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Jeremy Sawyer recounts that, after Lev S. Vygotsky's death, Jean Piaget conceded the Russian psychologist correctly understood the social origins, functions, and developmental trajectory of children's egocentric speech (now called private speech) but dismissed this work as irrelevant to children's egocentrism or nondifferentiation of perspectives. Sawyer asserts that, although Piaget precluded perspective taking in egocentric speech, a post-Vygotskian framework suggests private speech and sociodramatic play may actually promote perspective taking, thereby reducing egocentrism. In light of these assertions, Sawyer examines private speech transcripts from preschoolers for evidence of perspective taking and concludes that they suggest children internalize perspectival differences through private speech and use more implicit perspective taking than explicit mental-state terms. And preschoolers, the author suggests, employ more sociodramatic speech in a sociodramatic play context to enact imaginary scenarios and pretend roles. He concludes that, rather than a remnant of egocentrism, private speech may be a psychologicaltool for engaging multiple perspectives.

Despite numerous critiques of the pioneering works of developmental child psychology, these key ideas continue to resonate within the field of ECEC (early childhood education and care). This article seeks to re-animate the critique through a closer look at two current tendencies within the Nordic countries: a growing and increasingly strict age segregation of kindergarten children; and a minor oppositional movement of family groups gathering children from one-to-six years of age. Looking towards Piaget as one of the main pioneers of developmentalism, we question whether strict age segregation is justified based on his theories -- a close re-reading of two of Piaget's major works would suggest not. Through reflections of kindergarten teachers working with age-homogeneous groups, we trace other discourses that developmentalism is entangled with. The analysis and deconstruction of the teachers' reflections point to the need to explore age segregation within a neoliberalist political context and further, show how this results in institutionalised othering. Through mobilising an agential realist reading we explore how narratives of kindergarten teachers that work with age-heterogeneous groups might inspire alternative ways of thinking/practising, and re-energise the critique of developmentalism.

Studies have used psychological games testing to measure children's bioaffinity (a child's love of/for or connection to nature) as a result of time spent in nature enriching children's well-being. Discrepancies found between two studies in different countries (Sweden and Canada) informed this research. Both studies used the same bioaffinity testing tool with children who had more than average nature-exposure and were enrolled in preschools using the same nature-based philosophy (Reggio-Emilia approach). While the Swedish study found positive bioaffinity amongst the children (aged 5), the Canadian children's (aged 3-5) affinity with nature was weak. The inconsistencies between the Swedish and Canadian studies led to recommendations for further research and testing to determine the following: (1) the appropriateness of the measure for younger children, (2) the need to modify the test to be more culturally and geographically relevant for the participants, and (3) whether such revisions would increase participant understanding and completion of the test while producing more accurate results. As such, this study sought to modify the testing tool to be more culturally, geographically and developmentally appropriate for young Canadian children and then test it with a cohort of 3-5-year-old Canadian preschoolers. Interviews with early childhood education experts and current child development psychology literature informed the modification of the games testing tool. Reduction in the time needed to complete the testing and an increase in child engagement indicate that the new tool's revisions effectively enhanced the children's understanding of the game's testing.

The primary goal of this paper is to describe an innovative active learning experience (i.e., class trip to a children's museum) aimed at expanding child psychology students' knowledge of the developmental benefits of play. A secondary goal is to present preliminary data about the impact of this experience on students' learning by examining scores of a pre/post knowledge assessment for students who went to the museum (N = 30; 27 female) and a comparison group who did not (N = 31; 29 female). Students who visited the museum demonstrated significantly greater improvement on the knowledge assessment relative to the comparison group. In response to an open-ended question, trip group students indicated that the museum experience helped them to better understand the role of play in children's development and ways in which play behavior varies by age. Limitations of the empirical results related to the sample characteristics, scope of the knowledge assessment, and the nature of the museum trip are highlighted, along with a call for more rigorous future research on this topic.

In this article author Prairie Boulmier writes that Paul Tough, author of "How Children Succeed," has emerged as a visible and respected voice on education reform and research in the U.S. Boulmier describes "How Children Succeed" and its focus on an increasing knowledge base that supports so-called "noncognitive" skill development in children--including traits like curiosity, self-control, and character--and programs such as Tools of the Mind and the KIPP character education program. Boulmier points out that although Tough admits he has not yet seen the perfect solution, he still offers a challenging view of what education reform could look like if schools cared more about noncognitive skills. "How Children Succeed" (2012) is described as a compelling overview of decades of research, looking deeply into programs, teachers, mentors, and students who are challenging the American view of education. The hope that the focus in education appears to be shifting toward emotional regulation, executive functioning, and character traits should be encouraging to those involved in the Montessori movement.

