Economic difficulties in early childhood are associated with significant adverse long-term socioemotional and cognitive outcomes. In this study, we examine an understudied financial stressor that is often observed during periods of high unemployment--transient familial financial stress (TFS). We use the early childhood longitudinal study--(birth)…

Executive function (EF) plays a foundational role in development. A brain-based model of EF development is probed for the experiences that strengthen EF in the dimensional change card sort task in which children sort cards by one rule and then are asked to switch to another. Three-year-olds perseverate on the first rule, failing the task, whereas…

This article draws out the implications for school and classroom practices of an emerging consensus about the science of learning and development, outlined in a recent synthesis of the research. Situating the review in a developmental systems framework, we synthesize evidence from the learning sciences and several branches of educational research…

Research Findings: Home-based early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a popular form of small-group ECEC, with potential to facilitate high-quality conversations during shared book reading. To investigate how home-based early childhood educators (ECEs) take advantage of learning opportunities, educators read two storybooks with children…

Differentiation hypotheses concern changes in the structural organization of cognitive abilities that depend on the level of general intelligence (ability differentiation) or age (developmental differentiation). Part 1 of this article presents a review of the literature on ability and developmental differentiation effects in children, revealing…

The school, being the second home of pupils, is the second major force in the formation of the pupils' moral structure. It should be the crucial partner of the home in tempering the character of the youth and children with unbending quality, especially in values formation. In this case, it is necessary to evaluate the current status of values…

Major developmental theories been a resource to early childhood education researchers and educators. They help to explain how child development unfolds, sources of vulnerability and protection that influences child development, and how the course of development may be altered by prevention and intervention efforts. Understanding factors which may…

The purpose of the study was to evaluate fine- and gross-motor development and basic cognitive skills in 3-18 month-olds in relation to home factors, age and weight. Three hundred and seventy mother-child dyads were recruited. For age, two groups were analyzed: 3-11 months and 12-18 months. Motor and basic cognitive skills were assessed using the…

Efficient attention control is fundamental for infant cognitive development, but its early precursors are not well understood. This study investigated whether dyadic visual attention during parent-infant interactions at 5 months of age predicts the ability to control attention at 11 months of age (N = 55). Total duration of mutual gaze (MG) was…

The current study investigates whether preschoolers are able to successfully identify the most effective among given questions, adapting their reliance on different types of questions ("constraint-seeking" vs. "hypothesis-scanning") based on the quantitative measure of "expected information gain." Children were…

The purpose of this demonstration project was to create a school-based professional development workshop to educate teachers on the impact of complex trauma on student school functioning as one element in becoming a trauma-informed school. A review of literature published on the topics of early childhood development, brain development, the impact…

In the past, researchers would consider media's impact on youth in terms of three "Cs": consumption, content, and context. This article introduces a new construct--constancy--which supplants the previous terms. Constancy refers to the ubiquitous and continuous state of connected screens in the lives of children and adolescents. Constancy…

Little is known about how children generate options for taking action in familiar situations or how they select which action option to actually perform. In this article, we explore the interplay between option generation and selection from a developmental perspective using sports as a testbed. In a longitudinal design with four measurement waves,…

Temporal differences of neurodevelopmental milestones' achievement are commonly taken into account in preterm infant assessment during the first year of life, especially when minor or none neurological signs arise from clinical examination. The influence of gender on neurodevelopment in preterm infants was examined by a milestones-based…

Throughout childhood and adolescence, humans experience marked changes in cortical structure and cognitive ability. Cortical thickness and surface area, in particular, have been associated with cognitive ability. Here we ask the question: What are the time-related associations between cognitive changes and cortical structure maturation.…