Four experiments examined effects of the number of features and feature relations on learning and long-term memory in 3-month olds. Findings suggested that memory load size selectively constrained infants' long-term memory for relational information, suggesting that in infants, features and relations are psychologically distinct and that memory…

In this descriptive study, family day care providers reported making primarily safety-based modifications to enhance the physical environment of their homes for infant care. Less extensive modifications were made to support infant exploration, stimulation, interaction, and retreat. Use of modifications was associated with number of years providers…

Examined whether young children (4 years of age) show prosodic changes when speaking to infants. Measured children's word duration in infant-directed speech compared to adult-directed speech, examined amplitude variability, and examined both average fundamental frequency and fundamental frequency standard deviation. Results indicate that…

Describes the Children's Home Extended Child Care Program in Tennessee, a year-round child-care program operating 24 hours a day. Presents considerations for programs contemplating extending their hours, including operation hours, ages of children served, staffing schedule, serving meals, cleaning the facility, facility security, and funding.…

Addresses the issue of whether bilingual children begin phonological acquisition with one phonological system or two. Five hypotheses are suggested for the possible structure of the bilingual child's phonological system. Analyses from a longitudinal study of a Farsi-English bilingual infant supported the hypothesis that the child had acquired two…

Reviews three response rate measures (in a baseline measurement, immediately after acquisition, and at a long-term retention test) of infant memory that are used in experiments involving infants' conditioned kicking. Compares these measures to a new measure, the fraction of kicking rate remaining after the retention interval. Explains the…

Examined the emergence of principal and secondary movements in Cuban children in their first year of life. Based on 35 examples of observed movements, an integrated program of activity is developed to assist in the development of physical skills which are essential to the development of a well-rounded personality. (AS)

Three experiments examined whether newborns are sensitive to an operant-conditioning task involving unprepared relation between a response and a stimuli. Found that newborns tested under the High-Amplitude Sucking procedure were involved in an operant-learning situation, in that an increase in sucking rates could be obtained after an auditory…

Examined interactional and attentional relationships in 65 mother-infant dyads (infants at ages 6 and 8 months), focusing on attention following (AF), attention switching (AS), and joint attention. Found that AF and AS were unrelated at 6 months but inversely related at 8 months. AF and AS were unrelated to joint attention. (MDM)

Discusses design and development issues in creating an interactive Web site for the field of communication disorders. Describes Vocaldevelopment.com, an interactive Web site that provides students, professionals, and parents with audio-recordings of infant vocalizations and information regarding intervention practices for infants and toddlers with…

Responses from 214 nursing and 63 medical schools indicated that 92% of nursing and 79% of medical programs taught about sudden infant death syndrome. Prevention was addressed by less than half. Nursing schools were more likely to address bereavement and family support. Reliance on textbooks raised concerns about the currency of the content. (SK)

Discusses increasing racial and socioeconomic disparities in mortality despite general declines in mortality, examining disparities in infant mortality and explaining that whenever two groups differ in their susceptibility to some condition, the less prevalent the condition, the greater will be the disparity in rates of experiencing the condition.…

This article (1) defines areas in infant and preschool evaluation where clinical judgment is typically used; (2) argues that judgment-based assessments are only as good as the objectivity, reliability, and validity of its data collection and use; and (3) offers examples of procedures and clinical methods to increase diagnostic accuracy. (Author/DB)

Research findings on articulatory and acoustic characteristics of infant noncry/nondistress vocalization are applied to the clinical assessment of infant noncry vocal activity. Discussed are differentiation and definitions of cry and noncry productions, stages of vocalization, a protocol for developmental vocal assessment, and interpretation of…

Analyzes a child's use of word-level phonological constraints in multi-word utterances. The selection and avoidance patterns and modifications of adult forms indicated the presence of a syllable sequencing constraint that governed grammar and word combinations. (Author/CB)