This report presents findings from a systematic review of international reviews and meta-analyses, as well as Chinese empirical studies, on parent-child reading. Existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in English largely concern Western contexts -- especially the US and the UK -- yet few studies have reviewed articles in global…

Activity of 50 children whose motility had been monitored by an electronic activity monitor when they were neonates was again monitored by an ambulatory microcomputer when they were four to eight years old. Results are consistent with evidence from several longitudinal studies suggesting that individual activity characteristics tend to persist…

This paper considers methodological issues related to the independent variable in early intervention research. Three standards are proposed: (1) use theory to guide research; (2) provide operational definitions of independent variables, quantify them, and describe how they relate to theory; and (3) measure treatment fidelity. Three levels of…

Sound/syllable repetitions of 13 young children who stutter were acoustically analyzed to identify differences in second formant (F2) transitions between the stuttered and nonstuttered portions of the words. Findings indicated no significant differences in the frequency of occurrence of missing or atypical F2 transitions for young children at…

Explores whether transactional/interactional, environmental, or developmental status models best represent growth from infancy to early childhood. Attempts to identify features of the social environment important for specific developmental outcomes. Observations of interactions between 40 mothers and their three-month-old infants were used to…

The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (a parent-report measure of vocabulary and syntax) was administered to 103 children (mean age 103 months) who participated in a study of temporal resolution as infants. Children who had performed above the median on the temporal resolution task demonstrated better later language development than…

Free play and elicited language samples were obtained monthly for 10 to 12 months from five late talking children. Analysis indicated that three of the children resolved their late onset of speech by 33 to 35 months of age. Both quantitative factors (e.g., limited phonetic inventory) and qualitative factors (e.g., atypical error patterns) were…

This study examined whether stress, family resources, and social support are correlates of the child abuse potential of mothers. Stress in family functioning appeared to be an important predictor of child abuse potential. Mothers of children with disabilities may be more inclined than other mothers to have elevated child abuse potential.…

Analysis of questionnaires completed by parents of young children with either Prader-Willi syndrome (N=84), Down syndrome (N=56), or typically developing (N=86), found children with Prader-Willi exhibited more compulsions, skin-picking, and tantrums than did the other groups. Discriminant analysis identified two functions (developmental milestones…

This study used survival analysis to overcome problems of principled generalization and individual variability in analysis of the conversational speech of 24 children with speech delay recorded over two years. The derived normalization probabilities were lagged according to the strong delay hypothesis and results converged with previous normative…

To investigate the influence of instructional behaviors and adult expectations on children's task performance, 48 boys either 5 to 6 or 8 to 9 years of age individually viewed instructional videotapes and participated in a delay of gratification task. In the first phase of the study, videotapes were produced in which instructors were told to…

Probable ages of normalization were calculated for 24 children with speech delay, using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Formulas are provided that permit calculation of the likelihood that individual children will normalize by a given age. Analysis revealed two different paths to normalization with children following one of the paths likely to retain…

Continues a previous five-year follow-up of preterm and full-term children by studying the continuity in their intellectual and emotional development. Prematurity was predictive for school adjustment at ages six and seven only when regression was performed on the preterm group, but failed to be predictive when mixed groups of preterm and full-term…

The early development of self-injurious behavior (SIB) in 16 young children with developmental disabilities was tracked over an 18-month period. Naturalistic observations in each child's classroom found a significant association between early SIB and low levels of social contact, which may be considered as a risk marker for SIB exacerbation.…

Describes study of 42 first and second graders which was conducted to determine whether older siblings could enhance their comprehension of television programs. The hypotheses tested are discussed, research methodology using analysis of variance is explained, videotapes of sibling interaction are analyzed, and future research needs are suggested.…