Being able to focus, hold, and work with information in mind, filter distractions, and switch gears is like having an air traffic control system at a busy airport to manage the arrivals and departures of dozens of planes on multiple runways. In the brain, this air traffic control mechanism is called executive functioning, a group of skills that…

Many countries around the world have in place national early childhood curriculum documents for supporting educators, including Australia. It is timely for the field of early childhood education to consider the contemporary experiences of children from the twenty-first century in relation to how early childhood curriculum is framed. For instance,…

Just as the early years of a child's development create the architecture for future brain growth, early implementation of federal Part C legislation laid the groundwork for a system of supports for families of infants and toddlers with disabilities. Some aspects of the current legislation provide a sturdy foundation for sound policies and…

Establishing friendships is an important developmental goal of early childhood, but little research has addressed ways in which parents support the friendship development of their young children with disabilities. The purpose of this survey study was to explore the support strategies that parents use to facilitate their children's friendships.…

A common problem in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP) is the asymmetrical development of arm and hand capacity caused by the lack of use of the affected upper limb, or developmental disregard. In this paper, we provide a neuropsychological model that relates developmental disregard to attentional processes and motor learning. From this…

Children growing up in a dual-language environment have to constantly monitor the dynamic communicative context to determine what the speaker is trying to say and how to respond appropriately. Such self-generated efforts to monitor speakers' communicative needs may heighten children's sensitivity to, and allow them to make better use of,…

Both organismic and intentional self-regulation processes must be integrated across childhood and adolescence for adaptive developmental regulations to exist and for the developing person to thrive, both during the first two decades of life and through the adult years. To date, such an integrated, life-span approach to self-regulation during…

Is processing of conceptual information as robust as processing of perceptual information early in development? Existing empirical evidence is insufficient to answer this question. To examine this issue, 3- to 5-year-old children were presented with a flexible categorization task, in which target items (e.g., an open red umbrella) shared category…

Studies of learning are too frequently conceptualized only in terms of knowledge development. Yet it is vital to pay close attention to the social and emotional aspects of learning in order to understand why and how it occurs. How Students Come to Be, Know, and Do builds a theoretical argument for and a methodological approach to studying learning…

When addressing issues related to sport specialization, it is important to consider how skills are developed and learned. Changes in physical development and maturation throughout the growing years affect the motor performance abilities of individuals who are not yet mature. Such variability in skill development is important to understand when…

Pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) have the greatest need for excellent teaching and are entitled to provision that supports achievement at, and enjoyment of, school. The attainment gap between pupils with SEND and their peers is twice as big as the gap between pupils eligible for free school meals and their peers.…

This 'best available evidence' review was commissioned by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in 2019 to inform the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Guidance document (EEF, 2020). This review was commissioned explicitly as a broad overview of evidence across a range of topics, with the intention that the EEF might then…

The 2020 edition of "KIDS COUNT in Colorado!" examines the current state of preschool in Colorado--the need, the access, and the opportunity--as lawmakers consider expanding access to the Colorado Preschool Program and Governor Jared Polis calls for improved access to quality preschool statewide. This 27th edition of the annual focus on…

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation's (OPRE's) Division of Child and Family Development (DCFD) is responsible for research and evaluation related to Head Start programs, early childhood development, childcare, child maltreatment, and child welfare services. OPRE's research in the area of child and family development focuses on young…

The need for professional development is universal, whatever a person's profession. Professionals must continually enrich their knowledge and increase their sense of professionalism over the course of their careers so as to implement current research-based practice. Early childhood professional development brings to the forefront the significance…