2016

1. A lot of brain architecture is shaped during the first three years after birth. However, despite a widespread belief to the contrary, the window of opportunity for brain development does not close on a child’s third birthday. While the regions of the brain dedicated to higher-order functions, which involve most social, emotional, and cognitive […]

A study, by scientists at West Chester University and the University of Delaware, which appeared in the journal Child Development and funded by the Research: Art Works program at the National Endowment for the Arts proposes that arts programs may help lower stress in economically disadvantaged pre-schoolers. Everyone should know, these days, that poverty can […]

Scientists are researching ways to tap into memories from early childhood that have previously been thought as being irretrievable. The research could potentially lead to methods of blocking memories that have a negative impact on adults. Without a doubt, most adults are unable to recall from memory, anything from their first couple years of life. […]

In order to learn new words, researchers have found that children use an automatic object-association technique, which is remarkably similar to how robots learn. Young children are notorious for how quickly they can pick up words. In order to better understand the mechanics of such early learning, a new study tested the object association skills […]

The Kindergarten Inclusion Support (KIS) Packages aim to build the capacity of funded kindergartens for supporting the access and participation of children with a disability and high support needs and/or complex medical needs. The support provided by the KIS packages is on top of the existing resources available to kindergarten staff and does not necessarily […]

Victoria has introduced compulsory minimum standards that apply to organisations that provide services for children, in order to help protect children from all forms of abuse. The Child Safe Standards form part of the Victorian Government’s response to the Betrayal of Trust Inquiry. Consistent with the Betrayal of Trust Inquiry’s recommendations, the aim of the […]

The weight debate goes on... The association between Body Mass Index (BMI) and child development has been recently investigated in over seven and a half thousand South Australian children at school entry. Unlike many previous studies which combined groups of both thin and healthy weight children as the baseline, this study differentiated between thinness and [...]

Who trained the early childhood educators who care for your children … your grandchildren … your nieces and nephews? Why is it so important? It’s a well proven fact that the foundations for a person’s life successes, health and emotional wellbeing lie in early childhood. If we get it right in the early years, we […]

It’s a boy! Some months ago, Josie Karalis, one of our small but productive team of esteemed trainer/assessors, commenced a period of maternity leave. In June, Josie and her husband, Andrew, became proud parents of a bouncing baby boy, who is named Nathaniel. Everyone is very happy and excited for the new parents, and wishes […]

Work at the Research School of Psychology of the Australian National University shows that toddlers’ symbolic play, which involves use of the imagination, promotes language development more effectively than functional play, such as solving puzzles, building with blocks or drawing. Over fifty infants’ early language development was tracked according to the style of play toddlers […]