Notes children with movement difficulties do not receive neat diagnostic classification, as they have normal intelligence and minimal neurological signs. Details a study based on interviews of 11 parents of children with movement difficulties that revealed that parent involvement and knowledge is critical to acquiring professional attention.…

Assessed sleep patterns, sleep disruptions, and sleepiness of second-, fourth-, and sixth-graders. Found that older children had more delayed sleep onset times and increased reported daytime sleepiness than younger; girls spent more time in sleep than boys and had increased percentage of motionless sleep; and 18 percent of children had fragmented…

A survey of 28 sexual abuse experts, 36 therapists involved in sexual abuse training, 210 medical students attending a human sexuality program, and 35 group facilitators of the human sexuality program, found role and gender influenced beliefs about normal and abnormal childhood sexual behavior. (Author/CR)

Surveyed state preschool centers in North Queensland, Australia to identify behaviors involved in antisocial play and the range of strategies used to deal with disruptive play. Findings highlighted the practice of keeping center rules and guidelines in public view, and the need for diversity and flexibility in access to and deployment of…

Examined relationships between adjustment and academic achievement and effects of sociocultural background on parental expectations for primary school students in Italy. Found a significant relationship between adjustment and achievement. Parents were more willing than teachers to excuse poor adjustment or behavior in a high-achieving child.…

Investigates archival data of African American and Caucasian families referred for treatment of disruptive behavior problems. Following completion of pretreatment assessments, subjects and their parents received treatment using Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). No significant differences between groups were found on the pretreatment…

Examined differences in children's spontaneous use of emotion vocabulary during peer interactions and explored these differences in relation to children's likability as assessed by peers. Found that with increasing age, emotion vocabulary became more differentiated and complex, and children who used a larger number of emotion words were more liked…

The Child Behavior Rating Form (CBRF) was adapted for use with children having mental retardation and was named the Nisonger CBRF. Independent factor analyses of parent and teacher ratings for 369 children produced 2 Social Competence subscales and 6 Problem Behavior subscales. Internal consistency was generally high and parent-teacher agreement…

Using interview data from 241 single African American mothers and their seventh- and eighth-grade children, this study tested a model of how 2 economic stressors, maternal unemployment and work interruption, influenced adolescent socioemotional functioning. Found that current unemployment, but not past work interruption, contributed to depressive…

Outlines strategies for dealing with campers who have difficult behavior and includes examples in which camp staff were unaware of a camper's emotional or behavior problem. Case studies involve a camper with a learning disability and a camper who had been sexually abused by a teacher. Includes guidelines for establishing behavior agreements. (LP)

Discusses research and theory of play in children's development and factors reducing the amount of play time children experience. Surveyed teachers' attitudes toward play, and provision of play for children in grades one through six. Teachers from rural areas provided more play time than teachers from suburban areas, who in turn provided more play…

Details a study evaluating the construct and concurrent validity of a modified version of the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale (PIPPS), a teacher-rating instrument of interactive play behaviors of preschool children. Use and further study of developmentally appropriate social competencies for African-American Head Start children are discussed.…

Examines the emotional development of preschoolers, including the issues of emotional expression, emotional understanding, regulation of emotions, developmental significance, and the role of the caregiver-child relationship. Finds that caregivers influence the emotional development of children as they model, coach, and respond to children.…

Summarizes the main debate points on the issue and nature of bullies and bullying, and clarifies unresolved issues concerning the nature and limits of social competence values. Argues that variations in children's emotion processes may underlie some individual differences that have been found in empathy, social information processing, and reactive…

Highlights the strengths of the Halberstadt et al. contribution to the literature on social-emotional development. Discusses three issues relating to their model: (1) the inseparability of cognitive representation in both emotional and social functioning; (2) the role played by context; and (3) the significance of goals in any construct involving…