Parent involvement in children's language and literacy development is a continuum. Parents enhance their newborn baby's language and vocabulary growth, whereas with older children parents are involved in school and provide support by engaging in learning activities such as assisting with homework. Parent involvement is an important part of…

Over the past several decades, behavioral interventions have produced positive and significant outcomes for children with a wide range of challenging behaviors. Because parents probably have the most information regarding the extent and history of their child's difficulties and the most knowledge of their child's home environment, it is essential…

Schools across the country have seen the benefits of implementing three-tiered models of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS). Within that model, secondary-tier (ST) interventions are an essential component because they (a) require relatively little implementation time compared with more intensive interventions, (b) address the…

This article profiles Joseph Jerome "Joe" Steffy, who has autism, and describes how he uses his augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device on the job (a successful business selling his Kettle Korn at festivals). There is more to Joe's story than his autism, Down syndrome, and epilepsy. It is also about resourcefulness, family and…

Russia's declining birth rate is linked to a delay in a family's decision to have children and to uncertainty about the place of children in a couple's relationship. Despite the rise of individualism and the importance of career and self-realization, however, the family retains a very important place in Russian society. (Contains 1 table, 1…

Chemicals are ubiquitous in the environment, and human exposure to them is inevitable. A benchmark investigation of industrial chemicals, pollutants, and pesticides in umbilical cord blood indicated that humans are born with an average of 200 pollutants already present in their bodies. The study found a total of 287 chemicals, of which, 180 are…

When studying the ways of structuring social life in general, and the socialization processes of children in particular, ethnicity is often taken for granted as a basic axis along which people distribute themselves into groups. Most anthropological studies describe and classify agents in ethnic terms. This article argues that ethnicity is not…

The 2020 Pro-Kid Policy Agenda for California is the comprehensive roadmap at the state level to ensure that all children have the necessary supports to reach their full potential. California has an obligation to tear down the structural barriers to all kids, especially kids of color, from growing up healthy, safe, and ready for college, career,…

This article describes an undergraduate Participatory Action Research (PAR) course in which students with and without intellectual disabilities collaborated as co-researchers in order to explore various aspects of the university experience. The article describes the university course as well as presents results of the students' PAR projects. The…

Educational equity is often discussed as a moral issue. Another way to think about equity is as a way to promote productivity and economic efficiency. Traditionally, equity and efficiency are viewed as competing goals. One can be fair in devising a policy, but often what is fair is not economically efficient. Conversely, what is efficient may not…

This paper will explore the balance between children's rights and parental responsibility from a family systems perspective. Children do not grow up in a vacuum; they are part of a biological, psychological and social system. The interaction of the child and parent within this system must include the development of responsibilities by the parent…

This paper expresses serious reservations regarding the increasingly popular Bourdieu-inspired notions of "institutional habitus" and "family habitus" in education research. Although sympathetic to the overall theoretical approach and persuaded of the veracity and importance of the empirical findings they are used to illuminate, it argues that,…

This summary accompanies the national report for Northern Ireland (Sizmur et al., 2017). It outlines the attainment of Year 6 pupils in Northern Ireland in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016 survey and explores the context of that attainment. PIRLS is a study of reading at ages 9-10 and has a five-yearly cycle.…

Using the work of Judith Butler on gender regulation, Black Feminist Thought (BFT), and autobiographic storytelling, this piece illustrates how essentialist notions of gender, and discourses related to gender create conflict in shaping identity construction for a Black woman academic and single mother (BWA/SM) in the United States. This piece…

Extension is focusing on healthy homes programming. Extension educators are not qualified to diagnose consumers' medical problems as they relate to housing. We cannot give medical advice. Instead, we can help educate consumers about home conditions that may affect their well-being. Extension educators need appropriate healthy homes tools to…