Child Development Careers - Terms to Know

Accreditation: A voluntary approval program that evaluates an early childhood program to validate high quality programming. Center-based programs are usually accredited by NAEYC, home-based programs are accredited by NLFCCA.

ADA: (Americans with Disabilities Act) Federal legislation that prohibits discrimination of individuals with disabilities, including child care programs.

ADHD: (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) A condition both children and adults can have with behaviors like: short attention span, hyperactivity, and sometimes impulsive actions.

AECP: (Alliance of Early Childhood Professional) A Minnesota-based organization that engages in a variety of research, education, and systems work directed toward increasing the quality of children's care that respects and honors the language and culture of families, increasing the recognition and value of the work of early childhood, and improving compensation for the work of a diverse child development workforce. www.earlychildpro.org

Affective: An area of development that refers to expressing emotion or feelings.

Anecdotal record: A method of observation involving a written “word picture” of an event or behavior.

Assessment: A systematic procedure for obtaining information from observations, interviews, portfolios, projects, tests and other sources that can be used to identify an individual's strengths, abilities, needs, and developmental level or make judgments
about the characteristics of a program.

Attachment: a two-way process formed through mutual gratification of need and reciprocal communication influenced by the infant's growing cognitive abilities.

Authoritative: A positive discipline style that sets and enforces limits for children’s behavior appropriately and respectfully. The adult allows the child to have some say in what the rules and consequences of behavior are to be.

Authoritarian: A discipline style that requires obedience and exercises strict control over children.

Autonomy: The ability to accomplish a task independently, with little supervision. Erikson’s second stage of Psychosocial Development: Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt.

Bank Street: Curriculum approach based on the theories of Freud and Dewey that promotes autonomy, exploration, self-concept, communication and competency by providing learning centers and teacher-made materials. The effects of this approach have been researched by the Bank Street College of Education in New York City, where it was created by Lucy Mitchell.

Behaviorism: A theoretical viewpoint that behavior is shaped by environmental forces, specifically in response to reward and punishment. B.F. Skinner is a behaviorist.

Bibliotherapy: The use of books that deal with emotionally sensitive topics in a developmentally appropriate way to help children gain accurate information and learn coping strategies.

Bonding: the loving and accepting attitude a mother or caregiver takes toward her baby.

Case Study: An in-depth study of a child that involves several different types of observations at various times and settings.

CCW: (Child Care WORKS) A coalition of parents, caregivers, and children's advocates, that strive to achieve high-quality, affordable, accessible child care for every Minnesota family when they need it. www.childcareworks.org

CDA: (Child Development Associate) A credentialing program used to assess experienced early childhood educators where higher education is unavailable.

CEED: (Center for Early Education and Development) A University of Minnesota-based organization that facilitates communication among University colleagues around research and professional issues in early education and development and provides increased awareness of applied research.

Child Initiated: Curriculum that is focused on meeting the needs of young children by encouraging their active learning with opportunities for choices within a planned environment.

CICC: (Center for Inclusive Child Care) a comprehensive resource network for promoting and supporting inclusive early childhood and school-age programs and providers, funded by the Minnesota Dept. of Education and the Dept. of Human Services.

Cognitive: The mental processes that help children learn.

Constructivism: A curriculum approach where learners construct their own knowledge/meaning through learning experiences. It is based on Piaget’s cognitive development theory.

DAP-Development Appropriate Practice: Guidelines developed by NAEYC that approaches learning through hands-on exploration, discovery, and building on individual children’s strengths, abilities, and interests.

Development: child development is the study or examination of processes and mechanisms that operate during the physical and mental development of an infant into an adult.

E.C.F.E.: (Early Childhood Family Education) a universal program for parents and their children ages birth to kindergarten within school districts. ECFE provides parent education and support and provides young children school readiness skills from licensed early childhood teachers and parent educators. Parents come with their children to the class and have parent and child together time (PACT) and then separate for parent education and support.

ECSE: (Early Childhood Special Education) An early childhood education program that serves children with disabilities from birth to five years old.

EHDI: (Early Hearing Detection and Intervention) What it's all about is team work, active family involvement and that will equal out to be child success!! We need to be aware of child hearing lost at an early age.

ERIC: (Educational Resources Information Center) The ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education (ERIC EC) is one of 16 formerly federally funded clearinghouses.

GINIE: (Global Information Networks in Education) Website about Education and Democracy, Education and Psychological Distress in Countries in Crisis, and other interesting topics. An informative site to to see how education is valued in other parts of the world and how children are getting/not getting the education and other resources they need. www.ginie.org.

Head Start: Federally funded Early Childhood Education programs that serve low-income children.

