Outlines the development of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program (DARE), particularly in the United Kingdom, and explores the added value of DARE for children, schools, teachers, and the community. Considers the development of DARE in terms of curriculum review to optimize DARE in accordance with current best practice guidance. (Author/KB)

Examines the efforts to find effective ameliorative measures for literacy difficulties such as dyslexia and dyspraxia, focusing on noneducational techniques found in holistic medicine, complementary therapies, and nutritional supplements. Maintains that dyslexia has become big business for drug companies and that the appropriate research regarding…

Uses narrative inquiry techniques to construct an Australian male's account of formative experiences as an early childhood educator and the difficulties encountered in a traditionally "female" profession. Notes that fear of unwarranted accusations of child sexual abuse and their impact highlight potential vulnerability of men in this profession.…

A questionnaire study elicited views of 14,328 Hong Kong parents on kindergarten education. Responses indicated positive attitudes toward kindergarten. Parents thought that kindergarten was important for their children and that well qualified teachers were necessary for kindergarten. Very few believed that attending kindergarten eased parental…

Compared caregiver-child discourse surrounding information and narrative picture books with twelve 4-year-olds. Found that discourse surrounding the informational book was greater in quantity than for the picture book, and contained more cognitively demanding questions, more conditional clauses, and more interactions involving reasoning and…

Examined impact of a 5-week music/movement program involving relaxation, kinesics, singing, visual contact, and tactile stimulation on first-time mothers' use of music and movement with their infants. Found that the program extended mothers' use of relaxation to music and rhythmical movement with their infants but not the use of song and massage…

Examined effect of toddler temperament on caregiver-toddler interaction in child care. Found that children classified as difficult attracted significantly more attention, not necessarily positive, from caregivers. Children rated as easy were overlooked more often than others. Children's sociability/withdrawal made little difference to caregiver…

Evaluated alternative assessment strategies for preschoolers which use movement behavior as the focus and which involve teachers, parent/caregivers, and children in the process. Incorporated adult/child observation coding system with physical, social, cognitive, and task dimensions supplemented by regular structured interviews and a motor…

Explored nature and extent of track and field injuries of 8- and 9-year-olds and their injury prevention methods. Found that about one-third had at least one injury. About one-fourth considered their injuries serious. Most serious injuries occurred during track and field events. There were no age or gender differences in injury rates. Injury…

Fifty young children were interviewed concerning their experiences, expectations, and perceptions about starting school. Responses indicated strong focus on rules encountered in school and feelings about going to school. Conventional rules were mentioned most often, with moral and task rules negligible. Seventy-five percent of references to…

Investigated impact of Derman Sparks' Anti-Bias Curriculum on gender role stereotyping. Found that children who experienced the curriculum were more aware of anti-bias gender roles than children from a contrast center. Asian children were less aware than non-Asian Australian children, but both showed increasing awareness after intervention. There…

Examined effects of ethnolinguistic differences on social proximity between Cantonese- and Mandarin-speaking Chinese children in a day care center. Found that each group of children was more likely to be in closer proximity to children speaking their own language than to children speaking the other language during free choice floor- and group-time…

Three studies evaluated the impact of the Home Instruction Programme for Preschool and Year One Youngsters (HIPPY) on New Zealand children's reading ability, school readiness, and school behavior. Findings indicated that HIPPY children showed consistently better performance that control group children on all measures used, with differences…

Compared knowledge and attitudes regarding inappropriate parenting among immigrant parents from European and Caucasus countries of the former Soviet Union residing in Israel. Found that immigrants from the Caucasus related inappropriate parental behaviors to what is normative, whereas European immigrants were concerned with potential harm to the…

Examines definitions of inclusion, mainstreaming, and integration, focusing on developments within the United States. Reviews legislation leading to inclusion, the debate about use of inclusion in early-childhood special education, and the rationale and research supporting inclusion. Describes factors necessary for successful inclusion, including…