Preschool children considered at risk for future reading difficulties experience unique and complex combinations of risk factors. In this exploratory study, we used latent profile analysis (LPA) to investigate the underlying classifications of children identified as at-risk for reading difficulties (N = 281) along selected cognitive,…

Purpose of Review: The purpose of this review is to provide an update on the recent research (2016-2021) that evaluates the effectiveness of school-implemented interventions for students with autism (3-21 years old) from preschool to high school. Recent Findings: Overall, the recent literature demonstrated that there are EBPs that help students…

Differences in children's mathematics knowledge are evident at kindergarten entry, favoring children who have greater access to economic resources. Fostering preschoolers' mathematics learning at home and in classroom settings, through games and other developmentally appropriate activities, is of great interest to educators, early childhood…

In this article, Rachel Abenavoli, Natalia Rojas, Rebecca Unterman, Elise Cappella, Josh Wallack, and Pamela Morris argue that research-practice partnerships make it possible to rigorously study relevant policy questions in ways that would otherwise be infeasible. Randomized controlled trials of small-scale programs have shown us that early…

The purpose of this article is to describe the adaptation process of an evidence-based early childhood Tier-2 intervention program, BEST in CLASS-Prekindergarten, from a face-to-face format to a web-based delivery format called BEST in CLASS-Web. We describe the three-phase iterative development process used to adapt the parent program for…

Background: Strong connections between children's teachers and their parents fosters their learning and development in early childhood and throughout their schooling. Developing strong connections in preschool may ease the transition to elementary school for children. Objective: The goal of this study is to examine the initial implementation of…

Research Findings: The current study examined whether collective small-group behavioral engagement and teacher behavior management during small-group instruction predicted print knowledge, phonological awareness, letter writing, and expressive vocabulary gains for preschoolers at-risk for literacy difficulties. This study, part of a larger…

Purpose: This tutorial is designed for speech-language pathologists who supervise speech-language pathology assistants (SLP-As) and/or paraeducators. SLP-As and paraeducators often support young children with disabilities within early childhood settings, but do not always have access to professional development to learn and/or enhance their skill…

Social-emotional learning (SEL) programs are frequently evaluated using randomized controlled trial (RCT) methodology as a means to assess program impacts. What is often missing in RCT studies is a robust parallel investigation of the multi-level implementation of the program. The field of implementation science bridges the gap between the RCT…

This essay is a distillations of decades of efforts at cognitive intervention by many educators. Three likely outcomes for cognitive interventions are described. Recommendations for when interventions can most effectively be conducted, and what children are most likely to respond most favorably are also advanced. Finally, the general nature of the…

Purpose: Many preschoolers, especially those from low income households, would benefit from instruction to enrich their vocabulary and language repertoires. Yet, explicit instruction of vocabulary and language skills generally occurs infrequently in early childhood education settings. This study investigated the additive effects of teacher-led,…

Children's memberships in social groups have profound effects on their motivation. Stereotypes about social groups shape children's beliefs about what is expected for their group members. These beliefs can influence children's developing beliefs about themselves (self-perceptions). In this article, I review research on how gender stereotypes…

For young Spanish-speaking children entering U. S. schools, it is imperative that educators foster growth in the home language and in the language of instruction to the fullest extent possible. Monitoring language development over time is crucial for promoting language development because it allows educators to individualize student instruction.…

Project START (Students and Teachers Actively Reading Together) is an adaptive shared reading intervention designed to address the varied learning needs of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This report summarizes procedures and results of the developmental year of the project, which focused primarily on evaluating…

Research supports small-group emergent literacy intervention to boost preschool children's early skills and provide a solid foundation for continued literacy learning. Although such interventions are increasingly available to preschool teachers, we have limited understanding as to how these are implemented under routine conditions in authentic…