Personal event and fictional narratives are compared across 36 normal children in 2 language-ability (one high, one low) groups using episodic analysis. Findings suggest that narrative structures for personal event narratives and fictional stories may follow different developmental paths, and that differences in productive language abilities…

The effectiveness of specific dimensions of adult mediation on preschoolers' self-regulation of a model consultation strategy was evaluated using microcomputer puzzle tasks. Findings suggest that children's acquisition of the model consultation can improve over a short period of time with culturally mediated instruction. (Author/GLR)

The article discusses the effects of a mother's employment on her children. It focuses on whether day care is bad for children, how it affects babies, and the best time for a mother to return to work. It also discusses parental leave and benefits. (SM)

Examined kindergarten children's performance on the Gesell School Readiness Test (GSRT) and their participation in two different instructional programs in relation to measures of intelligence, academic achievement, and temperament. Found significant relationships among the GSRT, IQ, and academic achievement. Temperament ratings varied according to…

Presents an annotated bibliography of 19 recently published books on the topic of moving that are recommended for elementary children. Categorizes the books into three grade groups: primary, intermediate, and advanced. Provides a list of all books with publisher and publication date included. (CFR)

A questionnaire about "spoiling" an infant was completed by 303 parents. Three types of spoiling beliefs (disbelievers, believers, and happy spoilers) were identified and correlated with demographics, definitions of spoiling, and belief about spoiling's impact on development. Results have implications for early interventionists working…

A University of Limburg (Netherlands) medical school study investigated the relationship between student-generated learning issues and faculty instructional objectives (i.e., the effectiveness of the problems posed) in a problem-centered obstetrics and child development curriculum. Subjects were 120 students and 12 faculty. Results indicated…

A five-month ethnographic study of friendship development identified major issues in first graders' disputes with friends. Examined consequences of the disputes for children's relationships. Stressed the importance of detailed, historical investigations of specific interactive events for an accurate understanding of human development and…

Discusses how home visiting, as a process, can be used to improve the health and development of young children, outlining a conceptual framework to evaluate home visiting programs. Argues that successful programs must be comprehensive in their approach to addressing children's and families' needs in multiple health and development domains. (MDM)

Literature review examines problems faced by homeless adults and children and discusses how recreation programs can serve them. The recreation and leisure profession can offer to the healthy child development through play and recreation, physical fitness, stress management, socialization, opportunities to learn goal-setting, self-esteem building,…

This study compared 38 low-income mothers with intellectual limitations and 32 low-income mothers without intellectual limitations and found developmental delay was identified by the age of 2 years in 42% of children born to mothers with intellectual limitations and 12% of children born to the other mothers. (Author/CR)

Investigated how learners' developmental readiness interacted with instruction in second language (L2) acquisition. Researchers pretested francophone children (age 11 to 12) on their knowledge and use of English questions, determined their developmental stages, then exposed them to numerous English questions in class. Posttesting indicated that…

Examined impact of three preschool models identified through cluster analysis of teacher-survey responses on 4-year olds' development and basic-skill mastery. Found that children in the child-initiated model demonstrated greater skill mastery than children in programs emphasizing academics and skill instruction. Children in the combination model…

Examined cross-linguistic similarities and differences in early lexical and grammatical development among English- and Italian-speaking preschoolers. Parents completed surveys on vocabulary size, vocabulary composition, and grammatical complexity. No cross-linguistic differences surfaced in the composition of vocabulary in this age range. There…

Explores the applied research in which object-related play skills of preschool children with developmental concerns are enhanced through intervention strategies. Guidelines for teaching toy play skills are offered as are strategies to promote generalization and maintenance of those skills. (DB)