Defines the elements of play, illuminating its central role in young children's learning and development. Focuses on how play experiences contribute to children's independence in negotiating, its role in keeping children involved, and the play-reality distinction. Offers suggestions to teachers for facilitating and supporting children's play,…

Evaluated applicability of family stress model of economic hardship for understanding economic influences on child development among African American families with a 10- or 11-year-old child. Found that economic hardship positively related to economic pressure in families, and to emotional distress of caregivers, which in turn damaged the…

Used data from NICHD Study of Early Child Care to assess whether regulable features of child care homes affected children's development. Found caregivers' education and recency of training related to learning environment and caregiving sensitivity. More positive caregiving related to compliance with age-weighted group-size cut-offs. Caregiver…

Parents (n=535) of children with special needs were surveyed about four domains of infant mental health: attachment, behavior, stress/coping, and regulation/adaptation. Parents wanted help especially with behavior and regulation/adaptation issues. They rated all learning techniques as acceptable but preferred techniques available in the home.…

A longitudinal study of 39 infants who engaged in stereotyped or self-injurious behaviors that were served in early intervention programs found these behaviors increased and declined over age more slowly than in typical babies. Head-banging seemed to be related to tantrums, whereas eye-poking developed early and seemed to be self-stimulatory.…

Describes essential concepts related to the root of defining the child's motivation and the process of Montessori education. Emphasizes the "horme" (inner urge), normalization, the prepared environment, the Four Planes of Development, cosmic education, and the cosmic task in both natural and human context, and the new potential of the adolescent…

Combines insights from ecological research and Montessori theory and practice to portray the unfolding of childhood in natural places. Suggests that children's manipulation of the landscape results in optimal creative involvement. Maintains that the act of finding favorite places in all weather, combined with a positive role model, leads to…

This article describes two studies that examined the concurrent and predictive validity of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile (CSBS DP), a measure for identifying children less than 24 months old who are at risk for communication disorders. Findings support the use of prelinguistic predictors and the important…

A study involving teachers of eight children with severe autism found they interpreted many gestures, body movements, and facial expressions as if these were forms of communication. Observation data indicate some of the communicative forms identified by the teachers were associated with the communicative functions that they specified. (Contains…

Critically reviews old and recent research on African American father absence, calling for a paradigmatic shift that emphasizes the value of investigating the effects of father absence as part of a transactional process. Views father absence as a stressor that can potentially give rise to additional stressors that can increase childhood risks for…

Whether a developmental dissociation exists between direct and indirect tests of picture memory was studied using 29 second graders and 29 sixth graders given a 1-day retention interval. Sixth graders performed better than second graders when memory was tested directly, but the performance of both groups was comparable when memory was tested…

Discusses roles that parents and teachers can perform to facilitate children's interactions with computers. Highlights include: (1) designing computer environments, including learner control, learning activities, and relating computer experiences to other learning processes; (2) adult interactions with children; and (3) observation and feedback…

This article discusses ways that racism affects child development, the historic racial experiences and reaction to them that has made it difficult for society to address racism, and the implications of racism and its history for the preparation and practice of early childhood professionals. (IAH)

Presents examples of unique contributions of individuals at private foundations to the emergence and growth of scientific research on child and adolescent development. Discusses specific leaders of the Carnegie Foundation and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund to demonstrate how influential individuals can be in determining major…

Examined 42 maritally supported, 43 maritally distressed, and 32 divorced parents and their clinic children (aged 3-7) to assess the relationship of marital support, conflict, or divorce to clinic parents' perception of child adjustment, parenting behaviors, and child conduct problems. Results indicated significantly more child behavior problems…