Motivation is a key factor for child development, but very few studies have examined child and family predictors of both child task and perceived motivation. Thus, the three aims of this 6-month longitudinal study in preschoolers with global developmental delays (GDD) were to explore: 1) differences between task and perceived motivation in…

We investigated a test of strategic reasoning (the Windows task) that in different studies has yielded contrasting pictures of young children's executive abilities [Russell, J., Mauthner, N., Sharpe, S., & Tidswell, T. (1991). "The 'windows task' as a measure of strategic deception in preschoolers and autistic subjects." "British Journal of…

This work aims to analyse the specific contribution of social abilities (here considered as the capacity for attributing knowledge to others) in a particular communicative context. 74 normally developing children (aged 3;4 to 5;9, M=4.6) were given two Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks, which are considered to assess increasing complexity levels of…

A cognitive-developmental approach to reading instruction for preschool children is presented in this document. Common misunderstandings about reading instruction are discussed, and examples of young children's reading readiness are used to illustrate how developmental readiness, self-motivation, and the influence of an appropriate learning…

Describes a study which explored developmental changes in preschoolers' knowledge of the writing system. The children were asked to write four utterances without knowing the purpose of the request and without additional explanations. The purpose was to determine how early children's graphic responses in decontextualized situations have features of…

Investigates the development and production of spatial deictic terms ("this/that", "here/there", "my/your") in the context of a hide-and-seek game using preschool children and college age adults. (Author/ED)

Reports on three studies which investigated the development of the concept of horizontality in subjects from nursey school through college age. Normative data collected allowed for evaluation of Piaget's stages and for differences due to age, sex, and apparatus shape and orientation. (ED)

Examined preschoolers' strategic behavior on a task in which they must decide whether two arrays are the same. Results indicated that the course of strategy development is complex, there is much diversity within a child and among children in both strategy production and strategy utilization, and that children act in ways that are counter to…

An analysis of the quantitative processes underlying conservation of quantity is presented. Models of three quantitative operators--subitizing, counting, and estimation--are derived from adult performance in quantification tasks, and some features of the operators are described. The emergence of conservation is described in terms of the…

Two studies demonstrated dissociation between preschoolers' understanding of pictorial and mental representations. Results showed that false picture tasks were significantly easier than false belief tasks. There was no correlation between performance on the two. Children were trained on false belief, false picture, or number conservation tasks;…

To examine how young children learn to read new words, we asked preschoolers (N = 115, mean age 4 years, 8 months) to learn and remember novel spellings that made sense based on letter names (e.g. TZ for "tease") and spellings that were visually distinctive but phonetically inappropriate. Children who were more knowledgeable about letter names…

This teachers' guide is meant to be used in developing individualized programs for pre-kindergarten children or for children of elementary school age who have not developed pre-kindergarten competencies. The guide outlines concepts and skills that many preschool children master before entering kindergarten or first grade. Contents concern six…

The second of three volumes, this document provides a description of the coding system, the rules and the procedures followed in interpreting and classifying 4,896 statements of desired program effects on Head Start children. The statements had been identified and rated by parents, staff and teachers in Input Workshops conducted by the Head Start…

This collection of essays is written for parents, professional teachers, and caregivers to enlighten the readers about preschool children's development, the role of parent and teacher, and the nature of the parent-caregiver partnership. The essays emphasize how to observe, to understand, and to intervene with preschoolers, teachers, and parents,…