Describes stages of children's art development from scribbling to representations. Discusses ways to organize the space in the child care art center, and presents 11 art activities for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children; lists materials and teacher instructions for each activity. Includes suggestions for keeping clothes clean…

This article suggests that disruption of social gaze interaction in the first months of life may be responsible for the core social, communicative, and imaginative/cognitive deficits of autism. Eye contact and face processing in individuals with autism, implications of a missed critical period for face processing, and implications for intervention…

Explores a case study of a student who tested the "rules" in an early childhood classroom, and how the teacher handled the situation with humor and patience. Covers issues of self-esteem, trust, childhood needs, responses to rule-breaking, following through, and modeling of appropriate behaviors. Advocates consistency in rule…

Study behaviors common to elementary school students were incorporated into a questionnaire administered to 793 fourth and sixth graders. Factor structures varied by sex and grade level, but gender differences in study strategies apparent by grade six may be the source of persistent gender differences in academic achievement. (SLD)

Examines the history behind and current status of the professional preparation of teachers in Britain, specifically teachers who are knowledgeable about and appropriately qualified to work with the youngest children in a range of educational environments. Describes the development of an alternative pathway for student teachers with a specific…

Characterizes the Montessori work serving the first 3 years by recounting its genesis; describes early Montessori toddler programs, and the emergence of infant communities internationally in the early 1970s. Highlights ways parents can be supportive of the "spiritual embryo" in cooperation with the school. Suggests how parent education invites…

A study examined language skills in 44 pediatric cochlear implant users. All participants received implants before age 6 and were programmed with state-of-the-art stimulation strategies (Continuous Interleaved Sampler or Spectral Peak) since the day of initial stimulation. Postimplantation language development proceeded at a pace that was not…

Interviewed 42 children in preschool, first grade, third grade, and fifth grade to clarify questions regarding children's knowledge of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) from a developmental viewpoint. Findings suggest that children's knowledge of AIDS was associated with perceptions children had regarding illness, and that accurate…

Presents data on the problems of poor children and youth. Describes the efforts of the Children's Defense Fund to make preventive investment in children and families the cornerstone of domestic policy, and to make decent, affordable child care services available nationwide. (MW)

Eighty middle-class, ethnically diverse kindergarten (n=40) and fourth-grade (n=40) students rated their current academic competence and predicted their future academic attainment. Results suggest that developmental change in children's judgments about their competence must be understood in terms of interaction between age and classroom…

Presents a step-by-step approach designed to help early childhood teachers learn to use materials in interest areas to facilitate children's development. (BB)

Describes issues which are common to all research methodologies and some that were unique to the assessment techniques used in the Child Development Project (CDP) in San Ramon, California. Looks at the limited amount of time given assessments and the "fluid" nature of measurements. Notes that CDP issues involved observations,…

Although child or teenage drug use is an individual behavior, it is embedded in a sociocultural context that strongly determines its character and manifestations. Examines drug use and abuse from a multidimensional perspective that includes aspects of the stimulus, organism, response, and consequences. Discusses epidemiology, etiology, prevention,…

Reviews research on children's perspective of their parents' divorce and remarriage. Long-time effects are related more to the child's developmental status, sex, and temperament, the qualities of the home and parenting environment, and the resources and support systems available to the parents and child than they are to divorce or remarriage per…

Reviews research on psychocultural teaching and learning processes, which are influenced by variables such as social organization, sociolinguistics, cognition, and motivation. Culturally compatible education seems to be effective. Discusses implications for general educational reform, and directions for future research. (Author/BJV)