Background: State-level child care quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) have been implemented in a majority of states in the U.S.A. One goal is to improve developmental outcomes for young children, especially from families with fewer resources. Research is needed to determine if QRIS can produce quality improvements that will support the…

Play is a very effective tool in the development of the child's personality, cognitive skills, social-emotional structure, communication and interaction skills. In this study, it was aimed to determine the effect of teaching with the Direct Instruction Model on the teaching of musical play (round) skills in students with moderate intellectual…

Children's ability to understand and infer the thoughts and feelings of others influences how they develop a unique view of the world. Examining developmental factors that impact young children's success in both social and cognitive domains has important implications for advancing our current knowledge of social cognition. The purpose of this…

A 17-year longitudinal follow-up of 56 American gifted children investigates and gives examples of a variety of social, emotional, and career outcomes for children who are in the same intellectual ranges. Evaluated for 5 Levels of Giftedness as children, the subjects' intellectual abilities are compared within and across five ability levels of…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder whose symptoms may involve deficits across three domains: communication, socialization and atypical behaviors or interests. With a high prevalence across populations and a tendency to impact males more than females, early and accurate diagnosis appears critical. The most…

Prior research suggests that social relations may play a role in explaining individual differences in cognitive functioning in older adulthood. In particular, early life maternal relationship quality (MRQ) has been shown to be a strong predictor of later-life socioemotional outcomes and may also contribute to later-life cognitive outcomes. The…

Australia is the only country in the world that regularly collects comprehensive information about the holistic development of children entering their first year of school. Known as the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), the data gathered from this work guides national and state policy. These types of measurements are useful for the…

As the pressure to succeed academically is imposed on children earlier than ever before, it is essential to understand what characteristics are most important to parents and teachers in order to be school ready. While formally readiness is typically measured using chronological age and mastery of cognitive skills, it also involves physical,…

The standard model of the role of early experience in human development assumes that children's environments in their first years of life are dominant influences on who they become as adults. The standard model favors interventions to improve children's long-term outcomes that start early in life and are intensive in time and attention from…

Suor et al. (2017) present a compelling new evolutionary framework that offers an alternative interpretation of the well-established findings of cognitive deficits in children raised in harsh early environments. They argue that such findings do not convey a complete picture of those children's cognitive development, because children's cognition…

Research Findings: A growing number of young children encounter group learning environment for the first time when entering preschool at age 3, yet their parents and teachers have no means to discern whether they are ready for this challenge. To address this uncertainty, this study developed and validated the Chinese Preschool Readiness Scale…

This study examined Head Start's impact on fathers' school-based involvement and associations with Black children's cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional skills. With a sample of 1,354 Black children, fathers' involvement was measured as attendance at school meetings, teacher conferences, school events, and/or volunteering at school events.…

Intellectual abilities are consistently found to be associated to child functioning. To date, however, it is unclear how varying intellectual profiles relate to differential aspects of child functioning. We screened 513 fifth-grade children on their intellectual abilities and selected three groups of gifted children, scoring in the top 10%:…

Consistent school attendance is a key foundation of student learning. While missing one or two school days each year is not likely to have serious consequences, chronic absenteeism (missing 10% or more of enrolled school days) can seriously undermine the learning process (Allensworth & Easton, 2007). Given national efforts to increase the…

Children experience chronic stress in ways that can impair their brain functioning and overall development. This article articulates the unique needs of children experiencing chronic stress and discusses strategies that families and schools can use to support and strengthen children's development across the social, emotional, and cognitive domains.