This study used a self-management treatment package to teach three children with autism to play appropriately in the absence of a treatment provider. Results indicated appropriate play skills were learned and generalized to new settings, and two of the children maintained gains at one-month followup. In addition, self-stimulatory behaviors…

Reviews six books covering topics of (1) creativity and play in the early childhood curriculum; (2) the involvement of families in middle school education; (3) nonverbal communication; (4) developmentally appropriate classrooms for kindergarten through third grade; (5) schools' role in teaching respect and responsibility; and (6) the practice of…

Discusses the effectiveness of a group self-management procedure (involving opportunity to perform a behavior, performance self-assessment, matching with the teacher, and reinforcement contingent on a student-teacher match) for increasing the on-task behavior of four disruptive preschool boys. Presents results regarding child engagement behavior,…

In 2 studies, 374 undergraduate students gave retrospective reports of their favorite games, toys, hobbies, and sports in elementary school, high school, and college. Results show that sex similarities and differences vary as a function of kind of play. Implications of sex differences for socialization and moral reasoning are discussed. (SLD)

Examined arousal regulation as a function of levels of prenatal cocaine exposure in 4-month-olds, using a "still face" procedure. Found that, independent of several other factors, a greater percentage of heavily cocaine-exposed infants, compared to unexposed infants, showed less enjoyment during "en face" play with their mothers and continued to…

A study of the "silent period" in second-language learning focused on behavior of a 6-year-old Polish child shortly after immigration, in interaction with American children, bilingual Polish-American children, and another recent English-learner. Comparing play environments allowed identification of characteristics of interaction with…

Vivian Gussin Paley, teacher-researcher and author of "White Teacher" and "The Girl with the Brown Crayon," discusses her role as teacher, her elimination of the use of teaching guides, her use of tape recorders to collect classroom data, her unique teaching practices that connect children's play and stories with their…

Discusses results of one-year research project in South London nursery class that included 3- and 4-year- olds from variety of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Given the opportunity to use wide range of literacy materials--in English and other languages--as part of social interaction and through own writing, these children displayed knowledge…

Examined how French mothers' gestures and prosody contributed to their infants' conversational competence, investigating how they used ostensive marking to point out common references at different developmental stages. Longitudinal observations of mother/infant dyads during free play at three developmental stages indicated that mothers adapted…

Identifies conceptual and methodological strengths of Hawley and Little's article and commends the pedagogical value of the approach taken. Notes that questions still unanswered concern the validity of adult caregiver perceptions of social dominance, the relationship between competition hierarchies and hierarchies based on directed agonism, and…

Author of the landmark work "Baby and Child Care," Benjamin Spock changed how parents and indirectly professional caregivers raise children. Spock believed all infants are inherently good and discipline is mistakenly identified with punishment. He felt quality child care was essential to successful development and play for infants and…

Examined effects of storytelling and pretend play on short- and long-term narrative recall in preschoolers. Found that: (1) storytelling and pretend play affected cognitive variables; (2) differences between storytelling and pretend play in facilitating narrative recall were significant; (3) encoding ability exceeded ability to make inferences;…

The pretend-play utterances of four students with hearing impairments and four normally hearing students in an integrated kindergarten were examined to investigate developmental differences between these two groups of children. Results indicate that the students with hearing impairments used significantly higher proportions of literal object…

Details two Icelandic early childhood education projects. "Play and Print" found that increasing print exposure and reinforcing role-play related to reading and writing improved preschoolers' language maturity. The "I Can Do What I Get a Chance to Do" project modified lunch, group time, artwork, and play components of the…

Contradicting advocates' testimonials, the Alliance for Children wants a moratorium on adding more computers in elementary schools until research discovers how computer use affects young children. The alliance claims that computers and their entertaining software stifle creativity and distract children from each other, from adults, and from play.…