The Skills Imperative 2035 is a five-year strategic research programme which is investigating future skills needs, skills supply and skill development, with a particular focus on the 'Essential Employment Skills' (EES) that are projected to be most vital across the labour market in 2035. This paper investigates childhood skill development and…

Notwithstanding its well-established role on high-demanding spatial navigation tasks during adulthood, the effect of field dependence-independence during the acquisition of spatial navigation skills is almost unknown. This study assessed for the first time the effect of field dependence-independence on topographical learning (TL) across the life…

There is an emerging consensus that spatial thinking is fundamental to later success in math and science. The goals of this study were to design and evaluate a novel test of three-dimensional (3D) mental rotation for 4- to 8-year-old children (N?=?165) that uses tangible 3D objects. Results revealed that the measure was both valid and reliable and…

The aim of this paper is to compare speech and co-speech gestures observed during a narrative retelling task in five- and ten-year-old children from three different linguistic groups, French, American, and Italian, in order to better understand the role of age and language in the development of multimodal monologue discourse abilities. We asked 98…

Childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD) is a rare condition characterized by distinct regression of developmental and behavioral functioning following a period of apparently normal development for at least 2 years. The purpose of this article is to present the developmental, behavioral, psychosocial, and medical histories of eight children who…

The experiment reported here tested impacts of New Hope, an employment-based poverty intervention for adults on developmental patterns of children's participation in structured out-of-school activities, using a cross-sequential design spanning ages 6 through 19. New Hope increased participation in activities (lessons, sports, religious, clubs,…

Understanding one's sexuality is a lifelong process. This pamphlet outlines developmental markers for what children need to know about sexuality, from infancy through adolescence. These guideposts can help parents, caregivers, and educators decide when a discussion of a given subject is age-appropriate. They may be particularly helpful for those…

This author argues that youth sports can move beyond the dichotomy of cooperation versus competition by redefining competition. This can be accomplished by considering the development of cooperative skills and achievement motivation. The article addresses how cooperative skills can be taught within a competitive sport. First, it is important to…

Recent research suggests that the communicative profile associated with autism is explained by factors related to the child's language-learning environment as well as inherent factors. A working model of the ontogeny of communicative functions of autistic children is proposed. Clinical implications for language intervention are offered. (Author/CB)

Skill theory attempts to provide tools for the prediction of developmental sequences in any domain at any point in development. The theory suggests a common framework for integrating developmental analyses of cognitive, social, perceptual/motor skills, and behavioral changes in learning and problem solving. (Author/GK)

Background: Narrative thought is a primary mode of human cognition that underpins key human capabilities such as meaning-making and social-psychological understanding. Aims: We sought to further our understanding of the development of narrative thought during adolescence, particularly in terms of the structure and content of narrative…

A study investigated the motor development in 99 Australian children (ages 10-16) with Down syndrome. Results showed that the children's motor proficiency continued to progress into adolescence and that there were a wide range of inter- and intra-individual differences in their skill levels and rates of progress. (Author/CR)

Examines some of the best school-based interventions being used for children of divorce and their effectiveness. These interventions include consideration of developmental stages, parent and teacher involvement, structured activities, and skill building. Offers a delineation of the salient features across the models. (Contains 20 references.) (GCP)

To date, the focus of research has been to demonstrate the link between interpersonal problem-solving skills and adjustment. Little attention has been given to the study of how specific interpersonal problem-solving abilities evolve or to age-related changes in overall ability. White students (N=30) identified as socially well-adjusted,…

After a pilot study identified possible responses that children and adolescents give when defining concrete and abstract nouns, a study investigated the development of concrete noun (specific objects) and abstract noun (concepts) definitions given by 10, 14, and 18-year-olds, as well as whether abstract and concrete nouns are defined in a parallel…