Early childhood education is a valuable piece in a child’s development. As a former pre-k and kindergarten teacher and a current elementary principal, I understand the critical learning that takes place from age three to six. At this time. children are building a foundation of learning and are rapidly acquiring new skills that they will continue to build upon each year. Children who are enrolled in a quality early childhood education program are more prepared academically and socially and have stronger language/communication skills than those who do not experience this learning.

Nonetheless, when a group of 20 students enter a classroom, it becomes the educator’s responsibility to assess the students, create a plan for their learning and bring them to their fullest potential. I will discuss various things that early childhood educators should do to be successful and ensure all the children in their care reach their goals.

Social-Emotional Learning

Our youngest learners are never too young to begin learning about social-emotional health. It is vital for our children to learn how to take turns, share, express their feelings appropriately, recognize social cues, and self-regulate when things may not go their way. When these skills are mastered, the journey to academic mastery can be much more productive and efficient.

In order to help your young learners achieve this goal, early childhood educators should attend professional development to gain the skillset and specific age-appropriate strategies to be well equipped with age-appropriate, research-based strategies and approaches.

Use of Restorative Practices

I am a firm believer that you should not expect a child to behave in a manner that you have not taught them or modeled. When our young scholars commit an offense, it is our duty to first understand their thinking and then teach them the appropriate response before responding in a punitive nature.

According to the IRP (International Institute for Restorative Practices), restorative practices are a field within the social sciences that studies how to strengthen relationships between individuals and social connections within communities. Ensuring our students are given time to learn about expectations, diversity, cultures, and norms of different groups of people will aid in building successful relationships and will strengthen their knowledge of the world.

Mindfulness

Meditation is a great way to start the day and prepare for learning. Mindfulness routines calm the body, helps you think positive thoughts, and remind you to self-regulate if you become frustrated. Meditation is fun, even for early learners, and if used consistently, they will begin to use the techniques unprompted when they feel the need.

Involve Parents in the Learning

We all know that an involved parent breeds a stronger learner.  As early childhood educators, it is important to remember that many parents could be first time parents and are looking to you for guidance on academic and behavior strategies. Even for parents who are not first-time parents, it may have been several years since they had a Pre-K or Kindergarten student and standards and expectations could have changed.

Create a system of regular communication that includes the weekly learning standards, examples of your expectations, and ways parents can support the learning at home. For kindergarten, you can do this by sending pictures of your anchor charts, samples of accurate student work, and/or video clips of your whole-group instruction.

For three and four-year olds, educators can do this through a newsletter and regular parent conferences. It is always fun to invite parents to the class to complete student work. In the early years this is fun and not stressful.

Learning Through Play

Learning through play is one of the most effective ways to teach all skills to early learners. Every skill, academic and social, can be incorporated into a play station. Kindergarten curriculum and standards are targeted and aligned with the expectation that they end the year as a reader. Play gives many more opportunities to learn and practice their skills than a worksheet or workbook.

Differentiated Learning

The best educators understand the purpose of and appropriately and consistently use differentiated learning. The magic happens in small groups or with one-on-one instructional time because students are learning on their level with a bit of challenge that encourages their growth. They respond more freely and feel less pressure than in the whole group. The best learning happens at this time and there is better retention of skills.

Embrace and Celebrate Diversity

As our students grow, they will work in groups with people of various backgrounds. Teaching them that differences are normal is one of the first lessons they should learn. Children are sponges, and they mimic what they are taught and what they hear. When we teach them that differences are what make the world beautiful, they will grow up embracing and honoring all types of people, essentially improving the environment in which they learn and how they treat others.

Use Technology, But Not Too Much

Our young scholars are tech-savvy, even at the tender ages of three, four, and five. While there is value in some online programs and games, we cannot overuse technology. Early learners should practice how to create from scratch and use the skills they have learned to solve problems.

In conclusion, early childhood educators possess the ability to create a strong and unshakeable foundation in the lives of the littles. My advice is to stay abreast of the current research on strategies and teaching practices, make your classroom student-centered, strive daily to teach the whole child and teach with love.

Have a passion for early childhood education? Explore our available early childhood education graduate programs and get started today!

