The child's right to play is specifically addressed in the framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The international recognition of this right is the central theme of this study. Through a documentary analysis of the reports of the States Parties to the Convention and the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of…

This study examines difficulties amid the COVID-19 pandemic in raising children and meeting their educational needs among Korean immigrant parents of children with disabilities, giftedness, and/or limited English proficiency living in the U.S. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis examined the associations between the 48…

Early intervention services are funded through a complex blend of federal, state, and local sources, and are part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). States have to make difficult decisions about how to fund critical IDEA services, including early intervention services, because Congress vastly underfunds IDEA. This often…

Every child from birth to age 3 in the U.S. is entitled under IDEA (IDEA Part C) to support in reaching developmental milestones if they have a developmental delay -- that is, if they are meeting milestones more slowly than expected, or if they have a diagnosed condition that has a high probability of resulting in a delay. Strong support as soon…

Early care and education in the United States is in crisis. The period between birth and kindergarten is a crucial time for a child's development. Yet vast racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities that begin early in children's lives contribute to starkly different long-term outcomes for adults. Compared to other advanced economies, child…

The context for child care and early education (CCEE) changed rapidly in March 2020 as the global pandemic caused the closure of child care programs and schools, widespread job loss, and negative impacts on the broader economy and family life. Black and Latino families and families with lower income experienced disproportionately negative effects…

Following on from the phenomenal success of the Peter Lang publication 'Autism from the Inside Out', 'Leading inclusion from the Inside Out' is the first book to focus on providing Irish parents, early childhood teachers in early learning and care, primary and special school settings with practical and effective strategies for supporting the…

Background: Healthy child development is imperative for future success, parents/caregivers are at the helm of guiding children down a path that supports health and wellbeing for future success. When there is a lack of education, information, and resources readily available to families there is a risk for delayed development and lack of engagement.…

This paper explores generic factors that prevent children from normally reaching their full potentials. Early childhood is a period when children should normally grow in an environment which is secured, friendly, filled with warmth, and nurturing to enhance the holistic growth of all children. There are many theories, ideologies, and policies to…

The University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development (OCD) has practiced university-community engagement activities for 30 years. This has included hundreds of specific projects conducted with community partners, all funded by outside grants. Based on our experience, we describe some lessons learned regarding the operation of a…

In this pilot study, we describe emergent literacy skills and factors related to literacy for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A total of 38 parents and their children (n = 18 with ASD; n = 20 typically developing) participated in this study. Our analyses revealed great variability in emergent literacy performance across the ASD…

Infants exhibit visual preferences for gender-typed objects (e.g., dolls, toy vehicles) that parallel the gender-typed play preferences of preschool-aged children, but the developmental stability of individual differences in early emerging gender-typed preferences has not yet been characterized. In the present study, we examined the longitudinal…

Findings from previous cross-sectional studies showed that while toddlers around their first birthday imitate selectively, that is, they systematically omit some kinds of target action steps or they copy only the goal, but not the means of the modeled actions, older toddlers imitate more exactly. The aim of the present article is to provide…

In May 2012, nine men from Rochdale were convicted and jailed for grooming girls with alcohol, drugs and gifts before forcing them to have sex with multiple men. Following the case in Rochdale similar cases of grooming and sexual abuse/exploitation of young girls came to light in various towns and cities across the UK. In 2017, the BBC aired the…

Developmental trauma--distressing childhood experiences that include mistreatment, interpersonal violence, abuse, assault, and neglect--is associated with substance use and poor academic performance. The authors investigated the links between developmental trauma, grade point average, substance use, and resilience among first-year college students…