The purpose of this study was to explore the quality of toddler childcare in Norway using the Infant Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised Edition (ITERS-R; [Harms, Thelma, Debby Cryer, and Richard M. Clifford. 2006. "Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scales Revised Edition." New York: Teachers College Press.]), drawing on a sample of…

Because of their efficiency and ability to keep many other factors constant, twin studies have a special appeal for investigators. Just as with any teaching dataset, a "matched-sets" dataset used to illustrate a statistical model should be compelling, still relevant, and valid. Indeed, such a "model dataset" should meet the…

Each year, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) releases a list of scientific advances that represent significant progress in the field of autism research. The "Summary of Advances" provides short, plain language summaries of the top research breakthroughs selected by the IACC from a pool of research articles nominated by…

Research in the past decades has investigated the time course of the acquisition of physical knowledge in early development in much detail. However, few is known about the motives that actually lead infants to interact with the objects of their physical world. The research presented here investigated in two experiments if 11-month-old infants'…

Anecdotal evidence suggests that grandparents provide a substantial amount of childcare support to parents of infants in Ireland yet there has been little attention to the provision of grandparent childcare at policy level. Using nationally representative data on childcare provision in the Republic of Ireland, this study examined the prevalence of…

Objectives: (1) To assess the distribution of parental age and birth weight in a large cohort with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and to compare them to Israeli national data. (2) To examine possible relationships between these risk factors and functioning. Methods: The study included 529 participants diagnosed with ASD using standardized tests:…

The meaning of human rights for children is a contested issue; the notion of rights for unborn babies poses additional complexity. Drawing on data from a prospective case study of a specialist drug and alcohol obstetric provider and the statutory child protection service, this article discusses family engagement within a child-rights framework,…

The current study tested whether the purely amodal cue of contingency elicits orientation following behavior in 8-month-old infants. We presented 8-month-old infants with automated objects without human features that did or did not react contingently to the infants' fixations recorded by an eye tracker. We found that an object's occasional…

Objectives: Test the hypothesis of an underestimation of infant homicides in mortality statistics in France; identify its causes; examine data from the judicial system and their contribution in correcting this underestimation. Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional study was carried out in 26 courts in three regions of France of cases of infant…

The aim of the present study is to analyse, through direct observations, the communicative competence of children's caregivers and children's language development in different situational contexts in Italian nursery schools (for children aged between six and 36 months, i.e. creches) and infant schools (for children aged between 38 and 72 months,…

This paper deals with an action-research project currently being undertaken at the University of Bologna concerning the observation of music making during daily routines with under-four children during diaper change, bedtime and free-play. Several observational protocols were carried out in natural and spontaneous contexts. The data analysis was…

Every European nation has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and therefore has an obligation to protect and promote, with equity and without discrimination, the rights of all children. Yet, across Europe, the majority of poor Roma children face a challenging present and a difficult future. Their possibilities to succeed in life…

Objectives: To describe the outcome of referral to the statutory authorities for infants under 2 years with non-accidental head injury (NAHI), and to establish whether the authorities held sufficient information to develop a risk profile for these cases. Methods: Retrospective review of cases admitted to hospital in Auckland, New Zealand from 1988…

Utilizing mainly Chinese publications, this paper reviews the existing data on childhood diseases in order to assess the health status and morbidity patterns of Chinese children. China's infant mortality rate is among the very lowest in the developing world. The number of post-neonatal deaths as a proportion of total infant deaths has decreased to…

Examines difficulties associated with the use of conversational features in the analysis of mother-infant vocalization episodes. Observations of six mother-infant dyads revealed difficulties involving (1) pooling of data; (2) the unit of analysis; and (3) selection of appropriate "expected" values for dyadic parameters used in tests of…