Head Start is a federal program that has provided comprehensive early childhood development services to low-income children and their families since 1965. The comprehensive nature of the program includes educational, health, nutritional, and social services. These services are intended to prepare children to enter kindergarten and to improve the…

Mary Story, Karen Kaphingst, and Simone French argue that researchers and policymakers focused on childhood obesity have paid insufficient attention to child care. Although child care settings can be a major force in shaping children's dietary intake, physical activity, and energy balance--and thus in combating the childhood obesity…

This paper draws on demographic data on children spotlighted in the 2000 Census (called the Childrens Class of 2000) to examine how forces like poverty and family instability work to prevent equality of opportunity in school and in life. The paper describes some programs and techniques that effectively reduce the effects of these forces and…

This paper synthesizes findings of major research studies on development of learning impairment and its prevention in children from birth to age 5. The paper's scope does not include children who died or suffered major retardation. The paper attempts to demystify the language of research and medicine to clarify the prevalence of health,…

This report, prepared pursuant to Public Law 98-183 (Child Abuse Amendments of 1984), examines the nature and extent of the practice of withholding medical treatment or nourishment from infants born with disabilities and makes recommendations to remedy deficiencies in existing law. Evidence suggests that decisions to withhold medically indicated…