The ability to make sense out of the actions of others is critical to people's daily functioning. Adults are social experts: They understand that people's actions are directed at goals and are driven by intentions. In this article, the authors highlight key findings from studies examining infants' understanding of human action. These findings…

The infant and toddler years are a watershed of development in the emotional domain. These skills lay the foundation for positive social interactions, and ultimately, academic and life success. This article describes the development of three skills that are central in creating successful relationships: expressing emotion, understanding emotion,…

This article was excerpted from the author's "Charting the Bumpy Road of Coparenthood: Understanding the Challenges of Family Life", published in 2007 by "ZERO TO THREE." In the "Families Through Time" longitudinal study, James P. McHale and a number of colleagues met with expectant couples and then followed the families when the infants were 3…

The authors share results from two longitudinal studies exploring the impact of father's alcohol use on child development. The Michigan Longitudinal Study (MLS) has followed a sample of alcoholic families with 3-5 year old children for 20 years. The Buffalo Longitudinal Study (BLS) has followed a sample of alcoholic and nonalcoholic families…

The Executive Committee at "ZERO TO THREE" created a Task Force on Culture and Development to deepen our understanding of the role of culture in child development and to guide the organization through a self-assessment process to better understand how staff and board members address the issue of culture in their work. The task force's literature…

This article explores the issue of developmental and behavioral health supervision in primary care, and suggests ways in which pediatricians can provide a greater focus on early social-emotional development during health care visits. Specifically, the author addresses some of the obstacles to addressing social and emotional development in the…

Pediatric primary care provides an enormous window of opportunity to offer families information and support on their child's social-emotional well-being and on their growth as a family in a nonstigmatizing environment. With new technology, such as the Internet, and advances in the scientific study of early childhood development, parents face an…

This article uses the case study of 3-year-old Anna and her parents to illustrate how a child development specialist can be integrated into a private pediatric practice. First, pediatrician Hamburger describes how she and other members of her practice integrated a child development specialist into their pediatric practice. Second, Anna's parents…

The ZERO TO THREE Policy Center has three areas of focus: good health, strong families, and positive early learning experiences. Effective policies must promote healthy functioning in all domains, including cognitive, physical, and social and emotional development. Comprehensive services are essential to meeting the needs of very young children…

This article describes innovative service delivery models and clinical strategies that support the social-emotional development of young children and their families in the pediatric primary care setting. By understanding the trends affecting well-child care, early childhood providers will be better equipped to partner with their pediatric…

This theme newsletter issue presents seven articles describing toddler behavior and development, services for toddlers, and toddlers with special needs. The first article, "Toddlers: Themes and Variations" (Lois Barclay Murphy and Colleen Small) focuses on variations in toddler development, noting emerging skills, language, and the caregiver role.…

This theme issue contains six articles on the development of infants and toddlers: (1) "Cross-Cultural Studies of Child Development: Implications for Clinicians" (J. Kevin Nugent); (2) "Therapeutic Work with African-American Families: Using Knowledge of the Culture" (Cheryl Polk); (3) "Psychotherapy in Specific Cultural…

In the Infant Development, Environment and Lifestyle (IDEAL) Study of methamphetamine (MA) effects on children, the authors screened approximately 27,000 newborn infants for MA exposure, and from that pool derived a sample of in utero MA-exposed children as well as a comparison group matched for other drug use and other factors. IDEAL measures…

The Kids First program at the University of Arkansas Medical School (UAMS) is an outgrowth of the Infant Health and Development Program, a randomized trial of an early intervention approach for premature, low birth weight children, which showed that intensive intervention had significant initial benefits in the cognitive development and behavior…