Previous research has examined children's ability to add inflections to nonsense words. The current experiments were designed to determine whether children, ranging in age from 1 ; 9 to 2 ; 10 (N=34), could demonstrate productivity by dropping verbal inflections. In, children added "-ed" and "-ing" to novel stems, and dropped them from novel…

This paper presents evidence from a French-English bilingual child between the ages of two years three months and three years five months, growing up bilingually from birth, with a French mother and English father in an English speaking environment. In focussing upon questions in the child's two languages, and charting in some detail the emergence…

From the age of 2.5, children use social information to rapidly form enduring function-based artifact categories. The present study asked whether even younger children likewise constrain their use of objects according to teleo-functional beliefs that artifacts are "for" particular purposes, or whether they use objects as means to any desired end.…

Objective: Little is known about how parenting might offset genetic risk to prevent the onset of child problems during toddlerhood. We used a prospective adoption design to separate genetic and environmental influences and test whether associations between structured parenting and toddler behavior problems were conditioned by genetic risk for…

Noncompliance is a primary reason parents seek services for their young children. Research on socialization suggests that warning children about consequences is associated with greater compliance. In the current study, we test whether promised consequences (i.e., promises of parental responses to subsequent child behavior), compared with…

A multiple case-study design was used to explore the spontaneous play of three toddlers with disabilities as it emerged in the course of everyday activity in the home. Children were observed at home playing independently and with their mothers. Data consist of videotaped naturalistic observations in the children's homes and mothers' perspectives…

The breastfeeding experiences of 114 Australian children who were currently breastfeeding were explored via maternal observation and direct questioning of the children. Mothers commonly stated that their child breastfed for comfort and this opinion was validated by observations of when the children breastfed, which was often in the transition to…

Behavioral inhibition (BI) is characterized by a pattern of extreme social reticence, risk for internalizing behavior problems, and possible protection against externalizing behavior problems. Parenting style may also contribute to these associations between BI and behavior problems (BP). A sample of 113 children was assessed for BI in the…

Early identification of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is now considered best practice in the field of developmental disabilities. Despite calls by national pediatric organizations and others for routine screening in young children, such recommendations have been hard to implement in practice. One of the major unresolved problems is the need for…

Children with unilateral pre- or perinatal brain injury (BI) show remarkable plasticity for language learning. Previous work highlights the important role that lesion characteristics play in explaining individual variation in plasticity in the language development of children with BI. The current study examines whether the linguistic input that…

Data from a statewide billing and information system for early intervention are used to examine the influence of multiple factors on the level and intensity of services provided in a state early intervention system. Results indicate that child and family factors including entry age, gestational age, Medicaid eligibility, access to third party…

The Developing Families Project-South Africa (DFP-SA) is a community-based model of education and training for the care, support and education of vulnerable children birth-to-three and their caregivers, guardians and families in rural and peri-urban townships. The approach fosters interactive learning among community members about early care and…

Early Head Start is a federally funded community-based program for low-income families with infants and toddlers and for low-income pregnant women. Created in 1995, Early Head Start strives to promote healthy prenatal outcomes for pregnant women, to enhance the development of children ages birth to three, and to promote healthy family functioning.…

Major innovations are becoming available for research in language development and disorders. Among these innovations, recent tools allow naturalistic recording in children's homes and automated analysis to facilitate representative sampling. This study employed all-day recordings during the 2nd year of life in a child exposed to three languages,…

"Evaluation Science Briefs" summarize the findings and implications of a recent study evaluating the effects of an early childhood program or environment. This Brief evaluates the study "Early Intervention in Low Birthweight Premature Infants: Results at 18 Years of Age for the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP)" (M.C. McCormick, J.…