September 2007

Introduction

This knowledge path has been compiled by the Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University. It offers a selection of current, high-quality resources about the promotion of healthy social and emotional development in infants, children, and adolescents. Resources tap into the health, education, and social services literature. The path identifies tools for staying abreast of new developments and for conducting further research. Separate sections present resources by age group and cover topics such as developmental stages; factors that impact social and emotional development; policies and programs to promote social and emotional well-being in homes and community settings; and strategies for integrating health, developmental, and educational services. The final section presents parent-education materials. This knowledge path is aimed at health professionals, program administrators, policymakers, educators, and families, and it will be updated periodically.

Related knowledge paths: Emotional, Behavioral, and Mental Health Challenges in Children and Adolescents and Community services locator: Locating community-based services to support children and families.

Resources for Professionals

Overview

See the Bright Futures materials, What to expect and when to seek help: Bright Futures developmental tools for families and providers (2006). Based on Bright Futures in practice: Mental health (2002), this set of four tools in English and Spanish aims to help professionals and families begin important conversations together on how best to support the social and emotional development of infants, children, and adolescents.

General Resources

Web Sites

• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Contains policy statements, guidelines, schedules, health-education materials, and other resources for health professionals about child and adolescent developmental stages. Information is organized by the age of the child or adolescent. Tools and initiatives include

  Guidelines for health supervision III, rev. ed. (2002).

  Identifying infants and young children with developmental disorders in the medical home: An algorithm for developmental surveillance and screening. (2006).

  Mental Health. Presents program information, meeting materials, and other resources for health professionals to address mental health concerns in primary pediatric care.

  Recommendations for preventive pediatric health care. (2000). Also see the one-page summary of recommendations.

  Also see Healthy Child Care America.

• American Psychological Association (APA). Contains news, articles, brochures, and information about publications and programs on a wide range of mental health issues affecting children and families. APA Books offers several publications about child and adolescent social and emotional development.
  
  
• Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF). Contains program information, data, publications, and other resources to foster public policies, human service reforms, and community supports that more effectively meet the needs of vulnerable children and families. Publications and initiatives include

  Making Connections. Describes this effort to improve outcomes for families and children in tough or isolated neighborhoods by strengthening their connections to economic opportunity, positive social networks, and effective services and supports. Offers tools for sharing knowledge and resources.

  Relationships matter: How agencies can support family and social network development. (2006).

  State Early Childhood Policy Technical Assistance Network (SECPTAN): Village building and school readiness: Closing opportunity gaps in a diverse society. (2007).

  Strengthening kindergarten transition for children in tough neighborhoods. (2006).

  Tapping the power of social networks: Understanding the role of social networks in strengthening families and transforming communities. (2006).

  Ties that bind: The practice of social networks. (2006).

• Bright Futures at Georgetown University. Contains guidelines, distance-education resources, and training tools for a practical developmental approach to providing health supervision for infants, children, and adolescents, including those with special health care needs. Topics include general health and development, mental health, nutrition, oral health, and physical activity. Some materials are available in Spanish. Bright Futures is funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). Materials include

  Bright Futures in practice: Mental health. (2002). This guide contains mental-health-promotion- and substance-use-prevention guidelines for infants, children, and adolescents. It is designed to inform primary care pediatric health professionals about the essentials of mental health promotion; to identify the support that infants, children, and adolescents need for good mental health; and to assist in the development and implementation of mental-health-promotion programs and policies. A companion volume provides tools to assist in mental health screening, education, and health care management.

  What to expect and when to seek help: Bright Futures developmental tools for families and providers (2006). A companion referral tool helps professionals identify resources in their own communities.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Child Development. Offers background information, screening tools, and recommendations for developmental screening. Includes information about and resources to support the role of primary care health professionals in children's developmental health. Also see CDC's Learn the Signs. Act Early, Legacy for Children, Healthy Youth!, and the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS).
  
  
• Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development (GUCCHD). Offers program, conference, and training information; publications; and other resources to improve the quality of life for all children and adolescents, especially those with special health care needs or at risk for poor outcomes. Promoting early childhood development and school readiness; building culturally and linguistically competent service delivery systems; and enhancing partnerships between primary health care and mental health practices to identify children at risk for poor outcomes are among the issues addressed. GUCCHD is a division of Georgetown University's Department of Pediatrics. Recent publications include

  Social and emotional health in early childhood: Building bridges between services and systems. (2007). This book is available for purchase online.

