This study examined whether the efficacy of "keepin' it REAL", a model program for substance use prevention in schools, was moderated by gender, ethnicity, and acculturation. Gender differences in program efficacy may arise through boys' higher risk of drug use, inadequate attention to girls' developmental issues, or cultural factors…

In this exploratory study we conceptualized and explored socio-cognitive, emotional and motivational regulatory processes displayed in scaffolding interaction between parents and their non-task and task-oriented children. Based on the dynamic systems view and findings from developmental research, we assumed that parents with non-task oriented and…

In this paper a theoretical framework is presented in an attempt to find an answer to the question of why some juveniles display sexually abusive behaviour and others do not. Until recently, this question has been approached mainly in terms of the presence of psychiatric illness, deviant sexual interests and/or impaired psychosocial development.…

In this study we argue that narrative storytelling and expository discussion, as 2 distinct discourse genres, differ both in linguistic expression and in their underlying principles of organization--schema-based in narratives and category-based in exposition. Innovative analyses applied to 160 personal-experience narratives and expository essays…

This study compared the skills performance of 60 children, ages 3 to 5, with speech and language delays on the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales (PDMS) with that of national norms on the PDMS. It found that the children with speech and language delays performed the PDMS gross motor skills significantly lower than the norm at each age level. The…

Seriation refers to the process of ordering objects along single or multiple magnitude dimensions such as length, weight, and color. The ability to order objects in terms of some attribute is essential for the child's understanding of the properties of numbers. This study investigated the effect on seriation performance of increasing both the…

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) compiled this summary in order to assist states and jurisdictions in their delinquency prevention efforts. The summary provides a synthesis of current information on a broad range of programs and strategies which seek to prevent delinquency. The theory of risk-focused prevention is…

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate how children's responses to literature can help develop literacy. The subjects were 15 first-grade students at Overstreet Elementary School in Starkville (Mississippi). Two school observations were carried out prior to the collection of data on individual students. Case studies were conducted…

Libraries are faced with changing demographics, emerging technologies, and economic shifts. Families once attended library programs as a unit, children began kindergarten at age five, and libraries offered few programs for children under four. Intact and extended families are a thing of the past. Many children today are raised in single parent…

A study analyzed ideas expressed by 38 parents of 4- to 5-year-old children about their socialization goals and the best ways of helping their child to attain them, with special attention to the domain of literacy. All the participating families had a child enrolled in kindergarten or first grade, all included an older child, and all were…

This book presents a comprehensive and detailed theory of early human development based on the principles of dynamic systems theory. It raises fundamental questions about prevailing assumptions in the field and proposes a new theory of the development of cognition and action, unifying recent advances in dynamic systems theory with current research…

Knowing how people learn and why they learn in a specific manner unlocks the mysteries of good teaching. Many learning style differences are related to Piagetian stages of cognitive development. Students' stages of cognitive development may not correspond to their ages and achievements. Piaget also found that many individuals are at different…

This booklet for caregivers of infants and toddlers with disabilities is intended to provide an overview of early childhood development, from birth to 36 months of age. The booklet is organized into 3-month age spans for the first year, 6-month age spans for the second year, and a 12-month age span for the third year. For each level, typical…

Noting that parents need to recognize that fears are a normal part of a child's development and that a child must be helped to deal with them, this book provides a very practical approach to fear reduction in a user-friendly form. The first part of the book, for parents, discusses: (1) definitions of fear and fear symptoms in children; (2) the…

A proposed model of communicative behavior suggests a series of seven progressively more complex levels of communicative competence: (1) behavior state; (2) recognitory; (3) contingency; (4) instrumental; (5) triadic; (6) verbal-contextual; and (7) verbal-decontextual. Tables define these levels in detail and list their characteristics. Each level…