| Ability to predict | The skill to expect or know what will happen.
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| Accommodation | From Piaget's theory, the process of taking new information into the mind/body in such a way as to readjust, refine, or expand previous mental categories.
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| Adaptive behavior | Normal or useful. Adaptive behavior includes the ability to adjust to new situations and apply familiar or new skills or organize behavior to better fit a situation.
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| Aesthetics | Visually appealing. When adults value aesthetics, they demonstrate that value in the way they design environments for infants and toddlers.
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| Anecdotal records | A documentation method that briefly describes an activity, a snatch of conversation, a chant, and so on. Anecdotal records can be based on reflection or written on the spot.
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| Assimilation | From Piaget's theory, the process of taking new information into the mind/body by incorporating it into previously developed mental categories.
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| Assisted learning | Social interaction, according to Lev Vygotsky, supports early language development as well as problem solving. The belief is that children's learning is assisted by their interactions with more knowledgeable people; co-constructed.
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| Attachment | An enduring affectionate bond between a child and a person who cares for the child, giving the child a feeling of safety or security. Building a trusting secure attachment through consistency, responsiveness, and predictability shows children they can trust the caregiver to meet their needs (physical, mental, emotional). Attachment allows children to feel safe in their environment and therefore comfortable to explore and venture out.
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| Autonomy | Being independent and responsible for one's actions. Includes feelings of power and a sense of competence in making choices. The second stage of Erik Erikson's psychosocial development.
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| Axon | A filament extending from a nerve cell from which neural impulses are transmitted.
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| Bilingualism | Having the ability to speak and understand two languages.
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| Body awareness | Knowing where one's body is in space and learning its capabilities. Seen to emerge in infants and toddlers as their motor skills develop.
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| Body wisdom | Children's ability to be in their body, know what it needs, and have confidence in how it works and moves.
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| Brain plasticity | Capacity for regions of the brain and individual neurons within these regions to adapt and take on different functions as a result of experience.
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| Caregiver presence | Two ways of relating to infants that are a part of the two kinds of quality time. In wants-something quality time, the caregiver's presence is active. The caregiver has a task to perform, and though he or she may be gentle and responsive, the caregiver is giving direction to the interaction. The other type of caregiver presence is receptive; that is, the infant is the directive one who initiates the action and the caregiver responds to that action.
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| Cephalocaudal | An organized pattern of physical growth and motor control that proceeds from head to foot.
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| Cerebral cortex | The largest, most complex structure of the human brain; responsible for higher level thinking and intelligence; surrounds the rest of the brain (much like a half-shelled walnut).
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| Cognitive experience | Gathering information, organizing it, and finally using it to further one's understanding and know one's world.
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| Comfort device | An object or action that may be of comfort to the child, also known as a transitional object. May be used during the departure of a parent or before nap time to help the child make the transition into a new routine.
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| Conditioning | A relearning of one's behavioral response to react a certain way when presented with specific stimuli.
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| Conference | A meeting with parents arranged with a goal in mind, such as sharing information, thoughts, questions, and concerns, with the purpose of gaining insights and planning long-range goals collaboratively.
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| Construct | A concept, model, or idea. A mental image of how something looks or works used in building an understanding or new knowledge.
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| Constructing new knowledge | A view based on Jean Piaget's work that suggests that children don't passively receive knowledge through being taught, but rather actively construct it themselves.
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| Continuity of care | A method used in child care to keep infants and toddlers with the same caregiver(s) over a period of time. Desirable for building trust and security through attachment. The time can vary, but two years is a goal, and three years is even better.
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| Cultural identity | Part of self-concept, cultural identity relates to everything we do, how we look, talk, what we eat, where we live, and how we look at the world.
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| Curriculum | A plan for learning that is all-inclusive and centers on connections and relationships with an infant or toddler in a caregiving center or home child care. Focus is on education and care that responds to and respects the child's needs in warm, respectful, and sensitive ways that promote attachment. Respectful and responsive curriculum is based on relationships that occur within planned and unplanned activities, experiences, and happenings.
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| Dendrites | Fibers extending from neurons that receive input from neighboring neurons.
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| Developmental domains | Areas of development—ways of dividing up development as a whole to understand and study it. Simply stated, three developmental domains are the mind, the body, and feelings. More complex labels are physical, intellectual, and social-emotional development. Even more complex labels are psychomotor, cognitive, and affective development.
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| Dialogue | Communication where different points of view are listened to and nondefensive language is used to promote open communication and problem solving.