• High/Scope Educational Research Foundation. Offers curricula, assessment materials, and research and training information for infant and young child, preschool, elementary, youth development, and movement and music programs. Includes information about the Perry Preschool Project, a landmark, long-term study of the effects of high-quality early care and education on 3- and 4-year-olds from families with low incomes. High/Scope Educational Research Foundation is an independent nonprofit research, development, training, and public outreach organization.
  
  
• MCH Training Program: Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics. Offers information about these programs working to prepare health professionals to develop or improve the behavioral, psychosocial, and developmental aspects of general pediatric care. The training program is part of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
  
  
• MDRC: Families and Children. Contains program information and reports about how the life chances of children and adolescents from families with low incomes are influenced by policies that affect their families' economic circumstances, family relationships, or the opportunities available for child and adolescent development in settings such as child care, preschool, and afterschool programs.
  
  
• Prevention Institute: Children and Youth. Presents information and publications about primary prevention efforts that result in positive child and adolescent development outcomes. The institute's projects for children and adolescents include developing strategies and policies for improving nutrition and increasing physical activity in schools, examining the relationship between early childhood development and violence prevention, and conducting an evaluation of long-term violence-prevention efforts in schools.
  
  
• Promising Practices Network (PPN) on Children, Families, and Communities. Offers a wealth of evidence-based information about what works to improve the lives of children, adolescents, and families. Features descriptions of evaluated programs that improve outcomes for children and adolescents in four major areas: (1) healthy and safe children, (2) children ready for school, (3) children succeeding in school, and (4) strong families. Also offers a collection of summaries from the research literature about evidence-based programs related to children and families. In addition, PPN contains information about and links to resources on forming, funding, and maintaining community partnerships and collaborations; service integration; program implementation; evaluating the process and monitoring outcomes; and results-based decision-making. Partner Pages link to collections of research and information on specific priority areas regarding child and adolescent well-being. Most of the pages focus on a particular state. PPN is a service of the RAND Corporation.
  

Additional Electronic Publications

• Acevedo-Garcia D, McArdle N, Osypuk TL, Lefkowitz B, Krimgold B. 2007. Children left behind: How metropolitan areas are failing America's children. Washington, DC: Center for the Advancement of Health. This report, focusing on the 100 metropolitan areas with the largest child populations, reflects the severe challenges that black and Hispanic children in urban settings face, especially compared to white and Asian children in urban settings. The report analyzes a wide range of indicators on many dimensions of well-being including housing, neighborhood conditions, residential integration, education, and health. A chartbook accompanies the report.
  
  
• Isaacs JB. 2007. Cost-effective investments in children. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. This paper identifies four areas of investment in children where there is sufficient evidence of positive outcomes and sound benefit-cost ratios to merit expanded federal funding. Target areas are early-childhood-education programs, home-visiting programs to promote sound prenatal care and the healthy development of infants and toddlers, school reform, and programs that reduce the incidence of adolescent pregnancy.
  
  
• Maternal and Child Health Bureau. 2006. Child health USA 2006. Rockville, MD: Maternal and Child Health Bureau. This annual book reports on the health status and service needs for infants, children, adolescents, children with special health care needs, and women of childbearing age. The first section of the book, Population Characteristics, presents statistics on factors (including poverty, education, and child care) that influence children's well-being. The second section, Health Status, contains vital statistics and health behavior information for the maternal and child health population. Health Services Financing and Utilization, the third section, includes data on health care financing and newly implemented health policies. The final sections, State Data and City Data, contain information on selected indicators at state and city levels.
  
  
• McLanahan S, Donahue E, Haskins R. 2005. Marriage and child well-being. The Future of Children (Vol 15, No. 2). This issue reviews evidence showing that marriage is associated with better health, higher earnings, and greater wealth among adults as well as with academic success and mental health among children.
  
