A major focus of research on language acquisition in infancy involves experimental studies of the infant's ability to discriminate various kinds of speech or speech-like stimuli. This research has demonstrated that infants are sensitive to many fine-grained differences in the acoustic properties of speech utterance. Furthermore, these empirical…

Two experiments attempted to resolve previous contradictory findings concerning developmental trends in false memories within the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm by using an improved methodology--constructing age-appropriate associative lists. The research also extended the DRM paradigm to preschoolers. Experiment 1 (N = 320) included…

The "Starting School Research Project", based at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, promotes the involvement of children in research concerning their transition to school. Using examples of approaches that have been utilised to engage children as part of the research on their transition to school, this paper explores some of…

Researchers who use video to record interactions usually need to translate the video data into another medium at some stage in order to facilitate its analysis and dissemination. This article considers some methodological issues that arise in this process by examining transcripts, diagrams and pictures as examples of different techniques for…

This issue highlights seven distinct studies. The first helps us understand how children use language in a computer-supported learning environment. The second investigates the longitudinal outcomes associated with the provision of bilingual education. The third is a case study that examines young boys' beliefs about second language acquisition.…

The present study replicates and extends previous research on the treatment of food selectivity by implementing pairing and fading procedures to increase a child's milk consumption during regularly scheduled preschool meals. The treatment involved mixing a small amount of chocolate syrup into a glass of milk and gradually eliminating the…

Until the past few years, our nation's approach to designing federal programs for preschool-age children lacked coherence and paid little attention to what had worked (and not worked) in the past. In this article, the authors propose that credible information useful for designing effective programs will require the ongoing, systematic development…

In 2006, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Early Learning Initiative (ELI) to improve the school readiness of Washington State's children through three main strategies: (1) development of high-quality, community-wide early learning initiatives in two communities; (2) enhancement of statewide systems that support early…

Earlier identification of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is welcome, but presents a number of challenges to the clinical and the research enterprises (see Charman & Baird [2002] for a review). In the research enterprise, one critical methodological challenge is the use of appropriate measures on which to match groups of…

The study was conducted with a group of 5 and 6 year old children in one playschool in Reykjavik, Iceland. The purpose of the study was to shed light on what life in an Icelandic playschool is like for the children attending the program, finding out their views on why they attend playschool, what they do and learn in playschool, what the adults do…

The current study describes preschool teacher-child interactions during several commonly scheduled classroom activities in which teachers deliver instructions. An observation system was developed that incorporated measurement of evidence-based compliance strategies and included the types of instructions delivered (e.g., integral or deficient…

There is currently a great deal of controversy about a critical issue in educational research: What constitutes valid evidence for determining whether educational innovations are effective? One side of the controversy is reflected in the U.S. Department of Education's current policies and funding programs. This side emphasizes methodological…

Current preschool assessments lack the ability to capture performance variance and complex thinking skills. This study examined the relationship among student performance, student feelings, and teacher perceptions as they apply to using a formal performance assessment in a preschool setting. A formal performance assessment was administered to 71…

Background: This longitudinal study sought to improve understanding of the factors at home and school that influence children's attainment and progress in writing between the ages of 4 and 7 years. Aims: (i) To investigate the relationship between home variables and writing development in preschool children; (ii) to determine associations between…

Communication skills are important for children with developmental disabilities to be functional and independent in their own lives. This study examined influences of different types of listener feedback or breakdowns on repair behaviors of nonverbal children with disabilities during semi-structured opportunities at snack time. Three preschool…