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When choosing the appropriate and best early childhood school fit for a child, parents may be faced with choices that include part-time, full-time, or extended-day options. Some early childhood learning programs offer curriculums that emphasize more “play” based models, or a stronger academic approach. Many daycares are now not only the best option for full-time working parents because of the hours but have developed curriculums to challenge and prepare children for elementary school.

Another benefit for a full-time early education program for any child versus a part-time option is the stamina a child can develop before kindergarten enrollment, as most kindergarten programs are full day. When considering the best program to satisfy educational and social needs, the five domains of early childhood development must be present. The five domains include social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and language.

Social

A preschool and daycare environment should be supporting the social skills of young children by modeling positive relationships, using appropriate language, and promoting activities to introduce and eventually master socially acceptable childhood skills, such as sharing, taking turns, waiting patiently, not interrupting, and entertaining themselves without disrupting others. The social situations children are faced with when in preschool will best prepare them for the elementary classroom where the class size is typically larger than a preschool classroom, where the teacher ratio is lower.

Emotional

The emotional development for children in their early years starts with recognizing and expressing personal feelings and responding to others with emotions that best fit a situation. When children attend a preschool environment for the first time regardless of the age of the child, there could possibly be an adjustment phase at drop off between the child and the parents. Some children experience separation anxiety and need extra time to feel comfortable without a parent. Most preschool instructors are prepared for excessive crying or mood changes with children that experience separation anxiety.

In situations where children feel anxious or worried, children need to learn self-regulation or soothing that involve learning tools to regain independence and comfort while at school. Preschool age children are also learning how to express emotions verbally instead of with physical actions, such as hitting, kicking, or having a tantrum. A substantial amount of time in preschool should be spent on social-emotional learning (SEL). SEL introduces children being tolerate around other children, making socially acceptable choices, and learning right from wrong. Children participating in social-emotional learning programs before kindergarten are usually the readiest to learn and build an academic foundation.

Physical

Physical development for children between birth and five years old includes the physical growth of the body, mind, and muscles. Many infants attending daycares will achieve developmental milestones, such as sitting up, feeding themselves, crawling, and possibly walking for the first time. Early physical development also involves understanding the five senses for the first time. Preschool programs offer opportunities for children to use their sense of touch to experience a variety of textures. Children are shown various pictures, sing songs, share new foods, and smell different aspects of their environment.

The development of gross motor skills and the beginning use of fine motor skills are two very important aspects of a young child’s physical development. The more opportunities young children have to play outside on developmentally appropriate playground equipment and participate in activities that develop strong core muscles the longer stamina they will have for building a foundation for learning.

Cognitive

Children, especially under the age of five have a desire to learn. The young child is inquisitive and can ask one question after another about any topic of their interest. Therefore, preschool teachers have great autonomy to expose little ones to many topics and skills that will build a foundation to make them lifelong learners. The topics can start out simple with recognition of colors, shapes, letters, and numbers. But can and should also involve science concepts, geography, and foreign languages. A young child’s mind is like a sponge.

Language

Children crave verbal stimuli. While in utero, a mother talks to her baby, and when a baby is born, the first voices they hear are of the parents. An important and memorable milestone for a child is when they say their first word. After using one word to identify familiar objects, get someone’s attention, or demand a need, the use of more than one word begins to develop, and the use of two or more words together to create a sentence happens. When sentences begin, then conversations occur, and negotiations for social and physical needs blossom.

The best opportunity for building language skills in early childhood is reading. The more a child hears words and is exposed to text, the better vocabulary a child can develop. A child’s expressive and receptive language skills begin developing in early childhood. Preschools and daycare centers that rely on digital learning tools do not provide the traditional language instruction needed to develop strong communication skills. The development of adequate language skills is paramount for engaging children to learn and retain the skills and concepts to allow them to be inquisitive learners.

Each of the five domains of early childhood development have significant importance and carry over to developing sustainable academic and social growth in elementary school for any student.

Have a passion for early childhood education? Explore our available early childhood education graduate programs and get started today!

