The purpose of this qualitative study was to expand the scarce information available on how mothers first observe their children's early development, assess potential problems, and then come to recognize their concerns. In-depth knowledge about mothers' perspectives on the discovery process can help social workers to promote identification of…

Katherine Magnuson's research focuses on the well-being and development of economically disadvantaged children and their families. In the first half of this brief Magnuson pulls together scholarship on the effects of poverty and inequality on children, especially from infancy to age five. Her scope goes beyond the social sciences to include new…

The learning experiences of young children cannot be conveniently separated into the areas of cognitive, social/emotional and physical development. They are integrated and interdependent. This balance can be achieved through creative, interactive play that supports and scaffolds all developmental and content areas of the curriculum. Despite the…

Nearly half a million children in the United States are currently being served by the foster care system. Infants and toddlers represent the largest single group entering foster care. While these very young children are at the greatest peril for physical, mental health, and developmental issues and tend to spend the longest time in the foster care…

The authors present the feasibility and acceptability of a parent sexuality education program led by peer educators in community settings. They also report the results of an outcome evaluation with 71 parents who were randomized to the intervention or a control group and surveyed one month prior to and six months after the four-week intervention.…

Babies and young children in the child welfare system have a high prevalence for physical, cognitive, and social-emotional delays--and often don't have access to the services and supports that could make all the difference. This is the book that will help professionals go beyond abuse prevention and ensure comprehensive healthy development of…

In these days where "accountability" is the byword, organizations more and more frequently seek to evaluate their programs. They often hire outside evaluators to help them assess the effectiveness of their programs, to find out what works and what doesn't, and to determine what programmatic changes would be beneficial. ActKnowledge, a…

Writing assignments involving newspaper portfolios or analyzing the content of a film (animated or live action) are interesting because they help students become involved with course content and improve students' critical thinking. A study examined writing assignments of these types from 21 students taking two sections of a course on child…

An evaluation of the New York State Experimental Prekindergarten Program was begun in 1975 to provide longititudinal data on the effects of prekindergarten on children's development over a period of 5 years. Data were collected on a variety of items, including children's test performance at various times, family background, ratings by teachers,…