Glossary

ABC Observation Method

A method of documenting the antecedent, behavior, and consequence associated with an incident to identify patterns and possible influences on behavior.

Adverse Childhood Experiences

Potentially traumatic experiences occurring before age 18 that can affect development, health, relationships, and well-being.

Attachment

A deep and enduring emotional bond between a child and a caregiver that provides security, comfort, and a sense of belonging.

Authentic assessment

The ongoing collection of information about children’s development through observations, documentation, and naturally occurring activities in familiar settings.

Behavior Support Plan 

A proactive, individualized plan that identifies a child’s strengths, behavioral patterns, possible triggers, prevention strategies, replacement skills, adult responses, and methods for monitoring progress.

Burnout

A condition resulting from prolonged workplace stress that may involve emotional exhaustion, cynicism or detachment, and a reduced sense of professional accomplishment.

Calming space

A comfortable, supportive area where children can voluntarily relax, regulate their emotions, regain control, and prepare to return to classroom activities.

Co-regulation

The process through which a responsive adult helps a child manage emotions, behavior, and physiological responses until the child gradually develops greater self-regulation.

Co-Regulation

The supportive process through which a responsive adult helps a child manage emotions, behavior, and physiological responses.

Compassion fatigue

Emotional depletion that can develop from continually caring for and empathizing with people experiencing distress, trauma, or significant challenges.

Conflict resolution

The process of identifying and addressing a disagreement through communication, emotional regulation, perspective taking, and collaborative problem-solving.

Cultural Competence

The developing ability to understand, respect, and interact positively with people from different cultural, linguistic, family, and ability backgrounds.

Cultural humility

The ongoing practice of reflecting on one’s own beliefs and biases while remaining open to learning from each family’s unique culture, values, and experiences.

Culturally responsive practice

An approach that respects families’ cultures, languages, traditions, and caregiving practices and incorporates them meaningfully into the learning environment.

Developmental-stage behavior

Behavior that reflects a child’s age, developmental abilities, or need to practice a newly emerging skill.

Discipline

A respectful, instructional response used after an expectation has not been met to help children understand their actions, repair harm, and practice more appropriate behavior.

Display rules

Socially and culturally influenced expectations concerning when, where, and how emotions should be expressed.

Emotional competence

The ability to understand emotions, use emotional vocabulary, express feelings appropriately, cope with emotional experiences, and respond sensitively to others.

Emotional contagion

The process through which one person’s emotional state influences the feelings, behavior, and physiological responses of others.

Emotional development

The process through which children learn to recognize, express, understand, and manage their emotions and respond to the emotions of others.

Emotional intelligence

The ability to recognize, understand, and manage one’s own emotions while responding effectively and empathetically to the emotions of others.

Emotional intelligence

The ability to recognize, understand, use, and manage emotions in oneself and in relationships with others.

Emotional Intelligence

The ability to recognize, understand, express, and manage emotions in oneself and respond appropriately to the emotions of others.

Emotional labor

The ongoing process of managing one’s own emotions while responding sensitively and appropriately to the emotional needs of others.

Empathy

The ability to recognize, understand, and respond to another person’s thoughts, feelings, and perspectives.

Environment as the third teacher

The concept that the physical space, materials, organization, schedule, and emotional climate actively influence children’s development, behavior, relationships, and learning.

Environmental influences

Physical, social, emotional, cultural, and situational conditions that can affect children’s feelings, actions, and behavior.

Executive Function

A group of mental processes, including working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility, that help children plan, focus attention, remember information, and manage behavior.

Family partnership

A respectful, collaborative relationship in which families and educators share information, expertise, decision-making, and responsibility for supporting a child.

Feisty Temperament

A temperament style often characterized by high activity, intense emotional reactions, irregular biological rhythms, distractibility, and difficulty adapting to change.

Flexible Temperament

A temperament style generally characterized by regular biological rhythms, adaptability, positive mood, and relatively mild emotional reactions.

Goodness of Fit

The degree to which an adult’s expectations, responses, and environment are compatible with a child’s temperament and individual needs.

Guidance

A proactive, instructional process that teaches children the social, emotional, and behavioral skills needed to make increasingly responsible choices.

I statement

A communication strategy used to express feelings, describe what happened, and explain why the experience was upsetting without blaming or attacking another person.

Individual differences

Variations in temperament, sensory processing, physiology, neurodevelopment, executive functioning, and life experiences that influence how children respond to the world.

Inhibitory Control

The ability to pause before acting, resist an immediate impulse, and choose a response that is appropriate for the situation.

Internal Working Model

A child’s developing expectations and beliefs about whether they are worthy of care and whether other people can be trusted and relied upon.

