Aggression in early childhood has been found to predict negative outcomes later in life, including delinquency and psychopathology. The present study explored associations between young children's language, self-regulation, and physical aggression. A community sample of 126 preschool children aged 3 to 6 years (M = 4.87 years, SD = 0.87; 59% boys)…

Cognitive abilities, executive functions (EFs) and patterning, and simple measures of early literacy and mathematics were measured for 275 kindergartners during the second and third month of formal schooling. An exploratory factor analysis revealed four factors. The first was a literacy factor, to which a number series scale made a small…

Children across the United States are increasingly learning academic content through two-way dual-language education (http://www.cal.org/twi/). This education model provides instruction through two languages in classrooms comprised of approximately equal numbers of native and non-native English speakers. For both language groups, this educational…

The Canadian Little Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (Little DCDQ-CA) is a parent-report screening instrument that identifies 3- to 4-year-old children who may be at risk for Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). We tested the criterion validity of the Little DCDQ-CA in a sample of preschool-aged children in the United States…

Efforts to increase moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in school-age children are associated with improved health, cognitive, and academic outcomes. However, questions remain about whether similar benefits are observed in early childhood. We hypothesized that motor competence, not MVPA, would be related to improved cognitive and…

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs abound in schools worldwide, adopted in large part on limited and varied evidence that the social/SEL skills acquired in these programs contribute to academic achievement. However, large-scale studies with the most common SEL program in the United States (Second Step®) have yielded no evidence of academic…

Social Stories (also known as social narratives) help individuals participate in and understand social situations. This scoping review identifies and synthesizes social narrative research targeting behavior change in individuals with ASD. Using the following questions as a guide: (a) What is the scope of social narrative interventions used for…

Despite the adaptive strengths and unique problem-solving skills demonstrated by neurodivergent (ND) individuals, they remain marginalized in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. High unemployment rates among individuals with disabilities emphasize the need for addressing barriers to entry and persistence in the…

Performance-based assessments of EF for use with young children who have or are at risk for disabilities are lacking. The current study investigates the use of a computerized battery for children with subclinical behaviors (N = 846) across a variety of developmental disabilities and evaluates practical information about feasibility of task…

Objective: Children with ADHD often experience functional impairments across various aspects of daily life. This study addresses the dearth of longitudinal research on functional impairment trajectories from preschool to school age in children with symptoms of ADHD and comorbid disorders. Methods: We investigated the extent to which functional…

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the clinical efficacy of combining self-management strategies and a social thinking approach to address the social performance and executive function of an adolescent female with autism spectrum disorder. Method: This research examined the effects of a social knowledge training program,…

Understanding fraction magnitudes is important for achievement and in daily life. However, adults' fraction reasoning sometimes appears to reflect whole number bias and other times reflects accurate reasoning. In the current experiments, we examined how contextual factors and individual differences in executive functioning (Experiment 1),…

Background: We examined longitudinal academic achievement and neuropsychological functioning across two time points in young students with Down syndrome (DS) and a typically developing (TD) comparison group equated on nonverbal mental age (NVMA). Method: Participants engaged in assessments of academic achievement, executive function (EF), and…

The goal of the current study was to investigate the role of executive functions in mathematical creativity. The sample included 278 primary school children (ages 8-13). Two models were compared: the starting model tested whether executive functions (shifting, updating, and inhibition), domain-general creativity, and mathematical ability directly…

The current study is the first to provide a comprehensive examination of the activation--decision--construction model (Walczyk, Roper, Seemann, & Humphrey, 2003, 2009) in relation to young children's lie-telling and lie maintenance. Young children (3 to 4 years of age, N = 93) completed the temptation-resistance paradigm to elicit a…