A 504 plan may be used to help children with disabilities learn in school. It is available in schools from Kindergarten to 12th grade because of the Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act law. It is provided for free and is more broad than an IEP.

Academic learning are things that are traditionally taught in schools. Academic learning includes English, math, social studies, science, etc.

Most people hear what others are saying. Active listening is much harder. It is the ability to stay focused on the person talking, being able to comprehend, and paraphrase what they said using verbal and non-verbal communication.

Attachment is the relationship bond that is formed between an infant and their primary caregivers.

Attunement is understanding and responding to an infant’s needs. It is used to help build a secure attachment.

Authentic praise is being truly happy and proud of a person’s behavior. Specific praise is complementing a child’s behavior in a specific way such as, “You did a great job by picking up all the toys by yourself.” Saying, “Good job” is usually not authentic and it is not specific.

Autonomy is the ability to be self reliant. It includes making decisions, being able to get things done on your own, being independent, etc.

An early childhood curriculum is what you plan on teaching the children. It can be loose and used during free play and teachable moments or scheduled with lesson plans and themes. Both are used in many childcares.

Cognitive skills are mental abilities. They are used to process, learn, remember, and use information.

Examples of cognitive skills include:
Attention
Perception
Memory
Processing speed
Logical reasoning and problem-solving

Community is a group of people that have something in common. It could be their language, location, diagnoses, ethnicity, race, religion, school, family structure, etc.

Continuity of care is having the same person caring for a child or group of children. Since the same children and teachers are together over a long period of time it helps them to build better, more trusting, relationships with each other.

Culture is your values, beliefs, and what you consider to be “normal.” Everyone has their own unique culture. Culture is similar to a fingerprint in that everyone is basically the same, but there are many differences from person to person that makes everyone unique.

Cultural sensitivity is respecting other people’s culture and realizing that it is not better or worse than yours. It is just different.

Delayed gratification is the ability to wait for something good. Example: “You can have $1 now or $2 tomorrow.” Choosing to wait until tomorrow for a bigger reward is delayed gratification.

When a child does not reach typical milestones it is considered a developmental delay. It happens when a child does not do something that other typically developing children are doing by a specific age. Doctors, schools, and some childcare providers provide parents with a screening tool to check for developmental delays.

Milestones are things that children do over the course of their development. They include things like: babbling, crawling, drawing a line on a paper, asking for help, etc.

Dialogic reading is asking a child questions while reading a book with them. Dialogic reading includes the PEER sequence. P.E.E.R. stands for Prompt, Evaluate, Expand, and Repeat.

Emotional dysregulation is the opposite of self regulation. Examples of dysregulation include: not being able to calm yourself down, excessive melt downs, sudden outbursts, self harm, etc.

Early intervention is professional services that help infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their families with developmental delays or disabilities.

Emotional intelligence is knowing how you are feeling, being able to handle your emotions in a positive way, recognizing how other people are feeling, and being able to solve problems with others through effective communication. Emotional intelligence includes: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

Emotional regulation, also called self regulation, is the ability to define and manage your emotions in a socially acceptable way. For example, saying “I’m angry” then walking away and taking deep breaths to calm down.

Empathy is understanding how another person feels. It is deeper and more meaningful than sympathy.

The words you can see around you are called environmental print. You can see on food packaging, signs, buildings, books, calendars, posters, receipts, this question, closed captioning on a TV, etc.

Eureka is a math curriculum that teaches children how math algorithms work. It helps children do complex math problems at an early age.

Evidence based practice or EBP is using current scientific research to make informed decisions.

Cognitive flexibility is the ability to adapt to change without getting upset.

A floor bed is a mattress with or without a very low bed frame on the floor. A floor bed gives a toddler more independence. The concept was created by Maria Montessori.

Growth mindset means that you believe a person can change over time. They can learn from their mistakes. They can improve. For example: “I’ll get it next time.”

A holistic curriculum focuses on every aspect a child, not just ABC’s and 123’s. Holistic childcare includes: social, emotional, physical, cultural, and academic learning.

Impulse control is the ability to stop yourself from doing an action. For example: hitting, grabbing, etc.

Inclusion is the act of being included. It means that everyone should have a chance to participate and feel like they can be themselves in a group setting. Inclusion should include: people with differing abilities, races, ethnic groups, gender, etc.

Intelligible speech happens when someone is talking, but is not understood. 1 and 2 year olds use this unclear expressive language often while they are learning how to talk.

Interpersonal skills are skills that you use to communicate with others.

Intrapersonal skills are skills that you use to help yourself overcome your problems.

Some examples of “I statements” are:

“I feel upset when you…”
“I want this because…”

Learned behavior is something that someone does because they saw or heard other people around them doing it. Learned behavior can be positive or negative. It comes from modeling and can come from anything or anyone a child is exposed to. For example: using a toy to talk on “the phone,” saying cuss words, telling the truth, being optimistic, etc.

There are 6 stages of play. Children generally develop from infancy to age 5 by doing play in this order…

Unoccupied – a child is not doing anything

Playing alone – a child is playing with a toy by themselves

Onlooker – a child is watching others play with toys

Parallel – a child is playing next to someone else. Example: 2 children are building their own towers with blocks

Associative – a child is playing with someone else. Example: dramatic play

Cooperative – a child is playing with someone else and the game as rules to follow. Example: board game

I define life skills, also called adaptive behavior, as skills that you need to function at your personal best. It is a type of social skill. It includes things like: accepting change, making decisions, empathy, respect, accepting the word NO, managing money, self-esteem, etc.

