Knowing how children become oriented to imaginary play can help educators in centres better support development. But how this begins in the first years of life is not well understood. How toddlers transform through their imagination concrete objects (such as play accessories, figurines, and books) to become props in play (placeholders and pivots)…

STEM is not just about learning four discrete subject-specific content areas (McClure et al., 2017), but also an approach of higher order thinking (i.e., the ability to think critically, logically, and creatively, and solve problems; Baharin et al., 2018). In this article, the authors use STEM learning to describe children's learning about STEM,…

Perspective taking and cognitive flexibility are important abilities for navigating our everyday lives. In this longitudinal study with 108 children (61 girls, mostly White), we investigated the developmental relation between Level 1 perspective taking at 27 months of age and Level 2 perspective taking at 52 months of age as well as relations to…

We describe the development of 236 children with Angelman syndrome (AS) using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition. Multilevel linear mixed modeling approaches were used to explore differences between molecular subtypes and over time. Individuals with AS continue to make slow gains in development through at least age…

Inhibitory control (IC) is a core executive function integral to self-regulation and cognitive control, yet is itself multi-componential. Directed global inhibition entails stopping an action on demand. Competitive inhibition is engaged when an alternative response must also be produced. Related, but not an executive function, is…

In the field of educational robotics, it is important to understand the processes trough which child-robot interactions are established during play activities. In terms of socio-material characteristics, robots can vary widely, from more mechanical robots to more anthropomorphic ones. Research has shown that the degree of anthropomorphization of…

Can at-scale, government-implemented parent training programs improve parenting practices and child development outcomes? This article presents evidence on the effects of a low-cost, group-based early childhood education program that provided parent training and direct child stimulation in rural communities, evaluated in six Mexican states.…

Toddlerhood is a period of intensive and rapid socio-emotional development. The effects of different types of childcare settings on child development have been widely studied, but the results have often been contradictory. The aim of this study was to compare social competence and socio-emotional problems in two-year-old children (n = 1104; girls…

Maternal substance use and unpredictable maternal sensory signals may affect child development, but no studies have examined them together. We explored the unpredictability, frequency and duration of maternal sensory signals in 52 Caucasian mother-child dyads, 27 with and 25 without maternal substance use. We also examined the association between…

Research Findings: This study investigated the sequential mediating effects of parental material investment (MI) and time investment (TI) upon the correlation between family socioeconomic status (SES) and toddlers' development (TD). Data derived from a 2016 data set, including a sample of 1,316 toddlers based in 117 villages across 22 counties…

Children comprehend iconic gestures relatively later than deictic gestures. Previous research with English-learning children indicated that they could comprehend iconic gestures at 26 months, a pattern whose extension to other languages is not yet known. The present study examined Turkish-learning children's iconic gesture comprehension and its…

Inhibitory control (IC) emerges in infancy, continues to develop throughout childhood and is linked to later life outcomes such as school achievement, prosocial behavior, and psychopathology. Little, however, is known about the neural processes underpinning IC, especially in 2-year-olds. In this study, we examine functional connectivity (FC) in…

This study explored the experiences and perspectives of Latinx mothers of children younger than 3 years who had participated in a developmental screening initiative provided by 2 Federally Qualified Health Centers in an urban setting, had positive developmental screenings, and were referred to early intervention (EI) services. A 2-phase…

Longitudinal research on language abilities and social functioning in young children suggests that gains in one domain affect gains in the other. However, few studies have examined inter-relations of language and social functioning jointly among young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Pre-verbal toddlers with ASD are a group…

The objective of this study was to evaluate the motor, cognitive and language development of babies living in two institutional contexts. Seventy babies participated in the study: 35 from prisons and 35 from shelters. Thirty-five mothers of hospitalized babies and 10 caregivers of hospitalized babies also participated in this study. The…