High/Scope: A curriculum approach based on Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development that emphasizes active learning and key experiences. It was developed by David Weikart and colleagues in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1964.

HIPAA: (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
This act was passed in 1996 requiring the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) to develop standards to protect the security of health information. In 1999,the HSS began the process of issuing regulations to govern the privacy of individual health information. This allows employees, children and families the right to keep private all health information.

IDEA: (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) Federal legislation that mandates a free and appropriate education for children with disabilities, ages birth-21.

IEP: An Individualized Education Plan, a plan to help children, ages 3-21, who need special services, or extra attention to succeed in their education program.

IFSP: An Individualized Family Service Plan, a plan to provide special services to families with a child with a disability, ages birth to 3 years.

Infant: A young child from birth to their first birthday, or when they begin to walk.

Inclusion: Placing children with special needs in a regular education classroom with assistance from special education.

Learning Disability: Any of various cognitive, neurological, or psychological disorders that impede the ability to learn, especially one that interferes with the ability to learn mathematics or develop language skills. Also called learning disorder.

MDE: (Minnesota Department of Education) The department that oversees the educational programs in Minnesota. http://www.education.state.mn.us

MDHS: (Minnesota Department of Human Services) The department that oversees the child care programs in Minnesota. http://www.dhs.state.mn.us

MLFCCA: (Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association) A professional family child care organization of licensed family child care providers serving children and family child care providers. www.mlfcca.org

MnAEYC: (Minnesota Association for the Education of Young Children) The statewide organization of NAEYC. www.mnaeyc.org

Montessori: Curriculum approach based on the philosophy of Maria Montessori, an Italian physician in the early 1900’s.

Multiple Intelligences: A learning theory developed by Howard Gardner that believes that intelligence is not general but comes in many variations, such as linguistic, logical-mathematical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, kinesthetic, visual/spatial, naturalistic, etc.

NAEYC: (National Association for the Education of Young Children) A national organization that promotes high standards for early childhood education programs. It provides recognition, in the form of accreditation, for programs that meet the organization’s standards. It also provides resources and training for early childhood professionals and resources for families as well. The local organization is MnAEYC (Minnesota Association for the Education of Young Children). www.naeyc.org

NAFCC: (National Association for Family Child Care) A national organization that promotes high standards for family child care programs. It provides recognition, in the form of accreditation, for programs that meet the organization’s standards. It also provides resources and training for early childhood professionals. www.nafcc.org

PICA: (Parents in Community Action) A Minneapolis-based Head Start program.

Play: Spontaneous, unrestricted, and joyful response to the environment that helps children learn about their world, acquire competencies, and resolve challenges and conflict

Preschooler: A young child ages 3-5 or until they start Kindergarten.

Ratio: The maximum number of children that one adult can legally supervise. The state licensing rule determines the ratios based on the children’s ages.

Reggio: A curriculum approach based on the principle ideas of Loris Malaguzzi, who founded a municipal preschool in Reggio Emilia, Italy. This curriculum has a high regard for children and their abilities and also has a high degree of parental and community involvement. This approach uses the children’s firsthand experiences and interests to promote learning.

RCC: (Resources for Child Caring) A child care resources and referral agency in Ramsey County that helps families find child care and eligible parents pay for their child care. It also provides training and support for child care professionals and advocates for a better child care and early education system in Minnesota. It currently serves Ramsey, Hennepin and Washington counties. www.resourcesforchildcaring.org

Ready4K: A public outreach and advocacy program that works to assure that every young child in Minnesota enters kindergarten encouraged, supported, and fully prepared for learning success. www.ready4k.org

Scaffolding: Supporting children to take steps they might not yet be able to take without adult intervention. Mentoring is an example.

Schemata: According to Piaget, cognitive structures that form a framework for concepts and images in the brain. (Schema is the singular form)

School-ager: A young child from 5-9 years of age, or from when they begin Kindergarten until they finish third grade.

School Readiness Programs: Minnesota school based programs that support and enhance learning and development for four and five year old children the year prior to entering kindergarten. There may be priorities given to children who are English Language Learners or who are eligible for free or reduced meals or have learning and developmental needs.

Sensorimotor: An area of development that refers to the process of taking in sensory information and acting on it. The relationship between sensation and movement. (Piaget’s first stage of cognitive development.)

SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome): Death of an infant that occurs where there is no known cause. Most commonly occurs in the first three months of life.

Temperament: Children’s inborn characteristics such as regularity, adaptability, and disposition that affect behavior.

Toddler: A young child from 1 to 3 years of age, or from when they begin to walk until they enter preschool.