Although early life experiences of language and parenting are critical for children's development, large home observation studies of both domains are scarce in the psychological literature, presumably because of their considerable costs to the participants and researchers. Here, we used digital audio-recorders to unobtrusively observe 107…

Naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention is an emerging class of interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder. The present article is a meta-analysis of outcomes of group-design studies (n = 27) testing interventions using naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention strategies. Small, significant positive effects…

Recent educational studies have shown increasing lack of interest and participation of youth (ages 10-14 years old) in various STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields in the U.S. The decline in the number of youth choosing to study STEM fields in higher education and the resulting lack of STEM professionals in the society…

This study examined relations between parenting, shared reading practices, and child development. Participants included 28 children (M = 24.66 months, SD = 8.41 months) and their parents. Measures included naturalistic observations of parenting and shared reading quality, assessments of child cognitive and language development, and home reading…

Language is a child's major tool for learning about the world. This book presents a naturalistic case study of one child's use of language from two-and-a-half to five years, drawing on systemic functional theory to argue that cognitive development is essentially a linguistic process and offering a new description and interpretation of linguistic…

The methodological issue of qualitative versus quantitative research is addressed, and the argumentation of research using interview methods for research is explored. Warrants of the type that are used in arguments generating conclusions from interview data are included. (KR)

This paper reviews, first, experimental studies of perceptual-cognitive development and related work directed to the assessment of infant intelligence and, second, naturalistic observation of the exploratory patterns of infants during free play. Techniques used, such as the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence, offer the potential to identify…

Two classrooms of first graders (n-40) were administered Damon's moral judgment measure, Spivack and Shure's social problems solving measure and Stanford-Binet vocabulary. Concurrently, two observers recorded in the children's school environment incidences of successful resolutions of interactions, amount of derogation, and the number of times a…

Children's early mathematical experiences play an enormous role in the development of their understanding of mathematics, and serve as a foundation for their cognitive development. In this descriptive study, we observed the naturally occurring mathematical activities engaged in by thirty-nine 3-year-olds, equally divided by race/ethnicity and…

Investigates the antecedents of individual differences in cognitive/language competence for 121 24-month-olds who were also assessed at 6 and 13 months. Warm verbal interactions between mother and child at three ages were associated with child competence at 24 months. Socioeconomic status was also modestly correlated. (Author/CB)

This study employs a time-series analysis of naturalistic developmental functioning to describe characteristics of transition in social development. A special education classroom of eight preadolescents, ages 11 and 12, provided subjects for this study. Transitional patterns in social cognitive development were studied in children's…

Describes research that examines the specific behaviors of mothers sharing books with their infants in order to ascertain the associations that exist between specific maternal reading behaviors and infants' intellectual development. (FL)

Assumes a process-in-action approach to studying young children's concept of self. Conceptualizes self-concept as spontaneously emerging from social interaction. Pedagogical implications are provided to suggest that teachers can take a number of positive steps toward respecting and enhancing children's attempts to achieve self-other knowledge.…

This study examined explanatory talk that occurred in families of preschool children during book readings between mother and child, and during mealtimes with the whole family. The study is part of a larger study, the Home School Study of Language and Literacy Development. Three-year-old children eligible for Head Start programs in the greater…

A study explored contextual influences upon the writing of students in their final year of secondary schooling. Six teachers in 6 subject areas and 12 students enrolled in 2 or more of these 6 classes were selected as case studies. The researcher spent an academic year observing the contexts in which writing occurred, recording class sessions,…