A substantial number of empirical studies in the field of Early Childhood Science Education have explored science concept formation in early childhood educational settings. Most of these studies focus on the process of science concept formation during a teaching intervention or a school year period. However, less is known about how children form…

Background: Interventions found to be effective in research settings are often not as effective when implemented in community settings. Considering children with autism, studies have rarely examined the efficacy of laboratory-tested interventions on child outcomes in community settings using randomized controlled designs. Methods: One hundred and…

Background: Identifying risk and protective factors for language development informs interventions for children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Maternal responsive and intrusive communicative behaviours are associated with language development. Mother-child interaction quality may influence how children use these behaviours in language…

Symbolic play is a powerful vehicle for supporting emotional development and communication. It embraces all developmental capacities. This article describes how symbols are formed and how emotional themes are symbolized whereby children reveal their understanding of the world, their feelings and relationships, and how they see themselves in the…

This article tells the story of a single mother, Maria, who has a history of trauma, and her 2-year-old daughter, Lina, as they learn, play, and heal together through the use of Child-Parent Psychotherapy, an evidenced-based, trauma-informed therapeutic intervention in a home-based program model. Through the power of play, Maria and Lina are able…

Set mainly in a UK context between 2003-2007, this article presents selected findings from a doctoral study, Companionable Learning: The Development of Resilient Well-being from Birth to Three; and from a series of subsequent studies carried out in English settings. Two questions have been explored: firstly, what are the interdependent components…

Standardized psychological assessment provides a precise yet limited view of the neuropsychological status of preschool toddlers, whose brain functioning is only beginning to develop localized functioning. Yet, referrals for preschool evaluation of these early-age children often request a wide variety of information about brain-behavior…

This study investigated the issue of whether a shift occurs in infant play goals at around the beginning of the second year in terms of the organization of object-directed and caregiver-directed attention and preference for toys that require the caregiver's involvement. A total of 108 infants of 10, 15, and 29 months were observed playing with…

Four children (ages 1-2) with language delays were evaluated to assess the benefits of a play-based model for providing an accurate analysis of a child's language capabilities. The play-based assessment model provided a broader picture of the children's emerging skills, which was helpful in planning interventions. (Author/CR)

Stability and predictive validity in the language and play development of 41 toddlers were studied. Links between language and symbolic play of toddlers were examined at 13 and 20 months in terms of homotypic, heterotypic, or mediated models of association. In the homotypic model, performance on a variable is related to performance on the same…

The second of two articles on play reviews the construct of play and its development in typically developing infants, toddlers, and young children. It considers developmental levels of play from early sensorimotor-exploratory to symbolic play involving the functional components of agent, instrument, and scheme. A developmentally based,…

Analysis of mothers' pragmatic language use and children's language levels during free play sessions suggested that a mother-driven, direct influence model may be inappropriate for many mother speech-child language development relationships and points to the feasibility of child- and mother-driven explanatory models for indirect relationships.…

In this article, first I describe from observation the spontaneous vocalisations produced during free play by young children of 18 months to three-years-old. I propose that a focus on vocalisations can provide valuable insights into general aspects of children's play. Next I describe two musical play situations between toddlers and their mothers…

Caring for infants and toddlers has long been conceptualized in Western society as mothers' work, and consequently devalued. Alternative care for infants and toddlers has lacked a knowledge base like that undergirding preschool education. Factors impeding research on infant/toddler care include strong ideological opposition to nonmaternal care,…

In an attempt to provide a model of language intervention tailored to toddler needs, this poster session gives an overview of a playgroup program implemented by a speech-language pathologist and an early intervention specialist. The program's aim is to improve communicative abilities while maintaining the integrity of the child-caregiver…