The purpose of this study was to compare early speech and language development of children with and without cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) in the US and Slovakia from 6 to 24 months of age. Thirty-two children from the US (eight with CLP and eight noncleft) and Slovakia (eight with CLP and eight noncleft) participated in this study. The children…

Data from 508 Caucasian children in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development shows that the DRD4 (but not 5-HTTLPR) polymorphism moderates the effect of child-care quality (but not quantity or type) on caregiver-reported externalizing problems at 54 months and in kindergarten and teacher-reported social skills at kindergarten and…

Background: Accumulating data from animal and human studies indicate that the prenatal environment plays a significant role in shaping children's neurocognitive development. Clinical, epidemiologic, and basic science research suggests that two experiences relatively common in pregnancy--an unhealthy maternal diet and psychosocial…

Early identification of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is facilitated by the use of standardized screening scales that assess the social emotional behaviors associated with ASD. Authors examined accuracy of Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) subscales in detecting Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) risk…

The present research explored how mothers' own childhood experiences are linked to their perceptions of their children's sleep regulation. It focused on collective sleeping; a practice used in the past in the Israeli kibbutz, and used a quasi-experimental research design to examine whether mothers who were raised in collective sleeping…

This four-page document provides an overview of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), a health research agency within the federal government. NICHD is a part of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S Department of Health and Human Services. This brief report describes the mission of…

Most sociolinguistic studies rely on apparent time, cross-sectional methods to analyze language change. On the basis of apparent time data, sociolinguists have hypothesized that cultural processes of lifespan change create predictable cycles of linguistic behavior in which adolescents lead in the use of vernacular variants and advance sound change…

Many researchers have attempted to uncover the precise contribution of fathers to childrearing in relation to both young and older children's development during the past five decades (Lamb, 1975), including during the infancy period (Parke & O'Leary. S, 1975). However, few have been able to isolate precise mechanisms by which specific types of…

The authors contend that the term "evidence-based treatment" (EBT) is often used synonymously with the term "evidence-based practice" (EBP) without making an important distinction. If a practitioner is applying an EBT, it should not be assumed that one is "practicing" the evidence. Within the infant-family and early childhood field, this confusion…

Since the National Education Goals Panel was convened in 1991, school readiness for all children has remained a high priority across our nation. The Foundations of Learning Framework is a tool to understand what it means for a child to be "ready." Preparation for educational success requires two key ingredients--relationships and play. In the…

Phyllis Glink, the executive director of the Irving Harris Foundation, describes the Foundation's strategic approach to grantmaking in the infant and early childhood field. The Harris Professional Development Network evolved out of Irving Harris's growing appreciation for the importance of supporting very young children's mental health and…

Early childhood programs with infants and toddlers are bustling and alive in ways different from programs that have only preschoolers. Infants and toddlers can make group care environments more caring and family focused spaces, nurturing the well-being of all adults and children participating in the program. The number of infants and toddlers who…

Reviewing the studies on differential susceptibility presented in this section, we argue that the time is ripe to go beyond correlational designs to differential susceptibility experiments. In such experiments, randomization prevents hidden moderator effects on the environment and guarantees the independence of moderator and outcome, while the…

There is increasing evidence that parenting and feeding interact to influence children's eating behaviour and weight status. Interpretation of existing research is complicated by the lack of consensus in the conceptualisation and measurement of both "parenting" and "feeding", particularly the distinction between "styles", "dimensions" and…

When her director first asked her to teach an art class in the infant room, the author must admit that she thought her director was crazy. She nodded and smiled, pretending confidence, all the while thinking, "Teach art to infants? What does that even mean?" But when a teacher is trying to get a job at one of the best early childhood…