Examined the effect of playing background classical guitar music at nap time on alternate days to toddlers and preschool children attending a model preschool. Specifically assessed music's effect on nap-time sleep onset. Found that children fell asleep faster on the music days than on the nonmusic days. Toddlers fell asleep faster than did the…

Investigated Taiwanese and U.S. mothers' beliefs regarding the reasons for their toddlers' and their own positive and negative behaviors, assessing five attributional orientations. Surveys of 21 Taiwanese and 36 U.S. mothers indicated that Taiwanese mothers more readily blamed their children and themselves for misdeeds and less readily took credit…

Analyzed three main types of English dative constructions--the double-object dative, the "to" dative, and the "for" dative--in the spontaneous speech of seven children aged 1.6-5 years. Results provide a starting point for determining the underlying representations for the different kinds of dative constructions and for explicating how children…

Scales were developed to measure parental and professional attitudes toward the Individualized Family Service Plan, mandated for infants/toddlers with special needs. Analysis showed that parents and professionals were considered equals in the forms of the instrument and that it may allow long-range, repeated measures of attitude change over time.…

Examined inhibitory control as a quality of temperament that contributes to internalization in toddler and preschool children. Children's internalization was observed while they were alone with prohibited objects, and in scenarios that occasioned violating standards of conduct, and were assessed using maternal reports. Found that inhibitory…

Examined the evolution of visual perspective-taking skills in relation to comprehension and production of first, second, and third person pronouns among French and English speaking toddlers. Some perceptual perspective-taking capacities were well developed by the time children acquired a full mastery of personal pronouns. Full pronoun acquisition…

This study examined consonant cluster production, especially general trends and individual differences, in 16 typically developing 2-year-olds over six months. Data demonstrated that the toddlers could produce an increasing range of consonant clusters in word-initial and word-final position, although few could produce them correctly. Specific…

Thirty-nine children (younger than 40 months) with developmental disabilities and identified as at risk for self-injurious behavior (SIB) were studied using video sampling, observation notes, parent reports, staff reports, and clinical records. Twenty-one children or 4.6 percent of the original group exhibited SIBs. Almost all children in the…

Hypotheses were tested about how moment-by-moment variation in mothers' negative emotion predicts harsh and lax discipline. Mother-toddler dyads interacted in a task designed to elicit challenging child behavior. Mothers viewed videotapes of their interactions and continuously rated their experienced emotion. Harsh discipline was associated with…

Hypotheses were tested about how moment-by-moment variation in mothers' negative emotion predicts harsh and lax discipline. Mother-toddler dyads interacted in a task designed to elicit challenging child behavior. Mothers viewed videotapes of their interactions and continuously rated their experienced emotion. Harsh discipline was associated with…

Hypotheses were tested about how moment-by-moment variation in mothers' negative emotion predicts harsh and lax discipline. Mother-toddler dyads interacted in a task designed to elicit challenging child behavior. Mothers viewed videotapes of their interactions and continuously rated their experienced emotion. Harsh discipline was associated with…

In this article, the author describes three major temperament categories of infants and toddlers, and why each calls for particular insights and attention. For infants, the temperaments are cautious, fussy, and easygoing. For toddlers, the three most prevalent temperaments are fearful/shy, irritable/active/fussy, and easy. This paper also contains…

This study looked at how six infants in a group child care setting produced and appreciated humor. With the use of multiple qualitative methods, participant and non-participant observations, journal writing, videotaping, interviewing, and document review this study looked at children's humor as indicated through their smiles and laughter. Findings…

In Experiment 1, 24-month-old toddlers were taught a new word ("whisk") through the labeling of a picture of a whisk. After repeated pairings of the word and picture, participants were shown the picture and a real whisk and asked to indicate the whisk. They took the word to refer to the real object rather than to the picture. Experiment 2…

The relationship between grammatical and lexical development was compared in 233 English and 233 Italian children aged between 1;6 and 2;6, matched for age, gender, and vocabulary size on the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). Four different measures of Mean Length of Utterance were applied to the three longest utterances…