The author was pondering the parent perspective of acceleration, and she realized that people are always hearing "ifs" and "buts" when discussing this topic. There are many "if" and "but" questions. In this article, the author focuses on the following four: (1) "If" my child is complaining of being bored in class, does that mean he or she needs to…

Today an ever-increasing number of infants and young children with and without disabilities play, develop, and learn together in a variety of places--homes, early childhood programs, neighborhoods, and other community-based settings. The notion that young children with disabilities and their families are full members of the community reflects…

Kindergarten has changed significantly in the last two decades: children now spend more time being taught and tested on literacy and math skills than they do learning through play and exploration, exercising their bodies, and using their imaginations. Many kindergartens use highly prescriptive curricula geared to new state standards and linked to…

The purpose of this discussion is to explore the idea that children, like adults, have certain rights that include the basic right to be entertained. A hypothesis was developed supporting the idea that there exists affective value for a child if he or she has the opportunity to occasionally sit and watch media which contains no particular…

Parents and professionals working with children with disabilities are urged to be alert to discrepancies between a child's usual behavior and capabilities and those exhibited during a formal testing or evaluation session. (DB)

In this article, the author presents the story of Tucker, a child who constantly looks for attention. The author assesses that children like Tucker frequently wrestle with feelings of jealousy and competition. However, Tucker's intense competitiveness is a bit beyond what one would expect, even for a young child who has a chronically ill older…

This article relates the story of a young girl's difficulties in accepting her parents' separation, and offers suggestions for both teachers and parents on how to help a child cope with his or her feelings and anxiety in this situation. Resources for further study are also offered.

This article focuses on how young children build math skills in everyday play and activities. Children focus on six categories of mathematical content including classifying, exploring magnitude, enumerating, investigating dynamics, studying patterns, and exploring spatial relations. The article gives advice to both teachers and parents on how they…

In this article, the author shares some examples of her advice and tips on parenting. The author is a mother of four and a national expert on parenting and early childhood education. She willingly, often without solicitation, distributes "expert" advice to parents across the country. Currently she is on a quest to retrace her early childhood…

Piaget noted that young children cannot think in a logical fashion, objectively, or about hypothetical situations. These limitations of preoperational thinking render the young child dependent upon or bound by perceptions. Overreliance upon perceptions results in children's inability to distinguish fantasy from reality. Young children's…

Summarized in this volume are concepts, presented and developed at a roundtable discussion by scientists and child health professionals, focusing on aspects of children's play behavior. Participants sought to answer three questions: (1) What is play behavior and what is known about it? (2) How does play contribute to infant and child development?…

Describes an approach designed to help explain war and the nuclear threat to young children, using a Dr. Seuss book as a springboard for discussion to help children expand their own concepts on the subject. (KS)

Play is a powerful avenue for a young child's learning. Child-development and brain-research experts agree that children are active meaning-makers from birth. Babies arrive in this world with the capacity to respond, imitate, initiate, explore, and eventually engage in symbolic processes. Play is young children's natural learning mechanism. Play…

The First Lady calls for Americans to work together and give parents the tools they need to raise their children, and to make learning a lifelong journey. (HTH)

The mother of a young head injured nonverbal child describes ways used to increase the child's communicative ability including gestures, sign language, and communication boards. (DB)