In this article, I briefly review theories about the development of theory of mind, and then examine evidence for minimalism, the idea that infants initially understand only behaviors. To this end, I consider the need for a wide variety of species to predict the behaviors of other animals and that human infants are not unique in this regard. I…

These studies investigate the influence of adults' explicit attention to commonalities of appearance on children's preference for individuals resembling themselves. Three findings emerged: (1) An adult's identification of two dolls' respective similarity to and difference from the child led 3-year-olds to prefer the similar doll (study 1, n = 32).…

Children with a significant cognitive and motor developmental delay (SDD) are vulnerable for the development of (future) behavioral and mental health problems. To support children within this target group, knowledge on their social-emotional development is necessary. Therefore, in this paper, an explorative assessment of the changes in the…

A majority of children's language learning experiences occur in inclusive early child care and education settings. Few evidence-based professional development (PD) programs exist to empower early childhood education providers' to use language instruction practices with children in inclusive classrooms. There is little research on providers'…

A majority of children's language learning experiences occur in inclusive early child care and education settings. Few evidence-based professional development (PD) programs exist to empower early childhood education providers to use language instruction practices with children in inclusive classrooms. There is little research on providers'…

Early childhood is a critical period to intervene for obesity, developmental and behavioural problems. Data from 1065 children in 14 Northeast Iowa Community Action Head Starts (HS) were collected between 2011 and 2018. Body mass index (BMI) and developmental scores were assessed at the beginning of each school year and compared after the first…

Preterm birth poses a major public health challenge, with significant and heterogeneous developmental impacts. Latent profile analysis was applied to the National Institutes of Health Toolbox performance of 1891 healthy prematurely born children from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study (970 boys, 921 girls; 10.00 ± 0.61 years;…

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies with adults provide evidence that functional brain networks, including the default mode network and frontoparietal network, underlie executive functioning (EF). However, given the challenges of using fMRI with infants and young children, little work has assessed the developmental trajectories of…

It is increasingly acknowledged by a range of sectors, particularly health and educational, that collaboration with parents is fundamental to improving the developmental outcomes of children. It is also becoming more commonplace within the UK church and para-church organisations to emphasise the importance of supporting parents as they seek to…

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the significance of early childhood education and care (ECEC) for children's development. We investigated the impact of attendance at ECEC programs following a closure period due to the pandemic. We used linear regression with a lagged dependent variable to examine assessments of children's cognitive and receptive…

Background: Language development in children with visual impairments (i.e., blindness or low vision) has received significant attention, particularly regarding its pragmatic component. Controversy surrounds the development of the structural aspects of language in this population, which are crucial for fostering neurodevelopmental skills. This…

Most children first enter social groups of peers in preschool. In this context, children use movement as a social tool, resulting in distinctive proximity patterns in space and synchrony with others over time. However, the social implications of children's movements with peers in space and time are difficult to determine due to the difficulty of…

The early years of childhood development are a significant time for the acquisition and application of skills that foster motor development, cognitive understanding, and social well-being. However, there are gaps in knowledge of and practical skills for developing physical literacy within early childhood educator preparation programs. This article…

The account that word learning starts in earnest during the second year of life, when infants have mastered the disambiguation skills, has recently been challenged by evidence that infants during the first year already know many common words. The preliminary ability to rapidly map and disambiguate linguistic labels was tested in Italian-speaking…

Making mistakes and receiving feedback are crucial elements of learning. Reading picturebooks with young children can help shape their perceptions of mistakes and model adaptive responses they can emulate, both in the short term and for years to come. This content analysis identified and analyzed the story characteristics of 25 recently published…