| A | B |
|---|
| myelination | The process by which axons become coated with myelin, a fatty substance that speeds the transmission of nerve impuses from neuron to neuron. |
| corpus callosum | A long, thick band of nerve fibers that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain and allows communication between them. |
| lateralization | Literally, sidedness, referring to the specialization in certain functions by each side of the brain, with one side dominant for each activity. |
| perseveration | The tendency to persevere in, or stick to, one thought or action for a long time. |
| amygdala | A tiny brain structure that registers emotions, particularly fear and anxiety. |
| hippocampus | A brain structure that is a central processor of memory, especially memory for locations. |
| hypothalamus | A brain area that responds to the amygdala and the hippocampus to produce hormones that activate other parts of the brain and body. |
| preoperational intelligence | Piaget's term for cognitive development between the ages of about 2 and 6; it includes language and imagination (which involve symbolic thought), but logical, operational thinking is not yet possible. |
| centration | A characteristic of preoperational thought whereby a young child focuses (centers) on one idea, excluding all others. |
| egocentrism | Piaget's term for young children's tendency to think about the world entirely from their own personal perspective. |
| focus on appearance | A characteristic of preoperational thought whereby a young child ignores all attributes that are not apparent. |
| static reasoning | A characteristic of preoperational thought whereby a young child thinks that nothing changes. Whatever is now has always been and always will be. |
| irreversibility | A characteristic of preoperational thought whereby a young child thinks that nothing can be undone. A thing cannot be restored to the way it was before a change occurred. |
| conservation | The principle that the amount of a substance remains the same. |
| animism | The belief that natural objects and phenomena are alive. |
| apprentice in thinking | Vygotsky's term for a person whose cognition is stimulated and directed by older and more skilled members of society. |
| zone of proximal developmeent (ZPD) | Vygotsky's term for the skills--cognitive as well as physical--that a person can exercise only with assistance, not yet independently. |
| scaffolding | Temporary support that is tailored to a learner's needs and abilities and aimed at helping the learner master the next task in a given learning process. |
| private speech | The internal dialogue that occurs when people talk to themselves (either silently or out loud). |
| social mediation | Human interaction that expands and advances understanding, often through words that one person uses to explain something to another. |
| theory-theory | The idea that children attempt to explain everything they see and hear. |
| theory of mind | A person's theory of what other people might be thinking. |
| fast-mapping | The speedy and sometimes imprecise way in which children learn new words by tentatively placing them in mental categories according to their perceived meaning. |
| overregularization | The application of rules of grammar even when exceptions occur, making the language seem more "regular" than it actually is. |
| balanced bilingual | A person who is fluent in two languages, not favoring one over the other. |
| Reggio Emilia approach | A famous program of early-childhood education that originated in the town of Reggio Emilia, Italy; it encourages each child's creativity in a carefully designed setting. |
| Project Head Start | The most widespread early-childhood education program in the United States, begun in 1965 and funded by the federal government. |
| injury control/harm reduction | Practices that are aimed at anticipating, controlling, and preventing dangerous activities; these practices reflect the beliefs that accidents are not random and that injuries can be made less harmful if proper controls are in place. |
| primary prevention | Actions that change overall background conditions to prevent some unwanted event or circumstance, such as injury, diesease, or abuse. |
| secondary prevention | Actions that avert harm in a high-risk situation, such as stopping a car before it hits a pedestrian or installing traffic lights at dangerous intersections. |
| tertiary prevention | Actions, such as immediate and effective medical treatment, that are taken after and adverse event (such as illness, injury, or abuse) occurs and that are aimed at reducing the harm or preventing disability. |
| child maltreatment | Intentional harm to or avoidable endangerment of anyone under 18 years of age. |
| child abuse | Deliberate action that is harmful to a child's physical, emotional, or sexual well-being. |
| child neglect | Failure to meet a child's basic physical, educational, or emotional needs. |
| substantiated maltreatment | Harm or endangerment that has been reported, investigated, and verified. |
| permanency planning | An effort by child-welfare authorities to find a long-term living situation that will provide stability and support for a maltreated child. |
| foster care | A legal, publicly supported system in which a maltreated child is removed from the parents' custody and entrusted to another adult or family, which is reimbursed for expenses incurred in meeting the child's needs. |
| kinship care | A form of foster care in which a relative of the maltreated child, usually a grandparent, becomes the approved caregiver. |
