Noting that parents of infants and toddlers find child care substandard and expensive, and recognizing the importance of children's earliest experiences for later intellectual and emotional functioning, this policy brief examines what research reveals about the kinds of relationships, experiences, and environments that foster healthy child…

Notes the similarities in dealing with puppies and toddlers in terms of teaching correct behavior; age, temperament, and personality; and reasons behind misbehavior. Explores developing a plan for teaching social behavior, establishing a teaching style, and setting standards. Notes that parents and teachers need to look at their personal teaching…

Provides guidelines on diapering and potty training toddlers in child care settings. (BB)

Describes the roles of case manager and home visitor in relation to handicapped infants, toddlers, and their families. Strongly advocates combining the roles in this service. (SAK)

Presents information from neuroscience which suggests that intelligence has a biological basis and may be physiologically identifiable in the future, noting that the critical time frame for intervening with gifted children may be even earlier than age 1-3 years, and adjustments may be needed to accommodate the precocious developmental time line…

This article focuses on early intervention implementation concerns and recommendations for addressing the needs of the wide range of infants and toddlers with disabilities and families to be served. It describes providing services in natural environments, as well as the issues of personnel preparation and models of service delivery. (Contains…

Compared the impact of a small box emitting sounds in response to nearby motion introduced into an infant/toddler and a preschool classroom to illustrate qualitative differences in how children of different ages recognize the same objects as mediating devices for activity. Found that the box became a social object for infants/toddlers and part of…

Presents emergentist coalition theory of language development characterizing lexical acquisition as the emergent product of cognitive constraints, social-pragmatic factors, and global attentional mechanisms. Details 12 experiments with 12- to 25-month-olds using the development of reference as test case of the theory. Presents evidence that…

Describes the richness of Hollich et al.'s model of language acquisition. Presents concerns about focus on object words in word learning research, the phantom child in the model, and the missing affect in theories and research on word learning. Suggests that experimental work inspired by principles and constraints theory and observational work…

Discusses how one Early Head Start program has benefited from collaborating with researchers. Notes that the program has clarified its theory of change, reflected on effective strategies, and trained staff on practices during home visits. Asserts that by using information about the quality of home visits, the program now provides better services…

This discussion of the emotional development of young children is structured upon Erik Erikson's schemata of psycho-social development. Stage 1, which involves trust versus mistrust, includes references to Erikson's theory and the work of Melanie Klein, Berry Brazelton, Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas, John Bowlby, Anthony Stevens, and D. W.…

This restatement of policy, which updates a 1984 edition, offers a framework for thinking about issues in child care for infants and toddlers. The statement discusses: (1) the particular needs of infants and toddlers; (2) public policies supporting parents who remain at home to care for infants and toddlers; (3) professional recognition and…

Replies to a report on three toddlers who evidenced a late vocabulary spurt. The article argues that differences in assessing productive vocabulary and the questionable inference that size of the lexicon is a reliable indicator of the vocabulary spurt make it inappropriate to compare these children to previous studies directly measuring change in…

Available evidence suggests that early language intervention is effective when designed to meet the needs of the individual child. Intervention should begin when risk or predisposing factors so indicate or when significant delays are present. Intervention should respect the child's developmental level in relevant areas and should address…

This article defines tactile defensiveness as a sensory processing problem that results in aversive responses to touch. The article outlines causes, presents sample behaviors to assist in recognizing the possible presence of this dysfunction in infants and toddlers, and offers suggestions to assist in coping with and seeking appropriate treatment…