Child Development External Resources

What are ACES and how do they relate to toxic stress?

The term “ACEs” is an acronym for Adverse Childhood Experiences. ACEs research shows the correlation between early adversity and poor outcomes later in life. Toxic stress explains how ACEs can trigger biological reactions that lead to those outcomes. The Harvard Centre on the Developing Child has developed a simple infographic that explains...

What is Scaffolding in Early Childhood Education?

Put simply, scaffolding is the act of an educator or parent adjusting their support techniques to suit an individual child at a developmentally appropriate level. Most people who work with young children use a form of scaffolding each and every day without knowing it as we support our children and students in learning new ideas and skills.

Children take longer to learn two languages at once compared to just one — don’t fret

Some bilingual children from immigrant families develop each language at a slower pace because their learning is spread across two languages. This research shows strong evidence that the rate of language growth is influenced by the number of languages a child is learning - which challenges the belief that children are linguistic sponges who quickly absorb the language or languages they hear and become proficient speakers of both languages!

Addressing Challenging Behaviours

Whether a child hits others, uses inappropriate language, or throws a tantrum, all educators have to address challenging behaviours in the classroom. Learn more about how focusing on prevention, social-emotional learning and self-regulation tools can help.

The ndds Celebrates 25 Years with Rebrand: Now Called “Looksee Checklist”!

In celebration of their 25th anniversary, The Nipissing District Developmental Screening Tool (ndds) has announced a new parent-friendly name and look for their signature developmental checklist. The new Looksee Checklist—reflects the simple, approachable quality of the product to appeal to even more parents and child care professionals. The series of checklists follow a child from 1 month to 6 years of age and provides a short list of yes or no questions about the child’s abilities along with tips to help them grow. The checklists are available in a variety of languages and formats including a redesigned, user-friendly website.

Sensory Processing Fact Sheet

What is sensory processing? Children with sensory processing issues can be oversensitive to sights, sounds, textures, flavours, smells and other sensory input. Here's a one-page fact sheet that provides essential information about why some kids struggle so much with sensory input, and how we can help!

Webinar -Trauma Informed Care in ECE: Key Strategies for Healing and Behavioural Change

Children with a history of trauma often “act out” their distress through behaviours that are challenging for adults to understand. This webinar focuses on understanding the message of challenging behavior and strategies to help children heal.

Webinar: 5 Things You Can Do Today to Lessen Challenging Behaviours Tomorrow

At times, early educators may feel powerless in the face of challenging behaviours. But, there are steps you can take to lessen these behaviours! Through humour, concrete examples, and practical suggestions, participants in this webinar will learn about five common causes of challenging behaviours, how to recognize them, understand their impact, and how to remedy them so peace and happiness can prevail.

Online Training: Supporting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

This online training is divided into eight modules on topics like: Introduction to Autism, Setting the Stage for Learning, Observing and Understanding Behaviour, Setting Goals, Developing Functional Play, Enhancing Social Skills and more... if you're working with a child with ASD, it's a great way to learn the basics and find excellent articles, tutorials and websites to further explore!

5 Simple Ways to Build Resilience and Well-Being in Children

How can we help children to be more resilient and less vulnerable to mental health problems? Although we can’t stop all mental health problems, we can help children develop habits that build their wellbeing and resilience. But,  these habits can’t exist on their own. They need to grow out of strong, supportive, nurturing relationships that children can develop with their parents, caregivers and teachers. Here are 5 ways to build wellbeing that you can integrate into your program.