Early childhood

night terror

awaken abruptly from a deep sleep early in the night in a state of agitation

enuresis

repeated involuntary urination at night

gross motor skills

running & jumping that involve the large muscles

fine motor skills

manipulative skills that involve hand-eye and small muscle coordination

systems of action

increasingly complex combinations or motor skills, which permit a wider or more precise range of movement and more control of the environment

handedness

preference for using a particular hand

3 years old

stunted

appear to be of normal weight but are shorter than they should be for their age

wasted

appropriate height but are thinner

symbolic function

ability to use mental representations to which a child has attached meaning

deferred imitation

based on mental representations of a previously obvious event

present play

play involving imaginary people and situations

transduction

a child’s tendency to mentally link particular phenomena, whether or not there is logically a causal relationship

animism

tendency to attribute life to objects that are not alive

theory of mind

awareness and understanding of own mental processes and those of others.

centration

children focus on one aspect of a situation and neglect others

irreversibility

children fail to understand that some operations or actions can reversed, restoring the original situation

egocentrism

children assume everyone else thinks, perceives, and feels as they do

conservation

awareness that two objects that are equal according to a certain measure remain equal in the face of perceptual alteration so long as nothing has been added to or taken away from either object

encoding

information is prepared for long-term storage and later retrieval

storage

retention of information in memory for future use

retrieval

information is accessed or recalled from memory storage

recognition

ability to identify previously encountered stimulus

recall

ability to produce material from memory

sensory memory

initial, brief, temporary storage of sensory information

working/short term memory

short term storage information being actively processed

long-term memory

storage of virtually unlimited capacy that hold information for long periods

generic memory

memory that produces scripts of familiar routines to guide behavior

script

- produced by generic memory

• general remembered outline of a familiar repeated event, used to guide behavior

episode memory

long-term memory of specific experiences or events linked to time and place

autobiographical memory

memory of specific events in one’s life

executive function

conscious control of thoughts, emotions, and actions to accomplish goals or to solve problems

• enables children to plan and carry out goal-directed mental activity

social interaction model

proposes that children construct autobiographical memories through conversation with adults about shared events

zone of proximal development

the imaginary psychological space between what children can do or know by themselves and what they could do or know with help

scaffolding

temporary support to help a child master a task

fast mapping

allows a child to pick up the approximate meaning of a new word after hearing it only once or twice in conversation

pragmatics

the practical knowledge needed to use language for communicative purposes

social speech

speech intended to be understood by a listener

private speech

talking aloud to oneself with no intent to communicate with others

emergent literacy

preschoolers’ development of skills, knowledge and attitudes that underlie reading and writing