This Q methodological study explores emotional experiences and coping of daycare staff when working with children of divorce and their families. Two main coping strategies among daycare staff were identified: 1) Confident copers, and 2) Non-confident copers. Interviews exemplify the two main experiences. Both groups may struggle with coping in…

This study examined the developmental significance of mothers' adult attachment representations assessed prenatally with the Adult Attachment Interview in relation to observed maternal sensitivity at 6 months postpartum in an ethnically diverse sample (N = 131 African American; N = 128 European American). Multiple-group confirmatory factor…

Research Findings: This study examined how characteristics of parents, providers, and children contribute to the quality of parent--provider relationships in infant and toddler classrooms. Parents (n = 192) and providers (n = 95) from 14 child care centers in a large metropolitan area participated by completing questionnaires about the nature of…

Boys Town has created a program called In-Home Family Services to deliver help to families in stress. In-home family intervention programs have become widely used to help more families who are at risk and experiencing difficulties with a wide range of problems including domestic violence, child behavior problems, parent-child and family…

Research Findings: Interpersonal relationships among staff caregivers, parents, and children have been recommended as essential aspects of early childhood intervention. This study explored the associations of these relationships with program outcomes for children and parents in 3 Early Head Start programs. A total of 71 children (8-35 months,…

Autism has a unique history. The definition has broadened and changed over time, from an emotional disturbance with psychogenic origins to a neurodevelopmental disability with suspected environmental and genetic origins. Diagnosis occurs later than children born with obvious disabilities such as cerebral palsy or Down syndrome, but earlier than…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Online Testing, Version 1.0: Oregon's Adaptive Computer-Based Accountability Test Offers a Peek at a Brave New Future (Robert Rothman); (2) Beyond Gay-Straight Alliances:…

The "BAS for Family Child Care" is the first valid and reliable tool for measuring and improving the overall quality of business and professional practices in family child care settings. It is applicable for multiple uses, including program self-improvement, technical assistance and monitoring, training, research and evaluation, and public…

Nature-based learning is an increasingly popular type of early childhood education. Despite this, children's experiences--in particular, their form and function within different settings and how they are viewed by practitioners--are relatively unknown. Accordingly, the use of nature as a setting and a resource for learning was researched. A…

Some teachers are sick of struggling with parents of children in their care? They dread upcoming conferences, and with they knew how to approach a difficult. This book will help turn parent worries into warm, confident relationships. The reader will learn how to: (1) Improve parent-teacher communication; (2) Better understand a parent's…

Factitious disorder by proxy (FDP), historically known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, is a diagnosis applied to parents and other caregivers who intentionally feign, exaggerate, and/or induce illness or injury in a child to get attention from health professionals and others. A review of the recent literature and our experience as consultants…

Despite the importance of establishing meaningful parent-caregiver relationships, little is known about these dyadic relationships among beginning caregivers, who often feel insufficiently prepared to build successful alliances with parents. The present study examined the congruence between parents' and beginning caregivers' perceptions of their…

This study aimed to explore family day care (FDC) educators' knowledge of child social and emotional wellbeing and mental health problems, the strategies used to promote children's wellbeing, and barriers and opportunities for promoting children's social and emotional wellbeing. Thirteen FDC educators participated in individual semi-structured…

In this commentary the authors share their experiences on the design and implementation of community-centered early intervention programs in Prince George's County, MD. Their aim in designing community-centered programs was to provide infants and toddlers opportunities for learning, language, and motor development in natural environments with…

Since 2005, "Better Beginnings", an early intervention, statewide family literacy programme developed by The State Library of Western Australia, has provided thousands of families with strategies and resources to promote and support book-sharing from birth. This paper reports on the key findings of an independent longitudinal evaluation of the…