Recent advances in developmental science can teach us a great deal about the value of specific kinds of human interactions in the earliest years of life for the developing brain architecture. Animal experiments indicate that enriched environments with opportunity for frequent interaction and new experiences can help the animals' brains develop…

Research shows that many things affect how well preschool children perform in school, including meeting their physical needs with a healthy diet, exercise and good medical care. Young children also need social and emotional help that will build their confidence, independence and cooperation skills. This booklet highlights needs of babies, toddlers…

A 20-year longitudinal study has traced the academic, social, and emotional development of 60 young Australians with IQs of 160 and above. Significant differences have been noted in the young people's educational status and direction, life satisfaction, social relationships, and self-esteem as a function of the degree of academic acceleration…

In this article, the author narrates how her son's communication skills have progressed through the use of photographic visuals. Her son, Ryan, was diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) when he was aged two years and seven months. At this time he was unresponsive to his name, had virtually no words and definitely no comprehension of…

Individuals with high-functioning autism are characterized by almost normal language ability and intelligence as well as social, pragmatic impairments. Before the 1980s, limited research was focused on this disorder. This paper reviews previous research on this underserved population with a hope that we are able to gain some insights from existing…

The diagnosis of high functioning autism (HFA) is not the end of comprehensive assessments. Since the 1970s, although a great deal of research has focused on developing effective educational approaches and interventions for children with autism, there is an increasing need to develop differentially effective educational approaches or interventions…

Available evidence indicates that a substantial majority of young children with intellectual delays exhibit special problems in forming peer relationships and developing friendships. This increased social isolation from peers poses a considerable threat to their mental health in both the short and long term. This problem is related to but extends…

The manner in which we relate and behave towards one another can be analysed in political and social terms. Significantly, in the examination of children's spirituality, the concept of relational consciousness has revealed how early we become aware of people and phenomena beyond ourselves. But our desire to relate and behave reasonably towards…

"Every Child Matters" is a major change programme aimed at integrating all services for children and young people in England. It seeks to enable a new holistic approach to their care and so improve a number of outcomes for children, thus improving their overall well-being. "Every Child Matters" seeks to address the rights of…

An asset-based approach is being championed by the field of child and youth care work, focusing on strengths as opposed to weaknesses, assets as opposed to deficits. This article highlights the Search Institute's theoretically-based and empirically-supported model of developmental assets (Benson, Leffert, Scales, & Blyth, 1998; Scales, Benson,…

The advance of science and technology, the rise of mass consumerism, the deterioration of families, and other factors have enormous implications for career counseling. This digest outlines a constructivist career counseling perspective. This perspective is based on the following concepts: there are multiple realities and no single "God's…

This curriculum unit consists of a series of lesson plans focused on Japan for preschool students ages 3 to 5 years. The unit has five themes: (1) geography; (2) language; (3) people and clothing; (4) customs; and (5) food. Each theme has from four to eight activity lessons which address different developmental domains, including language, social…

Infants and toddlers need to learn a wide range of skills from their parents to prepare them for their experiences outside the home. This guide is designed to provide parents with practical, future-oriented suggestions on raising toddlers and preschool-age children. It provides a step-by-step approach to handling everyday problems, promoting the…

Adolescents' feelings of belongingness were investigated by this study, in which 349 high school students participated. Independent variables for family structure, quality of family life, gender, classification, and length of residency were investigated. The dependent variable was scores from the Psychological Sense of School Membership scale.…

This paper introduces a project that sought to examines students' perceptions of the meaning of school violence, its impact on their schooling experience, and the effectiveness of current strategies for dealing with violent behaviors. Interviews were conducted with 60 students in grades 7-9 (in groups of 12) drawn from 5 K-9 schools in central…