The rapidly moving frontiers of neuroscience, molecular biology, and epigenetics--combined with extensive research in the behavioral and social sciences--are dramatically expanding our understanding of how children develop, how that process can be disrupted, how to get it back on track when it does get derailed, and how to keep it from going off…

In 2008, the research center "Individual Development and Adaptive Education" was constituted by the Goethe University, the German Institute for International Educational Research, and the Sigmund Freud Institute, all located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany (http://www.idea-frankfurt.eu). The research of the center focuses on the…

Researchers and practitioners both have important roles to play in the study and understanding of early childhood development. However, the cultures of the different professional fields can lead to a gap in what we know and what we do to promote healthy child development. The evidence-based practice movement in the early childhood field provides…

This article highlights the Child Study and Development Center (CSDC), which serves as a child development laboratory for the University of New Hampshire: a place to educate students, support research, and serve the university and local communities. The center has seven classrooms with observation booths, 122 children aged 6 weeks to 6 years in…

Reviews research that uses autonomic responses of human infants as dependent measures. Focuses on the history of research on the autonomic nervous system, measurement issues, and autonomic correlates of infant behavior and systems. (RJC)

Discusses important recent strides in the documentation and understanding of the infant's learning and memory capacity. Focuses on the psychobiology of learning, hedonic mediation of approach-avoidance and learned behavior, infant memory, and critical conditions of infancy and behavioral misadventures. (RJC)

Examines historical and contemporary linkages between Black children and social policy. Focuses on: contributions of Black children; the obscurity of Black children in social policy; cultural diversity and policy implementation; and prospects for the future. (RJC)

Offers a rationale for and overview of contextual factors that influence the play and developmental outcomes of preschool children with disabilities. Research on play is discussed relative to child, program, family, and measurement characteristics that can influence play/developmental outcomes. (DB)

Considers the role of the Committee on Child Development, the organizational nature and function of the Society, and the influence of publications and individuals during the first 25 years' of the Society for Research in Child Development in light of the Depression, World War II, and financial problems. (BB)

Examines research on infants who experience risks in the prenatal or perinatal period. Focuses on the evolution of the studies and the knowledge gained over the last three decades, contemporary research efforts and pertinent issues, and directions for future research. (RJC)

Developmental Science aims to generate a new body of knowledge that encompasses and integrates findings from various well-defined academic disciplines concerned with developmental processes of human and non-human organisms. Although all development related research traditions surely have their own distinct history, certain theoretical ideas…

Examines strategies for studying individual differences in infant behavior from the standpoints of the distinction between individual differences and developmental function and the need to study change with multivariate techniques. These themes are applied to the study of mental development, behavior genetics, temperament, and attachment. (RJC)

President Kennedy helped fulfill his vision of research on and attention to mental retardation by creating the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the President's Panel on Mental Retardation. The President's Panel helped create Mental Retardation Research Centers (MRRCs). Peabody College of Vanderbilt University's Kennedy…

Susan Gray and Nicholas Hobbs were influential in the development of the Kennedy Center at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, which was designed to include an emphasis on research and training in education and human development. This paper describes Gray's and Hobbs' work and explains how their vision extended to the creation of the Kennedy…

Discusses the evolution of research on mental retardation, which was enhanced by support from the Kennedy family, President Kennedy's determination to place a high priority on the issue, development of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and creation of 12 national Mental Retardation Research Centers, including the unique…