  
• Smolensky E, Gootman JA, eds. 2003. Working families and growing kids: Caring for children and adolescents. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. This book presents conclusions and recommendations for policies that can respond to the new conditions shaping America's working families. Among the family and work trends reviewed are a growing population of mothers in the work force who have young children, an increasing reliance on nonparental child care, the growing challenges of families on welfare, and an increased understanding of child and adolescent development.
  

  
  

Infants and Young Children

This section presents resources that address scientific research about early child development; early childhood social, emotional, and communication milestones; developmental screening; early literacy and school readiness; strategies for integrating health, developmental, and educational services for young children and families; and state policy approaches for promoting early childhood care and education. For an excellent overview, see the Science of Early Childhood Development: Closing the Gap Between What We Know and What We Do (2007) by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (NSCDC).

Web Sites

• Brazelton Touchpoints Center®. Offers information about training workshops for professionals that serve children from birth to age 3 in health, education, child care, and social services settings to help them build strong family-child relationships and optimize children's development.
  
  
• Building Blocks for a Healthy Future. Offers preschool teaching tools and parent education materials about protecting young children from developing risky behaviors. Building Blocks is a service of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
  
  
• CDC's Learn the Signs. Act Early. Presents materials in English and Spanish to help pediatricians and parents talk about child development and the warning signs of autism and other developmental delays. Includes fact sheets on developmental milestones for infants and children from birth to age 5 and a list of signs that could indicate a developmental delay.
  
  
• CDC's Legacy for Children. Presents information about this set of studies examining the potential for improving child developmental outcomes through parenting programs designed to promote self-efficacy and a sense of community.
  
  
• Center for Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior. Offers fact sheets, policy briefs, research syntheses, and teaching and training tools for early childhood professionals on evidence-based recommendations for positive behavior support. The center is funded by the Department of Education to promote the use of evidence-based practice to meet the needs of young children who have, or are at risk for, problem behavior. Recent publications include

  Program-wide positive behavior support: Supporting young children's social-emotional development and addressing challenging behavior. (2005).

  Promoting social, emotional and behavioral outcomes of young children served under IDEA. (2007).

  Recommended practices: Linking social development and behavior to school readiness. (2005).

• Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS). Contains program information and publications from the Enhancing Child Development Services in Medicaid Managed Care workgroup comprising 10 health plans and a primary care case-management program that collaborated to develop best practices for improving child development services. CHCS is a nonprofit policy resource center that promotes high-quality health care services for low-income populations and people with chronic illnesses and disabilities. Recent publications include

  Call summary: Partnering with health plans to improve child development services. (2005).

  Enhancing child development services in Medicaid managed care: A best clinical and administrative practices toolkit. (2005).

• Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities. Offers program information, reports, PowerPoint presentations, conference materials, and other resources for health and education professionals and policymakers to increase awareness of the importance of early childhood; promote an understanding of the relationship between specific inputs and child outcomes such as school readiness; and facilitate the provision of high-quality, integrated health, developmental, and educational services to young children and their families. The center is a multidisciplinary program of the UCLA School of Medicine and the UCLA School of Public Health. Recent reports include

  Addressing social-emotional development and infant mental health in early childhood systems. (2005).

  Clinical interventions to enhance infant mental health: A selective review. (2005).

  Improving maternal and infant mental health: Focus on maternal depression. (2005).

• Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL). Includes training modules and a series of research briefs about promoting children's social and emotional development. With funding from the Office of Head Start and Child Care Bureau, CSEFEL aims to strengthen the capacity of child care and Head Start programs to promote the social and emotional outcomes and enhance the school readiness of children from birth to age 5 from families with low incomes.
  
  
• Commonwealth Fund. Contains program information and an extensive collection of reports about child health and development. The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation working to improve health coverage and quality. Recent publications and resources include

  Beyond referral: Pediatric care linkages to improve developmental health. (2006).

  Building a bridge from birth to school: Improving developmental and behavioral health services for young children. (2003).

  High-performing system for well-child care: A vision for the future. (2006).

  How to develop a statewide system to link families with community resources: A manual based on Connecticut's Help Me Grow initiative. (2006).

  Parental depression screening for pediatric clinicians: An implementation manual. (2007).

  Practical guide for healthy development. (2006).

  Promoting healthy development survey: Implementation guidelines for health systems. (2006).

  Studying and tracking early child development from a health perspective: A review of available data sources. (2006).

