The impact of COVID-19, both in quality and quantity, on the field of early childhood education, ECE is immeasurable. However, as research shows, its impact on family child care (FCC), has been worse than other sectors of ECE. FCC providers worldwide have always perceived their work as a service to families and children, yet FCC homes have not…

Purpose: Emerging literature suggests caregiver self-efficacy is an important factor related to caregivers' shared reading practices with their children. Reduced shared reading has been documented among families of caregiver(s) with language-based learning disabilities (LBLD). Yet, it remains unclear whether caregivers' history of language and…

Understanding the sequential associations between caregiver responsivity and child communication is pivotal for enhancing child outcomes and guiding effective interventions. This dissertation study evaluates the LENA Start™ on caregiver-child communication, focusing on sequential association between caregiver and child communicative behaviors.…

The capacity for growth and development is an integral part of being human. Infant social-emotional development is critically important to overall development and begins in the first months of life. These processes encompass how we relate to ourselves and others in our everyday lives (Malti & Cheah, 2021). Social-emotional development includes…

Background: This article emerged from a larger qualitative study, which revealed that children continue to be exposed to a complex range of risk factors with devastating consequences for their well-being. Gaps in services further hinder their development. The study concluded that there is a need for multidisciplinary teams to implement an early…

Background: Childcare providers' work demands have been associated with high rates of stress and health conditions. Physical activity (PA) may help to alleviate some of these issues, yet few studies have explored this topic. The purpose of the study was to assess childcare providers' PA levels and to explore their perceived barriers and…

Research studies support caregivers' involvement in children's mathematical journeys, as foundational to their cognitive development and academic success as mathematical learners. The purpose of this intrinsic case study was to understand how a caregiver initiated and/or continually engaged their child in spontaneous mathematical moments during a…

Background: Self-perception is an important internal resource, and violence exposure can negatively impact children's view of themselves. Although camp interventions can enhance self-perception, research has not yet examined whether camp interventions improve self-perception among children affected by family violence. Camp-based interventions…

Background: While parent management training (PMT) has been shown to be an effective treatment for adolescents with externalizing concerns, evidence suggests that effectiveness is not equitable across all types of families. Research suggests that caregiver psychopathology may adversely affect PMT success for adolescents. However, it remains…

Background: Child care quality rating and improvement systems exist to inform child care decisions and improve the quality of care. While previous research has shown QRIS have effects on quality, less is known about how child care providers vary in engagement and improvement within QRIS. In a voluntary QRIS, it is important to understand how…

Little is known about care providers' expectations for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and intellectual disabilities (ID) in Ghana. This study used group concept mapping (n = 9) and a quantitative survey (n = 128) to explore and compare service providers' and parents' expectations for children with ASD or ID. Data were analyzed using…

Sleep-related infant deaths are one of the top causes of infant mortality in the United States. A few behavior analytic studies have examined behavioral skills training to teach adults to arrange safe infant sleeping environments. These studies were conducted in an analogue environment, and no data were collected outside the training setting. The…

Research Findings: Measures of home child care (HCC) quality are limited and tend to be labor intensive. This article presents the measure development process as well as psychometric, construct, convergent and discriminant validity analyses for the HCC version of the Assessment for Quality Improvement (HCC-AQI) measure. The HCC-AQI is part of a…

Research has shown the importance of responsive caregiving for fostering positive development early in life; however, tools measuring these interactions are often impractical for larger scale intervention trials and in settings with resource constraints. The present study provides reliability and validity evidence from Sindh, Pakistan for a tool…

Research Findings: A total of 4102 childcare center teachers were recruited to examine a moderated mediation model of the relationship between teachers' adaptive caregiving beliefs and professional competence, using caregiving sensitivity as a mediator and organizational support as a moderator. Results indicated that (1) childcare center teachers'…