The federal Early Head Start (EHS) program began in 1995, and a randomized trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of 17 EHS programs. In all, 3,001 low-income families (35% African American, 24% Hispanic, and 37% White) with a pregnant women or an infant under the age of 12 months were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group (with…

Notes two faulty aspects of the Reznick et al., twin study (PS 526 688): the expressive language measure at 14 months, which has practically no spread of item difficulty, as well as measures included to assess specific cognitive characteristics; and the notion of infant transition as it affects interpretation of the results. (HTH)

Presents emergentist coalition theory of language development characterizing lexical acquisition as the emergent product of cognitive constraints, social-pragmatic factors, and global attentional mechanisms. Details 12 experiments with 12- to 25-month-olds using the development of reference as test case of the theory. Presents evidence that…

Describes the richness of Hollich et al.'s model of language acquisition. Presents concerns about focus on object words in word learning research, the phantom child in the model, and the missing affect in theories and research on word learning. Suggests that experimental work inspired by principles and constraints theory and observational work…

Reviews early theoretical and research literature on handedness and places it within the larger context of the nature-nurture controversy. Discussion focuses on Baldwin's study of the development of hand preference in infants in relation to the recapitulation theory, mental development ("dynamogenesis"), and speech development.…

Discusses differences between authors' view of conversation and Ervin-Tripp's (included in this issue) on the similarities between adult and child conversation, planfulness in achieving topic coherence, the generalization of research results to other groups, and the socialization of conversational behavior. Also presents evidence supporting their…

Examined data from 408 pairs of identical, same-sex fraternal twins at 14, 20, and 24 months to assess cognitive development and to identify genetic and environmental influences on phenotypic similarity. Found various patterns of development for separate constructs, for females versus males on each construct, and for individuals across constructs.…

Examines the quality of conversation produced by small groups of subjects in fifth, ninth, and twelfth grades and the last year of college. Results supported Piaget's sequence of conversational development. However, topical coherence apparently is not fostered by focused turns but emerges as a generalization of the normative constraints applying…

Criticizes Dorval and Eckerman (included in this issue) for their findings' lack of generality due to the artificial nature of the conversational groups studied. Also both age changes in the ability to plan large conversational units and the functions of particular kinds of turns within these larger units are left unexplored. (CB)

This study examined the development of causal expressions in children's discourse from two to three years of age. Linguistic, contextual, and pragmatic influences on language development were the major factors considered. (CM)

Suggests that children construe the world as they develop relationships with other individuals. Offers considerations regarding developmental changes marking the first year of life and argues that cognition is framed in public social exchanges and private dialogical thinking. (DLH)

Studied partner and site novelty for mother-infant, stranger-infant, and mother-stranger face-to-face interactions. Found that adult-infant vocal timing measures at age 4 months did predict attachment and cognition at age 12 months. Comparison of mother-infant and stranger-infant interactions suggested the dynamics of infants' early…

Examined 2-year-olds' language acquisition with an emphasis on the agency and intentionality of the child. Concluded that development depends on the child's expression of intentionality by actions (performance), the essential tension between the child's engagement and effort, and the integration of linguistic, cognitive, and social aspects of the…