This study explores the reason why very young infants are unable to respond differentially to faces and the cause for developmental changes in infant face perception by age 3 months. Linear systems analysis (LSA) and the contrast sensitivity function (CSF) were used to estimate the facial pattern information available to 1- and 3-month-old…

The manual was designed to provide an overview of the Developmental Physical Management program used at the University of Alabama in classes for infants and children with multiple disabilities. The multidisabled child may be affected by one or more of the following problems: slow development, lack of normal integration of basic reflexes, abnormal…

This report investigates the ways bottle feeding of infants is promoted by multinational corporations. Data were obtained from the following: (1) a survey of available infant food advertising in newspapers and magazines from developing countries; (2) a study of some interrelationships between the health professions and infant food companies,…

Preferential looking behavior to stimuli varying in temporal frequency was examined in 11 prematurely born, Black and Hispanic infants when they were between 37 and 39 weeks of postconceptional age. Infants were tested one hour after they had fed on two successive days. Infants were unswaddled during testing on the first day, and swaddled during…

Early language development was investigated in an observational study of three white 2-year-old infants of working class families in the inner city. In each family's living room, one hour videotapes were made of each infant's behavior at 3-week intervals over a period of 8 months. With the collaboration of family members, transcripts were made of…

Data on four infants between the ages of 12 and 20 months were collected to answer two questions about children's communication behavior. (1) Is there a correspondence between communicative intentions expressed in gestures and vocal utterances? If both spring from common organismic tendencies, it should be possible to discern an "indicating"…

The main purpose of this paper is to delineate methods of data collection and coding currently being used in a longitudinal observational study of toddlers in 25 black families in Oakland, California. Data collection activities, accomplished through monthly three-hour visits to each home, focused on five types of data: (1) videotaped and…

The final report documents the progress of Project SAFE (Special Assistance for Early Education of the Handicapped), designed to provide educational services to young children (0 to 5 years) with severe and profound, multiple, hearing, orthopedic, and health impairments. SAFE's activities in the following areas are documented: public…

This report of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation focuses on issues raised by the marketing of commercially prepared infant formulas that were nutritionally deficient. In this context, the report examines the scope of FDA authority to protect the public and the manner in which the FDA carries out its responsibilities with respect to…

The assessment of vision as it relates to and interacts with motor development is reviewed. The focus is on eye readiness skills normally occuring in infants' first few months of life and preceding eye-hand coordination. These visual skills fall into three categories: fixation, tracking, and scanning. Six standardized scales are reviewed and…

Reports on research conducted to asses the utility of physiological responses for both the prediction of individual differences in attentional capacity and the monitoring of developmental changes in attentional responsivity. Specifically the experiments assessed: (1) Heart rate variability and newborn heart rate responses to illumination changes,…

This paper presents results of the first part of a research program designed to test the hypothesis that an hour of extra contact between mother and infant beginning about one half hour after delivery would be associated with more secure attachment of an infant to its mother at one year. In the overall study extra contact infants were also…

Piaget's early contribution to theorizing about play is discussed critically with reference to three major interrelated problems. These are: (1) that despite their equipotentiality in Piaget's theory of intelligence, imitation and play are not conceptualized as making an equal contribution to cognition, play taking a subordinate role; (2) that…

Changes in manipulative play with objects were examined in a longitudinal sample of 10 boys and 9 girls tested at ages 9, 13, and 18 months. Stability of individual differences in play was also examined. Each child was observed individually for 7 minutes in a room in which a tea set was the only toy present. Seven types of play behavior were…

Presented are a description and evaluation report of the Infant Stimulation Curriculum developed by the Developmentally Delayed Infant Education Outreach Project. The curriculum, for infants developmentally between birth and 36 months of age, is described in terms of characteristics (such as basis in the normal developmental pattern), rationale,…