Pastoral del Nino is transforming children's lives in rural Paraguay. Part of Pastoral Social (Catholic Social Services), Pastoral del Nino's primary focus is to bring "vida en abundancia" (the abundant life) to families by ensuring that mothers survive childbirth and children reach their first birthdays. In addition, the organization…

The human brain appears to have several "regions" that are structured to do different kinds of spatial thinking, according to a large and rapidly growing body of research in a number of disciplines. Building on a previous review of research with older children and adults, this article summarizes the research on spatial thinking by young children.…

Background: Repetitive behaviours are an essential part of the diagnosis of autism but are also commonly seen in typically developing children. The current study investigated the frequency and factor structure of repetitive behaviours in a large community sample of 2-year-olds. Methods: A new measure, the Repetitive Behaviour Questionnaire (RBQ-2)…

This article investigates very young children's use of a stylus-driven, electronic painting and drawing on the tablet PC. The authors compare their development in the use of this device with their use of other mark-making media, including those which derive from pencil and paper technologies and also with mouse-driven electronic paintbox programs.…

This article presents an analysis of the functional roles of "baby signing" in three hearing families in the United States, as well as a discussion of the social and ideological implications of the practice. Baby signing fits neatly into the parenting ideologies prevalent in the professional class in the United States that value early…

The process of art-making is integral to the development of a child's fine motor skills, coordination, and concentration. Therefore, creating an ongoing project one or two weeks in length can benefit both teacher and students. The teacher can assess the children's skills by observing the way they handle materials. Also, after spending valuable…

What is the relation between language and thought? Specifically, how do linguistic and conceptual representations make contact during language learning? This paper addresses these questions by investigating the acquisition of evidentiality (the linguistic encoding of information source) and its relation to children's evidential reasoning. Previous…

Latent class analysis (LCA) has been successfully applied to tasks measuring higher cognitive functioning, suggesting the existence of distinct strategies used in such tasks. With LCA it became possible to classify post hoc. This important step forward in modeling and analyzing cognitive strategies is relevant to the overlapping waves model for…

Purpose: The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the variability and predictors of expressive vocabulary development in children with autism and very delayed language. Method: This study involved 35 children with autism whose initial chronological ages were between 20 and 71 months and whose initial expressive vocabularies were less…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine children's knowledge of semantic relations. Method: In Experiment 1, the 6-year-olds, 8-year-olds, and adults participated in an object decision task. Participants in the primed group made object decisions in response to primes that were related taxonomically, thematically, or perceptually to the…

This document consists of the three 1998 issues of a newsletter disseminating information on the Society for Research in Child Development and providing a forum for important news, research, and information concerning advancements in child growth and development research. Each issue of the newsletter provides announcements and notices of…

Background information is provided on child development programs and services in California community colleges. First, the report outlines the current status of child development centers and the three kinds of centers currently operated (i.e., lab schools, child care programs, and combination programs); the number and types of centers in…

The development of 10 preschool children who attended the Southeast Kansas Demonstration Child Development Center was compared with the development of 10 preschool children who did not attend a child care center to ascertain the value of the center's program. Both groups were tested with the Denver Developmental Screening Test at the beginning and…

The focus of the Rural Child Care Project is culturally disadvantaged children and their families in 10 Appalachian counties of Eastern Kentucky. Research evaluation of the Project during 1967-68 had 4 major objectives: (1) to assess the relationship between a child's attendance in a Child Development Center and his subsequent intellectual…

A national indifference to children is indicated by the system of foster child care and by the treatment of mental retardates. Another manifestation is the attack on Head Start. Criticism based on the program's failure to raise standardized intelligence or aptitude scores is misplaced. Head Start is a broad developmental program having many…