Background: Research trials of early intervention (EI) programs for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) generally demonstrate medium-to-large gains, on average, compared with "treatment as usual," in different developmental domains. Almost all children with ASD receive their treatment through community-based services, however,…

One of the lawlike regularities of psychological science is that of developmental progression--an increase in sensorimotor, cognitive, and social functioning from childhood to adulthood. Here, we report a rare violation of this law, a developmental reversal in attention. In Experiment 1, 4­- to 5­- year ­olds (n = 34) and adults (n = 35) performed…

Given its importance in children's development and learning, researchers have rigorously studied play, and many teachers have used it as a classroom tool. Music researchers have observed that music regularly accompanies children's play because music is part of their culture, and "playing with music" is the most natural form of expression…

Technological advances have facilitated robots to perform a variety of human-like functions which have steered the interest of educators, researchers, and practitioners to discover the potential advantage of using robots as an intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Through meta-analysis, this study provides research-based…

In this article we argue that school leaders should ensure that teachers experience a supportive professional learning community committed to collaborative, thoughtful inquiry and be enabled to create similar communities in their classrooms. This study followed on one published in 2017 that explored school leaders' responses to an introduction to…

Teachers' own level of human capital development is commonly believed to be deterministic for the quality and effectiveness of their instruction and management in the classroom. Yet, there still exists an international debate on whether better educated teachers contribute to students' cognitive development. Leveraging a random class-assignment…

Lead poisoning has well-known impacts for the developing brain of young children, with a large literature documenting the negative effects of elevated blood lead levels on academic and behavioral outcomes. In April of 2014, the municipal water source in Flint, Michigan was changed, causing lead from aging pipes to leach into the city's drinking…

Purpose: It is well established that (a) infants prefer listening to infant-directed speech (IDS) over adult-directed speech (ADS), and (b) IDS facilitates speech, language, and cognitive development, compared with ADS. The main purpose of this study was to determine whether infants with hearing aids (HAs), similar to their peers with normal…

This article presents a case study of an online course that cross-pollinated Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and dialogic teaching to facilitate deep learning. Conceptualized through the UDL framework, dialogue and dialogic teaching, and deep learning, our analysis employs the methods of design-based research and thematic analysis to unpack…

Although pronunciation instruction (PI) has started to gain prominence in second language teacher professional development (PD) research (e.g. Nguyen & Newton, 2021), relatively less attention has been given to PD programs in an online format. Adopting a Sociocultural Theoretical (SCT) perspective, this dissertation explored the role of an…

This study examined how parents, teachers, and administrators conceptualised dual-language immersion (DLI) education and its goals at Bobcat Canyon School (BCS, pseudonym), a private preschool in the Southwestern USA where 64% students were White and 36% were students of colour. Through interviews with 15 parents, eight teachers, and two school…

Multilingual college students often struggle with writing and revising for academic purposes. This dissertation explored the effectiveness of a Concept-Based Language Instruction (C-BLI) approach to teaching revision processes to college-level multilingual writers. Although a significant body of research exists on effective feedback on…

In response to the increasing linguistic diversity in educational settings resulting from migration waves into the Global North, this study delves into the beliefs of secondary teachers regarding multilingualism within predominantly monolingual policy schools in Flanders, Belgium. Despite the recognized benefits of multilingual pedagogies,…

Individual characteristics of neighborhood context, like concentrated socioeconomic disadvantage, are associated with children's cognitive development, including their academic skill development and executive functions. However, questions remain regarding how neighborhood structural, process, and physical features uniquely predict children's…

The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) is a promising early intervention for promoting improved social, cognitive, and communication outcomes for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, most studies evaluating group-based delivery of this program have used 15-25 h per week of intervention in specialized ESDM preschools with low…