This retrospective study, undertaken in Norway, examines how reading skills level in 851 fifth graders are related to how the children used their language skills in play and everyday activities as toddlers. Data were collected with the Norwegian National Reading Test and through structured observations by staff in Early Childhood Education…

We estimated the effects of Norway's universal ECEC program - expanding access to 1- and 2-year-olds starting in the early 2000s - on standardized math and achievement tests in 5th grade (age 10) using a population-based survey sample (Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study, MoBa, n = 102,352), linked with national administrative records…

This article explores conflicts among toddlers in kindergarten and the impact of toys in these conflicts. The author describes these interactions as part of how children develop and express their citizenship, and argues that staff members should hesitate before interfering with rules in order to prevent such conflicts. This is based on Mouffe's…

This article describes literacy competence in the narratives of toddlers and investigates how they make use of different modalities, like gestures, sounds and physical actions. The body phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty serves as a theoretical frame for the researcher's lens, which is an A/r/tographer's lens applied in multimodal narrative analysis.…

This study aims to enhance our knowledge of the associations between the quality of the language-learning environment in toddler childcare groups and children's vocabulary development from age 3 to age 5. Participants were 1,131 children (48% girls; age at T1 assessment: M = 35.5 months, SD = 2.7; age at T2 assessment: M = 60.3 months, SD = 1.4)…

The aim of this study is to investigate whether maternal spatial support during two types of joint manipulative toy play tasks with 2-year-old children was longitudinally associated with math screening test scores in second grade. The interaction between spatial support and maternal education was explored as well. We also investigated predictions…

In the present study, the applicability of The Sutter-Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory-Revised (SESBI-R) was explored within a Norwegian sample of 983 children aged 3-8 years. By using an exploratory factor analysis the same 2-factor solution as the original SESBI-R was supported by Principal Component Analysis. Good internal consistency (alpha…

Using growth curve modeling, trajectories of undercontrolled (oppositional, irritable, inattentive and overactive behaviors) and internalizing (worried, sad and fearful) problems from 18 months to 4.5 years were studied in a population based sample of 921 Norwegian children. At the population level, undercontrolled problems decreased and…