Maintains that reading humorous storybooks to toddlers can support their development and learning. A bibliography of humorous children's books is included. (BB)

This article reviews 46 experimental studies on behavioral and developmental outcomes associated with prenatal exposure to illicit drugs. Only half of the 460 individual outcomes significantly indicated adverse effects of prenatal exposure. The greatest number of these outcomes was for infants younger than one month, with relatively few outcomes…

Examines the degree to which states' political climates, resources, policies, and interagency services predict progress in the implementation of Part H of Public Law 99-457, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). (Author/BB)

Presents ideas about customer service that were offered by child care directors at the 1990 Directors' Network Conference. Topics include the implementation of infant and toddler care, parent evaluation forms, junior teacher helpers, parent involvement, credit card tuition payments, family picnics, center interviews and tours, and center telephone…

Maintains that the real solution to demands for high-quality, affordable, readily available infant/toddler child care is society's recognition of the value of parenting both for the nation as a whole and for individual development, and the movement of child care roles and responsibilities from the exclusive realm of motherhood to include fathers.…

This study of infants with low birthweight and significant or mild intraventricular hemorrhage showed that the association of mothers' interactive behaviors with infants' exploratory play responses was dependent on both the age and medical risk status of the child. The timing of mothers' attention-directing strategies and the level of structure…

Examines the relationship between play and environmental and biological factors and individual differences. Explores correlates of morbidity, nutrition, and caregiving environments on toddlers' play sophistication in Egypt. Suggests that variability in children's object versus social play may be a function of the goodness of fit between child and…

Mothers in the Mother-Infant Communication Project (MICP), designed to facilitate caregivers' uses of communicative interaction strategies with their high-risk infants, scored better than comparison mothers on caregiving environment quality. Children of MICP mothers who received a group experience in addition to home visits performed better on…

This article discusses the family systems framework and its implications for understanding families with developmentally disabled infants/toddlers from diverse cultures. It presents guidelines to assist home visitors in becoming sensitive to culture's effects on family values, beliefs, and practices, and describes the phases of a home visit and…

Discusses the developmental appropriateness of implementing multicultural education in infant and toddler programs. Suggests ways to help bring multicultural education into the infant and toddler classroom. (BB)

Twenty-seven toddlers identified as showing specific expressive language delay (ELD) were studied and followed through the preschool period. Findings indicated that home-based intervention accelerated vocabulary skills, but did not decrease the likelihood of later phonological problems. ELD was also seen as a self-correcting condition. (PB)

Reports on a longitudinal study of four toddlers and the relationship of the development of moral awareness to maternal communications. Concludes that a 17-18-month period is a crucial transition period and calls for research into the relationship between emotional development and moral awareness. (CFR)

Describes a collaborative, multidisciplinary developmental follow-up program for infants and toddlers who have been in out-of-home care. The program builds on the community-based family support model described in the Family to Family Foster Care Reform Initiative. Highlights the children's health and developmental status and program effectiveness.…

Tested a proposed developmental pathway for toddlers' mastery of skills in generating non-ritualized forms of cooperative coordinated action with peers. Studied nonverbal imitative acts among U.S. toddlers and toddlers of the Seltaman people of Papua New Guinea. Found that ready imitation of one another emerged during the same developmental period…

Gives an overview of the major theoretical perspectives on how children develop the capacity for self-regulation and how theorists and researchers suggest that the social and physical environment can nurture it. Suggests ways that caregivers and teachers can support the development of self-regulation in children from infancy through the primary…