This script was written to accompany a series of 118 color slides and presents the view that the important elements in caring for and teaching very young children cannot be packaged as a curriculum. Everything that goes into affectionate and satisfying child care, day after day, offers many opportunities for learning by babies, toddlers, and their…

The present study compared the relative effectiveness of three home visiting projects whose purpose was to train low income mothers to use commonly available materials and everyday events for the educational stimulation of their preschool children. The home visiting projects varied in terms of expense and professional qualifications of the home…

Violence is increasingly present in Quebec schools. Our position is that we should invest in "primary" prevention of violence by helping preschool children develop cognitive competencies. One of the aspects of cognitive development explored in this text regards children's Social Representations (SR) of violence. Indeed, a number of…

The current investigation was designed to examine the provision of cognitive stimulation to preschool-aged children from high-risk families. Participants were drawn from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, a prospective, longitudinal investigation of individuals recruited in 1976-77 from lower SES neighbourhoods who were rated by childhood…

A longitudinal study investigated maternal social support and its relationship to mother/child stress, the amount of stimulation provided the child, and the child's cognitive development. The data presented here represent the 18 to 24 month follow-up on a subset of families studied in 1981 and 1982 concerning current maternal social support and…

A site in Milwaukee was selected for a series of high-risk population survey. This area was rated in the lowest category for Milwaukee in terms of median educational level and income, and in the highest in terms of population density per living unit, percent housing rated as dilapidated, and unemployment. A pool of candidates composed of mothers…

Scores on the Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME), designed to reflect parental support of early cognitive and social development, were correlated with elementary school achievement five to nine years later. Results supported the predictive value of the instrument for school achievement among low-income families. (Author/DB)

In 1981 and 1982, pre- and postnatal medical, financial, demographic, and maternal social support data were collected from 220 lower socioeconomic status (SES), "high risk" mothers and their newborn infants. An analysis of data on the oldest 100 children in the sample found that 14 families had been referred to a children's protective services…

This bibliography, compiled to alert educators to documents on infant studies, combines entries from the abstract journal, "Research in Education (RIE)" and journal article citations from "Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE)." The bibliography includes all the citations concerning infants from these 1970-71 ERIC publications, excluding…

Environmental restriction or deprivation early in development can induce social, cognitive, affective, and motor abnormalities similar to those associated with autism. Conversely, rearing animals in larger, more complex environments results in enhanced brain structure and function, including increased brain weight, dendritic branching,…

The overall purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and practicability of a home-centered preschool intervention program for cognitive, language, and personality development of mother and child, based upon the use of paraprofessional educators who are themselves members of the population served. One question considered was…

This document is a first year report on a project which examines the effectiveness of (1) teaching the mother versus teaching the infant, and (2) using a professional versus using a paraprofessional as the intervening agent. Also being studied is the relationship between the sex of the infant and the way he is taught and the effectiveness of…

Approximately 258 mothers and their children (aged 3 months to 3 years) participated in a home visit program using paraprofessionals as home visitors on a once-a-week basis in the first two years of life, combined with a small-group setting for four hours a week for children 2 to 3 years old. Findings indicate that such a Home Learning Center…

The verbal and cognitive effects of both a Toy Demonstrator and a similar home visitor who abstained from stimulation techniques were studied in the Verbal Interaction Project. Three groups of children, totalling 54, participated in the study from July 1967 through June 1968. One group received "double intervention" (Toy Demonstrator),…

This presentation uses the premise that educational practice currently derives little benefit from the mass of ongoing research as a starting point for a reassessment of the values and goals of research. Particular emphasis is placed on the relation between research and educational practices involving 4-year-olds. The first part of the discussion…