The DEC Recommended Practices provide guidance to families and professionals about the most effective ways to improve learning outcomes and promote development of young children, birth through age 5, who have, or are at-risk for, developmental delays or disabilities. "Interaction: Enhancing Children's Access to Responsive Interactions"…

Ross Thompson, PhD, responds to questions about the capacity of infants and toddlers to experience complex emotions and about how parents and caregivers can support early social and emotional development. He underscores the importance of allowing children to experience a wide range of emotions--including frustration and anger--as vital to their…

The author was pondering the parent perspective of acceleration, and she realized that people are always hearing "ifs" and "buts" when discussing this topic. There are many "if" and "but" questions. In this article, the author focuses on the following four: (1) "If" my child is complaining of being bored in class, does that mean he or she needs to…

Sleeping, eating, and toileting battles frustrate most adults--mainly because they cannot make children do it. Falling asleep (or not) is within a child's control. The same is true for chewing and swallowing, or withholding and releasing urine and feces. Sleeping, Eating, and Toileting (S.E.T.) create lots of frustration. An exhausted adult wants…

The present study included observational and self-report measures to examine associations among parental stress, parental behaviour, child behaviour, and children's theory of mind and emotion understanding. Eighty-three parents and their 3- to 5-year-old children participated. Parents completed measures of parental stress, parenting (laxness,…

This paper, two of four on literature and the young child, focuses on two ways the simple act of a parent reading to a child during the early years helps the child grow into a successful reader. The two ways are: reading to the young child helps him or her build a rich vocabulary which in turn will help strengthen his or her memory skills; and…

This paper, three of four on literature and the young child, investigates two more ways that a parent's simple act of reading to a child during his or her early years helps him or her grow into a successful reader, namely: reading to the child will help him or her broaden the range of experiences; and reading to the child will help him or her…

Parents can help foster their children's success as readers by reading to them as much as possible. This paper, four of four on literature and the young child, discusses two ways that parents can help, stating that: reading to the child helps him or her develop and appreciate humor; and reading to the child helps him or her cope with uncomfortable…

The "Research in Practice Series" is published four times each year by Early Childhood Australia. The series aims to provide practical, easy to read, up-to-date information and support to a growing national readership of early childhood workers. The books bring together the best information available on wide-ranging topics and are an…

The years when a young child's language skills are "exploding" are the years between three and five. What can make a dramatic difference in a child's life is if parents take a few minutes a day to read to him or her. Reading to a child helps him or her become a successful reader. The child develops a sense of phonics and learns that stories have a…

This guide has been developed to help educators and parents, particularly those in rural areas, locate information for better understanding the potential effects of divorce on children. The guide includes materials that consider different developmental stages of children and different stages of the divorce process. It offers materials that can be…

The "Research in Practice Series" is a practical, easy-to-read resource, offering effective new approaches for those challenging issues which arise in the care and education of young children. Early Childhood Australia's "Research in Practice Series" is an essential resource for those involved in the early childhood field.…

Nationwide, there are some 1,055,000 young people under the age of 18 who have hearing loss according to statistics from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (http://www.nidcd.nih.gov). Reported rates of psychiatric disorders for children who have hearing loss range from 15.4% to 54% (Hindley, 1997). Selected…

One quarter of all American children will live in a single-parent family for at least some portion of their childhood. This guide, organized as a step-by-step process, encourages single parents to reach for excellence in their parenting and to build confidence in their ability to raise healthy, responsible children. The chapters are intended to…

This newsletter issue focuses on the specific concerns of many parents as their special child "ages out" of protected special education environments and moves into the adult world. It highlights the practical aspects of the transition years as well as the emotional components involved in "letting go." The newsletter's articles…