Early childhood educators frequently look for new ways to help children build social and emotional skills. Teachers want to use effective tools and strategies whether they are redirecting aggressive behavior or encouraging self-esteem and friendship. Persona dolls are one approach to supporting children's social-emotional development. Persona…

In this essay, Susan Engel argues that curiosity is both intrinsic to children's development and unfolds through social interactions. Thus, it should be cultivated in schools, even though it is often almost completely absent from classrooms. Calling on well-established research and more recent studies, Engel argues that interactions between…

I advance the hypothesis that the earliest phases of language acquisition--the developmental transition from an initial universal state of language processing to one that is language-specific--requires social interaction. Relating human language learning to a broader set of neurobiological cases of communicative development, I argue that the…

This article addresses the ambiguity of the child's "voice" in social research. Drawing on a recent research project on young children's communication difficulties, the author argues that the currently popular discourse on "listening to children" is beset with practical and ethical ambiguities that result from the "socialness" of human…

The process of interactive writing through dialog journals is discussed and a comparison of behaviors frequently observed in gifted individuals and characteristics of dialogue journal writing are offered. A case study of a gifted five-year-old communicating with her father is presented. (DB)

Learning to work and play well with others truly is a lifelong goal with a foundation in the early childhood years. Effective early childhood educators recognize that supporting children's social competence and teaching them academic skills are compatible rather than competing goals; each grows and benefits from advances in the other. Together,…

The article discusses the inclusion of technology resources in early childhood music education. Successful technology inclusion in music for young children depends on the physical, mental, and social readiness of each individual child. Learning providers involved with young children should constantly review the child's capabilities and …

A brief overview and synthesis of current knowledge on the development of nonverbal communication in young children is presented, and implications for teacher-child interactions during the early school years are suggested. (JD)

Educators are asking about the appropriate role of computers in the classroom, whether computers have a legitimate place in a classroom for young children or will supplant more important activities, and whether children under the age of 8 should use microcomputers. These general questions must be examined in order to discover the real, underlying…

Discusses roles that parents and teachers can perform to facilitate children's interactions with computers. Highlights include: (1) designing computer environments, including learner control, learning activities, and relating computer experiences to other learning processes; (2) adult interactions with children; and (3) observation and feedback…

Discussion of the use of video material with younger children focuses on projects in Great Britain that were designed to develop modular videotapes for classroom use by students aged 3 to 11. The use of videodiscs and video recorders is reviewed, and interactions between children, teachers, and television are described. (LRW)

A model for assessing the interactive sources of communication development in young children is proposed, focusing on the reciprocal behaviors of both adults and children. The model integrates theoretical and empirical findings and is designed for parallel diagnostic and treatment purposes in five areas: social play, turn taking, nonverbal…

Describes reading aloud as an interaction between child, caregiver, and book. Asserts that the caregiver's role is to provide a framework for children to converse about books--characters, events, and themes. Describes the PeRCS (Purpose explore Read Connect Summarize) idea, which provides steps for language exploration and idea experimentation.…