to do things for himself. Examples of Self-help skills are a student being able to feed himself, dress himself, or cross the street without help.
Sensory:
Having to do with the use of the senses of hearing, seeing, touching (feeling), smelling, or tasting as a part of learning. An example of a sensory skill is being able to see the differences between letters of the alphabet.
Sensorimotor Stage
The first stage of mental development according to theorist Jean Piaget. During the first two years of life children learn about the world through their five senses: touch, taste, hearing, vision, and smell.
Sensory Integration:
The process of how a child (person) takes in information and processes it based on their senses (touch, taste, smell, sound, sight).
Separation Anxiety
The essential feature is excessive anxiety concerning separation from the home or from those to whom the child is attached.
Sign Language
A method of communicating using hand gestures. Individuals with a hearing loss or impairment often use this form of language.
Social: Having to do with a student's abilities to get along with other people family, adults, or other children. An example of a social skill is a student being able to play well with other children his age.
Social Development
The process of development in which a child learns the skills, rules and values that will enable him or her to form connections and function among family members, peers and members of society.
Special Needs
The Special or unique, out-of-the-ordinary concerns created by a person's medical, physical, mental, or developmental condition or disability. Additional services are usually needed to help a person in one or more of the following areas, among others, thinking, communication, movement, getting along with others, and taking care of self.
Speech and Language: Having to do with a student's ability to speak (talk), write, listen, or read. This includes understanding others and making himself understood. An example of a speech and language skill is being able to put words together into a good sentence.
Stereotype
A stereotype is an oversimplified generalization about a person or group of people without regard for individual differences. Even seemingly positive stereotypes that link a person or group to a specific positive trait can have negative consequences.
Unlicensed Child Care
Child care programs that have not been licensed by the state. The term often refers both to childcare that can be legally unlicensed as well as programs that should be but are not licensed.
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