Psychological science has much to contribute to enhancing teaching and learning in the classroom. Teaching and learning are intricately linked to social and behavioral factors of human development, including cognition, motivation, social interaction, and communication. Psychological science can also provide key insights on effective instruction,…

Measuring Early Learning Quality & Outcomes (MELQO) was initiated to address needs for child development and quality of early childhood education (ECE) data, specifically for low- and middle-income countries. Drawing from existing tools, MELQO convened a consortium to create open-source tools to be adapted to national contexts, simultaneously…

We report new clinical features of delayed motor development, hypotonia, and ataxia in two young children with mutations (R756H and D923N) in the "ATP1A3" gene. In adults, mutations in "ATP1A3" cause rapid-onset dystonia-Parkinsonism (RDP, DYT12) with abrupt onset of fixed dystonia. The parents and children were examined and videotaped, and…

The current study tested whether the purely amodal cue of contingency elicits orientation following behavior in 8-month-old infants. We presented 8-month-old infants with automated objects without human features that did or did not react contingently to the infants' fixations recorded by an eye tracker. We found that an object's occasional…

This study evaluated whether pubertal development and gender role orientation (i.e., masculinity and femininity) can partially explain sex variations in youth anxiety symptoms among clinic-referred anxious youth (N = 175; ages 9-13 years; 74% Hispanic; 48% female). Using youth and parent ratings of youth anxiety symptoms, structural equation…

Longitudinal data analysis has long played a significant role in empirical research within the developmental sciences. The past decade has given rise to a host of new and exciting analytic methods for studying between-person differences in within-person change. These methods are broadly organized under the term "growth curve models." The…

The relationship between early maternal responsivity and later child communication outcomes in young children with fragile X syndrome was investigated. Data were obtained from 55 mother-child dyads over a 36-month period. Performance data were obtained at each measurement point from video observations of four different contexts. These were coded…

Preparing early childhood education (ECE) and early childhood special education (ECSE) professionals to work with young children with and without disabilities entails the acquisition of content, its application, and opportunities for reflection. This article describes a component of an ECSE assessment course focusing on the logistics and process…

The joint trajectory analysis version of Nagin's ("Group-based modeling of development." Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005) semiparametric, group-based approach for modeling trajectories was used to assess how boy's trajectories of conduct problems (CP) and neighborhood SES covaried from ages 5 to 12. Participants were…

The first step in documenting children's progress toward important goals, such as developing strong oral language and early literacy skills, requires measurable outcomes. Measurable outcomes contribute to teachers' understanding of whether the gains they observe in children are meaningful by adding quantitative evaluation of a child's progress…

The objective of this book is to examine the methods used in basic research on child development. Studies of replications and near-replications of commonly employed procedures of data collection and analysis are used. Evidence of consistency in research results is sought, thereby enabling the authors to assess the methodological adequacy of using…

Parents' preferences for day care services are compared with the major types of existing day care. Survey data on the types of services parents prefer is first summarized. Then the major types of available day care are described. Finally, each type of care is evaluated on the basis of available data concerning parents' satisfaction with and…

This technical report presents issues related to defining and applying accountability systems for young children, including those with disabilities. It notes that reaching shared perspectives on definitions of accountability systems and their constituents remains complicated by the number of levels to which such systems can apply (e.g., child-,…

This report describes the psychometric characteristics and related methodology of the 9-month data collection of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Institute of Education Sciences, in collaboration with several…

As demand for after-school services has grown, the public has responded with support for growth in federal, state, and local funding for these services. As in other successful grassroots movements, this high level of support is evident across groups with diverse objectives. Some after-school advocates are mainly interested in increasing the supply…