In the current study, we examined the developmental course of the perception of non-native tonal contrast. We tested 4, 6 and 12-month-old Dutch infants on their discrimination of Chinese low-rising tone and low-dipping tone using the visual fixation paradigm. The infants were tested in two conditions that differed in terms of degree of…

The embodied-cognition approach views cognition and language as grounded in daily sensorimotor child-environment interactions. Therefore, the attainment of motor milestones is expected to play a role in cognitive-linguistic development. Early attainment of unsupported sitting and independent walking indeed predict better spatial cognition and…

Rural children are a largely understudied population in language and literacy research, despite the fact that these children often enter school with delays in their language development. Since most rural areas suffered from so-called selective rural outmigration, many parents in rural areas are lower or middle educated. The home literacy climate,…

Do children who go on to develop dyslexia show normal verbal and nonverbal development before reading onset? According to the aptitude-achievement discrepancy model, dyslexia is defined as a discrepancy between intelligence and reading achievement. One of the underlying assumptions is that the general cognitive development of children who fail to…

Aim: General developmental outcome is known to be good in school-aged children who experienced febrile seizures. We examined cognitive and behavioural outcomes in preschool children with febrile seizures, including language and executive functioning outcomes. Method: This work was performed in the Generation R Study, a population-based cohort…

This study examined whether stimulation of immigrant and national pupils' use of high-quality helping behaviour (experimental condition) during cooperative learning (CL) in classrooms boosts their maths-related talk more than in an educational situation in which such stimulation is largely absent (control condition). A total of 59 elementary-age…

A case study of the period of repetitive babbling in one Dutch infant is reported. Repetitive babbling is seen as a systematic and continuous process, during which the child is applying certain strategies in order to form concepts concerning the possibilities of his or her articulatory apparatus. Strategies identified are: (1) variation…

Examines the changes that occur from ages 5 to 11 in question/answer sequences of Dutch children. Function, content, form of questions, and listener response are analyzed. (EKN)

The phenomenon known in cognitive psychology as U-shaped behavioral growth is discussed in relation to second language learning. The U-shaped growth concept focuses on the fact that some behaviors appear, disappear, and then apparently reappear over time. It has been documented in children's learning of physical concepts, musical concepts,…

This report describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of programs designed to improve the educational opportunities of working class children in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. First, an overview of the objectives, program types, timetable and organizational structure is presented. Secondly, programs are described according to three…

Analysis of the responses of monolingual Dutch and bilingual Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese children living in the Netherlands to word association and sorting tasks revealed no significant differences among the groups. Results of the study indicated that bilingualism does not affect cognitive-linguistic development. (22 references) (Author/VWL)

This study attempts to identify potential school problems in preschool children in order to facilitate the provision of relevant information for systematic screening and early guidance. Data from the first 14 months (to the end of the preschool period) of a longitudinal study extending from 4 1/2 years of age to the end of second grade are…

This study examined whether the effects on cognitive and language outcomes of a recently developed home-based educational intervention program, Opstap Opnieuw, for 4-6-years-old disadvantaged children could be explained by improved mother-child interaction. The present sample (n = 30) was drawn from a larger sample of Turkish-Dutch families (n =…