In 2001, the Welsh Assembly Government announced proposals for a Foundation Phase for children aged three to seven years. The Foundation Phase framework promotes a play-based approach to children's learning in both indoor and outdoor contexts and places children's well-being and their personal and social development at its core. While the…

The best childhood predictor of later adult adaptation is the adequacy with which a child gets along with other children. Because social development begins in the early years, it is appropriate that early childhood programs include regular formal and informal assessment of children's acquisition of social competence. This digest presents the…

There are several ways in which children's early experience is related to later development. First, there is irrefutable evidence that less than best quality early experiences represent missed opportunities for substantial contributions to the rest of children's lives. Second, recent research has found that about 80 percent of all neurological…

Schools should build comprehensive programs that help children develop socially and emotionally. As a result, students will become competent in ways that can help them learn better and avoid problem behaviors. Comprehensive social and emotional development programs are based on the understanding that many different kinds of behaviors are caused by…

The designation "transsexual" refers to those who persistently believe their gender to be incongruous with their anatomical morphology. This study involves a group of 21 female sexual reversal surgery (SRS) candidates and a group of 59 male SRS candidates to observe if transsexual cognitive ability patterns are correlated with levels of…

Noting children's limited opportunities for cross-age interaction, this paper discusses the benefits of mixed-aged groupings of preschool and elementary school children for social and intellectual development. The benefits for older children and younger children are considered in turn, and general benefits to both groups and their adult caregivers…

This paper presents a brief overview of the array of neuroscience research as it applies to play and child development. The paper discusses research showing the importance of play for brain growth and child development, and recommends that families, schools and other social and corporate institutions rearrange their attitudes and priorities about…

This action research project designed and implemented a program for the instruction of cooperative learning and conflict resolution strategies in order to increase social competencies. The targeted population consisted of two multi-age, grade 2/3 classrooms and one fifth grade classroom in a stable middle class community in a large midwestern…

This study compared home-schooled children to conventionally schooled children in West Virginia. A total of 30 home schooling families and 32 conventionally schooling families with children of 7 to 14 years of age participated in the study. The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales Classroom Edition was used to gather parent perspectives on the social…

The literature review considers characteristics of autism in three general areas of impairment: communication; cognition; and social behavior. Briefly noted are incidence and etiology facts. A variety of definitions are presented including a psychiatric definition, Leo Kanner's definition, and the definition of the Autism Study Committee of Iowa.…

Existing assessment instruments (N=54) containing items in the area of early child-care social development were examined in terms of their usefulness with regard to intervention oriented assessment for handicapped children. Tests included four major types: early childhood, social behavior, criterion referenced, and clinical tests. The frequency,…

A study examined the effect of bibliotherapy on the personal and social development of second grade students in a self-contained classroom. Students were pretested with the California Test of Personality (CTP), primary series, then were read to from books chosen on the basis of weaknesses exhibited by the children on the test. Books were read to…

The relationship between social role-taking ability and competencies of 46 educable retarded children (mean age 13 years) in dyadic interaction was examined. (Author)

Empathy is vital in all the helping professions, as theory, practice, and research indicate. But can it be taught? Can it be learned? What exactly does one do to empathize? This article presents a usable model of empathic behavior--as well as imaginative means of enhancing the capacity to empathize. (Author)