Research findings are reviewed concerning infants' abilities to discriminate parents from other social stimuli during the first 6 months of life. The term "discrimination" is used to signify the ability of infants to respond differentially to two or more social stimuli. Studies reviewed are categorized in terms of the visual, auditory,…

Fixation time, smiling, vocalization, and fret/cry were recorded to obtain a complete picture of infants' responses to facial stimuli over the first year of life. Four stimuli were presented to 120 infants. Results of fixation data indicate that (1) there is a marked decrease in fixation toward facial stimuli within the first year, (2) at all ages…

This illustrated booklet describes the physical, social, cognitive, sensory, and motor development of the typical infant during the first 12 months of life. Each of 12 chapters is concerned with successive months in a child's first year and is divided into three sections. Specific stimulating activities (i.e., handing toys to the infant's…

The development of and relationship between early language, symbolic play, sensorimotor skills, and social development were examined in a longitudinal study conducted in Japan with two young autistic males who were observed from the approximate ages of 2 to 4 years in clinic, day care, and home settings. One child acquired speech; the other did…

Noting that the last 30 years have seen enormous increases in the understanding of infancy, this book examines the current state of knowledge regarding infant development. The book's contents stem from meetings of the British Infancy Research Group. Although the book was intended for advanced undergraduates, it would also be useful for advanced…

Describes a program developed to help parents become effective playmates. Suggests that interactive play between infants and adults has numerous benefits, although these benefits will not occur automatically; they require parents to develop the appropriate skills. Proposes methods to facilitate play and make an important contribution to the…

This book consists of 31 papers focusing on aspects of child development. Mainly reports of research, papers are grouped topically into four sections dealing respectively with perceptual, language/communication, cognitive, and social development. Most of the nine papers in section 1 focus on the perceptual development of infants. Topics include…

This paper presents two studies of the development of social competencies in infancy. In the first experiment, the central issue investigated was whether facial configuration or height is utilized by infants to respond differentially to children and adults. Five different strangers, a male and a female child, a male and a female adult, and a small…

This paper reports on the development and use of several tools designed to sensitize caregivers to the fact that infants are very different from one another and that caregiving needs to be tailored to the styles and needs of each child. Four approaches were used: (1) having caregivers rate the infants regularly on a small number of rating scales…