Validated a parent-based assessment of cognitive abilities of 3-year-olds, the Parent Report of Children's Abilities for 3s (PARCA3), against a standard tester-administered measure, the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities, and a vocabulary checklist. Found that PARCA3 parent report and parent-administered components significantly related to…

Draws from sociolinguistic perspective, human development, school learning, and language policy to discuss conflicting claims about second-language learning in school. Differentiates between cultural context within micro cultures and school content within global macro culture. Asserts that educators should ensure that learners have access to the…

The Family Literacy Bags (FLB) project is a parent involvement and education innovation designed to engage children and their families in reading books in Spanish or English at home. Findings from inquiry at four primarily rural, middle-class school districts suggest that the FLB project encouraged home book reading. Parents learned effective ways…

Discusses findings from evaluation of national "School Friends" project set up by British Telecom (BT) in the United Kingdom, in which BT employees volunteered to assist with literacy learning in primary schools. Notes evaluation findings that industry role models raised students' confidence and enthusiasm for reading, especially among boys.…

Describes the collaboration between and among classroom teachers and the preschool learning specialist (PLS) in an independent school in Louisiana. Details the PLS's role, which involves identifying and supporting individual learning strengths and weaknesses, providing direct remediation and enrichment, offering technical support, performing…

Examined learning problems in South African sample of 7- to 14-year-olds whose mothers reported excessively high infant bilirubin shortly after the child's birth. Found that this sample had lowered verbal ability with the majority also showing impaired short-term and long-term memory. Findings suggested that impaired formation of astrocytes…

A mail survey was used to investigate 5-year trends in Japanese mothers' reports of their 3-year-olds' cognitive, psychomotor, and social developmental attainment. Findings indicated significant decreases in all domains, not attributable to changes in family structure, although scores were higher among children in nuclear families than in extended…

Two experiments explored effects of intervention and test conditions on preschoolers' use of counting to compare two sets. At mean age of 4 years 4 months, children in two intervention groups were more likely to use counting to compare sets than those in control group. Use of counting to compare sets was closely related to counting performance.…

Reviews literature on family influence on children's acquisition of literacy. Discusses the ambivalence regarding family literacy theories and the lack of family literacy theoretical frameworks. Identifies types of family involvement and effective literacy strategies for families. Finds that most studies suggest that family literacy contributes to…

Examined parenting self-efficacy as a potential mediator of effect of competence-promoting and inhibiting parenting on toddlers' scores on mental scale of the Bayley Scales. Found that effect of competence-inhibiting composite (forceful redirection of child's attention, ignoring and reinforcing misbehavior, potentially distracting self- conscious…

Examined cross-cultural research literature for support of relationship between children's social functioning and peer acceptance and psychosocial well-being. Used PsychLIT search to identify 18 cross-cultural observational studies focusing on interaction of children up to 12 years. Encountered theoretical orientations. Found that the studies did…

Reviews family literacy initiatives, arguing that many well-intentioned initiatives are driven by poor assumptions and definitions, are limited in scope, have not been evaluated fully, and fail to achieve genuine collaboration between home, school, and community. Suggests that initiatives should consider how they meet needs of all students and…

Contends that cultural practices such as carrying the baby on the mother's back for prolonged periods can impact negatively on development of visual integration during the sensorimotor stage pathways by preventing adequate or enough crawling. Maintains that crawling is essential for cross- modality integration and that higher mental functions may…

Presents diagnostic model of early language delay; examines four longitudinal studies exploring relationship between early language delay and later literacy development. Identifies findings providing strong evidence of continuity between language delay and later reading difficulties and the importance of severity and chronicity of the impairment.…

Describes changes in the perception and role of fatherhood during the last century. Maintains that official definitions and professional practice rarely confirm fathers' nurturing role, with debilitating results for fathers and families. Contends that legislation, official documents, and procedures should recognize changed expectations of family…