This study explored child behaviours that enable mothers to perceive their child's minds. We administered the Mind Perception Questionnaire to 216 women with children aged between 0 and 24 months and 221 working women without children. Participants responded with mind perceptions for various entities, including for their children (a 0--2-year-old…

Infants come to know about the world and develop an understanding about themselves through multisenses. This qualitative case study aimed to explore how three infant head teachers engaged in and facilitated various multisensory play activities in their classrooms. Natural, in-class, non-participatory observations were conducted at a child care…

Symbolic representation refers to the use of physical or psychological processes to represent an object in a symbolic form. The present study investigated the development of children's symbolic representation using a new measure of children's block constructions. Ninety children (44 girls) in three age groups (3-4, 4-5, and 5-6 years) were…

In this study, the relationship between vocabulary and gesture use is examined in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at different language stages. A total of 72 children with ASD between the ages of 3.0 and 8.2 years participated in the study. Gesture use was assessed by using observation-based procedures, while the number of different…

Caregivers' sensitive responses to infant cry have long-term consequences for adaptive child development. Although mounting evidence suggests that parents who experience high emotionality to infant cry respond less sensitively to infant cry, there is a dearth of knowledge on potential mechanisms underlying individual differences in emotionality to…

Parental knowledge on child development is important for maximal developmental potential. This study was conducted to assess mothers' knowledge on child development in Nepal. The Caregivers Knowledge of Child Development Inventory (CKCDI) was used to interview mothers. Total of 1272 mothers were interviewed. Out of the total CKCDI score of 40,…

The current study used a mixed method design with 245 preschool children, 255 teachers, and 156 parents. Researchers interviewed children and surveyed teachers and parents about their perceptions of preschool children's writing abilities and developmental writing stages. The results of the study showed that each group defined writing differently…

Based on the concept of educational quality of the home learning environment, stimulating and responsive family time is crucial for children's development. In turn, time use depends on the developmental stages in childhood. International studies indicate that family patterns of time use are associated with a family's resources (i.e. level of…

Many South African children struggle in acquiring literacy and reading skills. It seems as if caregivers may be missing an important aspect in guiding children's emergent reading development. The question is whether there are underlying concepts needed for emergent literacy and the acquisition of reading skills. The nature of the reading process…

Between three and five years of age, both emotional competence (EC) and cognitive self-regulation (CSR) have been documented as undergoing remarkable growth and as being strong predictors of concurrent and future positive outcomes. EC encompasses three interrelated and progressively developing skills: emotion knowledge, emotion regulation, and…

This study examined the developmental trend of pretend play behaviour and the effect of partner's gender in Singaporean preschoolers. Peer dyadic play among 70 children, ranging in age from three to five years, was observed in a standardised toy play context. Videotaped recordings of the play were analysed using two scales--the Smilansky Scale for…

The purpose of this article is to explore the way preschool teachers teach reflective care in Japan. The article builds on a two-month ethnographic study conducted in Japanese kindergartens and nurseries among children aged 3-6 years. The data were analysed using concepts of age and gender. The results show that care in Japan, in contrast to…

This study describes engagement in and stability of physical activity and sedentary behaviours in early life, and assesses associations with sex, maternal education and developmental stage. Maternal-report data at child age 4, 9 and 20 months were collected from 542 families in the Melbourne Infant Feeding Activity and Nutrition Trial Program.…

This qualitative multi-case study explored the social exchanges and responsive connections between infants and their infant childcare teachers within a group care context. Infants' naturally occurring behaviours were videotaped purposefully at two separate time points, near the end of their first year and approximately six months later. Findings…

This study analysed the gradual emergence of the teaching/learning process by examining theory of mind (ToM) acquisition and age effects in the preschool period. We observed five dyads performing a jigsaw task drawn from a previous study. Three stages were identified. In the first one, the teacher focuses on the execution of her/his own task…