Parent-Toddler Movement Class (PTMC) is a structured dance curriculum that introduces movement to toddlers and caregivers. Using a qualitative methodological approach, the present study investigated how PTMCs supported the attachment of 27 caregiver-toddler dyads. The children ranged in age from two- to three-years-old and were students enrolled…

Purpose: Adapted ride-on cars offer an affordable mobility intervention that provides broader access to a child's environment. Such newfound independence is a unique opportunity to examine changes in environmental language and communicative participation as children acquire mobility. New technologies such as the Language Environmental Analysis…

Navigation of the state and federal child welfare and special education systems in the U.S. presents significant challenges for caregivers, particularly those of children with disabilities. This dissertation explores the experiences of caregivers who were involved in these two systems, discussing the challenges they faced and analyzing the…

Background: Improving childcare quality is an important goal in South Korea as many infants attend childcare centers. The quality of teacher-child interactions is a common and crucial predictor of childcare quality. Thus, it is imperative to identify the relative contributions of the variables associated with improving the interaction quality of…

This 3-wave longitudinal study investigated the developmental trajectories of instrumental helping, sharing and empathic helping across toddlerhood, and how socialisation processes (i.e., parents' and teachers' practices) contribute to these developments. Participants were 50 18-months-olds and 62 24-months-olds, their parents, and daycare…

In response to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, USA, early childhood education was one of the targets of intervention and prevention for children who were exposed to lead poisoning, because high-quality child care could potentially help improve their developmental trajectories. The Provider Empowerment Program used human-centered design (HCD)…

U.S. policy makers continue to struggle with identifying inclusive strategies that effectively support the needs of individual family child care (FCC) providers, who tend to have low quality rating improvement systems (QRIS) scores. To ensure program quality, there is a need to identify supportive strategies and evidence-based practices that build…

One cue that may facilitate children's word learning is iconicity, or the correspondence between a word's form and meaning. Some have even proposed that iconicity in the early lexicon may serve to help children learn how to learn words, supporting the acquisition of even noniconic, or "arbitrary," word-referent associations. However,…

Background: Safety practices play a vital role in childcare business, as childcare entails managing children's daily life routines and preventing them from any harm. Aim: This study aims to explore the perspectives and awareness of childcare centres regarding the importance of childcare safety practices, babysitters' traits and safety performance…

Although global prevalence of autism has grown substantially, researchers still report inequity in access to evidence-based interventions in many low-resource settings where majority of world's children live. Capacity building of diverse stakeholders in low-resource settings has been suggested to be a potential way to mitigate low levels of access…

Early childhood home visiting programs are well positioned to improve equity and reduce health disparities for families headed by caregivers with intellectual disabilities and other learning differences. Early identification of learning differences through screening may help home visiting staff tailor services and thus improve family engagement…

Caregiver coaching in early intervention (EI) can lead to positive outcomes for young children with delays and disabilities and their families. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some EI providers reported coaching caregivers more frequently. However, EI providers' use of caregiver coaching is inconsistent, and there is a need for more…

This study investigates the burnout and coping in the work experience of educators-caregivers (ECs) employed in early childhood day-care centers in Israel, given that the interaction between ECs and children is a decisive factor in the quality of care for children. The study included 40 participants and used qualitative-phenomenological and…

Limited research currently exists that examines typically-developing children's sensory processing and how this effects their leisure activity participation and preferences. To investigate the association between sensory processing and the self-reported leisure activity participation and preferences in children aged seven to 12 years. 24 children…

High-quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is an important component of thriving communities. It is central to the socio-emotional and intellectual growth of young children, to the ability of parents to go to work, and to the ability of employers to find and retain workers. Despite this centrality, there is a profound shortage of ECEC…