Examined the cognitive development of 79 surviving high-risk, low birth weight children at 1, 2, and 3.6 years. Found that children at high biological risk were able to catch up on their cognitive delay in highly stimulating home environments; those at both low and high biological risk in less stimulating home environments showed a decline in…

Evaluated the development of 44 children adopted from Romanian orphanages. Adoptive parents described their children twice, using the Revised Denver Prescreening Developmental questionnaire when they first met the children, and again at approximately 11 months postadoption. Showed that progress was equal across areas, and that, on average,…

Claims in "The Bell Curve" that Head Start and other early intervention programs are a failure and a waste of funds depend on a notion of cognitive ability reduced to IQ. They ignore other studies that demonstrate the success of such programs and that, consistent with Piagetian views, recognize the interrelationships of cognitive,…

Investigated effects of object reinstatement on event recall by 6- and 9-year olds'. Subjects were interviewed either 10 days and again 10 weeks after an event, or only 10 weeks after an event. Interviewing included free recall, prompts, and questions. Found that age, delay, and object reinstatement all affected amount and accuracy of recall. (JW)

A 7-month longitudinal study of 20 2- and 3-year-old children shows that children at an early age already know that counting words each refer to a distinct numerosity, although they do not know to which numerosity. It takes children a long time to learn the latter. (SLD)

Reviews the research on (1) developmental stages of play among young children; (2) solitary play as a separate continuum with its own developmental stages; and (3) benefits of solitary play on the child's whole development. (BB)

Argues for expanding the present discourse on developmental appropriateness on the grounds that this discourse assumes consensus about child development; is premised on a suspect notion of broad, universal stages; and ignores alternative perspectives on learning and development and the relationship between the two. (LB)

Longitudinal data on conversations recorded from 1 child between 18 and 27 months of age and 3 children between 27 and 62 months were analyzed to chart acquisition of the word "if" and of conditional inference. Within six months of speaking their first "if," children produced "ifs" at the same rate and forms as…

Mothers of 23 infants with disabilities predicted their child's performance on developmental measures with accuracy levels comparable to those of parents of preschool children without disabilities. Mothers were more accurate in predicting motor performance than cognitive performance. There was a negative relationship between initial maternal…

Evaluation of the Kent Scoring Adaptation, which determines developmental ages in several domains based on an infant's performance on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, with 27 at-risk infants supported the concurrent validity of the cognitive, language, and, to a degree, social domains of the Kent procedure but not the fine and gross motor…

Discusses the developmental process that takes a child from Montessori's "absorbent mind" period to the period when the child creates interior cognitive structures. Suggests practical ways for teachers and parents to support the six- and seven-year old's need to design projects and accomplish goals. (HTH)

Summarizes research findings that challenge long-standing theories of infant cognition and motor development and proposes alternative theoretical models to describe skill acquisition during the first several years of life. Findings are discussed with respect to research in the area of infant speech physiology and production. (Author/CR)

Findings from a prospective longitudinal study of 46 boys with fragile X syndrome (ages 24-72 months) found that, although children varied widely, overall development was significantly delayed to approximately half of the rate of typical children. At every age tested, motor and adaptive development was higher than communication and cognitive…

Interview with artist Ilka List describes her research: collecting 1872 drawings from rural and urban second- and third-grade children to determine the impact of environmental experiences on children's art, sense of self, and cognitive and emotional abilities. Children with a broad range of outdoor, nature-oriented experiences had greater spatial…

Argues that an evolutionary account provides insight into developmental function and individual differences. Outlines some assumptions of evolutionary psychology related to development. Introduces the developmental systems approach, differential influence of natural selection at different points in ontogeny, and development of evolved…