It's never too early to enjoy math (or not): The emergence of children's emotions toward math in the preschool years.

Nurturing care for early childhood sleep interventions with tailored care: the NEST Approach.

Profiles of 24-h movement behaviors and physical fitness among preschool children: a latent profile analysis.

Curiosity scaffolds children's exploration and learning. Yet, the neural mechanisms of curiosity-modulated learning in children remain unclear. Here, we designed an fMRI task to test how curiosity, as defined by children's self-reported excitement about learning information, modulates memory and neural activity in 5- to 8-year-olds (n = 60 with behavioral data, n = 51 with fMRI). We observed greater learning when children reported more curiosity. In whole-brain analyses, high-curiosity was associated with greater activation in inferior frontal gyrus, lateral occipital cortex, the thalamus, and the putamen. Curiosity did not modulate activation in preregistered regions of interest (dorsal attention network, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens) but did modulate activation in an exploratory region of interest, the amygdala. Multivariate searchlight decoding revealed local activity patterns that reliably distinguished reported curiosity levels in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, fusiform gyrus, angular gyrus, precuneus, and cerebellum. Together, these findings are consistent with prior work on curiosity-related activation during information receipt in adults, suggesting that neural systems that support curiosity-driven learning are already engaged in early childhood.

Although previous studies have explored factors influencing teachers' professional identity, limited attention has been given to its underlying psychological mechanisms from a metacognitive perspective. In particular, few studies have examined how mindfulness, a core psychological resource, relates to professional identity among early childhood education teachers, a group facing unique emotional and occupational challenges. This study aims to investigate the relationships among mindfulness, psychological resilience, well-being, and professional identity among early childhood education teachers. It focuses on how mindfulness, as a metacognitive psychological resource, is associated with professional identity directly and indirectly through psychological resilience and well-being. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 854 full-time kindergarten teachers (48 males and 806 females; Mage=30.36, SDage=6.87,) from Shandong Province, China. Validated instruments were used to assess mindfulness, psychological resilience, well-being, and professional identity. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine direct and mediated effects, and demographic variables such as age, gender, education level, and income were controlled in the analysis. The results demonstrated that mindfulness was positively associated with professional identity (β=0.15, p<0.05). Psychological resilience significantly mediated this relationship (β=0.52, p<0.001), accounting for 55.5% of the total indirect effect. Well-being also served as an independent mediator (β=0.21, p<0.001), accounting for 22.6% of the total effect. In addition, a sequential mediation pathway was identified, in which psychological resilience and well-being sequentially mediated the relationship between mindfulness and professional identity (β=0.03, p<0.001). The findings highlight mindfulness as a critical factor in strengthening professional identity among early childhood educators by enhancing both psychological resilience and well-being. These results contribute to professional identity theory by incorporating metacognitive and psychological constructs, and also provide practical implications: integrating mindfulness-based interventions (e.g., mindfulness meditation, stress-reduction programs) into teacher training can help educators enhance emotion regulation and resilience. Additionally, creating supportive and caring work environments may further promote teachers' well-being and sustainable professional development.

Maternal information sampling targets children's knowledge gaps.

Long-term physiological monitoring using wearable wireless systems represents a paradigm change in next-generation e-health applications. Specifically, electroencephalography (EEG) represents a noninvasive and trustworthy way of recording brain activity and is a likely candidate for the early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Yet, conventional methods involving the streaming of raw EEG signals to outside servers for classification consume significant energy and drastically shorten the operational life of wearable sensors. In response to these gaps, this research introduced an energy-aware, sensor-based scheme for ASD detection during early childhood from EEG signals. The system exploits on-node signal denoising via chaotic signal models, feature extraction by dual tree discrete wavelet transform (DT-DWT), and lightweight feature selection by parrot optimization (PO). The core detection is executed via a new Hyperbolic Cross-Head Attention-Based Neural Network (HyperCrossNet) that proposes deep reversible learning in conjunction with spatial and channel-oriented attention mechanisms. The network weights are then optimized by the Pied Kingfisher Optimization Algorithm (PKO) for improved accuracy. Experimental outcomes indicate 99.92% classification, 99.91% recall, and a 99.90% F1-score not mentioning that it has lowered considerably the amount of energy used to transmit the raw data. This effective design enables real-time wearable detection useful and applicable to long-term monitoring.

