The document describes research completed by the Kansas Research Institute for the Early Childhood Education of the Handicapped. The institute was designed to help improve identification and intervention methods with children at-risk for handicapping conditions. Activities in four areas of research are described. The first area, developmental…

The research literature suggests that the processes involved in language and cognitive development are similar in nature, especially during the early years. Both require some method for assimilation and accommodation of incoming stimuli, both appear to be continuous and hierarchical in nature, and both require the development and refinement of a…

Written as a first step to improve early stimulation services to developmentally disabled and retarded preschool aged children in Costa Rica, the manual, in Spanish, seeks to attain the following objectives: raise consciousness and understanding of health service personnel, primary and special educators, rehabilitation personnel, and parents;…

Cognitive development proceeds through a series of four levels. The first is the single-class level, attained by infants at approximately 1 year of age. At the single-class level, concepts are based on element similarity or convention (for example, images and words for common objects). The second level is the relational level, attained by toddlers…

The Community and Early Childhood Education Project (of the Spafford Community Center in East Jerusalem) conducts a course which trains indigenous mothers to work as paraprofessional instructors of other indigenous mothers. The course includes both theoretical and practical material, and deals with two main areas. The first is a child's…

While many contemporary developmental theorists have avoided taking a stand on the controversial relationship between learning and development, this paper is based on the belief that the notion of "bandwidth of competence," or L. S. Vygotsky's "zone of proximal development," provides a useful framework for considering this…

Parenting, always a complex and difficult task, is even more difficult for teenage parents who are generally less able financially, emotionally, and cognitively than adults to nurture and care for their children. The relationship between the combined effect of knowledge of child development and level of social-emotional maturity, and the extent to…

The aesthetic quality and psychological subtlety of contemporary picture books give genuine expression to a child's conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions. Increasingly, themes of existential and developmental stress are appearing in picture books. Typical reactions aroused by such stress factors--and also by themes treated in picture…

Kirsten Cole, the Director of FUN (Family University) Afterschool Program at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus, shares her experience of working with children in an afterschool program where nightly community meetings address topics the children want to discuss. The topics change, but the underlying themes are often the same: issues of…

This report evaluates a nursery program for pre K pupils in New York City. The program emphasized oral language, sensory motor coordination, conceptual training and the development of a strong self concept. Fifteen pre K pupils participated in the program. An intake diagnosis was used to help specify areas of deficit which needed attention.…

This annotated list of seventeen educational games, developed for teaching about young children and/or parenting skills, recommends the use of simulation games as tools in the teaching of child development to adults. Advantages of simulation games over other educational techniques are discussed. The board game of "Mandala," a child-rearing game,…

In this study, black single parent attitudes in regard to their children's academic achievement were examined. A discussion of the phenomenon of black single parent families and some findings from the investigation are presented. The eligibility requirements and recruitment of families for the study is explained with regard to the type of…