Sentry Page Protection

Please Wait...

Unit 8 Student Login Hi, (First Name) | Log Out

Unit 8 Student Login

Welcome, (First Name)!

Enter Student Area

(Message automatically replaces this text)

OK

My Profile Log Out

(Unit 8) Topic 1: The Whole Child 

4 Clock Hours of Early Childhood Education

Common Challenges in Preschool

​Topic 1 Page 22

​The preschool years are fun and exciting encompassing a great deal of maturation and growth for children. There can also be some very common challenges, though, that educators are faced with every day. 

Let’s discuss these common challenges and how they fit into the developmental continuum.  

Baby talk
Some preschool children seem to have a preference for baby talk and this can be a challenge for some adults. Typically, baby talk is used as an attention getter and can be a very normal part of preschool development. There is no cause for alarm with typical baby talk and is usually a short phase that children go through. Adults should allow it to pass being careful not to allow that behavior to gain too much attention.

Lying
Some preschoolers truly are unable to tell the difference between real and make believe so it is important to keep this in mind when you think that a child may be lying. In addition, preschool children have vivid imaginations and will interject characters and events that are not real or applicable. This is perfectly normal, but it is important for adults to help children to understand the difference between lying and telling the truth.

Whining
Similar to baby talk, whining can be a result of normal development as a cry for attention. It can also be brought on by a child being overly tired or hungry. Adults should do their best to be patient with the child when they are whining and teach them better ways of expressing themselves.

Hard to understand
As long as there is not a developmental red flag you can consider hard to understand speech or language to be relatively normal. Often the physical forces for enunciated speech are still developing and some letter sounds may sound funny. Ask parents to teach you the child’s words and signals that they use for common phrases. Also, try to include practice with learning new words and phrases as much as possible. 

Aggression
Often caused by a lack of self-regulation skills and understanding of emotions, aggression in small instances at occasional intervals can be considered normal. Usually aggression presents itself out of frustration or anger when a child doesn’t have the tools needed to process their reactions. Instead they lash out aggressively. You can help children avoid this by teaching them about appropriate reactions and how to process their emotions.

(Unit 8) Topic 1: The Whole Child ​ * Navigation Menu