Parity is one source of automatic reinforcement that increases the probability of verbal behavior that conforms to models provided by the verbal community. Parity as a conditioned reinforcer could explain the acquisition of grammar in the absence of direct, explicit reinforcement. This possibility has been explored in previous research on…

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for people, including young children. This study focuses on how teachers and parents foster children's prosocial behaviours during online learning amidst the pandemic. Data were sourced from 100 articles on WeChat Official Service/Subscription Accounts (WOSA) -- a popular Chinese social…

Project Construct is a learner-centered constructivist framework that emphasizes positive teacher-student relationships, autonomy, and child-led experiences. Constructivist pedagogy promote cognitive, behavioral, and academic outcomes. Yet, novice teachers struggle to grasp constructivist teaching practices and tend to emphasize teacher-directed…

Researching daily activities of young children poses methodological challenges that necessitate diverse approaches for effective inquiry. This method article introduces a new digital participatory research method -- Living Journals -- to study young children's everyday digital media practices at home in Azerbaijan. Employing this method, mothers…

Child temperament is a predictor of non-verbal ability (i.e. thinking and problem-solving skills that do not fundamentally require verbal language production and comprehension). Given that temperament scores might vary depending on whether the reporter is a parent or a teacher, this study analyses (a) whether those reports are different and (b)…

Today, digital games are considered important tools for learning, but using them in early childhood education and care (ECEC) has raised the question of educators' roles when children play an educational digital game. The aim of this study was to explore how ECEC educators differed in their attitudes and perceptions toward and ways of supporting…

Maternal depression is a global public health concern with far-reaching impacts on child development, yet our understanding of mechanisms remains incomplete. This study examined whether parenting mediates the association between maternal depression and child outcomes. Participants included 841 rural Pakistani mother-child dyads (50% female).…

The development of self-regulation is influenced by children's experiences at home, with parenting styles and parenting stress being important contextual factors. However, little is known about how parenting styles and stress are related to the emotional (hot) and cognitive (cool) aspects of self-regulation. This study examined the relationships…

Background: Sensory processing differences are reported both in children with ADHD and in children with autism. Given the substantial overlap between autism and ADHD, the current study examined which sensory features were uniquely predictive of autistic traits after controlling for ADHD symptoms, age, IQ, and sex in a sample of children and…

This two-part study looks at disrespectful talk and behavior in tween's television programming (study 1) and its relationship to disrespectful talk and behavior by young viewers (study 2). First, a content analysis was conducted to examine the amount of disrespectful talk and disrespectful behavior in the top programs that children aged 6-12…

Recent studies have shown that children with developmental language disorder (DLD) often face challenges in emotion recognition (ER) skills, which impacts their social and behavioural outcomes. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a flexible online intervention in meeting the individual needs of children with DLD, focusing on ER…

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly limited access to vital services and resources required to support the health, education and development of neurodivergent children, especially children with Down syndrome (DS). We undertook qualitative analysis of responses to open-ended questions exploring caregiver (n = 194) concerns about the impact of the…

Behaviour problems in early childhood have a lasting impact on cognitive development and education attainment in later adolescence and into adulthood. Here we address the relationship conduct and hyperactivity problems at school entrance, and vocabulary acquisition in adolescence. We compare performance in identical assessments across two…

Two original studies explored relationships between visual attention of children with ASD (candidates for receiving a service dog) and their behaviors during their first interaction with a service dog. The first study consisted in video behavioural analyses of 16 children with ASD interacting with a service dog. During the interaction with a…

This work analyzes spontaneous cooperation between children who participated in Automata for STEM, European Union funded Erasmus+ project workshops. Taking into account the characteristics of automata, that involve a narrative part and a mechanism, the project used them to implement contextualized and interdisciplinary STEM activities. The…