  The Commonwealth Fund also supported Practical Guide for Healthy Development, a set of six online learning modules designed to help primary care health professionals develop office systems to ensure that services provided to families are timely and appropriate. Topics include developmental screening and surveillance, family psychosocial screening and surveillance, eliciting parents' concerns, anticipatory guidance and parental education, and linking with the community.

  Also see the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) for information about the program, Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD). The program is funded by the Commonwealth Fund.

• Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Online (dbpeds.org). Contains resources for health professionals about child development and behavior, especially in the medical setting. Includes forms, checklists, and other screening tools; online tutorials; and articles to support improvement in developmental and behavioral screening, surveillance, and identification of disabilities. dbpeds.org is affiliated with AAP's Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.
  
  
• Developmental Screening Toolkit for Primary Care Providers. Presents information for primary care health professionals considering beginning to screen or planning to begin screening children for developmental needs using a validated tool. Addresses the issues of time, resources, and budget, and includes an online videotape of health professionals at Children's Hospital Boston who describe their experiences with implementing a screening program.
  
  
• Enhancing Developmentally Oriented Primary Care Project (EDOPC). Offers training curricula and self-study guides for health professionals to improve the delivery and financing of preventive health and developmental services for infants and young children from birth to age 3. EDOPC is a partnership of several health associations including the Ounce of Prevention Fund. Recent resources include

  Social and emotional development: Screening strategies for primary care providers. (2007).

• First Signs. Offers information to health professionals and educators about the importance of early detection and intervention of autism spectrum disorders and other developmental and behavioral disorders. Lists key social, emotional, and communication milestones for young children (birth to age 3) and describes critical warning signs for when a child is at risk for developmental delays and disorders. Resources include an educational videotape, a developmental milestones wall chart, validated screening tools, screening guidelines, an early intervention referral guide, and brochures for families. First Signs is a national, nonprofit organization that aims to improve screening and referral practices and to lower the age at which young children are identified with autism and other developmental disorders.
  
  
• FPG Child Development Institute (FPG). Presents information about and materials to support more than 40 research and outreach projects that address parent and family support; early care and education; child health and development; early identification and intervention; equity, access, and inclusion; and early childhood policy. FPG is located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Resources include

  National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL). Offers journal articles, policy briefs, fact sheets, case studies, technical reports, and bibliographies for early childhood professionals and educators about enhancing the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children from birth through age 8.

• Getting Ready. Offers program information and reports about the National School Readiness Indicators Initiative, which worked with 17 states to develop a comprehensive set of school readiness indicators to inform public policy for young children and their families. Includes links to reports and articles covering a wide range of school-readiness topics. Rhode Island KIDS COUNT is the lead agency for this national initiative. Publications include

  Getting ready: Findings from the National School Readiness Indicators Initiative, a 17 state partnership. (2005).

• Healthy Child Care America. Offers resources for families, health professionals, and child care providers about identifying and ensuring high-quality early-education and child care for young children that improves their health and promotes their development and learning. Healthy Child Care America is administered by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
  
  
• Healthy Steps for Young Children. Offers information about this approach to fostering healthy growth and development in children from birth to age 3 by enhancing pediatric and family practice to address major behavioral and developmental issues. Includes training information, educational materials, and protocols for the implementation of each of the seven program components. Also includes links to the Healthy Steps evaluation reports.
  
  
• Invest in Kids Working Group. Presents issue papers and meeting materials about the economic benefits of investments in young children and policies to finance expansion of such services. The group is sponsored by the Committee for Economic Development, with funding from the Partnership for America's Economic Success.
  
  
• National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP): Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) Program. Contains program information and resources to help states improve the delivery of early child development services for children with low incomes and their families. ABCD is funded by the Commonwealth Fund. Resources include

  ABCD Reading Room. This collection of resources for state policymakers focuses on (1) relevant findings from the science of early child development, (2) preventive health care guidelines, (3) promoting young children's mental health, (4) measurement and quality improvement in early childhood services, (5) comprehensive and systematic approaches to early childhood services, and (6) early childhood services costs and financing strategies.

  Financing strategies for Medicaid reimbursement of maternal depression screening by pediatric providers. (2006).

