Medically fragile infants, those born prematurely or with other complex medical or genetic problems, are at risk of long-term health and developmental problems. When a medically fragile infant comes home to a family with significant social problems such as domestic violence, mental illness, or substance abuse, the infant is at double jeopardy--at…

The authors studied how infants come to perceive and act adaptively by presenting 35 three- to nine-month-olds with balls that approached at various speeds according to a staircase procedure. They determined whether infants attempted to reach for the ball and whether they were successful (i.e., contacted the ball). In addition, the time and…

The Huhtanens are a military family who are rising to the challenges of their son's recent autism diagnosis. They have been trying to stay afloat, facing the steep learning curve of interpreting and understanding TRICARE regulations, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), and biomedical options. In this article, the authors share their experience and…

The balance between the preservation of early cognitive functions and serious transformations on these functions shifts across time. Piaget's writings, which favored transformations, are being replaced by writings that emphasize continuities between select cognitive functions of infants and older children. The claim that young infants possess…

This commentary endorses J. Kagan's (2008) conclusion that many of the most dramatic findings on early perceptual, cognitive, and social competencies are ambiguous. It supports his call for converging research operations to disambiguate findings from single paradigms and single response indices. The commentary also argues that early competencies…

The authors of picture books who write especially melodic language are doing more than simply offering up work that is pleasing to the ear. They are accessing more of the whole child. In this article five picture books will be discussed for their musical attributes: "Now One Foot, Now the Other", by Tomie dePaola, "The Cat in the Hat", by Dr.…

This paper describes a research study that assessed young children with a low incidence disability, specifically Cri-du-Chat Syndrome (CDSC). A description of the concerns of assessing individuals with low incidence disabilities is described. Parent reports (using the Development Observation Checklist System) on the functioning of their children…

Past research shows poor agreement between the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and other diagnostic measures in toddlers. Our goal was to examine whether exclusion of the ADI-R behavioral domain results in improved diagnostic agreement. Toddlers aged 16-37 months (M = 26 months) received an evaluation because they failed the Modified…

Preschoolers use information from interventions, namely intentional actions, to make causal inferences. We asked whether children consider some interventions to be more informative than others based on two components of an actor's knowledge state: whether an actor "possesses" causal knowledge, and whether an actor is allowed to "use" their…

Acoustic emphasis may convey a range of subtle discourse distinctions, yet little is known about how this complex ability develops in children. This paper presents a first investigation of the factors which influence the production of acoustic prominence in young children's spontaneous speech. In a production experiment, SVO sentences were…

This research investigated rough and tumble (R&T) play in two early childhood settings. Participants included 11 educators and 17 children (5 years old). The study focused on gaining an understanding of how early childhood educators and young children interpret R&T play. The results indicate that while there is perceived value in R&T related to…

A child's third birthday is an important day. Aside from being a time to celebrate, it also marks the transition from Help Me Grow Infant and Toddler Intervention services to a preschool option. This transition changes the services available to a parent and how they are provided, as the focus moves from a child with a disability or developmental…

This study was undertaken to develop a rich image and understanding of the actions taken by the leaders in charge to translate the Reggio Emilia approach into their university Child Development Lab School and associated teacher education classes. As the university selling is one in which the links between theory, research and practice are highly…