The central question debated in current research on infant social cognition is "do infants have a theory of mind?" It is argued here that this question is understood and treated in radically different ways by different participants of the debate arguing either for (e.g., Onishi & Baillargeon, 2005) or against early competence in theory of mind (e.g., Perner & Ruffman, 2005). As a consequence, there is considerable talking past each other, both sides make claims that appear incompatible but are actually answers to different questions and framed at different levels of description. Some conceptual distinctions from the philosophy of mind are therefore introduced to describe the different interpretations of the question and the misunderstandings based thereupon, with the aim of providing some conceptual clarification as groundwork for future debates. (Contains 4 footnotes.)

Ideas about child education are inevitably underpinned by particular views of children, including their nature and development. The purpose of this paper is to discuss C. G. Jung's account of child education in relation to his psychological theory and view of children. However, as Jung's theory predominantly concerns the psychological development of adults and not children, the current paper makes selective use of Jung's texts that focus on children, and examines what Jung calls "the other half" of education that works through the teacher's personality indirectly affecting the student's development of personality. From a close study of Jung's texts, the paper discusses the nature and the extent of children's involvement in "the other half" of education and considers some problems with Jung's account of unconscious education. The paper identifies the active and autonomous roles played by children in unconscious education and suggests that Jung's account of "the other half of education" could provide fresh insights about the meaning and quality of education. (Contains 1 figure and 23 notes.)

Whereas some four year olds could draw a person with five fingers on each hand and a full set of facial features, others could barely hold a pencil. Some sat quietly in a small group, intently listening to and understanding a story, while others wiggled, fidgeted, and couldn't focus their attention. In those days, before the explosion of developmental neuroscience, the author's professors explained individual differences in readiness with the term "neural ripening," a catchphrase for the notion that individuals' developmental timetables differed biologically--and that there wasn't much one could do about it. For decades researchers tried to pin down what percentage of I.Q. is attributable to genes and what percentage to the child's environment. Nature and nurture are so intertwined from the moment of conception that it is impossible to separate them. It's a waste of time to try and determine an exact percentage of influence on any behavioral trait (such as intelligence or academic readiness). The issue is no longer Nature "vs." Nurture, but rather Nature "plus" Nurture. (Contains 8 endnotes.)

This paper explores the interaction of ethnicity and friendship in a kindergarten in England. Existing literature from different traditions, such as developmental psychology, sociocultural theory and postmodernism, suggests that pre-school children tend to choose friends from the same ethnic group. The research was carried out using an ethnographic approach over the period of a year. The findings indicate that the children did play largely with others of the same sex and same ethnic origin. Children's friendships, sense of self and sense of other, it is suggested, emerged not from within but from experiences of the activities in which they did or did not engage. Hence the children's ethnic identities and friendships were shaped by the internalisation of what they saw and heard as they engaged in the kindergarten's activities. These led to the children's identities being performed and internalised in particular sorts of ways that marked out the children as familiar ("like us") or unfamiliar ("not like us") to others according to their previous experiences. Thus these identity performances in relation to the activities offered seemed to be internalised and to come to affect the friendships that children formed with each other.

This paper reflects critically on the meaning of play, especially as it relates to disabled children and their experiences. We explore the close alliance of play to cognitive and social development, particularly in the case of psychologies of development, and reveal a dominant discourse of the disabled child as a non-playing object that requires professional therapeutic intervention. We argue that this pathologisation of play on the part of disabled children is closely tied to normalisation of childhood, in which non-normal bodies are increasingly expected to be governed and corrected not only by professionals but also by parents/carers. In order to rescue more enabling visions of the disabled child and their play we turn to three perspectives--the new sociology of childhood; social oppression theories of disability; critical developmental psychology. These resources, we suggest, allow us to reconfigure what we mean by play and disability in a contemporary climate that celebrates competition and marketisation over the intrinsic potentialities of all children. We argue that how we conceive play will per se undermine or promote forms of inclusive research, policy and practice.

The changes in the kibbutzim went through a transition from a collectivistic society to an individualistic one, with an emphasis on family units. Parents found themselves in a new role that was not passed to them by inter-generational transfer, while caregivers lost their socialisation roles, expressed by exhaustion and low professional self-esteem. This crisis gave rise to the "integrative psycho-pedagogical model", which merges theories from child and parent developmental psychology with organisational, systemic counselling and ecological theories. This model provides a new professional horizon for women who work in the EC field and increases their professional self-esteem. Due to its success it has been adopted by educational systems outside of the kibbutzim in Israel. (Contains 4 figures.)

