Growing Ideas - Admissions Policies and Practices that Build Inclusive Child...
All children, including children with disabilities, benefit when quality inclusive child care settings provide an equal opportunity to participate. Admissions policies and practices that reflect this...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Admissions Policies and Practices that Build Inclusive Child...
Quality inclusive child care settings include children with disabilities and health, behavioral or mental health concerns. Admissions policies that clearly state eligibility criteria, practices,...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - WHACK! SLAM! BANG! - Aggression
Aggressive behavior - hitting, pinching, biting, and other acts through which children may hurt themselves or others - is a way children communicate by using their bodies. Children behave aggressively...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Confidentiality: Respecting the Privacy of All Families
Care and education professionals routinely receive confidential information about children and families as part of their work. Maintaining confidentiality is important both legally and ethically.
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Caring for Young Children - Business Matters
Caregivers or business owners? Family child care providers are both. Paying attention to the business aspects of running a family child care home is an important component to having the income and...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - OUCH! That hurts! - Biting
Children bite for a variety of reasons. Biting behavior provides clues to how children are feeling, their stage of development and what they need from their environment to be successful. Understanding...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Behavior Communicates
All child care professionals who provide quality inclusive child care strive to understand what children are telling them through their behavior. When a child behaves in a way that indicates a need...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Assessment Basics: From Observation to Instruction
Developmentally appropriate assessment supports learning through the process of gathering information related to a child's development and learning style. It provides professionals with a picture of...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Partnering with an Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant
Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) is a collaborative relationship between a mental health consultant and families, care and education professionals, and/or early care and education...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Thoughtful Teaching: Developmentally Appropriate Practice
Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) describes an approach to education that guides early childhood professionals in their everyday practice. DAP comes from more than 75 years of research on...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Increase Access: Universal Design in Early Care & Education
According to Ron Mace of the Center for Universal Design, universal design is the philosophy of designing and creating products and environments to be accessible to the greatest extent possible, to...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Daily Transitions - Time for a Change
Young children with and without disabilities experience many changes during their day. Daily transitions in early care and education programs take place during an activity, or when children move from...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Shocking Language! - Swearing
When children swear, it is important to understand the hidden meaning behind those troubling words. As with any behavior, it is important to learn as much as you can about a child and what may be...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Friends & Feelings: Social-Emotional Development in Young...
Social-emotional development involves the ability to form close, secure relationships and to experience, regulate, and express emotions. Social-emotional growth is affected by a variety of factors,...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Word Play All Day - Early Literacy in Action
Early literacy is one term used to describe the stage of literacy development occurring before children are able to read and write. From infancy, children begin to develop the knowledge, skills, and...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Laws that Support Early Childhood Education for All
State and federal laws protect the rights of children with disabilities. These laws support the inclusion of children with disabilities in care and education settings. Care and education professionals...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Inclusive Early Childhood Education
Inclusive early childhood programs are built upon a foundation of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) and consider individualized approaches that benefit all children. Inclusive programs...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Building Belonging: Providing Guidance for Social Skill...
As young children with and without disabilities grow, they are learning how to develop relationships with others and to be members of a community. All children need support to learn and achieve these...
View ArticleGrowing Ideas - Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) is a collaborative relationship between a mental health consultant and family members, child care providers, early care and education teachers, and/...
View Article2014 Maine Head Start Annual Report
The goal of Head Start is to improve outcomes for young children (ages 6 weeks to 5 years) from low-income families by promoting school readiness through a continuum of comprehensive services (early...
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