Background: Early literacy and numeracy skills are developed during early childhood. Among the many factors that influence the development of such skills, the literature shows that the executive functions, especially the response inhibition (RI)--that is the capability to block out or to tune out what can be considered irrelevant information or…

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) may cause anemia. The research aimed at evaluating the effect of Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) on hemoglobin (Hb) is, however, limited and, conclusions drawn from a few studies have been concluded inconsistently. In Bangladesh, the prevalence of childhood anemia is high, as well as the prevalence of VAD. Therefore, the…

Early onset of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems is associated with persistent and more severe academic, social, and mental health challenges later in life. Understanding the factors that increase children's risk of developing these behavior problems prior to the start of formal school is important for preventing their emergence…

Ladson-Billings (2014) asserts educators often fail to carry out a critical form of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) by neglecting the development of sociopolitical consciousness and attending to limited understandings of "culture." Using narrative inquiry, this study explored preschool teachers' narratives on various factors which…

Child Trends and Start Early have partnered to better understand what early childhood systems builders need to build and support more equitable systems. The briefs in this series, called Conversation Starters, define a new framework for early childhood systems that center families' experiences and raise key considerations and next steps for…

Research into children's screen time has primarily focused on the quantity of screen exposure. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent, if any, there was an association between young children's media screen time and the quality of joint media engagement between parent, child, and media in the home. The problem addressed was that…

Effective parent-teacher partnerships improve outcomes for autistic students. Yet, we know little about what effective partnerships look like for parents of autistic children from different backgrounds. We conducted interviews with 17 Chinese parents of autistic children attending Australian kindergartens/schools to understand their experiences.…

Head Start programs engage parents to support children's growth from birth through age 5 through services that promote early learning and development, health, and family well-being. These programs specifically seek to assist families with low incomes and families facing a variety of other adversities. To foster positive child and family outcomes,…

This study examined the effect of dialogic reading intervention on improving the theory of mind of rural Chinese children. A 12-week-randomized controlled trial design with two intervention groups, i.e. school practice intervention (SPI), parent-involved intervention (PII), and one control group with traditional reading intervention (TRI) that…

The early development of spatial reasoning skills has been linked to future success in mathematics (Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009), but research to date has mainly focused on the development of these skills within classroom settings rather than at home. The home environment is often the first place students are exposed to, and develop, early…

Assessing implementation allows for a better understanding of an intervention's effects and the mechanisms that influence its impact. Two main areas of implementation are: (1) the quality with which an intervention is delivered; and (2) instructors' adherence to the programmed intervention. The current study used data from a kindergarten…

This study investigated whether transitory and persistent poverty spells were associated with children's learning (literacy and numeracy scores) and executive function outcomes in Ghana. Children resided in the Greater Accra region (N = 2,154; 49% female; M[subscript age] = 5.2 years at wave-1) and were followed at four-time points over three…

What is the nature of the relationship between different lower-level numerical skills and their role in developing arithmetic skills? We consider the hypothesis of a reciprocal relationship between the development of symbolic (e.g., Arabic numerals) and nonsymbolic (e.g., arrays of objects) numerical magnitude processing. Evidence for…

Teachers' perceptions are important in identifying and serving gifted children. However, little attention is given to gifted education in the early years in China. This study aimed to investigate teachers' perceptions of young gifted children (aged 3-6), exploring teachers' understandings, feelings, practices, and perceived challenges. Qualitative…

Within an Orff-based program implemented in Israel, this mixed-methods study examined the effects of age on emerging rhythmic literacy in children. Participants (N = 132) were kindergarteners (n = 45) and first-graders (n = 87) aged 4 to 7.8 years. The participants performed a rhythm entitled "Rhythm-A" through the body and instrumental…