Every year brings new research studies that aim to describe early childhood development. Despite this boom in research, there has been little useful translation of these studies into clear recommendations for educators and mental health practitioners. This book shows experienced educators and mental health practitioners who work with young…

Although Baby Sign is gaining in popularity, there is a scarcity of research supporting its use. The research that has been conducted is conflicting. In the current study, nine families with children ranging in age from six months to two years and five months participated in a baby sign workshop. A pre--post-test design was used to assess the…

This field study describes changes in caregiving and young children's physical and behavioral/cognitive development as a consequence of a pilot intervention using typical staff in 2 Central American orphanages for children with severe and multiple disabilities. The intervention trained staff in sensitive, responsive, child-directed,…

This systematic review sought to understand the individual characteristics of incarcerated youth within the major risk factor domains identified by the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). A comprehensive search of the literature from 1979 to 2013 identified 85 articles of individual-level risk characteristics that…

In May 2010, the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR) at Georgetown University released the monograph "Addressing the Unmet Educational Needs of Children and Youth in the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems" (Leone & Weinberg, 2010). The monograph examined a number of topics relevant to the education and experiences of…

Given the relationship between internalizing disorders and deficits in emotion regulation in youth, the emotion science literature has suggested several avenues for increasing the efficacy of interventions for youth presenting with anxiety and depression. These possibilities include the identification and addition of emotion-regulation skills to…

This approach is primarily concerned with social reasoning and judgment, with how children reason about social phenomena, not just what they reason. The how of social reasoning is called structure, what is reasoned about, content. Presented at the American Psychological Association, Chicago, 1975. (Author)

A portrait is presented of the toddler with slow expressive language development (SELD), based on research examining the health history; cognitive, communicative, and adaptive skills; behavior; and phonology of 30 toddlers with SELD and 30 nondisabled toddlers. The paper offers a review of research on the outcomes of SELD, and explores…

This book represents the proceedings of the Conference on Advancing Research on Developmental Plasticity: Integrating Behavioral Science and the Neuroscience of Mental Health. The conference featured scientific presentations from many leading scientists in behavioral sciences, neuroscience and psychiatry, as well as a poster session for newer…

Five aspects of the psychological assessment of children are considered. First, the hypotheses of assessment are examined, with attention to the role of the scientist-clinician, the nature and the social and personal determinants of development, and the ego as the object assessment. Second, methods of data collection are surveyed, including…

A program at the Model Preschool Center for Handicapped Children at the University of Washington's College of Education enrolled 11 children with Down syndrome, 18-36 months of age. The program sought to accelerate and maintain the motor and cognitive skills of the children; to encourage parent involvement; to provide training to students,…

Parents of 31 developmentally delayed children (ages 1-27 months) received training to assess their children's developmental status. No initial differences existed between parent and professional scores in the motor, social, or language domains. Differences in the self-help domain disappeared after 4 months and in the cognitive domain after 12…

Recent developments in infant mental health are outlined, with implications for work with at-risk populations. Discussed are: the biobehavioral-developmental perspective, the infant as a social being, the infant-caregiver relationship, the transactional model of the infant-parent relationship, assessing developmental disabilities, conceptualizing…

Adolescence is a critical period in biological, cognitive, and social development. The transition from childhood to adulthood is a time of particular vulnerability and risk as well as of opportunity for preventive interventions. The Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development is seeking to assess and develop programs to facilitate this transition.…

This paper, part of a long term study, reports the effect of a modified Montessori preschool experience on cognitive development, school-related behaviors, and social interactions and perceptions of disadvantaged children. Each of thirty-five disadvantaged Negro children (31 in nursery classes and 4 in elementary classes) was pair-matched with a…