  Improving the delivery of health care that supports young children's healthy mental development: Early accomplishments and lessons learned from a five-state consortium. (2006).

  Key measurement issues in screening, referral, and follow-up care for young children's social and emotional development. (2005).

  Measuring and evaluating developmental services: Strategies and lessons from the ABCD II consortium states. (2006).

  State policy options to improve delivery of child development services: Strategies from the eight ABCD states. (2006).

  Using external quality review organizations to promote young children's healthy mental development. (2006).

• National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP). Offers program information and publications about its early childhood public policy and education initiatives on topics that include healthy development and early care and learning. Resources include publication series, data tools, state early childhood policy profiles, and a child care and early-education research database. Located at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, NCCP works to identify and promote strategies that prevent child poverty and improve the lives of children and families with low incomes in the United States. A selection of recent publications include

  Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems that spend smarter: Maximizing resources to serve vulnerable children. (2006).

  Guide to datasets for research and policymaking in child care and early education. (2006).

  Maximizing the use of EPSDT to improve the health and development of young children. (2006).

  Pathways to early school success: Helping the most vulnerable infants, toddlers, and their families. (2006).

  Promoting effective early learning: What every policymaker and educator should know. (2007).

  Resources to promote social and emotional health and school readiness in young children: A community guide. (2005).

  Spending smarter: A funding guide for policymakers and advocates to promote social and emotional health and school readiness. (2005).

  State early childhood policies: Improving the odds. (2007). Accompanying the report are a set of state-specific profiles.

• National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). Offers policy briefs, fact sheets, reports, and working papers on early-education issues including curricula, child development, and the cost of quality preschool education. Also offers an annual report on state preschool-education initiatives. Publications include

  Promoting children's social and emotional development through high-quality preschool. (2005). Also see the fact sheet based on this report.

• National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (NSCDC). Presents working papers, articles, and issue briefs with a science-based context for understanding the potential impact of strategic investments in early childhood for addressing many of our nation's most complex social and economic challenges. NSCDC is a multidisciplinary collaboration comprising leading scholars in neuroscience, early child development, pediatrics, and economics that aims to close the gap between what we know and what we do to promote successful learning, adaptive behavior, and sound physical and mental health for all young children. The Council is housed at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Recent publications are

  Science-based framework for early childhood policy: Using evidence to improve outcomes in learning, behavior, and health for vulnerable children. (2007).

  Science of early childhood development: Closing the gap between what we know and what we do. (2007). This paper presents a set of core developmental concepts that have emerged from research in neurobiology, developmental psychology, and the economics of human capital formation, and considers their implications for a range of issues in policy and practice. This paper builds upon the landmark report, From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development (2000).

• NCAST-AVENUW. Offers information about training workshops and a variety of programs and assessment tools to help professionals work with families on providing nurturing environments for young children. Materials are available for purchase online. NCAST-AVENUW is a program at the University of Washington.
  
  
• Office of Head Start: Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC). Offers information about Head Start, a national program that serves the development needs of infants and children from birth through age 5 and their families with low incomes through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social, and other services. In addition to policy, program, and training information for Head Start program staff, the site includes resources and information about early child development and health, family and community partnerships, and program design and management. Also included are an online directory of Head Start programs and fact sheets for parents in English and Spanish about child growth and development, health and safety, and school readiness. The Office of Head Start is part of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Also see the Early Head Start National Resource Center (EHSNRC) at Zero to Three.
  
  
• Ounce of Prevention Fund. Contains program information, reports, fact sheets, and other materials about the fund's efforts to foster the healthy development of at-risk infants, toddlers, and preschool-age children using an innovative cycle of family-focused programs, research, training, policy analysis, and advocacy to help young children succeed in school and throughout life. The fund is a public-private partnership that works with families and communities to foster optimal child development. Recent publications include

  Children's play is their work. (2006).

  Educare: A catalyst for change. (2006).

  Foundations: How states can plan and fund programs for babies and toddlers. (2006).

  Home visitation: Assessing progress, managing expectations. (2006).

  Illinois' infant toddler set-aside: What it is and how it works to promote school readiness. (2006).

  Raising young children to the top of the policy agenda: Lessons from Illinois. (2006).

  Snapshots: Incorporating comprehensive developmental screening into programs and services for young children. (2006).

