Observes that the norm for the onset of embarrassment and blushing is five years, although some children may show these signs of a social self one or two years earlier. (RL)

Eighty first and third graders were presented one of two brief videotaped social interactional episodes. Half viewed an unambiguous tape in which affective response was congruent with situational context; the other half viewed an ambiguous tape in which nonverbal affective response was incongruent with situational context. (MS)

The Omnibus Personality Inventory was administered to a group of students as freshmen, seniors, and alumni (five years after graduation). Respondents exhibited freshman-to-senior personality changes usually associated with college attendance. The orientation to intellectualism and the social-emotional maturation persisted in the years immediately…

Examined the development of toddler affectionate behavior toward new teachers. Observed 10 toddlers during free play on the first 40 days of day care attendance, recording children's responses to their teacher's smiling, affectionate words, and affectionate contact. Found that smiling received affectionate child responses earlier than other…

Presents strategies to help parents, teachers, and counselors support the social and emotional needs of gifted children. Strategies include fostering communication between the school and parents, understanding the child's personality and social goals, making counseling for gifted students available, and providing opportunities for gifted children…

A study examined the social cognition of 20 Dutch children (ages 8-18) with autism, 20 with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, 20 with psychiatric disorders, and 20 typical children. Theory of mind and emotion recognition functioning proved to be correlated and less integrated in children with autistic spectrum disorders.…

An object-retrieval study tested the hypothesis that locating a caregiver would interfere with false belief performance and be related to preschool children's emotional awareness. Results showed age-related improvement to above-chance levels during object identity and location tasks, but caregiver location task performance showed no age-related…

Clinicians and researchers are beginning to acknowledge the importance of integrating a developmental perspective into the understanding of clinical disorders. Major gaps still exist between basic research on attachment processes and clinical issues regarding mental disorders. Reflecting growth in this direction, National Institute of Mental…

Examines the influence of socialization figures (parents, friends), emotion type (anger, sadness, physical pain), age, and gender on 66 second-grade and 71 fifth-grade children's reasons for and methods of affect expression. Found that girls reported using verbal means to communicate emotion, whereas boys cited mildly aggressive methods. (MDM)

Presents four articles discussing mental health issues that pertain to early childhood education: "Granting Children Their Emotions" (Ilse Elisabeth Plattner); "Double Vision: Parent and Professional Perspectives on Our Family's Year in Crisis" (Kirsten Haugen); "Coping with Stress and Surviving Challenging Times" (Alan Cohen); and "When the World…

A primary school community in Nottingham, England, has built a social system (via extensive orientation, parent teaching assistants, and multiple school assemblies) in which staff, parents, and students share responsibility for children's academic, social, and personal development. Holistic learning is encouraged by an integrated curriculum,…

Describes Pillow Talk as a ritual in which teachers talk in a relaxed and natural way with individual children in the preschool classroom as naptime begins. Suggests that daily one-to-one interaction with children can yield numerous insights about children's language and emotions and provide effective communication and rich language-learning…

This article examines a definition of giftedness that emphasizes asynchronous development and analyzes archival data collected on 535 high-IQ children in Australia. It found five patterns of behavior that provide evidence of asynchronous development: anxious; self-critical; overly sensitive; easily upset; and easily frustrated; with depression…

Describes the "Roots of Empathy" program for elementary school students in some Toronto schools, designed to teach about parenting, human development, and emotional literacy, and to nurture the growth of empathy. Focuses on development of a culture of caring, the role of perspective taking for conflict resolution, the positive…

A study of personality characteristics of 31 adults with Asperger syndrome found they scored significantly higher on harm avoidance and lower on self-directedness and cooperativeness on the Temperament and Character Inventory. Reward dependence and novelty seeking tended to be low. The most common temperament configurations were obsessional,…