Parent-toddler groups constitute a primary intervention programme whose target is to support and encourage the parent-toddler relationship. Toddlerhood is a developmental period when major, crucial changes take place regarding how children function, as well as their relationship to their parents (especially to their mother). The present paper…

Objective: Children from low-income families are often not well-prepared for kindergarten entry, especially in mathematical skills. Caregivers may lack the knowledge and confidence to teach early mathematical skills. The purpose of this study was to develop a parent-child activities-based mathematics learning programme and test its acceptability…

Infancy is a time of extreme opportunity, but it is also a time of extreme vulnerability, particularly for those reared in high-risk environments. Although infant exposure to any risk is important to understand, this brief focuses on the experience and impact of "trauma," defined as witnessing or experiencing an event that poses a real…

The current longitudinal study examined trajectories of child negative emotionality, parenting efficacy, and overreactive parenting among 382 adoptive families during infancy and toddlerhood. Data were collected from adoptive parents when the children were 9-, 18-, and 27-month-old. Latent growth curve modeling indicated age-related increases in…

In this follow-up study, we evaluated children's communication development at the ages of 8 ("n" = 50), 18 ("n" = 46), 24 ("n" = 44) and 36 months ("n" = 36) using the Finnish version of the "MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventories" (MCDI). A sample of children ("n" = 14)…

Links between children's attachment security with mothers and fathers, assessed in Strange Situation with each parent at 15 months ("N" = 101), and their future behavior problems were examined. Mothers and fathers rated children's behavior problems, and children reported their own behavior problems at age 8 ("N" = 86). Teachers…

The mentor of a parent-child playgroup, an experienced student playgroup facilitator, and a faculty member teaching a family-professional collaboration course describe opportunities for preservice student facilitators to learn about and implement family-centered practices. The experiences of one student facilitator are used to explain the…

Despite intentions to raise children in two home languages, non-Japanese bilingual homes may be encouraging the development of the societal language in children born in Japan. This article investigates: (1) the language use of two trilingual mothers with their developing trilingual children, and (2) how the mothers respond to their children's use…

This study utilized data from the Michigan component of the National Early Head Start Research and Evaluation study to examine toddlers' joint attention at 14 months (parent report measure of toddlers' initiating behaviors, e.g., extends arm to show you something he or she is holding, reaches out and gives you a toy he or she has been holding, and…

This study investigated mothers' and fathers' language use in dyadic and triadic contexts. Specific attention was paid to factors associated with the quantity and quality of mother and father language use in triadic settings. Sixty-three predominantly middle-class, two-parent families with toddlers (age 16 to 37 months) participated. Mother-child…

Background: Building on reports that parental maltreatment and neglect adversely affect young children's executive function (EF), this longitudinal study examined whether exposure to a more common risk factor, mothers' depressive symptoms, predicted individual differences in EF at school-age. Methods: We followed up at age 6 a socially diverse…

In this study, observed maternal positive engagement and perception of work-family spillover were examined as mediators of the association between maternal nonstandard work schedules and children's expressive language outcomes in 231 African American families living in rural households. Mothers reported their work schedules when their child was 24…

Parents' interactions with their children can have influential effects on children's language outcomes. Special supports may be needed however, when young children live in poverty and show developmental delays early in life. This study analyzed data for a subset of children enrolled in Early Head Start (EHS) programs and participating in a…

To date, much of the research investigating maternal-child discourse has focused on the preschool period of children's development, with little attention paid to how these styles develop. The current study aimed to assess whether maternal elaborative discourse elements seen in preschool are also evident during the toddler years, and whether the…

This study investigated the potential effects of cochlear implantation and age at implantation on maternal interactional sensitivity. Three groups of dyads were studied at two points over 1 year. The hearing aid (HA) group wore hearing aids throughout the study, the early cochlear implanted (ECI) group were implanted prior to 22 months of age, and…