Successful preschool transition is important for future educational success. We used brief functional screenings to identify low-income children at risk for difficulty transitioning into preschool. Functional screenings were conducted for 163 children prior to enrollment, in a naturalistic peer setting, and focused on multiple domains important…

This article outlines six primary stages of a child's development. These basic functions show the way mental capacities work together as a team. Cognitive, motor, language, emotional, and social skills act together to help the child learn to deal with the world. Helping a child through these stages and fostering these core capacities requires a…

Although the nature of the relationship of music on students' emotional development remains an issue for continued research, my overall purpose is to provide adults with research-based methods to help children become better consumers of hip-hop music. First, I identify research-based recommendations to prepare adults as facilitators of children's…

Three- to five-year-olds grow emotionally participating in meaningful and challenging physical, social, and problem-solving activities outdoors in an early childhood program on a farm. Caring for animals, planting, raking, shoveling, and engaging in meaningful indoor activities, under adult supervision, children learn to work collaboratively,…

Contact intervention programs are being used as the main vehicle to enhance positive relationships between conflict groups. Current research seeks to reveal the force driving processes that lead to positive contact between conflict groups, and points to the importance of emotional modification. Acknowledging the centrality of emotional…

This study identified and investigated the incidence of childhood trauma and psychopathology across a population of parents with intellectual disabilities (IDs) known to a parenting service in the United Kingdom over a 5-year period and examined the emotional and physical welfare of their children. Data were gathered from 49 parents with ID and 58…

School readiness tests are significant predictors of early school achievement. Measuring school readiness on a large scale would be necessary for the implementation of intervention programs at the community level. However, assessment of school readiness is costly and time consuming. This study assesses the predictive value of a school readiness…

This policy brief explores kindergarten readiness observation and its benefits to local and state level stakeholders; highlights efforts by California counties and other states to measure school readiness; and makes recommendations for moving toward statewide use of kindergarten readiness observation tools. Key points include: (1) Early efforts to…

Many states and school districts are implementing test-based requirements for promotion at key transitional points in students' schooling careers, thus ending the practice of "social promotion"--promoting students who have failed to meet academic standards and requirements for that grade. In 2003-2004, the New York City Department of…

This curriculum guide shows how to develop a cooperative learning, interdisciplinary unit on self-esteem, coping skills, and healthy lifestyles. It offers teachers, using a team-teaching approach, instructions and activities for helping children to become successful in life. The emphasis is on cooperative learning methods. The matrix of lesson…

A sense of self-worth and trust in oneself provides the will to survive, the desire to create, the ability to learn, and the courage to reach out and connect with another human being. This guide provides a self-worth building model based on the acronym SELF: (1) Sensing; (2) Expressing; (3) Learning; and (4) Forming. The self-worth model focuses…

Childhood abuse has been implicated in such difficulties as developmental lags, family dysfunction, social problems, and emotional distress. This paper presents a review of the empirical literature which examines the relationship between physical abuse and object relations impairment. Data in the literature were commonly derived from either…

Noting that reliable and valid measures of competence are essential for preschool screening, diagnostic, and research purposes, this review for practitioners and researchers presents an inventory and evaluation of standardized measuring instruments designed for assessing social and emotional competence in preschool children. A total of 39…

This paper explores how family stories can be used in the professional preparation of early interventionists working with families of children with disabilities. It provides a rationale for using family stories in training, noting that they are inherently interesting, provide affective awareness, and provide access to understanding multiple…

Noting that the field of educational psychology is rapidly changing, with renewed interest in how we learn and how excellent teaching occurs, this collection comprises relevant readings selected from professional journals and magazines. The articles are grouped by topics consistently found in educational psychology textbooks. The chapters are: (1)…