Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational programs and curricula are in vogue globally and are touted as optimal solutions for developing learners' future values, skills, and knowledge. But are they appropriate for early years learners such as babies (0-2 years), infants (2-3 years), preschoolers (3-5 years), and…

Four early childhood educators, along with a university researcher, describe their efforts to implement an antiracist, antibias curriculum in a daycare and preschool setting. Even very young children can learn important lessons about race, diversity, and equity, they argue, and teachers should not shy away from addressing these issues at staff…

Nurturing care in early childhood requires responsive interactions and opportunities to learn; however, there are few large-scale programs in low- and middle-income countries that support parents' ability to provide responsive care and activities that help children learn. The Reach Up training program was developed to increase capacity of…

Judi Orion, a Montessori expert on the birth-to-six plane of development, delivers a no-nonsense call to arms about the vital importance of the right beginning to set the stage for all that follows. Although we often hear and read about the period from birth to two-and-a-half years, Orion communicates the urgency of responding to the developmental…

Individual differences in infant attention are theorized to reflect the speed of information processing and are related to later cognitive abilities (i.e., memory, language, and intelligence). This study provides the first systematic longitudinal analysis of infant attention and early childhood executive function (EF; e.g., working memory,…

Five essential ideas or understandings that should underlie early childhood teacher education programs are discussed conceptually. Inquiry and reflection into practice are critical for continued teacher learning and development; learning and development are cultural and constructivist processes; the teacher's image of the child should be as a…

As coordinators of local early childhood coalitions working to improve the quality of early childhood programs, the authors had been looking for ways to support early childhood professionals in their efforts to strengthen partnerships with families, support young children's healthy emotional development, and continue to promote developmentally…

Young children often encounter feeding challenges, such as food refusal, an inability to meet nutritional needs, and limited skills to self-feed. Further, overall development can be adversely affected when an infant or a toddler has difficulties with intake of fluid and solid foods. A variety of strategies are available to address these challenges…

The Early Learning Guidelines: Nebraska's Birth to Five Learning and Development Standards (hereafter referred to as the Guidelines) is a resource to provide information about young children's learning and development. The Guidelines are intended to assist adults in planning and providing meaningful learning experiences and environments for…

Objective: Anticipatory guidance is a cornerstone of modern pediatric practice. In recognition of its importance for child well being, injury prevention counseling is a standard element of that guidance. Over the last 20 years, there has been growing recognition that intentional injury or violence is one of the leading causes of morbidity and…

This article offers an alternative to the term "natural environment" in which delivery of individualized services consistent with family needs and values is of first-order importance. It is argued that the use of authentic intervention activities will produce better outcomes than focusing on placements that must include chronologically aged peers.…

The Research in Practice Series is published four times each year by Early Childhood Australia. The series aims to provide practical, easy to read, up-to-date information and support to a growing national readership of early childhood workers. The books bring together the best information available on wide-ranging topics and are an ideal resource…

Using as a framework concerns and problems which two early childhood educators encountered in connection with curriculum in programs for infants and toddlers, this guide focuses on common questions about child developmental needs shared by caregivers and parents. The chapters consider the following questions: (1) "What Is Curriculum?"…

A three-dimensional model is used to compare various approaches to natural environment interventions. The model distinguishes between practices that are contextually or noncontextually based, adult or child directed, and practitioner or nonpractitioner implemented. One approach (practitioner implemented, adult directed) has increasingly been…

This article describes a comprehensive, credentialed training program for family child-care providers that is family-centered, community-based, and focuses on developmentally appropriate practices for all children, including those with disabilities. The development of and rationale for this program are discussed, and a description of field test…