Safety - Freedom from danger

Schedule - A consistent order of or timetable for particular activities

Self-discipline - The ability to control one's own behavior

Self-esteem - A sense of worth; a good feeling about oneself and one's abilities. Someone with strong self-esteem feels respected, valued, and able to do things successfully and independently.

Self-regulation - The ability to control one's own behavior

Sensory awareness - The gaining of information through sight, sound, touch, hearing, and small – for example, smelling spices or turning in the direction of a voice

Separation - The process children go through as they grow up and become independent from their parents. Children often have strong feelings about separating from their families, and providers can help children understand and express these feelings.

Sequencing - Putting things or events in order

Sexual abuse - Any form of sexual activity between a child and an adult for the sexual pleasure or profit of the adult; including fondling, intercourse, and sexual exploitation (prostitution, pornography)

Slot - A place for a child in a child care program.

Social development - The gradual process through which children learn to get along with others and enjoy playing and living with others

Solitary play - The first stage of play, when infants and young toddlers play alone, independent of other children. They use toys or materials that are the same as or different from those of other children in the group.

Sound-symbol correspondence - Ability to relate speech sounds to the letters than represent those sounds

Spatial awareness - The knowledge that the body takes up space and can move in space – for example, crawling inside a box

Special education services - Services provided by school districts (in the state of California) to children 3 - 21 with identified disabilities

Special needs child - A child under the age of 18 who requires a level of care over and above the norm for his/her age

Speech - Oral production of language through speech sound sequences (phonemes)

Speech skills - The ability to produce the sounds (phonemes) that make up words

Staff/child ratio - The number of staff in relation to the number of children enrolled. Required ratios vary depending on the ages and abilities of the children in care. Minimum standards in are recommended by NAEYC and individual states.

Subsidy - A payment by the state, employer, or other source that pays all or part of the cost of the child care. (See also: contracted slot and voucher.)

Superhero play - Play in which children pretend to have supernatural or magical powers similar to those of superheroes portrayed in various media

Support group - A group of people who provide emotional support, practical help, information, guidance or feedback to ease stressful experiences and help with coping

Systematic observation - Consistent watching, listening to, and recording of what children say and do, according to a particular method