This article describes Skilled Dialogue, an approach to cultural competency developed in response to the challenges posed by cultural linguistic diversity. Skilled Dialogue focuses on cultural competency as the ability to craft respectful, reciprocal, and responsive interactions across diverse cultural parameters. Characteristics, component…

This article describes the role of family members in early intervention personnel preparation efforts, provides a rationale for family involvement, and offers guidelines and strategies for facilitating the participation of families of special-needs young children in personnel preparation, in ways that model collaborative family-professional…

Discusses how parents can discipline their children successfully. Distinguishes between punishment, permissiveness, and discipline. Provides parents with guidelines on positive steps in disciplining their children with practices that are appropriate to the child's age and developmental level, especially infants, toddlers, and preschool children.…

Reacting to an article describing the Individualized Support Project Program (EC 618 445) for young children with autism and their families, this article notes that the program's primary purpose is family preservation through restoring family efficacy, solving child behavior problems, and establishing child communication. The program is seen as…

Patterns of development in language and play for full term and preterm children from 6 to 54 months and the effects of maternal parenting strategies (i.e., maintaining attentional focus, use of directiveness) were examined. Significant risk differences in the growth of both language and play were found. The high risk children were more likely to…

Recently, there has been a great deal of research on the socialization of children's emotions and self-regulation. In the present study, the specific strategies that mothers use to help their young children regulate their emotional responses were examined using a longitudinal design. Forty-three mother-toddler pairs were observed when toddlers…

In 2001, the authors assessed the quality of care provided to children in 51 care groups from 39 child-care centers in The Netherlands using the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (T. Harms, D. Cryer, & R. M. Clifford, 1990) and compared the results with the quality of child care assessed in 1995 (M. H. van IJzendoorn, L. W. C. Tavecchio,…

Gender schema theory proposes that children's acquisition of gender labels and gender stereotypes informs gender-congruent behaviour. Most previous studies have been cross-sectional and do not address the temporal relationship between knowledge and behaviour. We report the results of a longitudinal study of gender knowledge and sex-typed behaviour…

Research shows that home visitation programs targeted at the developmental needs of children can foster their well-being. The Enhanced Home Visiting Pilot Project, funded by the Head Start Bureau in 2004, supports the quality of care that kith and kin caregivers provide to infants and toddlers enrolled in home-based Early Head Start programs.…

Leading experts in infant/toddler development have contributed succinct essays drawn from research, theory, clinical case studies, and carefully documented practice. Each essay represents current thinking in the field of infant/toddler development and care. Individually and as a collection, the essays provide a springboard for reflection,…

This paper presents a review of the literature on toy play in infancy and early childhood, with an emphasis on both normal development and special considerations for young children with disabilities. Specifically, it describes children's encounters with toys within a developmental framework, identifies characteristics of the child and aspects of…

This book looks at children's early development through what are called "touchpoints": times just before a surge of rapid motor, cognitive, or emotional development when, for a short time, children regress in several areas and become difficult to understand. Part 1, called "Touchpoints of Development," is organized around the…

This document is a transcript of a workshop intended to inform conference participants about the experiences of two schools, both members of the League of Schools Reaching Out, which sponsored the workshop. First, the director of the early education program for the Ferguson Florissant (Missouri) school district spoke about her program, which is…

Intended for parents of preschool children with visual or physical disabilities, this reference circular lists organizations offering materials and services at the national level as well as books available from standard commercial outlets. The first section lists 14 organizations providing special format materials (Braille, cassettes, large print,…

The multiple-birth family must struggle to cope with extraordinary issues with little or no information or support, and with little understanding from the community at large. This paper describes such issues and their impact on the lives of families of twins, triplets, quadruplets, and quintuplets from conception through adolescence. An…