This digest reports on the very limited research that has focused specifically on early childhood issues in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) health, development, and education. Extant research focuses primarily on infant mortality, birth weight and growth, obesity, and hearing and speech. Beginning in 1985, a longitudinal study called the Flower of Two Soils investigated intellectual development, mental health, and academic achievement among young Native children. Various reports based on this study looked at differences in IQ scores between Native and non-Native children; the influences of poverty, poor prenatal care, English-language skills, and parental educational attitudes on those differences; and the possible relationship of culture to symptoms of hyperactivity and attention deficit disorders. Other studies have evaluated various approaches to assessing language-learning disabilities in young Native children who may have limited English-language skills. The ongoing Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey, which includes an oversample of AI/AN children entering kindergarten, is conducting a thorough study of AI/AN early childhood health, development, and education. (SV)