This timely and accessible text introduces, theorises and practically applies two important concepts which now underpin early years practice: those of "playful learning" and "playful pedagogies". Pat Broadhead and Andy Burt draw upon filmed material, conversations with children, reflection, observation, and parental and staff interviews, in their…

Available resources and indicators of high quality inclusive practices are presented in this compilation. Assembling many different resources in one place allows for easy comparison of potential indicators of quality. Excerpts and adaptations of the resources are intended to provide some familiarity with the content of each resource and encourage…

The affective relationship between six male and one female preschool-aged autistic children and their parents was studied by employing a method enabling systematic analysis of parent/child interaction. Children ranged in age from 3 years, 7 months to 6 years, 4 months. Through use of the Bank Interaction Coding System (BICS), behaviorial sequences…

This study, with 39 4-year-olds, found that children had better free recall accuracy and lowered suggestibility when they participated with a "babysitter" rather than observed a babysitter and child. Addition of forensic context (by a policeman prior to questioning) increased error in free recall but did not affect children's accuracy in…

In the ongoing Sibling Adoption Study of sibling relationships, data gathered from three methods was used to assess the sibling relationship in the home. This report focuses on comparison of the information about the sibling relationship gathered from each method. Eighty-four middle-class families with younger siblings, aged four to six, and older…

Firstborn children's reaction to sibling birth assessed in 41 families via family interviews at 1 month prepartum and 1, 4, 8, and 12 months postpartum. Familial interaction patterns were observed in semistructured play sessions. Time since the birth of the sibling and sibling gender had significant effects on firstborn children's adjustment.…

This longitudinal study examined the effectiveness of two different assessment methodologies, low structured observation and structured elicitation tasks, to obtain communicative intents from 35 normal children at the sensorimotor stage of development (9-24 months). The two approaches appeared to vary depending on the age of the child and the…

Forty-seven young children, 15 with disabilities, were observed 4 times for types and levels of engagement. Results indicated that engagement is difficult to measure through molecular data collection techniques because of error in dependability measures. The number of observed sessions could be increased to achieve generalizability, but increases…

Examines gender differences in the nurturant interactions of an older child with an infant sibling and the maternal socialization of the older child's behavior. Finds that older girls interacted more with their infant siblings with virtually no evidence of maternal socialization of the gender difference. (FMW)

The Behaviors of Eating and Activity for Children's Health Evaluation System (BEACHES) codes direct observations of children's dietary and physical activity behaviors and associated environmental events, including physical location, antecedents, and consequences. The system's reliability and validity was assessed in a study of 42 children (ages…