Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate limited playfulness. Their difficulty engaging in meaningful interaction with others renders playful engagement in social interactions a challenge. Although little direct evidence exists regarding the promotion of these children's playful engagement, links can be established with many traits…

Vygotsky's seminal text on play was originally given as a lecture at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute in Leningrad in 1933, and is consequently a relatively late work. It is thanks to a stenographic record of the lecture that this text, a key influence on psychological research on play, has survived. This was Vygotsky's major work on play and…

Self-regulation is the ability to control one's thoughts, actions, and emotions. When children are better able to follow directions or control impulses they are better prepared for school and for life. Sesame Workshop has and continues to create rich, meaningful content that places self-regulation skills and the strategies needed for school…

This article is intended to provide early childhood providers with a concise overview of emerging emotional development in young children (birth-5), the important role of primary caregivers, and the link between parenting, emotional development, and behavior. Specific suggestions that have been shared with urban Head Start mothers are offered,…

Despite the advances in understanding cognitive improvements in executive function in adolescence, much less is known about the influence of affective and social modulators on executive function and the biological underpinnings of these functions and sensitivities. Here, recent behavioral and neuroscientific studies are summarized that have used…

Spanish-speaking, Mexican American parents participated in a literacy workshop in which they created short, personal letters called "cartitas de carino" for their children. This paper reports on the content of their texts, which included drawings and messages that reflected the cultural norms and traditions of the families. Using a…

The impact of parental mental health difficulties on the developing child is well evidenced and documented. In this article Kate Olliver-Kneafsey, Ev Thornton and Wendy Williamson suggest that despite the difficulties young people face when parental mental illness is a feature of family life, it is not all gloom and doom, and give some important…

Guided by the heuristic model proposed by Eisenberg et al. [Psychol. Inq. 9 (1998) 241], we examined the relations of mothers' reported and observed negative expressivity to children's (N = 159; 74 girls; M age = 7.67 years) experience and expression of emotion. Children's experience and/or expression of emotion in response to a distressing film…

Describes a theoretical model for affective social competence to include the three integrated and dynamic components of sending affective messages, receiving affective messages, and experiencing affect. Places the model within the context of previous research and theory related to affective social competence and, for each component, examines how…

In this article, the author responds to a teacher's question on a baby's behavior who keeps banging on his high chair and laughs uncontrollably. The author states that young children pay close attention to adult's emotional responses. Their lives depend on knowing the best ways to get positive or at least neutral responses from grown-ups in charge…

The Child Development & Behavior (CDB) Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) seeks to improve the health and well-being of individuals from infancy through early adulthood by supporting research into healthy growth and development, including all aspects of child development. The study of typical child…

Few children can control adult emotions more effectively than passive-aggressive youngsters. Their passive lack of compliance can incite even trained professionals to employ ineffective punitive responses. These responses confirm for the child the unreasonable and hurtful nature of adults. In this Life Space Crisis Intervention, the child makes a…

Presents four articles on children's anger in preschool, chronic parental anger, and the teacher's role in identifying and defusing anger: (1) "'I'm bery, bery cwoss!' Understanding Children's Anger" (Marie D. Hammer); (2) "Parental Anger: Causes, Triggers, and Strategies To Help" (Roberta J. Wilburn); (3) "The Language of Anger: The Words that…

The relations of children's internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors to their concurrent regulation, impulsivity (reactive undercontrol), anger, sadness, and fearfulness and these aspects of functioning 2 years prior were examined. Parents and teachers completed measures of children's (N = 185; ages 6 through 9 years) adjustment, negative…

Explores the "interactional work" of one boy in a technology lesson as he elaborates, through "play" with workshop tools, a sexual fantasy of masturbation and penetration. This action is contextualized by his relations with others and by the dominance of a prevailing myth of male sexuality in his construction of a masculine…