Many health and government organisations have developed recommendations to promote the healthy eating and physical activity of children attending early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. However, the evidence supporting these recommendations is not well described. An examination of the current evidence is needed to support decision-makers to understand and prioritise practices for implementation. To utilise a novel systematic evidence-mapping process which: (i) examines the evidence-base underpinning ECEC-based healthy eating and physical activity practice elements; and (ii) classifies practice elements according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Standards for Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Sleep in Early Childhood and Care Settings to examine alignment with current global guidelines. We undertook a two-stage, five-step systematic process, involving identifying existing evidence and conducting a secondary data analysis and synthesis of the evidence underpinning practice elements. Sixteen healthy eating and 19 physical activity practice elements were assessed as likely beneficial. Most of these mapped to WHO Standard 2: Creating supportive environments. Seven practice elements were assessed as possibly beneficial, two as possibly not beneficial and none as not beneficial. There was insufficient evidence to assess 39 practice elements. This study provides insights into the evidence underpinning practice elements included in ECEC-based guidelines, identifies evidence-based practice elements not included in existing guidelines and highlights opportunities where evidence can be strengthened. SO WHAT?: The evidence underpinning guideline recommendations is variable or non-existent. Evaluation around the implementation of guidelines within funded programs is needed.

Eighteen-year laboratory-based surveillance of human coronavirus OC43 in a single tertiary hospital in the Republic of Korea: Temporal inflection, seasonal stability, and age-dependent risk.

Spinal muscular atrophy among US Hutterites: Phenotype variability in the setting of conserved ancestral haplotype and 4 SMN2 copies.

The role of foresight in the emergence of innovation.

Statistical learning in deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children is poorly understood and the impact of age of sign language acquisition has not been systematically investigated. In the present study, we examined visual statistical learning and transfer effects in early (age of sign language acquisition before the age of three years) and late (age of sign language acquisition after the age of three years) DHH child signers (aged 6-8years) of German Sign Language, compared to age-matched hearing children. The children completed a visual artificial grammar learning task across three learning sessions, each consisting of alternating learning and test phases. In a fourth session, a new stimulus set was introduced using the same underlying artificial grammar to assess transfer abilities. Early signers tended to show higher learning performance in the first session, while no difference between early and late signers was observed in the third session. Compared to age-matched hearing children, both DHH groups were indistinguishable in the first session but performed lower in the third session. Crucially, only early signers successfully transferred the learned sequence rules to the new stimulus set comparable to hearing children. Correlation analyses indicated that higher visuo-spatial working memory capacity in DHH children was associated with higher performance during transfer and in late signers during learning as well. Overall, the findings suggest that early exposure to natural language input affects visual statistical learning abilities in DHH children.

Unpredictable maternal signals and developmental profiles of child executive function from infancy to early childhood.

The Apapacho early childhood violence prevention parenting program: A mixed methods pilot evaluation.

The study investigated the effects of an early childhood caries (ECC) intervention on the need for dental treatment in Indigenous Australian Children. We hypothesized that exposure to an early intervention program would reduce the need for dental treatment among Indigenous children. This randomized controlled trial allocated 448 pregnant women with an Aboriginal child to either an immediate intervention(II) or a delayed intervention(DI) group between January 2011 and May 2012. There were 4 components to the ECC intervention: 1) dental care during pregnancy, 2) anticipatory guidance, 3) motivational interviewing for mothers, and 4) fluoride varnish application for children. The outcome was having dental treatment over 5 years. Bivariate log-Poisson regression models were used to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the strength of the ECC intervention in reducing dental treatment by using imputed data. Data were available for 181 in II and 186 in DI children aged 5 years. Children in the DI group had twice the prevalence (PR= 2.00; 95% CI: 1.13-3.51) of having dental treatment compared to the II group. A higher prevalence of having dental treatment was positively associated with families residing in nonmetropolitan areas, children with higher sweet food consumption and mothers with lower oral health literacy. The study suggests that early intervention in infancy can decrease the need for dental treatment by age 5 years, potentially reducing the burden for children, families, and Aboriginal communities.

