Examines children's production and participation in play and games in an Italian preschool and a Swedish after-school program. Considers play as part of a process of interpretive reproduction in children's lives, and demonstrates how children at play use a range of communicative skills, collectively participate in and extend their peer cultures,…

Investigates how the age of entry into regular group day care influences short-term behaviors expressing well-being or discomfort in the day care environment. Finds that children entered at two particular ages displayed difficult reunions with their mothers and were less resistant to frustration; children entered at another age showed lower…

This article comments on two studies (EC 629 875) that investigated the validity of a set of 15 general growth outcomes (GGOs) for identifying young children with disabilities. It argues that without additional efforts focusing on the nature of GGOs, the ultimate utility of the outcome measures will be limited. (Contains references.) (CR)

A study investigated why some of the low-income single caregivers of 104 children (ages 7-40 months) with disabilities were more involved in early intervention services than others. Difficulties in family functioning and lower levels of knowledge about child development were directly related to caregiver involvement. (Contains references.)…

Examines the ways that adult narrators address the child reader in fictions written for children in moral education. Analyzes these relationships and considers their pedagogical implications. Specifically considers the personification of children's behavior by animals in these stories and connects this to a shift in the contemporary concept of…

Reviews current large-scale, longitudinal studies focusing on children. Describes the data collected, including child outcomes, process-oriented information on child-parent interactions, child care quality, parental mental health, family violence, fathering, employment patterns, and community characteristics. Notes that several studies incorporate…

In the 1990s, parenting became a difficult effort to balance work demands with children's needs. However, Canadian and U.S. government policies have not met changing family needs for child care, other services, paid parental leave, and work flexibility. Canada's long-awaited National Children's Agenda has the potential to modernize family policy…

This research examined 2 strategies for encouraging children's narratives. Twenty-five European American and 31 African American children from low-income backgrounds (M age = 4.76) participated. Children were assigned randomly to either high or low elaborative narrative style conditions and to either a draw-and-tell or tell-only reporting…

Increasing numbers of infants and toddlers who were premature, had low birth weight, or experience chronic medical conditions are referred to early intervention services (Bernstein, Heimler, & Sasidharan, 1998). These young children often endure prolonged hospitalizations and are at risk for developmental disabilities by nature of their illnesses,…

In this article, Kieran Egan contests the scientific foundations of Piaget's developmental theories and the scientific basis of much educational research. In so doing, he pushes researchers and practitioners alike to rethink the centrality of Piaget's tenets to teaching and learning. Egan traces the history of the developmental literature that…

Background: Information on long-term prognosis in autism is limited. Outcome is known to be poor for those with an IQ below 50, but there have been few systematic studies of individuals with an IQ above this. Method: Sixty-eight individuals meeting criteria for autism and with a performance IQ of 50 or above in childhood were followed up as…

We sought to investigate the relationships between negative family factors such as insecure attachment and adverse parental rearing, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms in a large sample of non-clinical children (N = 237) aged 9 to 12 years. All children completed a set of self-report questionnaires including a single-item measure of…

The purpose of this article is to question the amount of time that beginning readers should spend reading connected text in school. Based on a study of 66 children in 26 classrooms, the authors found that children in first-grade classrooms with "less" reading of connected text achieved more in their phonics learning than children in classrooms…

The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) program was designed to promote the fundamental rights of young children in India. This paper assesses its effects on the survival, development, and education of young children in India by considering the results of two national level evaluation studies. Their findings indicate that the ICDS has…

It has long been recognized that from the first months of life auditory perception plays a crucial role in speech and language development. Only in recent years, however, is the precise mechanism of auditory development and its interaction with the acquisition of speech and language beginning to be systematically revealed. This paper presents the…