Enhancing Parenting Effectiveness, Fathers' Involvement, Couple Relationship Quality, and Children's Development: Breaking Down Silos in Family Policy Making and Service Delivery

This book addresses what parents believe about children—both children in general and their own children in particular. Its scope is broad, encompassing beliefs directed to numerous aspects of children’s development in both the cognitive and social realms, developments that span the age periods from birth through adolescence. Although the focus is on typical development, departures from the norm in both children’s functioning and parental practices are also discussed. Four questions are addressed for every topic considered: What is the nature of parents’ beliefs? What are the origins of parents’ beliefs? How do parents’ beliefs relate to parents’ behavior? And how do parents’ beliefs relate to children’s development? These questions tie in to long-standing theoretical issues in psychology, they are central to our understanding of both parenting practices and children’s development, and they speak to some of the most important pragmatic issues for which psychology can provide answers. The major goal of the book is to convey the main conclusions from the large body of work that has addressed these questions. Because much still remains to be learned, a second goal is to identify needed directions for further study.

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Monitoring children’s development in early childhood education settings to promote early detection of autism

Australasian Journal of Early Childhood ◽

10.1177/1836939121998085 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 183693912199808

Author(s):

Beth Mozolic-Staunton ◽

Josephine Barbaro ◽

Jacqui Yoxall ◽

Michelle Donelly

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Early Intervention ◽

Early Childhood Education ◽

Early Detection ◽

Population Surveillance ◽

Early Childhood Educators ◽

Policy Reforms ◽

Childhood Education ◽

Children's Development ◽

Children’S Development

Autism is a developmental condition that can be detected in early childhood. Early intervention can improve outcomes, though many children are not identified until they reach primary school. Early childhood educators are well placed to monitor children’s development and identify those who may benefit from additional supports, though implementation of standardised tools and processes is limited. The National Disability Insurance Scheme in Australia has increased the onus on educators to support families to access funded services. A workshop on evidence-informed practice in early detection for autism was provided for early childhood professionals. The theory of practice architectures informed development and analysis of pre- and post-workshop surveys to explore changes in early childhood educators’ perspectives on factors influencing universal developmental monitoring and referrals to early intervention supports using an evidence-based tool, the Social Attention and Communication Surveillance-Revised (SACS-R). Post-workshop increases in early childhood educators’ perceived knowledge and confidence are evident, though recent policy reforms present challenges. Population surveillance using SACS-R in early childhood education is effective for identification and referral for children who have autism, and capacity building for professionals to use SACS-R is recommended.

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