Background: Early childhood is a formative period during which distinguishable development has projections of bearing desirable outcomes within an individual. Hence, physical, language, cognitive, emotional and social independence are healthy components of a typical child's development that early childhood development (ECD) educators deem…

In a series of meta-analyses, paternal sensitivity was associated with children's (age range: 7 months-9 years) overall cognitive functioning (N = 3,193; k = 23; r = 0.19), including language skills (k = 9; r = 0.21), cognitive ability (k = 9; r = 0.18), and executive function (k = 8; r = 0.19). Paternal sensitivity was not associated with…

Background: Dialogic reading (DR; Whitehurst et al., 1988) is an evidence-based intervention that promotes children's active participation in shared reading (Towson, 2016; Urbani, 2020; WWC, 2007, 2010). Since the development of DR, there has been a proliferation of studies evaluating the conditions and populations with which it is effective.…

This paper describes the research protocol for the Educational and Developmental Gains in Early Childhood (EDGE) Study, which will examine the implementation of two years of funded kindergarten prior to the first year of school in Victoria, Australia. EDGE will examine whether children's language, cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioural…

In this study, we investigate the association between family environment and early childhood development among children aged 6-24 months in rural counties in China. To do this, we used cross-sectional data from a large scale survey, including 1809 child-caregiver dyads across 22 nationally designated poverty counties. We found that 53.95% of…

Technological advances have facilitated robots to perform a variety of human-like functions which have steered the interest of educators, researchers, and practitioners to discover the potential advantage of using robots as an intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Through meta-analysis, this study provides research-based…

This study explores the utility of the Early Development Instrument (EDI) as a population-based measure of school readiness in Crete, Greece, during times of economic austerity. It is unique in that no similar investigation examining school readiness for grade one has been conducted in this country. More specifically, it identifies kindergarten…

Objective: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY) provides a universal taxonomy to describe functioning. One of the most relevant applications of the ICF has been the development of code-sets for particular contexts/situations, such specific age groups. An important step in research…

The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) conducted a landscape evaluation of early childhood programs in Indiana (IN) between the spring of 2021 and the summer of 2022. The evaluation included assessments of infant, toddler, and preschooler children's developmental status in multiple domains at two time points to measure growth.…

Persisting socioeconomic gaps in school readiness have inspired research examining aspects of the pre-K experience that could reduce these gaps. A strategy that deserves consideration is the socioeconomic diversity of classrooms. In this literature review, we use ecological theory as a framework to present outcomes of socioeconomic diversity in…

Pretend play may be beneficial for young children's social development. However, empirical results to date are inconsistent and limited, which is partly due to a lack of psychometrically sound measures for children's social pretend play competence. The current study aimed to compare and validate different assessment methods for children's social…

Maternal singing is considered vital to infant well-being. This study focuses on vocal emotion expressions in infant-directed singing among mothers in war conditions. It examines the questions: (a) how traumatic war events and mental health problems are associated with the content and valence of vocal emotion expressions and (b) how these emotion…

Puppetry plays an edutainment role in playing and learning activities for nursery and kindergarten children. This qualitative study was aimed to investigate the benefits of puppetry activities for children who were enrolled in early childhood programs. In-depth interviews were conducted with four respondents, two of whom were child care providers…

Although dual language learners (DLLs) are linguistically, culturally, and socially diverse, researchers usually study them in aggregate and compare them to non-DLLs. The authors' purpose was to identify subgroups of preschool DLLs using latent class analysis. There were 7,361 DLLs and 69,457 non-DLLs. Results revealed three distinct classes.…

Research examining the effects of subsidized childcare prior to school entry for child development is inconsistent. This population-based study examines the relationship between two poverty levels (extreme poor and working poor) and children's developmental outcomes, as measured by the Early Development Instrument. It also determines the extent to…