Examined whether infants imitate the vocal pitch characteristics of adult caregivers and differentially adjust their vocal pitch or fundamental frequency toward that of their caregivers. Data are presented from a longitudinal case study of an infant recorded over several months, interacting with each parent. The infant did not demonstrate…

Interrelationships among elderly couples' reciprocity of emotional support, wives' experience of caregiving for husbands with disabilities, and wives' marital happiness are explored. Level of functioning and type of disability, and levels of exchange of emotional support were measured. Regression models are presented and relationships among…

Evaluation of the verbal interactions, especially maternal directives, among three mothers and their young blind children indicated that counting single occurrences of directives ignores the possible adaptive role that directive sequences may have in conversational interactions with blind children. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Fifty-eight prelinguistic children with developmental disabilities and their mothers participated in an experimental test of whether intentional communication elicits maternal responses purported to facilitate language development. Results indicated that treatment effects on maternal responses varied by pre-treatment maternal education level and…

The Lawrence (Kansas) Public School District has a federally funded, three-site 21st Century Community Learning Center (including two elementary schools and one junior high school.) that offers academic, cultural, social, and recreational activities during after-school hours. Staff receives training aligned with students' diverse needs and…

Children's challenging behavior is a way of getting their needs met. Understanding that function can help camp staff to deal effectively with challenging behavior. The physical or social environment can be manipulated to promote desired behaviors, but transgressions require positive, educational, and realistic responses. Helping campers meet their…

Investigates race differences in the structure of informal caregiving networks for functionally-impaired elderly (n=3,793) using data from the 1989 National Long-Term Care Survey. Size of caregiver network and number of unpaid caregivers did not differ by race, but the likelihood of there being a nonimmediate family member among unpaid caregivers…

Comparison of 18 mothers and their late-talking male toddlers with 18 mothers and their typically developing male toddlers found no significant differences in degree of synchrony between mothers and children, mothers' use of social cues, play synchrony, compliance, or overall communicativeness, although the late talkers made significantly fewer…

Describes survey of households that uncovered cases of missing children that did not fall into the four federally defined categories of missing children. Suggests two of these categories, injured and lost children, should particularly be included in missing children's typologies. Notes that vulnerability to all four kinds of episodes was…

This article presents principles for effective adult learning applicable in child care settings. These principles include the need for motivation to learn, the view that learning is an active process, the benefits from guidance, the importance of appropriate materials and activities for sequential learning, the need for reinforcement and varied…

Examined European- and Hispanic-American mothers' multimodal communication to their 5- to 30-month-olds while they taught the children target words by using distinct objects during play. Found that mothers used target words more often than nontarget words in synchrony with object motion and sometimes touch, and tailored communication to infants'…

Examines some of the obstacles that prevent men from working in child care centers. Presents one man's story about how he came to work in a child care facility. Suggests ways men could be encouraged to enter and stay in the field of early childhood education. (Author/KB)

Discusses the causes of shaken baby syndrome and how to recognize, respond to, and prevent it. Identifies horseplay to avoid and recommends never shaking baby even for apnea. Offers 12 tips for working with crying babies and includes ten discussion questions to test knowledge of the syndrome. (DLH)

Interviews Diane Schulz, president of Child Care in Health Care, discussing the status of on-site or near-site child care for hospital employees. Considers the trend in hospital-based care, organization, support, customers, and challenges faced by these day care centers. (JPB)

This study explored effects of training six mothers to use focused stimulation to teach specific target words to their toddlers with Down syndrome. Following treatment, trained mothers used the focused stimulation technique more often than mothers in the control group. Concomitantly, their children used target words more often, as reported by…