• Parents as Teachers (PAT). Presents information about this parent-education and family-support program that serves families throughout pregnancy and until their child enters kindergarten. The program is designed to enhance child development and school readiness. Professional development resources include course descriptions, training schedules, sample curricula, a state program directory, and advocacy and funding resources. PAT also presents child-development materials for purchase online on topics that include providing parenting support to military families; the developmental characteristics of dual-language learners; supporting immigrant and refugee families; screening young children for health, hearing, vision, and developmental delays; and managing ethically challenging situations as a home visitor. Some materials are available in Spanish. Resources for parents include information about the PAT program, parenting tips, and a list of recommended children's books.
  
  
• Reach Out and Read (ROR). Offers program information and materials for this national initiative to promote early literacy by making books and reading aloud part of pediatric primary care.
  
  
• State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Grant (SECCS). Offers information about this grant program to assist states and territories in their efforts to build and implement systems that support families and communities in promoting the health and well-being of children from birth to age 5 who are ready to learn at school entry. The plans must address the key components of health and the medical home, early care and education, mental health and social-emotional development, family support, and parenting education. The site provides information about and resources to support each state ECCS component area. Also included are a set of state ECCS plans and materials from each of the national grantee meetings. State EECS is funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). Also note: the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) offers information and publications to strengthen and expand state ECCS.
  
  
• United Way Success By 6®. Presents program information and materials about this network of early childhood coalitions focused on improving school readiness through community change.
  
  
• Zero to Three. Provides a wealth of research-based resources to promote the healthy development of infants and toddlers by supporting and strengthening families, communities, and those who work on their behalf. Select the topics, Early Childhood Mental Health and Social Emotional Development, for extensive lists of materials for parents, early childhood professionals, and policymakers. Recent publications and initiatives include

  Building system capacity: Improving infant and early childhood mental health in Philadelphia. (2006).

  Helping young children succeed: Strategies to promote early childhood social and emotional development. (2005).

  Early Head Start National Resource Center (EHSNRC). Provides conference materials and publications to support Early Head Start (EHS) programs in their effort to design and implement high-quality services to pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers. Child development, infant mental health, early literacy, and school readiness are topics addressed. Includes an EHS program locator. EHSNRC is funded by the Office of Head Start.

  Magic of Everyday Moments. Highlights developmental milestones from birth to 3, including social-emotional skills, and shows how parents can support their children's healthy development through everyday interactions and routines.

  National Infant and Toddler Child Care Initiative. Presents information about infants, toddlers, and their families and the child care system that serves them in each state and territory. Also includes state and territory action plans for improving infant and toddler child care and publications about improving early learning and early care as a foundation for school readiness. Funded by the Child Care Bureau, the initiative works collaboratively with Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) administrators and other partners in their efforts to move forward system initiatives to improve the quality and supply of infant and toddler child care.

• Also see General Resources and Resources for Families. Both sections contain Web sites and electronic publications relevant to the social and emotional development of infants and young children. See also the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), Child Trends DataBank, Children, Youth and Families Education and Research Network (CYFERnet), and the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) Database.
  

Additional Electronic Publications

• Calman LJ, Tarr-Whelan L. 2005. Early childhood education for all: A wise investment. New York, NY: Legal Momentum. This report brings together research and state experience to show that high-quality early childhood education benefits children from all social and economic groups and enhances economic development. This report is based on recommendations arising from Economic Impacts of Child Care and Early Education: Financing Solutions for the Future, a conference sponsored by Legal Momentum's Family Initiative and the MIT Workplace Center.
  
  
• Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA. 2006. Preschool programs: A synthesis of current policy issues. Los Angeles, CA: Center for Mental Health in Schools. This issue brief highlights basic issues that permeate public policy discussions of pre-kindergarten programs: the benefits vs. the costs, the public financing of pre-kindergarten programs, and universal preschool.
  
  
• Center on Media and Child Health. 2005. The effects of electronic media on children ages zero to six: A history of research. Menlo Park, CA: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. This issue brief provides an overview of the major research that has been conducted over the decades on various aspects of young children's media use, and it highlights the issues that have not been researched to date.
  
  
• National Institute of Child Health and Human Dev