This response to a previous article comparing guidelines for developmentally appropriate practice in the fields of early childhood education and early intervention/special education stresses the importance of individualizing application of principles and the need to look beyond effectiveness and efficiency as dimensions for evaluating practice.…

Presents 6 summaries of documents and 10 journal articles concerning elementary and early childhood education in an international context that were recently included in the ERIC collection. (AP)

Describes early childhood developmental deficits associated with long-term poverty as indicated by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). Suggests substantial disadvantages in cognitive development among young children in chronically poor families. Deficits appear in a variety of indices of cognitive or socioemotional development,…

Examined the impact of individual environmental and biological risks on the home environment of three-year olds in a sample of low birth weight, premature infants. Suggests that compared to nonpoor families, poor families experienced more multiple risk factors. Poverty clearly had a negative effect on the provision of learning experiences,…

British teachers excel in managing students' behaviors during classroom learning activities. The paper examines the major differences between British and American schools for young children, then discusses three factors that influence British teachers' abilities (knowledge of child development, structuring of learning activities, and shaping…

Reviews research on the attitudes of nondisabled children toward disabled children in regular classroom settings, and on patterns of play among at-risk and non-at-risk children. Implications for camps include encouraging social skills development through an atmosphere of peer friendship development, and helping at-risk children develop verbal…

Trends in staff development for camp counselors include using experiential training activities, inviting outside speakers to address staff on topics of concern, and teaching staff about child-related issues. Addresses problems in working with staff and provides suggestions for increasing the effectiveness of staff training programs. (LP)

Reviews the research comparing the social and behavioral characteristics of only children and children with siblings in China. Results are mixed, and many of the studies are seen as having methodological flaws. (BB)

This article highlights the importance of parents as intervention agents for young children with special needs. It describes individualized training in behavioral strategies for parents, explains procedures for helping parents gain skills that foster their children's development, and suggests that parents will maintain the skills and generalize…

Considers the ways in which young children, their families, and teachers and staff benefit from older adults' participation in early childhood and day care programs. Discusses the recruitment, screening, training, orientation, and supervision of older adults in early childhood programs. (BB)

This paper presents examples of nonconscious or intuitive parental behaviors in parent-infant dyads in which the parent or child is deaf, discusses these behaviors in terms of the ways they help infants adapt to the postnatal environment and transition from preverbal to verbal development, and examines difficulties in parent-infant interactions.…

Work inhibition occurs when students have no trouble learning but have difficulty in engaging in the work of school. As many as 20 percent of U.S. public school students may be work inhibited. Reasons for work inhibition and way to combat it are discussed. (SLD)

Five principles of learning for young children with handicaps (functioning below a developmental age of one year) are presented, with descriptions of strategies that can be used to facilitate ascendance to higher levels of cognitive-social-communicative functioning. The principles include frequent adult-child interactions, meaningful context for…

This article describes how treatments that assist students in developing essential personal and academic skills can be integrated with behavioristic methods to provide effective treatment in school-based programs for seriously emotionally disturbed students. An overview of the key theoretical concepts supporting an integrated treatment approach is…

Common situations in which children perceive risk and in which adults can lend them a sense of security are described. Ways in which children can learn to become responsible for the risks they face and acquire a sense of security that makes some risks worth taking are reviewed. (SLD)