Cognitive skill differences that are apparent early in pre-kindergarten (pre-K) might provide predictive insights into risk for learning difficulties at school entry, particularly around early markers of risk for comorbid difficulties in early math and literacy. Domain-specific abilities (approximate number system or ANS acuity, phonological…

This study investigated the relation between Dual Language Learners' (N = 90) vocabulary and grammar comprehension and word learning processes in preschool (aged 3-through-5 years). Of interest was whether: (1) performance in Spanish correlated with performance in English within each domain; and (2) comprehension predicted novel word learning…

Classroom social networks are influential to young children's cognitive, social-emotional, and language development, but assessment and analyses of social networks are complex. Findings have been mixed regarding whether different informants (teachers, children, researchers) are congruent to their perceived classroom social networks. There is also…

Interactions with teachers and peers are critical for children's social, behavioral, and academic development in the classroom context. However, these two types of interpersonal interactions in the classroom are usually pursued via separate lines of inquiries. The current study bridges these two areas of research to examine the way in which…

Media use is a pervasive aspect of children's home experiences but is often not considered in studies of the home learning environment. Media use could be detrimental to children's language and literacy skills because it may displace other literacy-enhancing activities like shared reading and decrease the quantity and quality of caregiver-child…

Peer-effects research finds that preschool children's language growth is associated with classmates' skills and that children with disabilities especially benefit from classmates with higher skills. The current study estimates the amount of "peer language resources" individual children access through their classroom-based peer social…

Purpose: Narrative skill, a child's ability to create a temporally sequenced account of an experience or event, is considered an important domain of children's language development. Narrative skill is strongly predictive of later language and literacy and is emphasized in curricula and educational standards. However, the need to transcribe a…

Research findings: Using a sample of 568 students from 61 kindergarten classrooms whose primary caregivers completed a questionnaire describing their child's early childhood education and care (ECEC) by year from birth to pre-kindergarten, we identified seven pathways characterizing children's ECEC experiences using a latent class analysis. Once…

Self-regulation develops rapidly during the years before formal schooling, and it helps lay the foundation for children's later social, academic, and educational outcomes. However, children's self-regulation may be influenced by cultural contexts, sociodemographic factors, and characteristics of the child. The present study investigates whether…

The present study examined differences in school readiness skills in the fall of kindergarten between pre-K attendees and non-attenders (n = 2,581) among children in a large, diverse county. Also considered was the extent to which skills associated with pre-K enrollment varied as a function of children's background characteristics and features of…

Research has shown that the context of practice tasks can have a significant impact on learning, with long-term retention and transfer improving when tasks of different types are mixed by interleaving (abcabcabc) compared with grouping together in blocks (aaabbbccc). This study examines the influence of context via interleaving from a psychometric…

The purpose of this cluster randomized group study was to investigate the effect of multitiered, dual language instruction on children's oral language skills, including vocabulary, narrative retell, receptive and expressive language, and listening comprehension. Participants were 3-5 year old children (n = 81) who were learning English and whose…

Early writing is a foundational skill related to young children's literacy development and later reading and writing achievement. Examining children's early writing skills, particularly for those who have been identified as at-risk for later literacy difficulties, is critical to understanding potential differences in the early writing of these…

To expand our understanding of script-general and script-specific principles in the learning of letter names, we examined how three characteristics of alphabet letters -- their frequency in printed materials, order in the alphabet, and visual similarity to other letters -- relate to children's letter-name knowledge in four languages with three…

The present study validates a new procedure that combines continuous measures of proximity (Ubisense) and vocalization (LENA) into measures of peer social interaction. The data were collected from 4 boys and 5 girls (ages 2-3 at the outset) on 8 separate days (3-4 hours per day) over the course of an academic year. Teacher reports of friendship…