The Preschool: Setting for Applied Behavior Analysis Research

Abstract

The nursery school . . . is a school serving the needs of two-, three-, and four-year-old children in today's world by offering them experiences adapted to what is now known about growth needs of these age levels. It shares with parents the responsibility for promoting sound growth and learning in a period when growth is rapid and significant. Respect for the individual child and his needs is the basis for a good nursery school program.-Read, The Nursery School, p. 24-[There are] four functions of the teacher of young children: care-taking, providing emotional support and guidance, instructing, and facilitating. -Almy, The Early Childhood Educator at Work, p. 21-We in child development and early childhood education [have as] our goal.. .to develop optimum personal competence in all children. -Hildebrand, Guiding Young Children, p. 15-[T]he teacher must attempt to build an educational climate that enhances the children's development and whets their appetite for further learning. The milieu must also nourish and sustain emotional health, encourage physical growth and muscular prowess, foster satisfying social interactions, enhance creativity, develop language skills, and promote the development of mental ability. Moreover, this must all be garbed in an aura of happiness and affection in order to establish that basic feeling of well-being, which is essential to successful learning.