There is little agreement about how the ability to read route maps initially emerges and about how it should be stimulated by early childhood educators. This study assessed the route map reading behavior of young children and the basic skills that might contribute to that behavior. In individual videotaped sessions, 120 four, five, and six year…

The paper analyzes the significance of parents' play routines as an aspect of home intervention programing of play behaviors with developmentally delayed young children. Three sources of child development research are noted: the studies demonstrating a rationale for parent-child play, emphasis on the early aspect of intervention, and the use of…

The display of Spanish and English communicative competence of two Hispanic children is explored in a study analyzing directive speech acts (orders, requests, suggestions, hints). The linguistic, sociolinguistic, and strategic resources of the Mexican-American children, aged 4-1/2 to 6 years, are examined qualitatively in data taken from…

The author describes how intellectual and academic strengths develop in young children and how children's daily behavior can reveal the presence of extraordinary capability. The relationships between the emergence of advanced intellectual skills and development of physical and social competencies are discussed. The implications of children's…

Since general principles of first language acquisition and environmental input have been clarified by research of the last decade, more differentiated questions are explored in the present study. The main goal is the investigation of similarities and differences in the language teaching and learning processes involved in the verbal interactions…

The interaction of two elementary-age American children with their bilingual mother and French-speaking peers was monitored to determine learning strategies in a natural French immersion situation. Seven strategies were discovered, each of which provided the necessary ingredients of processible input, practice, and feedback to the language…

Project ESPIRIT (Educational System in Parenting for the Retarded with Infants and Toddlers) has provided home based services to 25 at risk children of mentaly retarded parents. Assessments performed at home are followed by development of individualized educational programs for both child and parent. Suggestions are given for establishing such a…

Major findings are reported of a longitudinal, naturalistic study of grammatical morpheme development in an aphasic child from 5;5 to 6;1. The majority of the morphemes were not acquired in the same order nor at the same mean length of utterance (MLU) levels reported for normal children. As an alternative to the normal acquisition model, based on…

Using a developmental model, the author explains a hierarchy which describes how a young child learns to respond to various types of environmental stimuli and discusses some educational consequences of a reinforcement stimuli deficit. Development is seen to take place in succession beginning with the primary level, proceeding to the social,…

This paper describes three early childhood curriculum frameworks that acknowledge the different needs and abilities of infants and toddlers, preschool and kindergarten children, and children in grades one through three. Infants and toddlers are at the stage of establishing trust and autonomy. Because these issues are addressed in the context of…

This study explored the effects of a model of social skills training on 4- to 5-year-old children with low peer acceptance. The cognitive-social learning model aims to improve children's social behaviors through teaching effective cognitive social strategies and providing opportunities for children to practice social behaviors and monitor them…

Young children exhibit aggression in order to achieve their goals, to respond to their developing understandings of ownership. The NAEYC "Code of Ethical Conduct" for early childhood educators includes the commitment to support children's development, including helping them to learn to work cooperatively. The types of interventions that…

The number of young children who have suffered from maltreatment has risen in recent years. This paper describes the negative neurological, psychological, and cognitive effects from this maltreatment. Interventions that can prevent abuse and neglect and promote resilience in the child victims are examined and discussed. The paper concludes by…

Although positive effects of children playing video games have been found, recent research suggests that exposure to violent video games may lead to an increase in aggressive behavior. This study investigated the effects of playing violent versus nonviolent video games on the interpretation of ambiguous provocation situations. Participants were 52…

Noting that examining the storytelling skills of children between 4 and 8 years of age can provide insights into the child's overall language development, this study explored the development of children's storytelling, using story coherence and story cohesion to evaluate the developmental level of the child's storytelling. Participating in the…