Part of the responsibility of early childhood educators is to help the children in their care develop into thoughtful, kind, contributing members of society. This includes being accepting and welcoming of those who are "different." Staff should be prepared to answer questions from young children regarding differences in race, ethnicity,…

Social reciprocity deficits are a core feature of the autism spectrum conditions (ASCs). Many individual with ASCs have difficulty with social interaction due to a frequent lack of social competence. This study focuses on using a virtual learning environment to help the deficiencies of social competence for people with ASCs, and to increase their…

Psychometric and utility studies on Social Emotional Assessment Measure (SEAM), an innovative tool for assessing and monitoring social-emotional and behavioral development in infants and toddlers with disabilities, were conducted. The Infant and Toddler SEAM intervals were the study focus, using mixed methods, including item response theory…

The study evaluates a social-communication-based approach to autism intervention aimed at improving the social interaction skills of children with autism spectrum disorder. We report preliminary results from an ongoing randomized controlled trial of 51 children aged 2 years 0 months to 4 years 11 months. Participants were assigned to either a…

Current clinical diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) occurs between 3 and 4 years of age, but increasing evidence indicates that intervention begun earlier may improve outcomes. Using secondary analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort data set, the current study identifies early predictors prior to the diagnosis of…

University attendance includes various activities and experiences that can have a unique impact on psychosocial development and adult health behaviors, and can influence life course outcomes such as short- and long-term health and quality of life. College attendance and health are cyclical and reinforcing factors. Healthier students do better…

We report here findings from a community-based multifaceted prevention program which was implemented concomitantly as a universal and indicated intervention. Screening of social competence development was used to select preschool children targeted by the indicated intervention (high risk), and by the universal intervention (moderate and low risk).…

As technology is being integrated into educational processes, teachers are searching for new ways to enhance student motivation and learning. Through shared experiences and the results of empirical research, educators can ease social networking sites into instructional usage. "The Social Classroom: Integrating Social Network Use in…

During the 2013-2014 academic year, the S.E.L.F. Foundation engaged 32 predominately at-risk students at Key Middle School (KMS) in afterschool tutorials and enrichment activities to support their academic, social, and emotional development. Outcome measures consisted of reading and mathematics performance before and after program implementation.…

This issue of "Public/Private Ventures (P/PV) In Brief" is based on "High School Students as Mentors," a report that examined the efficacy of high school mentors using data from P/PV's large-scale random assignment impact study of Big Brothers Big Sisters school-based mentoring programs. The brief presents an overview of the findings, which…

This is a brief review of research on a variety of topics related to home education and answers the most common questions asked regarding Homeschooling. Examples of the topics addressed are: the teaching parent's education level, academic achievement of students, population growth, philosophy, government (state) regulation and homeschool…

In this commentary for the special issue on the social and character development (SACD) research program, the author identifies some of the dilemmas facing practitioners attempting to do evaluation research in SACD in schools and discusses some of the related concerns raised in this issue's papers. His familiarity with the SACD program derives…

A consistent result in the evaluation of group-delivered intervention to promote social reciprocity in children with PDDs is that outcome data are inconclusive. Lack of robust evidence of efficacy confounds understanding of these interventions and their value to the field. It is conceivable that the construct of impaired social reciprocity in PDD…

Teaching social-emotional skills to secondary students has been linked to higher student achievement, more positive student motivation and more socially acceptable classroom behaviors (Elias & Arnold, 2006; Weissburg et al., 2003; Kress et al., 2004). Much of the current literature on social-emotional learning (SEL) focuses on research. This piece…

Despite the vast literature on Dewey and his laboratory school, most scholars have failed to contextualize Dewey's pedagogical ideas in the intellectual currents of the period, particularly the historicist concept of social development known as recapitulation and/or correspondence theory. In this article, the author explores how and why history…