Purpose: To determine the accuracy of three systematic observation (SO) tools to estimate energy expenditure (EE) using different skill performance and observation intervals. Method: Three SO tools (Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children-Preschool, System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time, and System for Observing…

A goal of some functional analysis (FA) variations is to reduce assessment time while still maintaining efficacy. This may be especially important when conducting FAs in early intervention programs, where time is a crucial commodity. To that end, we evaluated a model for using the results of the no-interaction condition as a screening for…

The goal of creating evidence-based programs is to scale them at sufficient breadth to support population-level improvements in critical outcomes. However, this promise is challenging to fulfill. One of the biggest issues for the field is the reduction in effect sizes seen when a program is taken to scale. This paper discusses an economic…

The present study investigated whether Japanese 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children exhibit a yes bias to questions from a physically present humanoid robot, Nao. The robot asked the children yes-no questions about familiar and unfamiliar objects. To both types of questions, the 3-year-old children exhibited a yes bias while the 5-year-old children…

Low inhibitory control (IC) is sometimes associated with enhanced problem-solving amongst adults, yet for young children high IC is primarily framed as inherently better than low IC. Here, we explore associations between IC and performance on a novel problem-solving task, amongst 102 English 2- and 3-year-olds (Study 1) and 84 Swedish children,…

The conceptual development of natural number in preschoolers is well-researched. However, less is known about the conceptual development of zero. Recent studies suggest that children develop an understanding of zero after learning to count. It remains unclear, when a conceptual understanding of "zero" as number word for an empty set…

Understanding distinctions between morality and conventions is an important milestone in children's moral development. The current meta-analysis integrated decades of social domain theory research (Smetana, 2006; Turiel, 1983) on moral and conventional judgments from early to middle childhood. We examined 95 effect sizes from 18 studies (2,707…

Studies on children's understanding of counting examine when and how children acquire the cardinal principle: the idea that the last word in a counted set reflects the cardinal value of the set. Using Wynn's (1990) Give-N Task, researchers classify children who can count to generate large sets as having acquired the cardinal principle…

Studies have reported that physical exercise reduces maladaptive stereotyped motor behaviours (SMB) in children with ASD, but these intervention studies vary in design and outcome. The present systematic review and meta-analysis included 22 studies, involving 274 children with ASD, to quantify the effect of exercise on SMB and its potential…

We examined the relationship between the Early start Denver model (ESDM) intervention and mu rhythm attenuation, an EEG paradigm reflecting neural processes associated with action perception and social information processing. Children were assigned to either receive comprehensive ESDM intervention for two years, or were encouraged to pursue…

Our study investigated the feasibility of using head movement features to identify individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children with ASD and typical development (TD) were required to answer ten yes--no questions, and they were encouraged to nod/shake head while doing so. The head rotation range (RR) and the amount of rotation per…

An increasing amount of research emphasises the influence of body movement on the perception of music. This study contributes to the research by investigating whether varied qualities of body movement, when aligned to music may affect the way children attribute meaning to that music. To address this question, 34 children (aged 9-10) were divided…

Picture books depicting LGBTI + families now form a significant sub-genre within children's literature. However, despite significant scholarship on representations of queer people in child and young adult literature generally, the way rainbow families are depicting in picture books, in particular, has received rather less attention. This paper…

The current analysis investigates genetic and environmental influences on the bidirectional relationships between temperament and general cognitive ability (GCA). Measures of GCA and three temperament factors (persistence, approach, and reactivity) were collected from 486 children ages 4-9 years (80% white, 50% female) from the Louisville Twin…

The relationship between motor skills and executive functions (EFs) is gaining prominence in the field of developmental psychology. However, evidence of the motor skills--EFs link in children with typical development is somewhat inconsistent and there has been no adequate attempt to evaluate it systematically across studies. In view of this, the…