The author seeks to expand the notion of the "play cycle," first introduced in 1998, to include the "functional cycle," with its "perceptual cue," touted by Jakob von Uexküll. He also discusses Simon Nicholson's theory of "loose parts" and James J. Gibson's notion of "affordances." He outlines the…

Objective: Our study investigates how changes in family contexts were associated with child behaviors during Ohio's COVID-19 shutdown of early 2020. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic caused major economic and social changes for families. Rapid research was conducted to assess these changes and their potential impacts on child behaviors. Method:…

Primary school students, despite their vulnerability to cyberattacks, lack targeted cybersecurity education. Using Scopus and Google Scholar, this scoping review analyzed 15 articles (2014-2024) following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines to examine the landscape of…

The present study explored young children's inclusion/exclusion decisions based on gender, skin color, and physical and sensorial disabilities. We also examined children's emotions following these decisions and the explicit influence of peers (social consensus) and teachers (authority influence). Our sample consisted of 64 Romanian children, aged…

3q29 deletion syndrome (3q29del) is associated with a significantly increased risk for neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the full spectrum of behavioral phenotypes associated with 3q29del is still evolving. Individuals with 3q29del (n = 96, 60.42% male) or their guardian completed the Achenbach Child or Adult Behavior…

Educational opportunities for children with disabilities in China have increased recently, often due to parent efforts. This qualitative study sought to understand the practice of parents (mothers) accompanying their children with autism and other developmental disabilities to school ("peidu"), providing individualized support in a…

Children typically learn by attending to other people. Autism traits may impact access to social stimuli fundamental to early learning, increasing children's likelihood of a learning disability. Recent reports have highlighted that Autistic children from minority backgrounds have a higher likelihood of co-occurring intellectual disability. This…

Objective: The current study aimed to elucidate characteristics of co-occurring ADHD and anxiety in a community-based sample of children. Previous work has highlighted the prevalence and associated impairment of each condition alone, but less research has focused on the co-occurrence of these disorders. Method: The present study first sought to…

Observations of parent-child play with toys are often used to assess interactions between parents and non-autistic as well as autistic children, but some research indicates that play without toys may elicit more positive interactions than play with toys. The first goal of the study was to examine whether this is true in the case of autistic…

Self-regulation is the ability to control cognitive, behavioural and social-emotional processes in service of one's goals. In the preschool years, self-regulation develops rapidly, and during this period, it is influenced by the plasticity of the underlying neurofunctional circuits. Since good early self-regulation skills favour positive…

A critical component of early childhood development, evidence links learning through play with a wide range of child outcomes, including creative problem solving. As such, a small but growing body of evidence has started to shine a light on the ways high-quality educational media, embedded with playful learning, can support young children's…

Peer collaboration is a complex skill that emerges in early childhood. However, researchers and practitioners lack a shared understanding/definition of what peer collaboration means and how to observe it in early educational settings. This review aimed to examine definitions of peer collaboration and the behaviours observed in research on peer…

Social scientists know little about the experiences of transgender and nonbinary (TGNB) parents and their children's development. In this study of 138 transgender parents (age M = 35.28 years; 86.2% White/European American) with binary (52.9%) and nonbinary (47.1%) gender identities, we explore the links between family processes and young…

The purpose of this study was to explore factors associated with parents' reporting that their child had been involved in bullying in preschool. A total of 857 parents responded to a digital survey, of which 14% (119) indicated that their child had been involved in conflicts that they would describe as bullying. Hierarchical logistic regression…

Objective: Children born preterm are at an elevated risk of developmental challenges, often exhibiting a distinct "preterm behavioral phenotype" characterized by particular attention difficulties. This review focuses on examining the phenotypical attention profile in preterm children aged 5 to 11 years, considering both clinical and…