Locomotor skills are gross motor skills that include movement from one place to another. They include: walking, running, skipping, galloping, etc.

Logical consequences are very similar to natural consequences except that someone must carry out the consequence. They can be used for all children and teenagers. Example: If you choose not to clean up, I choose not to buy you more toys.

A mandated reporter is someone that is required by law to report suspected abuse or neglect. Mandated reporting laws vary from state to state. Teachers, medical professionals, childcare providers, psychologists, counselors, are common mandated reporters. If you see a young child riding in a car without a car seat you may need to call your states mandated reporting hotline or the police.

Midline is an imaginary line that splits your body into parts. There are 3 midlines on a body. There is a vertical midline that splits your body into 2 equal halves. This line is symmetrical separating the left and right parts of a body. There is a midline at the waist separating the upper and lower half of the body. There is also a midline that runs vertically between the front and back half of the body.

Mindfulness is calmly staying focused on what is happening right now. Instead of dwelling in the past or worrying about the future, you can stay in the present moment while paying attention to your body. Mindfulness is useful for self care.

Mindset is the way a person thinks and feels about life. People can have a positive or negative mindset.

Natural consequences are things that happen naturally without intervention. They can be used for people of all ages and abilities. Example: A child refuses to wear their coat in winter. They get cold.

Non-locomotor skills are gross motor skills that require staying in 1 spot and stability. They include: bending, twisting, stretching, etc.

Paced bottle feeding is a feeding strategy designed to copy the flow and pace of breastfeeding.

There are 4 parenting styles. Aggressive, authoritative, passive, and uninvolved. Positive discipline uses mostly authoritative parenting. It is a good middle ground between aggressive and passive. While authoritative parenting and communicating assertively is the best for most situations, each child is unique. It is helpful to be able to use passive and aggressive parenting too. Which one you should use also depends on the temperament and age of your child.

Positive discipline is a technique used to teach children why their misbehavior is not acceptable. It can be used instead of punishments. Natural and logical consequences should be used with positive discipline.

Open-ended process art is using materials to create anything that you can imagine. There is no right or wrong way to do it. It focuses on the process of creating, not the finished product. There is no teacher example to copy from while doing art.

Punishments are temporary solutions. They are used to try and gain control over a child. Time out and spanking are forms of punishment. When spanking is used a child may be thinking, “Why can you hit but I can’t?” When timeout is used a child may be thinking, “How can I escape? Next time I will do it when she’s not looking.”

Reflection is asking yourself questions about an experience that has already happened. When you use reflection, it helps you figure out why something happened and what could be done differently next time.

Relationship skills are being able to start and maintain relationships with other people. It includes cooperation and effectively resolving conflict.

Resilience is the ability to recover from an upsetting experience.

Decision making is deciding what to do. Making decisions responsibly includes: ethics, safety, respect, helping, thinking about what is considered “normal,” thinking about the consequence, and doing what you decided to do.

Self-awareness is knowing how you feel, what you like, and knowing when to ask for help.

Self-management is being able to control your impulses, calm down when you get upset, talk about how you are feeling, and planning goals for yourself.

Self-talk is words that you say to yourself (talking to yourself). Self talk can be positive or negative. It can include things like, “You got this.” or “Nobody likes me.”

Sensory experiences are a science skill. They are things that you learn through your 5 senses. Touch can be a change in temperature or texture that you feel. Seeing is visually seeing something with your eyes. Hearing can be a sound. Smelling is a change in smell. Taste can be the texture of food, and includes biting or teething.

Social awareness is being able to see things from another person’s point of view and empathize with them, knowing what resources are available to help you overcome problems, noticing differences and similarities in people.

Social skills are necessary to function in society and around other people. Examples of social skills are conflict resolution, active listening, taking turns, telling others what you need, respecting personal space, sharing, being calm or disappointed when losing a game, etc.

The startle reflex is one of the reflexes a person is born with. It happens when someone is asleep then suddenly wakes up. It can happen when a caregiver puts an infant down for a nap after they have fallen asleep. Using a snug sleep sack can help keep your baby asleep.

Symbolic thinking is used when a person uses something to represent something else. For example: when a preschooler pretends that a row of blocks is a phone. Or when a teacher writes an algebraic equation, the letter X represents number 3.

Teachable moments are unplanned, real life opportunities to learn. For example; Aaron spills his drink. I give him a rag and help him clean the mess. Next time he makes a mess, hopefully, he will get a rag and clean it himself.

Temperament is similar to personality. It is the way a person acts in everyday life. Temperament effects behavior. It determines whether a person is outgoing or shy, passive or aggressive, etc.

Equality is offering the same service or support to everyone. Equity is offering different services and supports to meet each persons needs.

The power of yet helps change your mindset to be more positive by adding the word “yet” to your thinking. For example change, “I can’t do it.” to “I can’t do it yet.

Example: The kids are doing puzzles. 3 year old Emily tells Irene “We don’t know where the pieces go yet, but we can keep trying.”

Time away is similar to time out in that it is a safe place for children to be alone. However, it is also different from timeout because the child can leave whenever they want to. The purpose of time away is to calm down. It is not a punishment. When a child is enraged, time away works best in a place that the child can be isolated from people and things like in a corner of the room. If a child is only upset, you can but a pillow and stuffed animal in the time away location.

When children are used to it, they may start doing it on their own.

Time-in is staying with your child and comforting them when they are upset. If the child is a toddler you can tell them how they are feeling and what made them upset.

Unconscious or implicit bias means that a person is stereotyping or being prejudiced to a person or group of people without realizing that is what they are doing.