Six children were visited in their homes every 2 weeks for 18 months from the age of 6 months to observe their developing comprehension and production of words. Results showed both similarities and individual differences in patterns of early comprehension. A close relationship was noted between early production and comprehension of words;…

Describes new concerns about infectious diseases in childcare settings (tuberculosis, gastrointestinal infections, and lice); sleep position and SIDS; HIV/AIDS issues; and the use of sterilized sand in sand boxes. (DR)

Analysis of survey responses from 42 families of infants/toddlers with special needs found that both mothers and fathers desired involvement in the child's early intervention program and that their major perceived need was for information. However, differences were found between fathers' and mothers' preferred formats for receiving information.…

New estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) suggest that there were about 851,000 children with disabilities, birth to 5, during the 1991-92 school year. Of these, 80% had received developmental services. Most likely to be unserved or underserved were children from low socioeconomic status families…

This study of 105 12-month olds replicated 4 similar studies that showed that infants in day care are at risk for insecure attachment. Failure to reproduce significant results suggests that the research literature on infant day care and attachment may be biased by the unavailability of "file drawer" studies--unpublished data showing no…

This article reviews the literature on conflict resolution skills and applies it to local interagency coordinating councils attempting to coordinate services to young children with special needs and their families. Six dimensions (climate, people, resources, agency, process, and policies) of the collaborative process are identified. (Author/DB)

This article reports results of a national survey of 629 veteran and 704 referred parents participating in Parent to Parent programs, noting the program's role as part of comprehensive family-centered services for parents of young children with special needs. The survey collected information about where programs are, services they provide, and…

Attempts to determine whether children can use social-pragmatic cues to determine "what kind" of referent, object, or action an adult intends to indicate with a novel word. Doubts that children assume that a novel word refers to whatever nameless object is present. Suggests that lexical acquisition rests fundamentally on children's…

Examines whether knowledge of functional properties of a referent for a new name influences children's first guesses about whether that name refers to an object or a substance. Suggests that children do not rely on a single source of information, but rather draw on various kind of information, including perceptual characteristics of the entities…

Examined the effects of infant age on parent-infant interactions during picture-book reading. Subjects were 3 groups of parent-infant dyads with infants aged 9, 17, and 27 months. Found that parents reading to younger infants used more attention-recruiting verbalizations and more elaborations, compared with parents reading to older infants, who…

The Infant Behavior Record (IBR) assessed the temperament of 95 nonadoptive and 80 adoptive sibling pairs at 1 and 2 years of age. Data from this and an earlier similar study of identical and fraternal twins yielded evidence for genetic influence for IBR factors of extraversion, activity, and task orientation. (BC)

This review of literature on infant habituation and recognition memory performance as predictors of later IQ concludes that the level of prediction is (1) substantial; (2) higher for at-risk than nonrisk children; and (3) not higher than the level of predictions based on parental education and socioeconomic status. (MDM)

Discusses the major theorists of infant/toddler emotional development. Lists behavioral warning signs of infant/toddler emotional distress or mental health problems. Describes methods for fostering babies' mental health and reducing their stress, and caregiver behaviors that promote infant mental health. (BB)

Children whose mothers were consistently more responsive during the children's infancy and early adolescence achieved higher IQ and arithmetic scores, had more positive self-esteem, and were reported by teachers to exhibit fewer behavior problems than children of mothers who were consistently less responsive. (BC)

A modification of the observer-based psychoacoustic procedure was used to estimate the detectability of auditory signals by infants. Data from infants up to 3.5 months of age revealed improvement in performance as a function of increasing signal intensity and age. (BC)