Claims that Miller's book is admirably clear and comprehensive on current thinking in early literacy, noting Miller's refutation of the concept of reading readiness. Suggests the book would be particularly useful for students in initial teacher training courses, not just those intending to work with young children. Questions preoccupation with…

The first of two articles on play reviews the development of play in typically developing infants, toddlers, and young children, including Piaget's observations on the development of play; developmental play research following Piaget (research by Lunzer, Sinclair, Lezine, Lowe, Rosenblatt, Uzgiris and Hunt, Fenson and others, Watson and Fischer,…

Used heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) assessed at 33 to 35 weeks gestational age to predict developmental outcome at 3 years for very low birth weight infants. Found that RSA measures predicted developmental outcome beyond effects of birth weight, medical risk, and socioeconomic status. For infants < 1,000 grams, RSA maturation…

An evaluation of the New Parents as Teachers (NPAT) program concluded that a high quality parent education and support program conducted during a child's first three years measurably increases the child's intellectual, achievement, and language abilities. Parental involvement with parent educators during home visits is the single most important…

Looks at changes in attitudes toward the intellectual development of infants and young children in the United States during the 20th century. Conducts a content analysis of samples of articles from the popular literature of the period. (KO)

Investigates the relationship between early interactional patterns and later cognitive performance in 29 infant-mother pairs. Results indicate that cognitive milestones are relatively uniform in the first two years of life. Socio-emotional development showed a variety of profiles. (RJC)

Reviews current issues in child language acquisition and suggests a research agenda for helping those children who have difficulty mastering the fundamentals of language. (Author/BJV)

Presents the results of three studies examining children's conception of the mind itself as an independent, active entity. Findings revealed a developing ability in children to interpret and produce statements personifying the mind and provided considerable evidence of children's movement toward a conception of the mind as an active agent…

Describes a process approach to teaching and learning in preschool settings. The approach uses child-initiated play in a prepared environment, and encourages children's formation of symbolic mental representations through social interaction and mediation. Offers guidelines for the implementation of the process approach. (MM)

Discusses the effect of children's outdoor play on their learning, the promotion of children's development by their playing of games which they have invented, and suggestions for adults to encourage children to invent outdoor games. (BC)

Reviews themes in cognitive psychology on relationship of children's knowledge and strategies to learning, memory, and performance of academic tasks. Notes that literature on strategies indicates that strategic competency is related to changes in structure and efficiency of strategies with development, context in which strategies are used, and…

Reports on a study of 198 Canadian children, ages 4-8, on their understanding of the role of evidence on the formation of beliefs. Finds that younger children evaluate opinions based on their own beliefs about the situation; older children tend to ascribe knowledge to others on the basis of evidence available to those others. (CFR)

Examines the benefits of sand play for young children, focusing on areas of cognitive, physical, communicative, creative and social-emotional development. Also discusses the role of the teacher in encouraging children's natural curiosity and exploration with sand play, noting that teachers should observe and interact with children during play in…

This study examined 236 8-year olds from a state with minimal child care standards in an effort to discover possible differences associated with child care histories. Children with more extensive child care experiences were associated with negative ratings by parents, teachers, and peers. (SH)

Literacy should not be limited to decoding written text. More broadly construed, education should address the many ways in which experience is represented, the development of cognitive potential, and differences in intellectual proclivities. The object should be cultivation of a broad capacity to construct meaning. (SK)