A misconception about spirituality is that it is tied to religion (i.e., belief in and reverence for a supernatural power). Yet, the term "spirituality" is derived from the word "spirit"--often defined as the vital principle or animating force within living things. This definition may reflect some overlap with what is generally covered in religion, but it also represents a reality that can stand apart from religion. As plants need certain conditions to flourish, so do children. This is true for all dimensions of child development, including children's spirituality. Young children are natural philosophers and ready to grapple with serious philosophical questions which relate to matters of the spirit. To promote both the well-being of young children and the creation of a peaceful society, adults would do well to attend to the spiritual wonderings and dispositions of young children.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how brief experimental analyses (BEAs) could be used to identify effective interventions for Kindergartners (2 girls and 2 boys, 5 years and 7-10 months old) with low performance and/or growth slope in letter sound fluency (LSF). Interventions were tested within a multielement design with brief mini-reversals until an intervention yielding at least 20% improvement on a specific subskill measure or a curriculum-based measure of LSF was identified. BEA-identified interventions were implemented one-on-one for 5 to 9 weeks. A multiple-baseline design across participants showed large intervention effects (average adjusted d = 2.4) on general outcome measures, supporting treatment validity of BEAs. Findings extend the BEA literature to younger participants, early reading interventions, and early reading measures. (Contains 1 table and 9 figures.)

American functionalist psychology constituted an effort to model scientific psychology on the successes of English evolutionary theory. In part it was a response to the stagnation of Wundt's psychological research program, which had been grounded in German experimental physiology. In part it was an attempt to make psychology more appealing within the highly pragmatic American context and to facilitate the application of psychology to domains outside of the scientific laboratory. Applications of psychology that emerged from the functionalist ethos included child and developmental psychology, clinical psychology, psychological testing, and industrial/vocational psychology. Functionalism was also the ground within which behaviorism rooted and grew into the dominant form of psychology through the middle of the 20th century. (Contains 4 footnotes and 1 figure.)

The current investigation examined whether inter-generational transfer of risk could be revealed through mothers' and preschool-aged children's expressive language, and whether continuity of risk persisted in these children's academic abilities, 3 years later. Participating families were drawn from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, a prospective, longitudinal investigation of French-speaking families from low-SES Montreal neighbourhoods. At Time 1, mothers' history of childhood social withdrawal was shown to predict mothers' child-directed language. Mothers' language complexity was also shown to be predictive of preschoolers' expressive language and was found to mediate the relationship between maternal social withdrawal and child language. At Time 2, children's language-related academic abilities were predicted by their expressive language at preschool age. The findings support an inter-generational continuity of risk operating through language complexity and extending to children's performance in language-related academic abilities at school age. (Contains 4 tables.)

To increase our understanding of the cognitive processes involved in internal working models of attachment, this study investigated the relationship between secure attachment and attentional breadth to mother using a dual task design. The content of the cues (mother vs. unfamiliar women) and the duration of the presentation of the cues (34 msec, 100 msec, and 250 msec) were varied. The test was administered to 40 elementary school children between 9 and 12 years of age. As predicted, less securely attached children had a more narrow attentional field around mother at 34 msec. Lower levels of maternal autonomy support were similarly linked with a more narrow attentional field. In conformity with attachment theory, this effect was fully mediated by the child's level of trust toward mother. (Contains 2 figures, 2 tables and 2 footnotes.)

The ability to understand the thoughts and feelings of others develops remarkably early in infancy. At birth, infants demonstrate an early understanding of the thoughts and feelings of others by sharing emotions with their caregivers. These early affective exchanges subsequently facilitate the development of a more complex awareness of others, such as coordinating and directing the attention of others to interesting things in the world. Thus, the quality of early social relationships plays an important role in guiding the development of how infants understand the minds of others beginning in the earliest months of life.

From a surprisingly young age, children are capable of a level of sophisticated social understanding and interaction for which they are rarely given credit. Indeed, beginning as early as 9 months, children are gaining the skills needed to become active members of the unique culture and society into which they are born. This article explores the developmental trajectory of shared intentionality--collaborative activity in which participants share psychological states with one another--which starts infants on the road to full participation in human society in the second year of life. A better understanding of infants' capabilities in sharing intentions with others will lead to richer and more appropriate interactions with them.

