child development
This review on indicated prevention adds to the current knowledge and understanding of risk factors in the development of later drug problems and dependence, focusing on the mental health and behavioural problems that develop during childhood. Indicated prevention is a relatively new branch of drug prevention and can be seen as the third part of the ‘prevention chain’, after universal and selective prevention.
This report uses data from the first three waves of the Growing Up in Scotland study (GUS) to explore children’s cognitive ability. Assessments of children’s language development (using a naming vocabulary task) and problem solving skills (using a picture similarities tasks) were carried out at age 34 months.
The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 brings together aspects of family, child care and adoption law that affect children. The Act seeks to incorporate the 3 key principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) – i.e. non- discrimination; a child’s welfare as a primary consideration; and listening to children’s views, into Scottish legislation and practice.
Report that considers some of the ways that affluence and disadvantage influence children’s educational attainment. It focuses on a broad set of factors, varying across childhood, classified under the broad umbrella term ‘aspirations, attitudes and behaviours’. The implications for policy are also explored.
Carmela Miniscalco is a speech and language pathologist at the University of Gothenburg, and a practitioner in the regional unit for child health care for 20 years. Her recent publications include a detailed follow-up of young children with delayed language development.
Report of a research project which studied the development of character capabilities contributing to life chances and the factors influencing their development. It concludes that the early years are the critical years in this regard and that parents are, consequently, the principal character builders in society.
Paper explaining the importance of relationship focused intervention to developmental learning by reference to research carried out on the play activities of children with Down syndrome.
Report exploring the causes and costs of all types of violence in the UK, looking at the interventions which have proved effective in tackling violence and discussing what more can be done to reduce violence in society.
Paper suggesting research priorities regarding the social and communicative abilities of people with Down syndrome and emphasising the importance of parental involvement in research.
This resource from the BBC website presents a major thirty-part narrative history series exploring British childhood and the experience of British children over the last thousand years. Open2.net, the online learning portal from the Open University and the BBC, has also produced a stimulating site to accompany the series, which can be linked to from this BBC webpage.

