Defiant behavior in two- and three-year-olds is a natural expression of a young child's growing autonomy, and, although frustrating to adults, is a natural phase of a child's socio-emotional growth. L.S. Vygotsky's socio-historical theory of the development included a discussion of "crisis" periods, one of which he felt occurred at age three. The…

This longitudinal study investigated sex and age differences and the short- and long-term effects of low-income mothers' talk to their children. Twenty-four girls and twenty-four boys were audiotaped playing with magnets with their mothers at the ages of 5 and 9 years. When children were in sixth grade, they completed a test of reading…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of Resilient Peer Treatment (RPT). This is a peer-mediated, classroom-based intervention for socially withdrawn, maltreated preschool children. It examined whether the RPT impact generalized from the treatment setting to larger classroom context. Eighty-two maltreated and nonmaltreated, socially withdrawn…

The promise to raise literacy standards significantly at age 11 in economically disadvantaged areas has been an important part of the present British Government's educational policy. Integral to this promise has been the introduction of official homeschool contracts or agreements, which oblige parents to engage in specific literacy activities with…

Playgrounds traditionally have been found in both schools and parks in America. Each year, parent-teacher associations and school administrations, as well as park and recreation departments, spend millions of dollars to provide playground structures. However, since 1981, HPER professionals and the public have become increasingly aware that these…

This article introduces methods for increasing and improving play skills in children with autistic spectrum disorders. Behavioral techniques that are reviewed include discrete trial training, use of stereotyped behaviors to increase play skills, pivotal response training, reciprocal imitation training, differential reinforcement of appropriate…

This article summarizes and reflects on the findings related to pedagogy of two closely associated Department for Education and Skills (DfES) funded research projects: the "Effective Provision of Pre-school Education" (EPPE) and the "Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years" (REPEY) projects. The EPPE research project was a five-year…

The STAT is an interactive screening measure for autism that assesses behaviors in the areas of play, communication, and imitation skills. In Study 1, signal detection procedures were employed to identify a cutoff score for the STAT using developmentally matched groups of 2-year-old children with autism and with nonspectrum disorders. The…

The author addresses the debate over the growing use of technology in early education. Citing a recently released report from the Alliance of Childhood, he argues that technology robs young children of the imaginative play that helps them develop the qualities they will need for future success.

The aim of this study was to investigate, identify and describe different ways that female and male preschool teachers conceive, understand and experience play. The research questions addressed are: What perspectives do female and male preschool teachers have on play? Are there differences in play experiences related to gender? The interview study…

African American boys face numerous challenges in society within the United States, including prejudice, discrimination, racism, economic hardship, limited access to support services, educational biases, and community violence. According to Pierce (1988), the psychic assault of subtle racism against African American boys erode their…

Properties of the input, such as raw frequency and syntactic diversity, have been shown to play a role, to different extents, in the acquisition of nouns and verbs. This study investigated the relationship between three properties of the input (input frequency, syntactic diversity, and variety in noun-type co-occurrence) and age of acquisition of…

Year-old infants' play was scored within and outside joint attention with mother and when alone for four levels of maturity: stereotypical, inappropriate relational, appropriate relational, functional. Maternal sensitivity within joint attention was rated on two measures: following infants' interests and scaffolding infants' activities. Infants'…

We examined whether mothers' use of temporal synchrony between spoken words and moving objects, and infants' attention to object naming, predict infants' learning of word-object relations. Following 5 min of free play, 24 mothers taught their 6- to 8-month-olds the names of 2 toy objects, "Gow" and "Chi," during a 3-min play…

Identifying practical strategies for teaching children with autism to use social language with their peers is a challenge for professionals designing treatment programs. The purpose of this multiple baseline study was to assess the effectiveness of video modeling and video feedback for teaching a child with autism to use social language with…