Previous studies have shown that 7.5-month-olds can track and encode words in fluent speech, but they fail to equate instances of a word that contrast in talker gender, vocal affect, and fundamental frequency. By 10.5 months, they succeed at generalizing across such variability, marking a clear transition period during which infants' word…

The authors discuss three steps to helping babies with transitions: observe, ask, and respond (OAR). They advise teachers about how to ask a family questions about their baby and how to give the family suggestions to alleviate the baby's stress, without offending family members. This column includes a list of recommended resources. (Contains 7…

Music and rhythm have been defined as powerful aids to language learning, memory, and recall. But is this due to structural and motivational properties of instrumental music and songs, or is there a relation between learners' language aptitude and musical intelligence? It seems that everyone who feels motivated to do it is able to learn other…

This paper aims to test the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1 (H1): Everything else the same, high quality infant-toddler care will increase children's cognitive scores immediately (i.e. at 24 months of age). However, without subsequent high quality preschool, children with high quality infant-toddler care will not have higher cognitive and…

Military families face challenges not found in other work environments. Shifting work schedules that are often longer than the typical 8-hour day, as well as the ever-present possibility of being deployed anywhere in the world on a moment's notice, require a child care system that is flexible but maintains high-quality standards. The U.S.…

From a dynamic systems perspective, transition points in development are times of increased instability, during which behavioral patterns are susceptible to temporary decoupling. This study investigated the impact of the vocabulary spurt on existing patterns of communicative coordination. Eighteen typically developing infants were videotaped at…

The processes of infant word segmentation and infant word learning have largely been studied separately. However, the ease with which potential word forms are segmented from fluent speech seems likely to influence subsequent mappings between words and their referents. To explore this process, we tested the link between the statistical coherence of…

Young children develop the skills necessary for communication in infancy. Interactions with family members and other caregivers nurture and support those skills. Spoken (expressive) language progresses rapidly after a child's first word. A typical 2-year-old has an expressive vocabulary of approximately 150-300 words. Around this time, as they…

This article describes the results obtained with two types of social rewards used in early stimulation of Down's syndrome children. In the study we focus on the efficiency of the employment of the social rewards or reinforcements used in the early stimulation, bearing in mind that the children with Down's syndrome possess a social development…

Research over the past three decades has shown that early intervention in infants biologically at risk of developmental disorders, irrespective of the presence of a brain lesion, is associated with improved cognitive development in early childhood without affecting motor development. However, at present it is unknown whether early intervention is…

Infant social inhibition is associated with increased risk for anxiety later in life. Although both genetic and environmental factors are associated with anxiety, little empirical work has addressed how developing regulatory abilities work with genetic and environmental risk to exacerbate or mitigate problem behaviors. The current study was aimed…

In laboratory experiments, infants are sensitive to patterns of visual features that co-occur (e.g., Fiser & Aslin, 2002). Once infants learn the statistical regularities, however, what do they do with that knowledge? Moreover, which patterns do infants learn in the cluttered world outside of the laboratory? Across 4 experiments, we show that…

This study compared the fears of North American and South American children in Grades 2-5. Fears were assessed with English and Spanish versions of the American Fear Survey Schedule (FSSC-AM; Burnham 2005). Specific fears and several most common fears differed across the two countries. Overall, the South American children and the girls from both…

The Internet has rarely been used in auditory perception studies due to concerns about standardisation and calibration across different systems and settings. However, not all auditory research is based on the investigation of fine-grained differences in auditory thresholds. Where meaningful "real-world" listening, for instance the…

This article presents the conclusion made by the consensus group regarding infantile spasms. The consensus group concluded that "infantile spasms are a major form of severe epileptic encephalopathy of early childhood that results in neurodevelopmental regression and imposes a significant health burden." The entire group agrees that the best…