Young children vary in their skills, knowledge, backgrounds, and abilities. Effective teaching requires individualized teaching and chances to learn for all children to access, participate, and thrive in early learning settings. Individualizing for children who need more support helps ensure effective teaching for children with disabilities and other special needs across all the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework domains. Using children’s Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) and Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals is part of effective teaching, individualizing, and creating environments to support children’s positive outcomes.

Resources on this page are in the process of being updated. Please refer to the Performance Standards for the most current requirements.

American Sign Langauge

Explore resources to learn American Sign Language (ASL) signs, gain insights its benefits for children’s development, and learn strategies for integrating ASL into your learning environments.

Visual Supports

These pictures and visuals help present important information in a way that children can understand and use. They encourage engagement and learning in many different settings, routines, and activities.