Considering the creation of proper play areas for children (school sites, municipal and mini parks, private homes and backyards, shopping centers, apartment complexes, recreational areas, roadside parks, nursery schools, churches, summer camps, and drive-in theaters) as one of today's major challenges, the author recommends that professional…

This collection includes five papers dealing with different foci on the ecology of child development. The first presentation discusses childhood social indicators as means of monitoring the ecology of development. The second, on the social context of childhood, shows that how society treats its youngest members depends both upon its perception of…

This document brings together two preliminary reports on field research undertaken as part of the Children's Folklore Program of the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. This research is an inquiry into the nature and function of the traditional, expressive activities of Black, Mexican-American and Anglo children, of both sexes, between…

This handbook is a detailed guide to more than 300 measures of child behavior and development not available from test publishers. The authors surveyed the literature over a ten-year period to find more than a thousand measures; those included here are not described in other sourcebooks and guides. Thus this book is the only guide to many of the…

This paper explores the popular stereotypes and research relating to the single child family. Advantages small families experience include more money available for each child, more attention from parents, healthier children, higher intelligence among the children, and less family tension. Concern over only children centers on their being spoiled…

This is a general evaluation and description of a museum for children ages two through 12 that was begun by a group of citizens in Denver, Colorado. The evaluation shows that the museum is serving the community successfully and has met its broad goal of giving children an opportunity to develop positive self-concepts and to grow cognitively…

A home-based orientation and mobility program was developed for blind/visually impaired infants and toddlers. Three stages in functional mobility were identified focusing on the development of gross motor skills, related conceptual activities, auditory awareness, orientation skills, and mobility skills. The program included parent education and a…

Addresses issues surrounding the diminution of the American family, reviewing the consequences of this change for the well-being of children, including cognitive functioning, personal adjustment, self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, antisocial behavior, and self-control. Critiques methodological and conceptual issues in assessment of children…

By perpetuating habits, values, and attitudes that successfully mediate the interaction between the individual and the social environment, the Afro-American home environment prepares children to live in a society that devalues individuals whose social and ethnic origins differ from the accepted norm. Afro-American families stress social rather…

Summarizes the NAEYC position statement on developmentally appropriate practice in the primary grades serving students aged 5 through 8 years. Uses a comparative format of appropriate and inappropriate practice related to curriculum goals, teaching strategies, integrated curriculum, guidance of social and emotional development, motivation, and…

A longitudinal study was conducted of 139 Ontario preschool children with severe and profound hearing losses, to detect potential interactions among communication mode, program type, and degree of hearing loss. The relationship of several background and educational variables with the linguistic, academic, and social development of the children was…

Maintains that learning to read must take advantage of the child's natural playful tendencies. Shows how stories in widely-used school primers make use of trick themes based on puns, figures of speech, or metaphors. Concludes that such stories should be used to reinforce the relationship between reading and natural language. (JDH)

States that the Plowden Report put the child at the center of the educational process. Maintains that much good came of the humanistic philosophy of the Plowden Report; that its socio-linguistic meanings related to the report's status, power, context, and timing, were benign. (Author/JDH)

Discusses the young child's home-community links and less strong school-community links. Examines reasons for schools becoming isolated from their communities. Emphasizes importance of teachers finding ways to relate child's learning to the community and finding ways to let parents share in their children's learning at school. (LFL)

Describes social behaviors of preschool children in relation to second-language development observed in a multicultural preschool program. The discussion includes examples of behaviors observed early in the year and of early stages of cooperative and sociodramatic play, and observations on the children's cultural adjustments and individual…