Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit deficits in social-communicative behaviors. Given the increased prevalence of children with ASD, programs designed to teach social-communicative behaviors are necessary. This article introduces a movement-based program that embeds social-skill components to improve the motor skills and…

How do you focus on each individual child in a full classroom? Learn to integrate individualized curriculum into daily practice with this step-­by-­step guide. Even good observers and documenters do not always use these insights to inform their curriculum planning. Using Developmental Studies, a new tool created and successfully field­-tested by…

Young people in East and Southern Africa need greater access to reliable information about health and education in order to make informed decisions on health matters--focusing on HIV and teenage pregnancy--and to increase basic education outcomes. Young 1ove organization, established in March 2014 in Gaborone, Botswana, is a grassroots, youth-led,…

There is growing community and policy interest in educational efforts among children and young people to address pornography. Education on pornography increasingly is seen as a necessary strategy in the context of young people's widespread exposure to pornography and the potential shifts in young people's sexual and gendered lives and relations…

Four early childhood educators, along with a university researcher, describe their efforts to implement an antiracist, antibias curriculum in a daycare and preschool setting. Even very young children can learn important lessons about race, diversity, and equity, they argue, and teachers should not shy away from addressing these issues at staff…

Including youth in the development and evaluation of out-of-school time (OST) programs has positive effects on youth, the organizations that serve them, and the communities in which they live. Such involvement can improve young people's social competence, foster leadership and engagement, and empower groups. Youth provide unique perspectives on…

Children of every culture love to hear stories about their heritage. Storytelling creates shared experiences through the combination of time and space (Langellier, 2011). Educators and parents often use storytelling to explore characters, plot, setting, conflict, and resolution or other key elements of a story. From a more holistic view,…

This brief is an effort to explore the meaning of the word "curriculum" when applied to working with infants and toddlers. The idea for the brief emerged from the early childhood community--specifically two groups of applied researchers funded by the Administration for Children and Families, INQUIRE and NITR. [See insert box on page 12…

This article provides practitioners with a guide to (1) understand the developmental emergence of play skills in young children to inform developmentally appropriate instructional decisions (e.g., toy choices); (2) set up the play space to support social play; and (3) use key strategies from an evidence-based intervention for young children with…

While we are seeking new ways to ensure students' academic success, we must ensure that we are not neglecting their need for physical activity. As we innovate to improve academic success, we can also seek ways to overcome the challenges of space, time, and behavior management to reap the benefits of movement, which include increased student…

The purposes of this policy document are: (1) to encourage public-school instruction conducive to developing skills and gaining factual knowledge necessary for students' future success as critical thinkers, citizens, and leaders of the state of [STATE]; (2) to protect children against the unwarranted and harmful influence of politicized classroom…

Drawing upon foundations in constructivist philosophies, learner-centered and flipped-classroom pedagogies, the Learn, Expand, Engage (LEE) Model for teaching clinical skills across the mental health helping professions is presented. Utilizing and incorporating strengths of multiple helping professions, the goals of this model is to enable…

In the push to boost young people's social and emotional learning (SEL), assessment has lagged behind policy and practice. We have few usable, feasible, and scalable tools to assess children's SEL. And without good assessments, teachers, administrators, parents, and policymakers can't get the data they need to make informed decisions about SEL.…

Energy is one of the most complex yet central concepts taught in schools and is featured in the Australian Science Curriculum, as one of the six key organising ideas (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2015). The literature portrays a multitude of complications associated with teaching energy (see Millar, 2005 for a…

Observation is a useful tool, even in infant and toddler classrooms. Applied correctly, observation and assessment can help lay a foundation for a successful education throughout life. As appropriate practices are researched and policies change, teachers and caregivers of the youngest children (referred to as careteachers for this article) find…