At a brisk pace, research findings focused on children's play are finally reaching the light of day in popular media. No longer left sitting in archives of academic journals, the benefits of play to lifelong success have been touted in radio, television, magazines, and newspapers. It gives early childhood professionals a powerful, credible…

A broad array of infant studies are reviewed that appear to be consistent with the idea that belief understanding specifically, and mental attribution generally, emerge much earlier than previously acknowledged. We first examine existing false-belief research, which, while confirming that children under 4 years perform poorly on standard tests,…

In adults, a salient tone embedded in a sequence of nonsalient tones improves detection of a synchronously and briefly presented visual target in a rapid, visually distracting sequence. This phenomenon indicates that perception from one sensory modality can be influenced by another one even when the latter modality provides no information about…

Playing with toys as a means of environmental engagement has long been considered important in early child development (D. J. Messer, D. Rachford, M. E. McCarthy, & L. J. Yarrow, 1987; M. Wolery, M. G. Werts, & M. Holcombe, 1994). However, children with highly significant disabilities often engage in toy play less frequently than their peers…

Comprehensive, integrated services for infants, toddlers, and families are essential for optimal child development, and collaboration across systems is increasingly important to maximize limited resources. The authors describe three successful initiatives in Oklahoma that use a collaborative systems approach to providing direct services to young…

A number of authors have proposed models of cognitive development that explain improvements in intelligence over the course of childhood via changes in the efficiency of inhibitory processes (Anderson, 2001; Bjorklund & Harnishfeger, 1990; Dempster, 1991, 1992; Dempster & Corkill, 1999a; Harnishfeger, 1995; Harnishfeger & Bjorklund, 1993). A…

The present study examined the impact of training mothers in high-elaborative, emotional reminiscing on children's autobiographical memory and emotion knowledge. Eighty mothers were randomly allocated to one of two training conditions: in the "reminiscing" condition, mothers were encouraged to reminisce by asking their children (aged 3.5 to 5…

Research has demonstrated that differential parental scaffolding utterances influence children's development of executive function. Traditional conceptualizations of scaffolding, though, have difficulty in explaining how such differential effects influence children's cognitive development; they do not account for the timing of parental utterances…

Even though the tradition of kindergartens in Croatia is a long one, it is only since the last decade that kindergartens in the Republic of Croatia have been regarded as communities that learn. For many years, the function of traditional kindergartens was determined by the philosophy and the beliefs of a totalitarian socialistic social order…

Although parents may try to shield their children from information that may be upsetting to them, inevitably they will be exposed to life's challenges and painful realities. People live in the "information age" and children are frequently bombarded with overwhelming news from the media. Since children are very aware of the emotions of the adults…

As a Program Director, every day requires decisions regarding children, parents, extended families, what curriculum to use, and of course, managing the finances. Making the day-to-day decisions and ensuring the overall health, safety, and well-being of each child served by the Yakama Nation Head Start is made easier by continually reflecting on…

Now, more than ever, it is crucial to address the topic of children and poverty in the U.S., given current scientific knowledge about poverty's influence on children and effective strategies to mitigate its negative impact. In this report, we summarize the best available information on definitions and trends in child poverty, policy responses to…

Young children's feeding issues can be a complex challenge for early childhood professionals, especially since most get little to no training addressing this key developmental area. Now there's a single comprehensive resource that provides early childhood educators and interventionists with specific, practical, research-based guidance on resolving…

There were two purposes of this descriptive research design. The first purpose of the study was to investigate family literacy activities with preschool-aged children and parental expectations of their children's development and future school success as reported by Asian immigrant families. The second purpose was to observe the interactive reading…

In many instances, children and older adults show similar difficulties in reward-based learning and outcome monitoring. These impairments are most pronounced in situations in which reward is uncertain (e.g., probabilistic reward schedules) and if outcome information is ambiguous (e.g., the relative value of outcomes has to be learned).…