Watch any young child and you will likely see him or her engaged in some form of play. Play is an integral part of early childhood development in which typically developing children learn social and language skills, as well as appropriate behaviors, problem solving, and a variety of other cognitive skills. By its very definition, autism is a…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a creative movement program on gross motor skills of preschool children. Sixty children between the ages of 3 to 5 were drawn from the population of a preschool in Taichung, Taiwan. An experimental pretest-posttest control-group design was utilized. The children enrolled in the…

This article describes an investigation of medical facilities undertaken by 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children in a dual-language prekindergarten program in Chicago, Illinois. The article describes the phases of the project and documents the children's involvement in the project through anecdotal reports, photographs, and samples of the children's…

This study compared the effectiveness of short-term developmental group counseling applying Gestalt-play versus cognitive-verbal approaches with Taiwanese adolescents. On a measure of behavioral and emotional strengths, teachers reported significant changes in students' overall behavioral and emotional strengths measured via total scores. Specific…

Inner-city high school teacher Amy Rosoff stresses the importance of play for survival. She offers examples of activities requiring imaginative play from students in classes at all levels from ESL [English as a Second Language] to AP [Advanced Placement]. (Contains 1 figure.)

This study assessed the relation between pre-intervention variables (cognition, socialization and communication) to outcome in young children with autism. Method: Twenty five children with autism (20-32 months) were enrolled in intensive behavior intervention. The children were divided into groups based on their IQ scores and on the severity of…

Conduct disorder (CD), primarily a childhood disorder, is associated with oppositional defiance disorder and antisocial personality disorder. Differentiating between the disorders requires a preview of the intensity of the disorder. There are many approaches to treating CD. The traditional approach has been psychoanalytically oriented…

When children play with a broad variety of toys, the experiences help them to develop to their fullest potential. This booklet is designed to help parents provide the best play opportunities for children. It describes how the toy industry and government work together to ensure toy safety and offers simple charts to guide parents in toy shopping.…

"New wave" gender theorists (those who ascribe to feminist post-structuralist theory) caution that nonsexist work with young children is likely to be unsuccessful in the long term because theories of gender and the approach to gender in the curriculum have, until now, ignored one key issue: the question of power. This booklet explores…

Noting that teacher educators should help preservice teachers not just to see play but also to participate in the realm of play, this paper presents three short case-vignettes illustrating the challenges to facilitating deep, differentiated play in typical classroom and school settings. The first vignette illustrates how seldom a first-grade…

This study compared the social interaction and types of symbolic play found in mixed-age and same-age preschool groups. The sample included 8 groups of 14 to 20 children, which were naturally formed and had been operating since the beginning of the school year. The four same-age groups included a group of 3- to 4-year-olds, a group of 4- to…

This paper discusses roles of early childhood teachers in the context of a perspective which views the changes that have occurred in the education profession as surface changes only, and which suggests that teachers should not lose connections with the roots of their profession. The value of many past beliefs and practices has been confirmed by…

This guide contains profiles of 16 activities for young children to participate in while attending camp. Each profile contains the theme of the activity, a list of materials needs, a description of the activity itself, and an explanation of the teacher's role in the activity. The activities focus on: (1) songs and dances; (2) dramatic play; (3)…

Based on a two-day presentation workshop on early reading and writing approaches, the 12 essays in this book discuss the development of literacy, natural approaches in developing literacy, and supporting literacy development. Essays in the book are: (1) "Theories of Natural Language" (Carolyn N. Hedley); (2) "Oral Language…

The aim of this study was to examines the effects of life-span contextual variation on father-child relationships. Sixty families in which both parents were either younger than 26 or older than 29 when they began childbearing, and whose oldest or only child was between the ages of 3 and 5 at the time of the study participated. Questionnaires were…