Young infants use caregivers' emotional expressions to guide their behavior in novel, ambiguous situations. This skill, known as social referencing, likely involves at least 3 separate abilities: (a) looking at an adult in an unfamiliar situation, (b) associating that adult's emotion with the novel situation, and (c) regulating their own…

This selective bibliography cites recent ERIC documents and journal articles focusing on various aspects of infant day care including the effects of day care on infant development and on parent-child interaction and program and staff requirements for infant day care. Entries include resumes from "Resources in Education" (RIE), August 1972-August…

This resource for parents uses a workbook format to provide specific ideas for parents and other caretakers to use with infants from birth to 8 months of age. Suggested activities are based on an understanding of how the brain develops during infancy and the types of stimulation that promote neural efficiency. The book begins with a discussion of…

This resource for parents and other caretakers to use with infants from 8 to 18 months provides a synthesis of research on early brain development and objective-oriented instruction as the basis for activities that promote intellectual development. Part 1 of the book provides an overview of early development, discusses general ways of enhancing…

Piaget systematically attempted to relate cognitive, moral, and emotional development in infancy, childhood, and adolescence. In his view, cognitive and emotional development show parallel, complementary courses of development, with cognition providing the structure and emotion the energy of development. Just as children go through stages of…

A series of studies focused on (1) the evolution of the notion of identity of objects among infants up to 15 months of age and (2) the changing rules by which this development may be understood. Six identity tasks were presented to 60 infants divided into five age groups: 5, 7, 9, 12, and 15 months. Two objects were used in all tasks. In the first…

One of a series intended for parents and other caregivers, this handbook on child development focuses on the first 2 years of life. Contents include discussions on (1) basic developmental principles; (2) physical development; (3) cognitive development and language acquisition; (4) personality development, temperament, attachment, and bonding; (5)…

This paper traces some of the major theories and research findings concerning the development of self-identity during the first two years of life. The discussion begins with some basic assumptions of identity formation, offers an historical perspective with discussion of William James' major aspects of self, and concludes with observations on the…

A survey of research findings on environmental and person variables provides clues as to what is required in a high quality infant-toddler program. One of the most important components of such a program is a loving, responsive caregiver. Research has shown that there are specific adult qualities that nurture the roots of intellectual competence,…

The two studies reported here explore recent findings indicating that few relationships exist between environmental stimulation and cognitive development during the first 6 months of life. In the first study, three separate home visits (two 90 minutes and one 30 minutes long) were used to assess the physical and social environments of 100…

Presents a day care curriculum for infants and toddlers which is designed to provide maximum learning experiences and is based on Piaget's and Erickson's theories of infant development. (Author/ED)

A study suggesting semantic rather than syntactic early language acquisition by children. (CH)

The relationship of bilirubin (a red bile pigment that is sometimes found in the urine and occurs in the blood and tissues in jaundice) in infancy to later intellectual development was investigated in 241 infants with moderately elevated and high bilirubin levels. Ss were administered motor, psycholinguistic, and intelligence tests at age 8…

This study formulated a multivariate model of early infant competence from variables representing a transactional perspective of developing competence in early infancy. The measures used in the competence model were: birth weight; habituation index; personality ratings of the infants' social orientation and task orientation; ratings of maternal…