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| Distraction | Sometimes confused with redirection, distraction is a device to keep a child from continuing an action or behavior. Distraction also can be used to take children's minds off of a strong feeling. Distraction works, but has side effects as children learn that their energy or feelings are not acceptable to adults who distract them. Redirection may look similar, but instead of stopping the energy behind the behavior or the feeling, this guidance approach moves it in a more acceptable direction.
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| Documentation | A variety of records that represent children's learning, skill building, social-emotional development or thought processes. Documentation captures the processes and products of children's daily experiences and can be in the form of written records, but also can include photographs, tape recordings, and videos.
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| Dramatic play | Another name for pretend play. Comes more readily when there is a variety of objects that encourage exploration and pretend. Children under three years of age enjoy having representational objects from their day-to-day life for play, such as, dolls, stove, kitchen, cleaning, groceries, and so on.
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| Emotion | Affective response to an event that is personally relevant. Emotions come from within the individual but may be triggered by an external event. Emotional states include happiness, surprise, anger, envy, and sadness.
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| Environmental limit | A physical barrier that keeps a child or a material out of or inside of a given space. Environmental limits may also be accompanied by a verbal limit, such as "the water stays in the pan."
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| Exploration | Act of discovering and examining one's environment, people, objects, and properties of objects through touching, mouthing, smelling, seeing, and hearing. Providing a safe, developmentally appropriate environment that accommodates the various abilities allows for exploration, which can result in a variety of discoveries.
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| Fast mapping | The speedy (and sometimes not very precise) process of acquiring vocabulary by connecting a new word with an underlying concept after only a brief encounter.
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| Feeling | A physical sense or awareness of an emotional state. An emotional response to an event or interaction.
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| Five senses | Touch, hearing, smell, sight, and taste are all ways stimuli from the environment are taken in to the central nervous system for processing.
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| Floor time | The opposite of time-out, when, instead of having attention removed, a toddler who is exhibiting difficult behavior has an adult who pays full attention to the child (down on the floor) and is responsive rather than directive.
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| Free play | The name given undirected but monitored play when children have choices to pursue their special interests without continual adult control or expected outcome.
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| Gender identity | Part of self-concept, how a child perceives of himself or herself as a boy or girl. Influenced by the messages received from others and the media regarding expectations and relative value of boys and of girls.
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| Gross motor | Physical movement that requires the use of larger muscles such as rolling over, pulling up, climbing, walking, running, jumping.
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| Gross motor activity | An activity using the large muscles of the arms, legs, and trunk, such as climbing, rolling, sliding, running, and so on.
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| Happenings | The preferred word in this book for activities. A broad term intended to encompass the simplest event as well as more prolonged and complicated experiences. The word activity is avoided because it tends to put people in a preschool mode.
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| Imitate | To replicate a behavior, language, or interaction that one has observed in another.
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| Individualized family service plan (IFSP) | A written plan for early intervention consisting of child's level of development, the family's strengths and needs, goals for the infant and family, and the specific early intervention services needed to meet the goals. Developed by a team including parents and a variety of infant specialists.
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| Infant stimulation | is an approach to infant education based on the idea that stimulating the senses helps infants develop. What is missing from this approach is the idea that infants left on their own in a rich sensory environment can make choices about what to take in. Having sensory experiences by choice is different from being stimulated by someone. Further, when the stimulation comes from the outside, infants can be overwhelmed and feel powerless.
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| Initiative | Sense of purposefulness and effectiveness. Energy related to creating, inventing, and exploring. Third stage of Erik Erikson's psychosocial development, occurring at the onset of preschool age.
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| Inner controls | Another word for self-control. The goal is to help children learn to control their own behavior instead of depending on someone or something outside themselves.
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| Intake interview | Interview conducted when a child is admitted to a program or center. A service plan for both the child and parent is assessed at this time to help meet their needs through the scope of the curriculum or outside resources.
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| Intentionally | Engaging in an action deliberately in a way that is congruent with one's purpose or goal.
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| Interactional synchrony | Mutually reciprocal behaviors that mesh, seen in caregiver-child interactions.
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| Language | The ability to produce symbols and sounds that represent meaning, influenced by emotional and social development. Development of language is context-dependent. The words (symbols), their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a large group (generalized meaning).
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| Learning tools | Anything that is safe and interesting can be a source of learning for an infant or a toddler. Some examples are books, scarves, flannel boards, cardboard boxes, and blocks.
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| Limits | Boundaries placed on a child's behavior. They can be physical boundaries from the environment, such as gates or locked doors, or verbal boundaries, such as reminding children to sit while they have food in their mouth. Children will test invisible boundaries in order to discover them.
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| Literacy | The ability to listen and speak, and eventually to read and write.
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| Lock and latch boxes | Objects that offer fine motor manipulation to open and close using different kinds of locks, hooks, and pulls. Sometimes lock and latch boxes contain objects inside for sensory exploration.