Least Restrictive Environment

The legal principle that children with disabilities should learn alongside children without disabilities to the greatest extent appropriate while receiving the supports needed for meaningful participation.

Limbic system

A network of interconnected brain structures involved in emotion, motivation, memory, stress responses, and behavior.

Moral development

The gradual process through which children develop an understanding of right and wrong, fairness, responsibility, honesty, and respect.

Observational learning

Learning that occurs by watching another person’s behavior and observing the consequences of that behavior.

Peace table

A designated classroom space where children can calm themselves, communicate their perspectives, listen to one another, and work toward mutually acceptable solutions.

Perspective taking

The ability to consider a situation from another person’s point of view.

Positive guidance

A respectful approach that teaches children appropriate behavior by communicating clear expectations, modeling social skills, and helping children learn from their choices.

Prosocial behavior

Voluntary actions intended to benefit others, such as helping, sharing, comforting, cooperating, and showing kindness.

Protective factors

Relationships, strengths, resources, and environmental conditions that help reduce the effects of stress and adversity.

Reciprocal communication

A two-way exchange in which educators and families both share information, listen to one another, and contribute their knowledge and perspectives.

Reciprocal interactions

Back-and-forth exchanges in which children and caregivers respond to and influence one another through sounds, gestures, facial expressions, words, and actions.

Redirection

A guidance strategy that shifts a child’s attention or behavior toward a safe, acceptable, and developmentally appropriate alternative.

Reflective listening

Listening carefully and restating what a person has communicated to confirm understanding and help the person feel heard.

Resilience

The ability to adapt, recover, and continue moving forward after experiencing stress, setbacks, or adversity.

Safe Haven

A trusted caregiver to whom a child turns for comfort, protection, and reassurance during distress.

Secondary traumatic stress

Emotional and physiological distress that can result from repeated exposure to another person’s traumatic experiences.

Secure Base

A trusted caregiver who provides the emotional security a child needs to explore, learn, and interact with others.

Self-Efficacy

A person’s belief in their ability to accomplish a task, solve a problem, or influence what happens through their actions.

Self-Regulation

The developing ability to manage emotions, attention, behavior, and impulses in ways that support relationships, learning, and goal-directed activity.

Self-Regulation

The developing ability to manage emotions, attention, thoughts, impulses, and behavior in ways that are appropriate for the situation.

Sense of belonging

The feeling of being welcomed, accepted, connected, respected, and valued as an important member of a classroom community.

Slow-to-Warm-Up Temperament

 A temperament style characterized by cautious responses to unfamiliar people or situations, low initial activity, and gradual adaptation over time.

Social and Emotional Learning

The process through which children learn to understand and manage emotions, develop healthy identities, form positive relationships, demonstrate empathy, and make responsible decisions.

Social competence

The integrated ability to communicate, cooperate, regulate behavior, solve social problems, and build and maintain positive relationships with others.

Social Competence

The ability to interact effectively with others, express emotions appropriately, cooperate, solve social problems, and build positive relationships.

Social Support Pyramid

A tiered framework that begins with positive relationships and supportive environments, progresses to intentional social-emotional instruction, and provides individualized intervention when needed.

Socialization

The process through which children learn the values, behaviors, customs, expectations, and social practices of their families, communities, and cultures.

Stages of social play

Parten’s description of children’s increasingly interactive forms of play, including unoccupied, solitary, onlooker, parallel, associative, and cooperative play.

Strengths-based communication

Communication that recognizes and builds upon a child’s abilities, interests, relationships, progress, and family resources while addressing areas in which support may be needed.

Temperament

Biologically influenced individual differences in emotional reactivity, activity, attention, adaptability, and responses to people and experiences.

The child does not know but is ready to learn

A possible cause of behavior in which a child is developmentally capable of learning an expected skill but has not yet received sufficient teaching, modeling, or practice.

Theory of Mind

The understanding that other people have thoughts, feelings, beliefs, intentions, and knowledge that may differ from one’s own.

Toxic stress

Prolonged or excessive activation of the body’s stress-response systems without sufficient support from caring adults.

Trauma

An emotional, psychological, and physiological response to an event or series of events that overwhelms a person’s ability to cope.

Trauma-informed care

An approach that recognizes the possible effects of trauma and emphasizes safety, trust, connection, empowerment, cultural responsiveness, and compassionate support.

Universal Design for Learning

A framework for designing flexible learning environments that provide multiple ways for children to engage, access information, participate, communicate, and demonstrate learning.

Unmet emotional need

A need for security, connection, trust, acceptance, belonging, comfort, or control that a child may be attempting to communicate or satisfy through behavior.

WAGER framework

A relationship-building framework representing Warmth, Acceptance, Genuineness, Empathy, and Respect.