Provides a rationale and foundation for physical education for preschoolers. Details a developmentally appropriate approach to teaching preschoolers with and without developmental delays; offers relevant recommendations for early childhood and elementary teachers, and physical educators. Asserts that developmentally appropriate physical education…

Provides an overview of early language and literacy development and influences. Details how teachers can use storybooks to plan toddler curricula, presents criteria for selecting toddler books for curriculum projects, and describes how one book served as the foundation for a curriculum project, focusing on representing ideas and concepts from the…

Discusses the importance of involving parents and families in their young child's assessment. Offers suggestions for early childhood educators to: explain the evaluation process to families, explain the particular assessment tool, ask questions to validate the assessment process, explain results, address difficult issues, and provide resources to…

Discusses the qualifications for early childhood teachers. Considers personal qualities and subject matter competence, and identifies myths concerning who can become an outstanding teacher of young children. Maintains that the prime directive for any teacher is to model, facilitate, and further learning in every student without doing harm to any…

Critically reviews research on effects of cartoon violence on children's moral understanding and behavior to enable early childhood educators and parents to make informed decisions about what constitutes potentially harmful television viewing. Focuses on preschoolers' limited comprehension of television content and relatively sophisticated moral…

Examined gender behavior and stereotypes in a child care center. Found that boys received more caregiver attention than girls. Girls were reinforced for their dress, hairstyles, and helping behavior; boys received comments on their size and physical skills. Caregivers used linguistic bias when communicating with children. Gender separation was…

Authoritative parenting has been demonstrated to promote healthy, loving children across home environments of different SES income levels. However, anecdotal evidence shows that some children who encounter nonsupporting parenting and an impoverished environment may develop into remarkably resilient children. Further research is needed in this area…

Surveyed parents regarding satisfaction with early childhood services provided by either a child care center or an early education program in rural North Carolina. Found that the average level of satisfaction, based on a 5-point scale, was 4.64 for the child care group and 4.37 for the early education group. Satisfaction with care and education…

Provides a research-based rationale for using wordless books in early childhood settings. Offers a developmental sequence for introducing children to stories told through pictures. Suggests a general strategy and a wide array of early literacy activities, and recommends ways of communicating with families about the value of wordless books.…

Explores connections between mathematics, music, and movement in early childhood curriculum. Presents music activities in which mathematical concepts are embedded; focuses on activities providing experiences with time-based relationships and rhythmic patterns. Asserts that integrating movement and mathematics into music activities provides a way…

Discusses issues related to providing augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems to young African American children with disabilities and their families. Issues related to the family include stress on the family, communication partners, cultural mistrust, communication needs and values, and language patterns and communication style.…

Provides information on how teachers in the early childhood setting can encourage fathers to participate in their children's school experiences. Discusses models for fathers, the place of work in the traditional father role, and helping children with absent fathers. Suggests ways to teach positive parenting skills to fathers, including praising…

An adapted alternating-treatments design was used to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of constant time delay and simultaneous prompting procedures within an embedded instruction format on the acquisition of various leisure skills by four preschool students with autism. The results showed that both procedures were effective in promoting the…

The importance of being family centered when providing services to children with a disability and their families has gained currency in the research and practice literature. A growing body of evidence has validated many of the theoretical links between the help-giving practices of staff and desirable outcomes for families with a child with a…

The study assessed the value of maternal writing mediation in predicting children's early literacy. Thirty kindergartners with hearing impairment (HI) and their mothers participated. Mothers were videotaped at home while helping their children write words, and the children's early literacy was assessed in the kindergarten. Maternal writing…