In this article we argue that early childhood educators, under the influence of last century's grand universal theories of child development, have not been attentive enough to the centrality of culture in children's development. We discuss how the exploration of contemporary developmental perspectives is critical to the field and illustrate cultural views of child development based on cultural psychology. The goal of cultural psychology is to study the co-creation of human beings and cultures by focusing on both mentalities and practices, on both culture and biology. Using this lens, we explore the implications that cultural psychology holds for early childhood educators.

Possible mediators of the relation between maternal depressive symptomatology and parenting behavior were examined for 96 children with ADHD and their mothers drawn from the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA) as part of an add-on investigation conducted by two of the six MTA sites. General cognitions (i.e., maternal locus of control and self-esteem) and parenting-specific factors (i.e., maternal parenting efficacy and parenting stress) were examined as possible mediators. Findings provide initial support that maternal parenting stress, as well as maternal locus of control and self-esteem mediate the relation between maternal depressive symptomatology and parenting behavior. This provides support for the argument that some families of children with ADHD may benefit from an expanded version of parent management training that includes sessions directly targeting affective and cognitive factors in parents, similar to treatment programs used to treat childhood conduct problems.

Research suggests that while information about design is a central feature of older children's artifact representations it may be less important in the artifact representations of younger children. Three experiments explore the pattern of responses that 5- and 7-year-old children generate when asked to produce multiple uses for familiar (Experiments 1, 2) and novel (Experiment 3) named objects. Results showed that while older children tended to produce responses based on the known design function of the object, younger children's responses were more flexible, though still constrained by the mechanical structure of the object. Only when ignorant of a novel object's design function did older children produce more varied functions than did younger children. These results suggest that representations supporting object function undergo change across this period of development, with information about design assuming more importance later than it does earlier.

We examined children's behavioral coping in response to an "in vivo" peer rejection manipulation. Participants (N = 186) ranging between 10 and 13 years of age, played a computer game based on the television show "Survivor" and were randomized to either peer rejection (i.e., being voted out of the game) or non-rejection control. During a five-min. post-feedback waiting period children's use of several behavioral coping strategies was assessed. Rejection elicited a marked shift toward more negative affect, but higher levels of perceived social competence attenuated the negative mood shift. Children higher in depressive symptoms were more likely to engage in passive and avoidant coping behavior. Types of coping were largely unaffected by gender and perceived social competence. Implications are discussed.

Parents are increasingly expected to supplement their children's school-based learning by providing support for children's homework. However, parents' capacities to provide such support may vary and may be limited by the experience of depression. This may have implications for child development. In the course of a prospective, longitudinal study of children of postnatally depressed and healthy mothers, we observed mothers (N=88) and fathers (N=78) at home during maths homework interactions with their 8-year-old children. The quality of parental communication was rated and analysed in relation to child functioning. The quality of communication of each of the parents was related to their mental state, social class and IQ. While postnatal depression was not directly related to child development, there was some evidence of the influence of maternal depression occurring in the child's school years. Different aspects of parental communication with the child showed specific associations with different child outcomes, over and above the influence of family characteristics. In particular, child school attainment and IQ were associated with parental strategies to encourage representational thinking and mastery motivation, whereas child behavioural adjustment at school and self-esteem were linked to the degree of parental emotional support and low levels of coercion. Notably, the influence of maternal homework support was more strongly related to child outcome than was paternal support, a pattern reflected in mothers' greater involvement in children's schools and school-related activities. Some parents may need guidance in how to support their children's homework if it is to be of benefit to child functioning.

The terms "normalisation" and "normalised child" were introduced into early childhood scholarship by Maria Montessori, whose ideas regarding norm and deviation in children's development and behaviour have been discussed, debated and sometimes criticised, but remain magnetic and recognised worldwide. Contemporary Western society is witnessing a major expansion of early childhood services. This is an answer both to the increased need for non-familial care for children of working parents and to the perception that high-quality early childhood educational background will enhance children's life chances. As this provision expands, there is also increasing awareness of issues that early childhood workers have difficulty responding to, such as problems of some students' maladjustment, misconduct, or challenging behaviour. This essay argues that the approach towards normalisation advocated by Maria Montessori and further developed by Edwin Mortimer Standing, presented in a psychological science context, has much to offer in attempts to find a response to these issues. (Contains 2 tables.)

In this study, the authors explored the effect that particular patterns of communicative interactions may have on young children's understanding of representations and the link between knowledge of a 2nd language and theory of mind. The authors tested 140 single language users and 57 dual language users (aged 3-4 years old) on a deceptive task with 3 experimental conditions. In the deceptive-context condition, an experimenter made a reference to the deceptive object. In the older peer condition, an experimenter made a reference to an older child who was actively participating in the experimental manipulations. In the deceptive-interaction condition, the experimenter made reference to his or her own deceptive interventions. The most significant finding was that knowledge of a 2nd language significantly improved young children's understanding of both mental and nonmental representations. Moreover, the results indicated that an experimenter's reference to a deceptive interaction greatly facilitated 3-year-old children's understanding of false belief. (Contains 4 tables.)

