In the United States, most mothers work during pregnancy. Yet, until the passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act in 2022, pregnant employees did not have a right to reasonable accommodations to work under safe conditions. This law is expected to increase employment among pregnant women, making it critical to understand the effects of work…

In 1951, when Maria Montessori described the pattern of human development as the Constructive Rhythm of Life, marking each of four chapters or planes of development with an inverted triangle, she colored the first and third planes red to represent their intensity (Grazzini, 1996). These two red triangles are referred to as creative periods and…

Incarceration in the United States affects not only the individuals incarcerated, but also the whole family system, including children. 1.5 million children younger than 18 have had parents incarcerated at some point in their life (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021), and children have been called the hidden victims of the mass incarceration that is…

There is great opportunity in pediatric primary care to lay the foundation for lifelong health and well-being during the critical period from infancy to early childhood. However, many of these opportunities are missed, particularly for the most vulnerable children. The challenges to equitable, universal developmental and behavioral screening in…

Maternal perinatal depression is not an uncommon experience, yet few mothers are identified and treated--a concerning fact, given the potential for negative impact on both maternal and infant well-being. In the present study, I review recent research in the field of maternal perinatal depression and highlight associated developmental outcomes…

Many hospitals and academic medical settings lag behind in promoting key initiatives focused on advancing maternal, infant, and early childhood mental health. Yet, systems are dynamic and change is possible. This article highlights Fellows' efforts to infuse maternal, infant, and early childhood mental health understanding and approaches into…

I watch my eighteen-month old daughter talking to the soft-bodied doll that I have made her. I wonder what she sees in the undefined cloth face. I wonder if she will make a similar doll for her child one day and I wonder if she will wonder as I do. While the repetition across generations of early childhood experience is both common sense and much…

In August 2017, almost a million Rohingya people fled to Bangladesh to escape violence and persecution in Myanmar; 55 percent of them were children. BRAC, one of the largest nongovernmental organizations in the world, operates an initiative called the Humanitarian Play Lab model for children ages 0-6 in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.…

This article seeks to connect ethnographic findings from a study on parenting, childcare and early childhood in Chile's Mapuche communities with facets of the LOPI model. From Facet 1, we observe that children are included in social situations from an early stage, which empowers them to learn how to interact through such instances as greeting…

Throughout her career, Dost Education's co-founder and CEO Sneha Sheth met many parents across varying global contexts and was always amazed by the grit and determination of under-resourced parents to see their children thrive. In 2016, Sneha conducted a focus group on early childhood development with 80 parents from Dharavi. She already knew…

Prenatal maternal depression affects both mother and fetus with long-term implications for offspring vulnerability to psychopathology through alterations to brain development, stress physiology, negative emotionality, and cognitive control. This article reviews evidence for the negative impact of prenatal maternal depression on offspring…

Infants invite those caring for them to join as companions on an incredible journey. "Infant and Toddler Development from Conception to Age 3" is a helpful guide to that journey. Each chapter taps a distinct area of research to shed light on babies' biological expectations for care and their amazing competence as active participants in…

Farah Pandith is an author, foreign policy strategist, and former diplomat. She served as the first-ever special representative to Muslim communities for the US Department of State. She is the author of "How We Win: How Cutting-Edge Entrepreneurs, Political Visionaries, Enlightened Business Leaders, and Social Media Mavens Can Defeat the…

Iqbal views the schooling as well as the Madrassah systems devoid of developing a dynamic Muslim required for the renaissance of Ummah. With this realization, many Islamic educationists in Pakistan have established. Islamic schools in Pakistan. The question is whether their models are dynamic enough to create such Muslims? This research probes…

This article describes the ongoing impact of one Early Head Start grantee's participation in a statewide initiative to connect the state's network of residential substance abuse treatment programs for women and their children with their local Early Head Start program. The initiative was designed to enhance child development and parenting supports…