Behavior is a form of communication. For many young children, they may engage in certain behaviors to consciously or subconsciously communicate a need to access something, such as a desired adult or peer, sensory stimulation, or a tangible item. Other times, children may engage in a behavior to escape or avoid something, such as a particular…

The ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly Article 12 on children's right to participate in matters affecting them, provides a rationale for including the voices of young children when seeking to better understand their lives. Early childhood educators collaborate and converse with young children in their daily…

The University of Minnesota's Birth to Three Clinic has adopted a holistic approach to supporting children's needs within an attachment-focused, trauma-informed, and neurodevelopmental framework rooted in the DC:0-5™ classification framework. This clinical framework of infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) assessment has been applied in…

This study examined caregivers' lived experiences during the initial weeks of stay-at-home mandates within the unique socio-cultural and healthcare context of the United States. To learn about the experiences of caregivers during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted seventeen semi-structured interviews with caregivers of young…

In this study we aimed to compare the contribution of each play type to the development of different EFs components: shifting, working memory (visuospatial and auditory) and inhibition (two aspects of cognitive inhibition and physical inhibition). Following a preliminary examination of EFs was the intervention, which consisted of 14 play sessions…

This paper describes how training school and clinical psychology graduate students in early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) has the potential to fill gaps in the ECMHC workforce, enhance the capacity of early care and education (ECE) providers to effectively support the mental health needs of children and families, and help ECE…

Younger children in urban settings are predisposed to numerous risks, yet their 'voices' remain underrepresented in research making them unheard and invisible. The paucity of methods that encourage children's direct participation in studies from such settings, in effect, limits exploration of their ability to engage meaningfully in voicing their…

Families including a young child with a significant cognitive and motor developmental delay need to adapt their routines to the child's needs, while balancing the resources, needs and values of the whole family system. We aim to characterize if and how their routines are sustainable in terms of ecological fit, congruence and meaningfulness, in…

In August 2017, almost a million Rohingya people fled to Bangladesh to escape violence and persecution in Myanmar; 55 percent of them were children. BRAC, one of the largest nongovernmental organizations in the world, operates an initiative called the Humanitarian Play Lab model for children ages 0-6 in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.…

This critical cross-cultural study examined the alignment of the 2022 National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) standards in the U.S. with Australian, Kenyan, and Nepali educational guidelines. Previously, NAEYC's educational guidelines adhered to Euro-Western notions of child development, with a biased view of normative…

Teaching young students requires more than just learning about child development -- it requires understanding children and their experiences. Teacher educators have seen a lack of such authentic understanding among future and current early childhood educators. The authors set out to change that in a bachelor of education degree program in northern…

DC:0-5™: Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (ZERO TO THREE, 2016) emphasizes the centrality of relationships for young children's development and psychopathology. The authors share the story of a young child and his mother to illustrate the use of DC:0-5, with an emphasis on how…

The DEC Recommended Practices provide guidance to families and professionals about the most effective ways to improve learning outcomes and promote development of young children, birth through age 5, who have, or are at-risk for, developmental delays or disabilities. "Transition: Supporting Changes in Services and Settings" is the eighth…

This study presents the insights gained from interviewing 12 parentally bereaved children aged 5-8. All were below six years of age when bereft. Participants were interviewed through Sandtray interviews. The study finds that children are developing an understanding of what it means to live with loss, but want truthful information about the illness…

This article explores the identity development of young children of color growing up in transracial adoptive homes. The authors present the story of a 6-year-old child with a history of severe trauma and how this trauma shaped her understanding of race and identity. After her eighth foster placement, the child's play and talk became increasingly…