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As a parent, I reply, “I agree, it’s not just like Kindergarten, you are growing up and making different choices when you get overwhelmed. And you’re right, your teacher does like you a lot and wants to help you.” As an educator, I think, “That’s the difference a teacher can make…”, a teacher who knows what an exceptional early childhood student needs developmentally, emotionally, academically, socially, and who is armed with the knowledge of research-based strategies and dispositions to deliver interventions and instruction and meet students’ diverse needs.

A master’s in early childhood special education (ECSE) exposes the educator to research-based intervention strategies, dispositions that promote positive results in young children, and knowledge of available intervention resources to negate risk-factors in the environment.

However, the primary reason to pursue a master’s in early childhood special education is that by doing so, a teacher becomes an advocate and a lifeline for one of the most vulnerable groups of students in our communities: children from birth to age eight with or at risk for disabilities or delays. Decades of research demonstrates that this period in a child’s life is one in which they are experiencing growth at an extremely rapid rate, and the effectiveness of appropriate early intervention on long-range outcomes for children cannot be overstated.

What is a Master’s in Early Childhood Special Education? 

A master’s in early childhood special education covers two overlapping fields: Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Early Intervention (EI)/Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE).

ECE focuses on the best practices related to teaching young children (birth to age eight) in a variety of public and private settings. EI/ECSE takes that a bit further by emphasizing best practices in assessment and early intervention when risk-factors or delays are present for young children.

In the past, much of the work of EI or ECSE educators would have been filled by practitioners such as speech pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapist, while the child’s teacher may or may not be credentialed in special education, even in the public-school setting. However, recently the credentialing requirements in many states have evolved to include specific competencies and pre-service requirements for individuals who wish to teach the early childhood special needs population.

There are different types of degree programs available in this field. The main differences are related to the types of licensures or credentialing that successful participants may obtain. Most programs offer dual certification in both ECE and ECSE which means that a successful candidate from one of these programs could be employed as either a special education or general education teacher in most early childhood settings. Their ECSE training would still certainly benefit all students.

Other programs are designed for educators who already possess an ECE certificate and are adding on an additional area of certification (ECSE), or those who already possess a certification in special education, but wish to add on a specialization in either ECSE or a related field. There are also programs designed and marketed to address the teacher shortage, that offer non-educators a path toward initial certification through a master’s in ECSE.

All master’s programs in ECSE emphasize research-based, hands-on instructional methodologies that have been proven effective in teaching foundational skills to young learners. They also all include coursework related to assessing, monitoring, and reporting on the progress of young children relative to their Individual Family Service Plan or Individual Education Plan, and course content related to advocating for students by identifying and connecting families with community resources available to assist children and their families.

The differences in curriculum in these programs seems to revolve more around the delivery or context of the instruction: some programs emphasize the study of the history of special education and early intervention to help educators understand the context of the need for ECSE. Other programs focus on the use of STEAM or technology with young learners, and still others require in-depth research projects that focus on culturally responsive and collaborative services.

What are the Benefits of Pursuing a Master’s in Early Childhood Special Education?

Career Options

No matter which type of program one pursues, obtaining a master’s degree in ECSE would open the door to a variety of career opportunities including early childhood programs, child development and daycare centers, preschools, and elementary schools (public or private), community agencies or programs, early intervention settings, or research related to ECSE. With initiatives in recent years that aim to further expand preschool and early intervention opportunities, there are not enough ECSE teachers available to fill the need.

Improved Pedagogy

Even if a career change is not what the educator is seeking, experienced classroom teachers who earn a master’s in ECSE will benefit from improved pedagogy which will result in improved outcomes for children.

Professional development of this type always allows for an expanded understanding of students and the way young children learn best, as well as a unique opportunity to network with other educators and learn from one another. In most districts, teachers will also benefit from higher salaries when they add a master’s degree or additional graduate hours.

Although the need for ECSE teachers is not new, now that policy, research, and practice are aligning to make early special education interventions possible for many more children, teachers who chose this field have an incredible opportunity to affect future outcomes for children through direct services and advocacy. That is the difference a teacher with the right training makes.

Interested in pursuing a master’s in early childhood special education? Check out our available special education graduate programs and take your next step today!

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