Purpose: Early auditory experiences are fundamental in infant language acquisition. Research consistently demonstrates the benefits of early intervention (i.e., hearing aids) to language outcomes in children who are deaf and hard of hearing. The nature of these benefits and their relation with prefitting development are, however, not well…

Maternal gatekeeping is characterized by the extent to which mothers engage in behaviors that ultimately serve to inhibit (i.e., gate close) or encourage (i.e., gate open) father involvement in childrearing. This study considered direct and indirect associations between observed and reported maternal gatekeeping and children's social-emotional…

With many features competing for attention in their visual environment, infants must learn to deploy attention toward informative cues while ignoring distractions. Three eye tracking experiments were conducted to investigate whether 6- and 8-month-olds (total N = 102) would shift attention away from a distractor stimulus to learn a cue-reward…

Being connected to other people at the level of inner and unobservable mental states is one of the most essential aspects of a meaningful life, including psychological well-being and successful cooperation. The foundation for this kind of connectedness is our theory of mind (ToM), that is the ability to understand our own and others' inner…

In this study 9-month-old infants in rural and urban Gujarat, India were compared in how frequently and in which way they engage in triadic interactions. It was assumed that urban caregivers would engage in a child-centered interaction style, frequently creating triadic interactions and following infants' signals. It was also expected that they…

Over the last few decades, research has consistently shown that process quality in child care centers and family child care varies substantially, but is mostly at a mediocre level. Based on the NUBBEK sample (National Study on Education, Learning and Upbringing in Early Childhood), an expanded model of process quality tests the influence of…

In prison, jails, and detention centers, the United States incarcerates more people than any other country, and most of these individuals are parents. As a result, early care and intervention professionals are likely to encounter infants and young children affected by parental incarceration. This article will review the scope of the problem, the…

This study examined the effect of a social-emotional intervention implemented in one St. Petersburg (Russian Federation) institution (called a Baby Home, BH) on the general behavioral development of preterm children (gestational ages of 30-36 weeks) during their first 2 years of life. The intervention consisted of training caregivers and…

The current study represents the first longitudinal investigation of the potential effects of breastfeeding duration on maternal sensitivity over the following decade. This study also examined whether infant attachment security at 24 months would mediate longitudinal relations between breastfeeding duration and changes in maternal sensitivity over…

Purpose: Breastfeeding education in the school setting offers the opportunity to improve knowledge base and positively influence beliefs and intentions for students. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of short education program among secondary school students on breastfeeding knowledge and intentions. Design/methodology/approach:…

We investigate whether infant-directed speech (IDS) could facilitate word form learning when compared to adult-directed speech (ADS). To study this, we examine the distribution of word forms at two levels, acoustic and phonological, using a large database of spontaneous speech in Japanese. At the acoustic level we show that, as has been documented…

The Safe Babies Court Team™ (SBCT) is a community engagement and systems-change approach focused on improving how courts, child welfare agencies, and related child-serving organizations work together, share information, and expedite services for young children in the child welfare system. Ten sites across four states received technical assistance…

Multisensory attention skills provide a crucial foundation for early cognitive, social, and language development, yet there are no fine-grained, individual difference measures of these skills appropriate for preverbal children. The Multisensory Attention Assessment Protocol (MAAP) fills this need. In a single video-based protocol requiring no…

Adults recognize talkers better when the talkers speak a familiar language than when they speak an unfamiliar language. This language familiarity effect (LFE) demonstrates the inseparable nature of linguistic and indexical information in adult spoken language processing. Relatively little is known about children's integration of linguistic and…

This study examined associations between caregiver talk and language skills in full term (FT) and preterm (PT) children (n = 97). All-day recordings of caregiver-child interactions revealed striking similarities in amount of caregiver talk heard by FT and PT children. Children who heard more caregiver talk at 16 months demonstrated better…