Therapeutic Preschool

Little Steps Preschool Philosophy

It is Little Steps philosophy to provide opportunities and experiences that promote optimal development of each child and family served. Little Steps believes in the following:

About our children and families:

• A family-centered care approach that supports the social and emotional development of children and families;
• All children deserve the opportunity to learn and play with their age-appropriate peers and to be included in all activities and routines of a typical education setting;
• Nurturing relationships promote healthy emotional, social, and neurological development in young children;
• Children learn best when they are actively engaged in rich experiences that are in-tune with their interests. Daily experiences should enable creative exploration and play with a wide variety of developmentally-appropriate materials;
• Learning is most meaningful when it happens in the context of the child's everyday experiences at home and in the classroom;
• Caregiver involvement in the treatment process is crucial to the success of the children and families served;
• Each child and family should be treated respectfully as a unique and individual and treated in a manner that recognizes their individual strengths, interests, personality, and learning styles;
• Awareness of and respect for diversity is fostered by many opportunities for children to play with peers who have a variety of abilities and cultural backgrounds;
• Staff should work in collaboration with families to enhance each child's daily educational experiences.

About teaching and working with children and families:

• Teaching practices that build on children's own interests and extend on play foster a lifetime love if learning, a sense of initiative, personality, and learning style;
• Utilizing a relationship-based approach increases a child's ability to understand affect and regulate emotions; develop empathy; and form a healthy self-concept;
• Learning occurs within the context of warm, nurturing relationships with adults;
• The environments should be arranged to foster educational growth and pre-academic skill development through play-based activities;
• In providing holistic services by incorporating the six major areas of development into the treatment process (social-emotional, relational, cognitive, language, sensory, and gross and fine motor abilities). This is accomplished through weekly unit themes that are supported by hands-on activities in the curriculum areas of language arts, math, science, music and movement, creative arts, and special activities that address the individual needs of each child;
• In the concept that children learn through play; therefore, open-ended child-directed play is encouraged throughout daily routine. The staff also encourages children to explore their environment and gain mastery over developmental tasks, because play experiences help children develop emotionally, socially, physically, cognitively, and creatively;
• Behavior problems are prevented and best addressed through carefully-planned room arrangements, age-appropriate expectations, and maintaining the active involvement and interest of all children;
• The goal of discipline is to teach children to control their behavior and negotiate conflicts with others rather than rely on adults to intervene and solve disputes.