Educators and caregivers alike need to be sensitive to what a child cannot do and then enable the child to do it. It is important that the selected method of scaffolding empowers a child and does not frustrate them.

Scaffolding Types

Distancing Scaffolds:

Reduce the amount of support given to the child, to hand over control of the activity, and to move the task completion from the social realm to a child’s psychological realm.

Linguistic Scaffolds:

Present models of language and literacy that build on a child’s current knowledge or skill.

Regulatory Scaffolds:

Help children understand a specific task and how it supports a larger goal.

Structural Scaffolds:

Specific aspects of the environment when learning takes place that foster children’s learning.