Part of a series for 4-H members between 9 and 19 years of age, this age-graded guide is designed to help children and adolescents: (1) understand the toddler's physical, mental, social, and emotional growth; (2) learn to care for a toddler; and (3) choose types of play that toddlers enjoy. Contents include suggestions on projects that 4-H members…

This booklet for 4-H members who elect to undertake projects in child caregiving provides guidelines and information that help children and adolescents between 9 and 19 years of age: (1) understand infants' physical, mental, social, and emotional growth; (2) learn to care for a baby and promote feelings of security and safety; and (3) choose types…

This booklet sets out guidelines for the education of children and young people with severe to moderate mental handicap. Chapter I, "Where To Begin," discusses play, its importance for the child, how to assess the child through observation of play, and finding the child's developmental level of play. Chapter II, "Areas of Development," examines…

This final report describes the federally funded Parents and Visually Impaired Infants (PAVII) Project, which served 28 families in the San Francisco, California, area. The report describes assessment and intervention materials that the project developed, field tested, and disseminated. It lists the infants' types of visual impairment and…

Despite considerable work concerning relationships between cognition and language in the second year of life, these relationships remain obscure. Clarification depends on resolution in at least three major areas. First, studies should be expanded beyond the scope of cognitive prerequisite models that have been difficult to conceptualize and that…

Three concepts critically important in developing curricula for young children are play, thinking/creativity, and sustained interest. Through play, children explore the world; practice discovered relationships; and establish meanings for concepts, words, ideas, and actions. Teachers should actively focus on the learning potential of play.…

This study describes a language intervention approach using telephones in a classroom to motivate and facilitate spontaneous oral language in a group of language-delayed kindergarten children. Specific purposes of the investigation were (1) to determine what effect the availability of telephones had on the spontaneous oral language of…

Discusses how "Messing About" may lead to exploratory learning and, ultimately, to steady growth in productive thought and problem-solving ability. Emphasizes the role of classroom organization and teacher-models of competence in facilitating autonomous interest. (CS)

A program developed for undergraduate students at Michigan State University that trains and utilizes students as mental health agents working with normal and clinic-referred children is examined. The program helps develop in the students communication skills with young children for use in mental health treatment or preventive capacities.…

Viewed from an ecological perspective, maternal sense of competence and social support would be expected to influence a mother's spontaneous interactions with her infant. In this study 29 mother-infant dyads were visited in their homes when the infants with cerebral palsy were 18 months old. Infants' solitary spontaneous play and mother-infant…

The purpose of this study was to explore the preferences of primary-aged, non-handicapped children for particular handicapping conditions, including visual, hearing, and orthopedic impairments. Of particular interest were the following questions: (1) Do young children understand the nature of a given handicap? (2) Are young children capable of…

This study investigated effects of a nonsexist curriculum on preschoolers' dramatic role play behavior and usage of language and play space. A quasi-experimental design included two preschool groups, one of which received a treatment component that consisted of a nonsexist curriculum. The treatment group included 12 males and 10 females between…

Intended to accompany the children's play "The Prince Who Wouldn't Talk" by James Brock on a tour of elementary schools, this guide is designed to help prepare students for the production, stimulate them to new thinking, and create follow-up activities for the classroom. The guide's first section gives a brief history of the Children's…

The teacher's guide and parent booklet on play are both intended to provide encouragement and ideas for parents of young handicapped children. The teacher's guide stresses the importance of positive parent-child interactions, addresses specific problems of some children (such as lack of mobility or perseveration) during play, and offers…

This study was designed to investigate the effects of child-centered group play sessions (using the play therapy interaction approach) and sex differences on self-control, free play, and sociometric ratings in young bilingual Puerto Rican children. The participants in the study were 48 bilingual Puerto Rican four- and five-year-old children from…