Educational robotics can enhance playful learning in early childhood, but integration faces challenges in regions like Hong Kong. This qualitative study explores early childhood teachers' perceptions of a Story-Inspired Robot Programming (SIRP) curriculum through Activity Theory, based on interviews with 22 teachers after eight weeks of implementation. Teachers noted significant improvements in children's engagement and computational thinking, as well as their own professional development. Key enablers included age-appropriate robots and administrative support, while barriers like limited teacher confidence and increased workload were identified. Based on the findings, an ecosystem-driven policy framework is proposed for early childhood teachers' digital empowerment. • Teacher views on pros and cons of early childhood robot programming are reported. • Activity Theory is used as a lens for qualitative data analysis and interpretation. • Evidence reveals enablers and barriers in the activity system. • A digital empowerment policy framework is proposed for early childhood workforce.

Climate change is silently reshaping childhood, especially in the world's most vulnerable regions. This scoping review explores how environmental stressors-such as rising temperatures, altered rainfall patterns, droughts, and floods-affect the nutritional status of children under 5 years of age. A systematic search of four major databases yielded 1586 studies, of which 37 met the inclusion criteria. Our findings reveal that climate change impacts child malnutrition primarily through indirect pathways influenced by food insecurity, disruptions in agricultural production, and deep-rooted socioeconomic inequalities. Stunting emerged as the most frequently and severely affected outcome, while overweight and obesity were rarely addressed-highlighting important gaps in the current evidence. Socioeconomic factors such as caregiver education, rural residence, and household income were consistently identified as key variables, shaping the extent to which climate risks translate into nutritional harm. Most studies focused on countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where the burden of vulnerability is greatest. Beyond documenting associations, this review draws attention to a broader reality: that child nutrition today is threatened not by a single crisis but by a web of interconnected challenges. As the global polycrisis unfolds, early childhood nutrition demands urgent, coordinated responses that are evidence-based, socially just, and future-oriented.

Birthweight and Academic Achievement Through Adolescence.

Role and effects of supervision in supporting Autism Early Childhood Unit teams

Introduction: Several risk factors have been associated with Early Childhood Caries (ECC), including feeding practices, nocturnal feeding, delayed weaning from breast- or bottlefeeding, and parental awareness. The purpose of present study was to address a gap in the literature by examining the specific feeding practices of mothers in Jeddah and their relationship with dental caries, while also considering demographic and socioeconomic factors that may influence these practices. Aim: To assess the prevalence of breast- and bottle-feeding practices among Saudi mothers of healthy children aged 1 to 2 years in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and to investigate the relationship between various feeding practices and children’s demographic characteristics, maternal socioeconomic status, and maternal knowledge of appropriate feeding practices. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from September 2023 to December 2023. The study included mothers of children aged 1 to 2 years who participated in three community awareness events held across different areas of Jeddah. A trained dentist interviewed the mothers using a validated Arabic questionnaire to assess potential confounding factors. Data were analysed using the Independent t-test for continuous variables and the chi-square test for categorical variables, with a significance level set at p&lt;0.05. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 30.91±7.97 years. Out of the 1,438 mothers who participated in the study, 345 (24.0%) practised exclusive breastfeeding, of whom 70 (20.2%) reported dental caries in their children. Exclusive bottle-feeding was reported by 251 (17.5%) mothers, with 54 (21.5%) reporting dental caries in their children, while mixed feeding was practised by 842 (58.6%) mothers, among whom 186 (22.1%) reported dental caries. Nocturnal breastfeeding and bottle-feeding were practised by 1,119 (77.8%) and 935 (65.0%) mothers, respectively. The mean maternal knowledge score regarding appropriate feeding practices was 2.65±1.29 out of five. Multinomial regression analysis demonstrated statistically significant associations between feeding practices and birth order, type of delivery, maternal education level, maternal occupation, and average monthly household income. Conclusion: The present study highlights a low rate of exclusive breastfeeding and insufficient knowledge of appropriate feeding practices among mothers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Feeding practices were significantly influenced by birth order, mode of delivery, and maternal socioeconomic status. No significant association was found between feeding methods and dental caries. Enhancing maternal education regarding appropriate feeding practices and promoting exclusive breastfeeding may be important strategies for improving child health outcomes.