Category Definitions
Early Childhood Education
In Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth Through Age 8 (third edition), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) identifies and offers guidelines in five key interrelated areas related to promoting quality in the care and education of young children. These areas are:
- Creating a caring community of learners
- Teaching to enhance development and learning
- Planning curriculum to achieve important goals
- Assessing children’s development and learning
- Establishing reciprocal relationships with families
Emotional/Behavior Disorders
According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal definition of “emotional/behavioral disorders” is a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance:
- An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors
- An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers
- Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances
- A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression
- A tendency to develop physical symptoms related to fears associated with personal or school problems.
Emotional disturbance includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have and emotional disturbance. [34 CFR Parts 300 and 303]
Learning Disabilities
According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal definition of “learning disabilities” is a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantages. [34 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Parts 300 and 303]
