Purpose: Speech sound production intervention in early childhood is relatively rare despite empirical and theoretical support for providing this type of targeted therapy for toddlers. Challenges perpetuate the present clinical condition including those related to treatment decision making (e.g., intervention approach). Method: Although there are…

Experiencing broad play and interaction opportunities is known to support children's learning and development and engagement with museum collections has the potential to stimulate enriching learning opportunities for even the youngest enquiring minds. Here, we describe the development of Toddler Time; a museum-based early years program developed…

We present a neural network model of referent identification in a visual world task. Inputs are visual representations of item pairs unfolding with sequences of phonemes identifying the target item. The model is trained to output the semantic representation of the target and to suppress the distractor. The training set uses a 200-word lexicon…

The Babysong Project arose out of the Baby Room Project and its aims included supporting baby room practitioners to develop 'communicative musicality' (Malloch & Trevarthen 2009), extending research knowledge about baby room practices and helping practitioners to explore opportunities to question and adapt their own ways of working with babies…

The purpose of this article is to present a theory-driven blended intervention model that integrates evidence-based interventions to support language and social development of young children. We (1) provide an overview of practices that are designed to support language and social-emotional development, (2) present a theory of change model that…

The purpose of this article is to present a theory-driven blended intervention model that integrates evidence-based interventions to support language and social development of young children. We (1) provide an overview of practices that are designed to support language and social-emotional development, (2) present a theory of change model that…

This article critically interrogates the model of language that underpins early years policy and pedagogy. Our arguments emerge from an ethnographic study involving 2-year-olds attending a day care centre that had begun to hold a substantial proportion of its sessions outdoors. The resultant shift in pedagogy coincided with changes in the…

Sustained shared thinking dialogues which focus on teacher talk with preschool learners have long been considered an important route to learning progression. Toddlers, however, seldom engage in dialogues through talk alone, and their encounters are often fleeting. As a consequence, they are often positioned on the periphery of learning dialogues…

Despite receiving scant attention, the evolution of categorization in early childhood is of central importance, not only in clarifying the child's understanding of the world but in terms of refining cognitive organization and augmenting the development of semantic memory. In this review, we outline how categorization develops and is made manifest…

Children with complex congenital heart defects often show delays and deficits in cognitive, language, motor, and social-emotional functioning. As such, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Associated recommend ongoing monitoring and support of development. In conjunction with the formal therapeutic supports frequently…

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the environment in which young children are developing. This article explores the question: How might this reduction in social interactions with peers impact the social development of the youngest children? Social skills rely on a foundation of cognitive and emotional skills that are prerequisites to…

Babies think differently than adults, and understanding how they think can help us see their explosive brain growth in everyday behavior. Infants learn language faster than adults do, use statistics to understand how the world works, and even reason about the minds of others. But these achievements can be hidden by their poor self-regulatory…

In early 2017, Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) was awarded $2 million in funding from the governor of Georgia to be used for infant/toddler (I/T) language and literacy activities. DECAL used this funding to create Project LITTLE (Lifting Infants and Toddlers Through Language-rich Environments). Project…

This article is an excerpt from the "ZERO TO THREE Critical Competencies for Infant-Toddler Educators"[TM] Course Curriculum, module SE-6: Promoting Children's Sense of Self and Belonging. The course supports development of the essential skills educators need to optimize the social-emotional, cognitive, and language and literacy…

Emergent literacy skills develop from a child's experiences with spoken language in social interactions, written words through storybook reading, and opportunities to interact with print in the environment. These emergent literacy experiences provide a foundation for conventional literacy skills. A congenital visual impairment (that is, blindness…