This article focuses on infants in the first year of life who have experienced single or very circumscribed episodes of trauma in the context of otherwise relatively normal developmental trajectories. Young infants who experience pain may show heightened reactions to pain even years later. Children may remember, and may even reenact, traumatic experiences that occurred when they were infants. A child's reenactment of a trauma may not exactly replicate the event, and may change over time. Imitation or reenactment of observed and/or experienced events is a fundamental, biologically programmed mechanism by which children learn about themselves and others.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, and developmental psychologists pioneered the study of infant mental health. The author, a clinician who helped to develop the field of infant mental health, uses an anecdote-enriched account of his 30-year career to describe the origins and evolution of the infant mental health field, including influential early research and researchers, the establishment of key training and clinical programs, and the creation of ZERO TO THREE's "Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood" ("DC:0-3"). According to Harmon, "DC:0-3" has helped fill the need for developmentally sensitive diagnostic system that can serve as a "common language" for clinicians, researchers, and families. Infant mental health knowledge now informs practice in NICUs, Early Head Start, services for young children who have been abused or neglected, and programs for mothers in recovery from substance abuse and their children.

This study examines the sociocultural trajectories of children's conceptual thinking in a technology-enriched early years science classroom (N=22). Of specific analytic interest is the intertextuality of children's science-related explanations constructed during adult-child dialogic interviews and peer-centred inquiry around a multimedia science-learning tool, PICCO. Following the sociocultural and discursive approach to conceptual thinking and learning, the study conceptualizes explanations as interactional achievements shaped by the sociocultural context of activity. Qualitative, micro-level analysis of video-taped and transcribed data covering a 5-month period shows that inquiry-based science learning activities, based on child-initiation and the application of technological tools, created a fruitful setting for the children's explanation construction around scientific phenomena. The children's explanations were found to draw on textual and material links, hands-on explorations, i.e. activity links, as well as on recounting events. These intertextual linkages functioned as tools for the children (a) to share and validate previous experiences as sources of knowledge, (b) to establish reciprocity with each other in meaning-making, (c) to define themselves as learners of science and as individuals with specific experiences and background, and (d) to construct, maintain and contest the cultural practices of what it means to do and learn science in the classroom. In all, the study illuminates the potential of intertextual analysis to reveal contextual insights into children's conceptual thinking mediated by the sociocultural context.

Searches for an understanding of developmental scholar William Kessen, and of what he was trying to teach in his later years. Discusses possible sources of Kessen's dissatisfaction with the field of child development, and whether any of these issues can be resolved in ways that Kessen might not have fully anticipated. Summarizes the main lessons from Kessen's distinguished career. (Author/KB)

Supports the view that children's developmental status and varied family, school, and cultural contexts all caution overgeneralization on empirically supported treatments. Supports Hughes' notion of developmental psychopathology as a relevant asset for school psychology practice and intervention research. Discusses several obstacles when applying theory, research, and guiding principles from developmental psychology to school psychology practice. (Author/JDM)

Concurs with Hughes' target article that identification of empirically supported treatments (ESTs) is insufficient to help practitioners and researchers select effective interventions for children, and suggests it may be premature to adopt developmental psychopathology as a treatment model. Discusses differences in opinion on theory development in psychology and offers suggestions for enhancing treatment utility of developmental psychopathology research. Author/JDM)

Reviews several central themes raised in Hughes' target article that are appropriate for further development of intervention research, including the beneficial aspects of empirically supported treatments (ESTs); importance of theory in intervention development; and models of developmental psychopathology. Comments on potential dialectic between empirical evaluation of intervention and theory. Discusses future of research on ESTs for positive treatment outcomes. (Author/JDM)

Child psychology and early-childhood education are related, as the former includes three distinct aspects: scientific, popular, and common-sense psychology of parents and teachers. No clear relationship exists between current theory and those of parents and teachers; however, teachers' and parents' views do influence their behavior toward children. Common-sense views should be considered by theorists. (LBT)

Explores the historical roots of universalistic thinking about children's nature, their needs, and what constitutes healthy development. Considers the opportunities for a new psychology of childhood to be reconstructed in ways that pay more attention to the cultural dimensions, as well as to the socio-cultural process, of the subject. (Author)