Current conversations about children's literacy have focused on the need for more phonics and decoding instruction and have sidelined the importance of children's language development, argues George Hruby. Language development involves more than the ability to decode written language. The ability to understand the meaning of those words is also…

We tested whether adoptive parenting played a role in the association between pre-adoption experiences and children's adaptive (responsiveness) and maladaptive (internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems, attention and sleep problems) behavioral adjustment over time. Ten-year-old girls, adopted at 13 months from institutional care (n =…

The aim of this study was to discover what kind of perceptions young children in need of social, emotional, and behavioural support have about themselves. The interest was especially in social and emotional self-perceptions. For this study, ten children attending Finnish early childhood education and care were interviewed in spring 2016 and the…

We evaluated an early literacy initiative implemented in partnership with faith-based organizations. Heads of the initiative train church leaders to host monthly literacy events during which those leaders educate parents about child development and model dialogic reading behaviors while caregivers and their children follow along. A survey and…

As with most areas of society and human life, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed enormous challenges to the early years sector, which caters for about 2.1 million children under the age of 5 years. The economic and public health consequences of the crisis are threatening to deepen existing patterns of vulnerability and under-achievement for young…

The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) is preparing to undertake the work of reviewing the state early learning standards - Indiana's Early Learning Foundations (the "Foundations"). In anticipation of this work, staff at IDOE have requested support from the Region 8 Comprehensive Center in identifying approaches states have taken in…

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a family-centered preventive intervention, the Family Check-Up (FCU), on improving parenting skills during kindergarten and 1st grade, when children are challenged to engage in a variety of new behaviors, such as sustained attention and self-regulation of behavior in the classroom. Building…

It is important to foster resilience in early childhood as this quality is, according to this author, "an individual's progressing development to adjust to life difficulties." This narrative study provides a cultural perspective by investigating a Taiwanese context and shifts the attention to preschoolers' resilience development in both…

Walter Benjamin, cultural critic and philosopher, compiled "Berlin childhood around 1900" (trans. Howard Eiland, 2006) while in exile from Germany in the early 1930s, filtering impressions of a privileged childhood through a politicised adult consciousness. Erich Kästner, journalist, poet, satirist and author of the children's classic…

In this article, the author synthesizes research from several disciplines to shed light on play's central role in healthy development. Gordon builds on research in attachment theory that correlates secure attachment in infancy with adult well-being to demonstrate how playfulness might be a lifelong outcome of secure attachment and a primary…

Because of the pandemic and its restrictions on children, a professor and two graduate students employed in early childhood intervention investigated teachers and families in three states to determine if learning and development are affected by inability to physically attend school. The authors also explored if and how academic and…

This study examined the effect of participation in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters program on the school readiness of children born to teenage mothers versus children born to traditional-age mothers participating in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters program. A 45-item survey was collected from the…

Taiwan has over the past three decades been experiencing demographic changes that may pose important concerns for children's quality of life. This study examines the relationships and potential pathways between family structure transitions and early childhood development. Our analysis is based on 19,499 children from the 2005 birth cohort who…

This research focused on making visible children's funds of identity [Esteban-Guitart, M., & Moll, L. (2014). Funds of identity: A new concept based on the funds of knowledge approach. "Culture & Psychology," 20(1), 31-48] and incorporating these resources into an inquiry-oriented, play-based, preschool curriculum. Participants…

Low- and middle-income countries often have limited resources, underdeveloped health systems and scarce knowledge of autism spectrum disorder. The objectives of this preliminary study were to develop and adapt intervention materials and to train a native clinician to implement a community-based parent-mediated behavioural intervention in rural…