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| Locomotion | The ability to move independently; related in this text to large or gross motor skill development.
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| Manipulation | The ability to move skillfully with the hands and fingers; related in this text to small or fine motor skill development.
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| Memory | Ability to retain and recall past experience, including images or thoughts.
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| Mixed-age groups | Providing care for children of varying ages, more common in family child care.
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| Model | To model behavior means to set an example by performing behaviors, actions, and interactive styles that others observe and imitate. Infants and toddlers learn from modeled behavior, so modeling can be a conscious teaching strategy and also a means of guidance.
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| Mouthable | A characteristic of a toy or material that makes it appropriate for infants and toddlers, who learn about the nature of objects and their properties by putting them in their mouths.
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| Multicultural curriculum& | Gaining an understanding of the families' caregiving practices, listening to how they would like you to be with their child, and incorporating this information into your caregiving with their child. Being respectful and reflective of the various cultures in your community.
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| Myelinization | The building or increasing of the myelin sheath that acts as an insulator around the axon with neural fibers allowing for efficient transmission of messages by the brain. Deterioration of the myelin sheath is caused in part by teratogen ingestion and could lead to delayed processing of information by the brain.
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| Needs and services plan | Information regarding the child and family's routine, habits, special needs, and ways of communicating. Also, any needs, concerns, or requests for social support or intervention. Opening communication between the family and community resources is one important goal of a needs and services plan.
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| Neural pathways | Information highways of the brain. Repeated stimulation strengthens some, and the ones that are neglected weaken and disintegrate.
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| Neurons | Nerve cells that send and receive messages and make up the communication system of the brain.
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| Neuroplastic | Flexible and responsive. In the first few months, a child's brain is very flexible and responsive to all sounds. With time, neural connections are strengthened through repetitious, responsive interactions, therefore making more permanent connections and less plasticity.
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| Neurotransmitters | Electrical impulses that transmit messages to the brain via synapses.
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| Object permanence | The understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of direct perception or sight.
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| Observation mode | A particular state or way of being in which the focus is on paying close attention.
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| Optimum stress& | The right amount of stress—that is, enough to energize and motivate the child toward activity, including problem solving, but not so much to hamper or inhibit the child's ability to act or solve a problem.
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| Overstimulation | Too much sensory input. An infant may show signs of being overstimulated by crying, turning away, or falling asleep.
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| Parent education | An approach to working with parents designed to meet parents' needs such as the need for support and help or the need for information about techniques and practices that may be useful in guiding a child's development.
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| Perception | The processing and organizing of information that has been taken in through the senses.
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| Philosophy of education | A set of theories or concepts related to development, the acquisition of knowledge, and learning of skills.
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| Play spaces | Areas set up for play, which should contain a variety of stage-appropriate toys and equipment for whole-body play as well as fine motor manipulative play. Also, space should provide for a range in mood from energetic to mellow, as well as social and solitary.
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| Positive reinforcement | Response to an action or a behavior that strengthens the likelihood of that action or behavior being repeated. Also known as a reward.
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| Preoperational stage | The second stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Marked by symbolic thought, where language and ability to pretend begin to appear, starting at around two years of age until about seven years of age.
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| Pretend play | Using one object, thing, or person to represent or stand for another. First appears around two years of age, when children can represent things through symbols and have the ability to think of their world when not directly experiencing it.
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| Primary caregiver system | A system in which a caregiver takes primary responsibility for several infants or a small group of toddlers. In center settings where there is more than one caregiver per group, the effect is to have a caregiving team. That way children feel a strong bond with one person but also have another one or two adults with whom they are comfortable and familiar.
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| Prosocial behavior | Actions that benefit another person without rewards for oneself.
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| Proximodistal | An organized pattern of physical growth and motor control that proceeds from the center of the body outward.
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| Redirection | A guidance strategy for changing children's unacceptable or disruptive behavior. The idea is to help children move their energy in a different direction and involve them in some positive activity. Redirection may look like distraction, but it is different.
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| Referral | An outside service that has been identified as a source of assistance to meet a particular family's needs.
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| Reflexes | Automatic or involuntary response system to touch, light, sound, and other forms of stimulation.
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| Reinforce | To make more known or to increase understanding of how something happens or works. Often behaviors are reinforced through repetition and imitation.
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| Release time | The time when caregivers in a team situation are released from responsibility for the rest of the group and can focus full attention on one child.
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| Resiliency | The ability to overcome adversity within one's development and continue to develop in a functionally adaptive manner.
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| Resilient | The quality of being able to cope with adversity and adapt in a positive way.
