Transgender kids and kids from trans families attend preschool and kindergarten. For the safety, comfort, and optimum learning of these students, trans-positive early childhood education environments are necessary. Through simple changes to existing curricula and equipment, teachers, parents, and administrators can create a trans-positive setting…

This paper examines the roles that companion animals play in the lives of American families, and discusses how those roles change as families progress through the stages of the family life cycle. It highlights the importance of pets in the lives of children and the benefits they receive from such relationships. It also presents information…

Adolescents are at risk for poor dietary intake and unhealthy weight control behaviors. Family meals appear to play an important role in helping adolescents make healthier food choices and avoid engaging in unhealthy weight control and binge eating behaviors. (Contains 2 figures.)

Children learn to communicate in the context of their home culture. Beginning at birth, children use their home language and culturally accepted communication styles to connect with others in a meaningful way, forming secure relationships that are intrinsic to healthy development. For the early childhood teacher, it is important to establish…

This report is intended to support the goal of primary prevention of violence. The report examines how violence affects the development and learning abilities of children and youth. Seeing family violence, living in unsafe neighborhoods, witnessing violence, and being exposed to the harsh lives often faced by immigrants and refugees places…

A multidimensional perspective is provided of the achievement and educational experiences elementary school students of Mexican origin in a major northern city. To deepen understanding of the complex interplay of factors that ultimately cause many of these students to become educational casualties, traditional research methods of ethnography were…

The two sections of this monograph deal with child abuse and spouse abuse as separate issues. The authors discuss the factors that have contributed to these problems, including historical antecedents, attitudes, and practices; and identify the characteristics of abusive caretakers of children, violent spouses/partners, and abused or neglected…

In order to highlight the importance of identifying children with elevated blood lead levels, the Illinois Department of Public Health produces its surveillance report to present state and county level data on the number of children screened for and identified with lead poisoning. In Illinois, all children between 6 and 84 months of age must be…

This study examined how children, drawn from K-6 grades in 3 primary schools in southwest Sydney, use computers in their homes and the physical and social environments within which they use them. Key issues explored were diversity of access, range of uses, and factors which influence use, including gender, age, and parental and sibling role…

Describes a home-visit assignment used in an early-childhood-education teacher-training class to teach the importance of family and cultural context as an influence on child development. As part of the assignment, student teachers document observations in four domains: family structure and history, language use, household activities, and parental…

Examines the phonetic characteristics of babbling by a pair of fraternal twins raised in a bilingual environment (English/Serbian). The study focused on the basic articulatory form of babbling, the impact of twinship on babbling patterns, and whether effects specific to one or another of the ambient languages could be observed. (30 references)…

This article presents case studies of five African American students who have excelled academically during their elementary school years, illustrating the important role of African American parents in providing the type of social environment requisite for school success at the primary school level. Maintains that African American children's…

This case study describes an intervention program with a 20-month-old hearing child with deaf parents. The child was diagnosed as having a significant delay in both spoken and sign language. A home-based intervention program resulted in the child's increased use of sign and spoken vocabulary and the mother's improved interaction style. (Author/DB)

Presents drawings of visual slides and accompanying text for NAMTA's parent education tool kit slide shows to introduce the Montessori method. The three shows are "At Home with Montessori,""What is Montessori Preschool?" and "What is Montessori Elementary?" Includes form for ordering slide shows. (HTH)

Describes ways in which teachers in a preschool center structure the environment and provide supportive interactions that give children in their care, the same advantages found in homes of early readers. Summarizes how the center replicates characteristics of such homes. Suggests involvement with books and other print-related materials. (BAC)