Developed the Toddler Behavior Checklist (TBC) using parental reports of the frequencies of 103 patterns of behavior in children from 9 to 48 months old. Five scales were derived from factor analysis: Oppositional, Immaturity, Emotional Instability, Physical Aggression, and Shyness. Four scales demonstrated excellent reliability; reliability of…

This paper discusses risks to communication development in infants and toddlers. It suggests basic guidelines for assessment of the infant, the interaction, the caregiver, and familial strengths and needs. It also suggests guidelines and resources for intervention with infants at various linguistic stages and with their families. (JDD)

Early language developmental delay within high-risk and handicapped populations is explored, focusing on: basic guidelines and emerging directions in screening, diagnosis, and ongoing evaluation of infants, toddlers, and their families; early intervention activities in neonatal intensive care nurseries and in community settings; and future…

Visits to the homes of 120 infants in Montreal revealed that, despite changing times, differences persist in the types of clothing, toys, and surroundings chosen for male and female infants. Discusses the effects of such differentiation. (DM)

Provides a rationale for the significance of the study of early feeding and delineates major issues that require investigation. Includes a list of acquisition processes implicated in the development of food acceptance patterns. (RH)

Integrating infants with visual impairments into playgroups for nonhandicapped infants and their parents has been successfully accomplished and offers benefits to both infants and parents. A model demonstration project, "Parents and Visually Impaired Infants Project," integrated infants into a community program involving play, music, and…

Analysis of longitudinal data on the phonetic development of Swedish infants (N=4) from 1 through 17 months of age showed five distinct stages in early vocalization development: glottal; velar/uvular; vocalic; reduplicated consonant babbling; and variegated consonant babbling. Comparison with infants of differing linguistic backgrounds indicated…

Investigated how prosodic cues in motherese assisted infants' language acquisition. Infants oriented longer to speech interrupted at clausal boundaries than to matched speech interrupted at within-clause locations. The prosodic qualities of motherese provided infants with cues to units of speech that corresponded to grammatical units of language.…

Re-examines research literature supporting the idea that infants and young children simultaneously learning two languages mix elements from the two languages. It is argued that, contrary to most extant interpretations, bilingual children develop differentiated language systems from the beginning and are able to use their developing languages in…

Parent interviews with low-income, urban mothers in Korea, India, Sweden, France, and the United States provided a profile of behaviors that mothers used in response to various child behaviors. Although mothers exhibited some behaviors typical of their cultural groups, there were more similarities than differences in responses across cultures.…

This article focuses on technology applications that can be used by very young children with disabilities. Described are tools for learning, recreation, and living; skills necessary for technology use; methods of integrating toys and switches into the curriculum; technology for augmentative communication; and adapting microcomputers for use by…

This two-phase study describes ways in which family day care providers perceived and implemented their caregiving practices. The study revealed that what family day care providers intended to provide for children--a loving, attentive, play-filled environment--was not consistently provided in practice. (Author/BB)

Results indicated a fairly consistent relationship between Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME) scores and children's developmental status in spite of the fact that there were some ethnic and social status differences in the relationship. Measures of specific aspects of the child's home environment were more strongly related to…

Early and continuous prenatal care is a key factor in lowering infant mortality. Intervention strategies and programs adopted by the Richmond City Health Department to decrease infant mortality rates are described. (IAH)

Parents of 40 Down's Syndrome babies were taught methods of communicative training with their children that involved either modeling techniques or written instructions. Results showed a significant difference in favor of the group taught modeling. (RJC)