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| Running records | A method of documenting that gives a blow-by-blow, objective, written description of what is happening while it is happening. A running record can include adult interpretations about the meaning of the observed behaviors, but it must separate objective data from subjective comments.
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| Savior complex | A pattern that occurs when caregivers disapprove of parents and feel like they want to rescue the child from the family.
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| Scaffolding | A temporary structure of support provided by adults at an appropriate level to help children increase their competence at a given task or interaction. This structure of support can be seen in the use of words describing actions, questions to expand actions, temporary physical assistance, reflecting emotion, or providing for a challenging opportunity. Sometimes the mere presence of the adult or older peer is all that is needed to help a child to solve a problem, accomplish something, or fulfill a need.
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| Secure attachment | Term used from Mary Ainsworth's research (1970s), the Strange Situation, related to young children's responses to strangers and reunions with mothers. Refers to a relationship of trust and confidence and providing reassurance to enable independent exploration. Today the descriptions have limited application because of population diversity and reasons for child care.
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| Selective intervention | Interrupting children who need help to stay safe or interact positively. Selective intervention can also take advantage of teachable moments. Learning when to intervene appropriately is an important skill for caregivers in facilitating infant-toddler play.
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| Self-actualization | Sense of self-direction that brings about an extension and maturing of the personality. According to Abraham Maslow, this happens when one's physical, emotional, and intellectual needs are met. A point where one's needs relate to achievement and self-expression to realize one's potential.
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| Self-calming devices | Techniques, such as thumb sucking, that infants may use to calm themselves, to settle their emotional state, which may be inborn. The ability to calm oneself without relying solely on others.
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| Self-concept | Children's perceptions of the attributes and abilities they possess that they see as defining who they are. Self-concept is influenced by social context, gender identity, and culture.
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| Self-esteem | Personal assessment of positive worth. The aspect of self-concept that involves judgment of one's own worth.
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| Self-help skills | The skills children need to act independently, such as feeding themselves or putting on their shoes.
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| Self-image | The picture a person has of himself or herself. Part of self-concept, one's perception of oneself, relates to body image and awareness.
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| Sensitivity | The degree of responsiveness of an individual to external conditions or stimulation. Some children with extreme sensitivity experience discomfort.
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| Sensorimotor stage | The coordination of sensory perception and muscle movement marked as the beginning of thinking. The first stage in Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development.
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| Sensory impairment | A delay or problem with receiving information through one or more senses.
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| Sensory input | That which comes in and is received through the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin. This information is used to understand one's environment and interactions. Sometimes called "sensory stimulation."
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| Sensory integration | The process of combining and integrating information across the senses; it is critical to the development of perception.
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| Social interaction | A critical component of language development. Through imitation of the caregiver and the caregiver's response, children reinforce their understanding of how to interact with people in a social context.
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| Strange situation | From the research of Mary Ainsworth (1978), it involves a series of departures and reunions between mother and infant to measure attachment. Today it is considered somewhat dated because of varying family life styles and child care arrangements.
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| Stranger anxiety | Distress an infant exhibits when faced with unfamiliar adults.
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| Structure | A plan or setup of a physical environment that gives a clear message or expectation that influences one's behavior in such a space. It is most important for an environment for young children to be structured in a developmentally appropriate manner.
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| Synapses | Gaps between neurons across which chemical messages are sent via neurotransmitters.
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| Tactile perception | The processing of information that comes through touch.
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| Temperament | An overall personality style based in genetic origin that develops within a social context.
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| Three R interaction | An interaction that is respectful, responsive, and reciprocal. This interaction is a key part of effective caregiving. Interactions are linked together, creating a chain of interactions that build a partnership with the infant and are vital to relationships and therefore growth, development, and learning.
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| Time-out | A guidance approach that involves removing a child from a situation in which he or she is behaving unacceptably.
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| Toilet learning | A method by which children learn to use the toilet independently, usually some time during the third or fourth year of life. Children are old enough to learn to use the toilet when they show that they are physically, mentally, and emotionally ready.
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| Toilet training | A method by which children are helped before the third year to use the toilet through a kind of conditioning method that depends more on cultural traditions than it does on readiness.
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| Trust | To feel confident and secure within a relationship. The first stage of Erik Erikson's psychosocial development, which is the focus of the first year of life.
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| Wants-nothing quality time | Quality time in which the adult is available and responsive to the child but is not directing the interaction, activity, or play.
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| Wants-something quality time | Quality time in which the adult and child are involved in a task the caregiver has set up (diapering, feeding, bathing). The caregiver pays attention and includes the child in the process or task.
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| Zone of proximal development | According to Lev Vygotsky, the gap between a child's current performance and his or her potential performance if helped by a more competent child or adult.
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