In this article, jazz music is used as a lens through which early childhood music pedagogy is viewed, specifically thinking about swing and improvisation--the listening and responding to what is heard and seen, and the openness to possibility. These two concepts are defined by prominent jazz musicians and are traced in the child development…

This article reports 2 experiments using a new method to study 18- to 24-month-olds' visual experiences as they interact with objects. Experiment 1 presents evidence on the coupling of head and eye movements and thus the validity of the head camera view of the infant's visual field in the geometry of the task context. Experiment 2 demonstrates the…

In spite of numerous recent outcome studies of extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants, no data exist on their development prior to term. In this study we traced and compared the neurobehavioral development of 251 ELBW (less than 1,000 g) and 240 low birth weight (LBW; 1,000 g-2,500 g) preterms born between 1995 and 2004 from 32 to 37 weeks…

The authors applied I-States as Objects Analysis (ISOA), a recently proposed person-oriented analytic approach, to the study of temperament development in 921 Norwegian children from a population-based sample. A 5-profile classification based on cluster analysis of standardized mother reports of activity, sociability, emotionality, and shyness at…

This study examined the relation between self-representation and brain development in infants and young children. Self-representation was assessed by mirror recognition, personal pronoun use, and pretend play. Structural brain images were obtained from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Brain development was assessed by a quantitative measure of…

Girls growing up in homes without their biological fathers tend to go through puberty earlier than their peers. Whereas evolutionary theories of socialization propose that this relation is causal, it could arise from environmental or genetic confounds. To distinguish between these competing explanations, the authors used a genetically and…

Developmental theories of prosocial reasoning and behavior posit a transition from concrete (e.g., give a toy to receive one) to abstract (e.g., spend time to make someone happy) forms and have been supported with research on middle-socioeconomic status (SES), White samples. The methodology that researchers have used to date has restricted the…

Early childhood educators use several learning centers in a classroom to target growth in different developmental areas, but as a preschool teacher, the author was always impressed by how children addressed multiple areas of development at the sensory table. Understanding that sensory experiences were important for preschoolers, the author wanted…

This article reports the finding of a recent study conducted as part of a larger white paper, "Sounds of Learning: The Impact of Music Education on All Aspects of a Child's Growth and Development. The purpose of the study was to uncover what people know and what they do not know about the impact of music education on at-risk kids, in an effort to…

Drawing on time use data from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study identified five different profiles of shared time between parents and young people at different stages of development. In childhood, all profiles had high rates of shared television viewing, but some were oriented toward in-home…

This longitudinal study examined, in a sample of Chinese children (initial mean ages = 9.5 and 12.7 years, N = 505), how the peer group contributed to social functioning and academic achievement and their associations. Data on informal peer groups, social functioning, and academic achievement were collected from multiple sources. Multilevel…

In a recently published study, Sloutsky and Fisher [Sloutsky, V. M., & Fisher, A.V. (2004a). When development and learning decrease memory: Evidence against category-based induction in children. "Psychological Science", 15, 553-558; Sloutsky, V. M., & Fisher, A. V. (2004b). Induction and categorization in young children: A similarity-based model.…

This longitudinal study assessed multidisciplinary data on 219 children with autistic spectrum disorders from the median age of 5 (Time 1) to 8 years old (Time 2). The evolution of psychological and adaptive data was subjected to cluster analysis. Four clinically meaningful clusters emerged. The first group (21%) demonstrated the most important…

Two experiments investigated developmental changes in large number discrimination with visual-spatial arrays. Previous studies found that 6-month-old infants were able to discriminate arrays that differ by a ratio of 1:2 but not 2:3. We found that by 10 months, infants were able to reliably discriminate 8 from 12 elements (2:3) but not 8 from 10…

There has been an escalation in the number of children identified with autism spectrum disorders in recent years. To increase the likelihood that treatments for these children are effective, interventions should be derived from sound theory and research evidence. Absent this supportive foundation, intervention programs could be inconsequential if…