Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children
by Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley
This book is no longer in stock at the Cambridge Center, but is sold through www.amazon.com. Please follow this link for purchase: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1557661979/qid=1090259836/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-2121917-6570402
This monumental book traces the complex issues involved with the intergenerational transmission of competence and unveils some astonishing predictors found in the simple interactions between parents and their 1- and 2-year-old children. Meticulously recorded data, presented in detective-like style that grabs each and every reader, provide the scientific evidence underlying an alarming gap between the vocabularies of children from educated, advantaged families and children from families of low socioeconomic statusa gap that translates into widely different academic and intellectual performances as the children grow. As its many endorsers attest, this book is an absolute requisite for professionals in psychology, child and social development, speech and language, education, and early intervention, as well as critical reading for concerned families and the nation's policy makers.
Table of Contents
Foreword, by Lois Bloom
Preface
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
1. Intergenerational Transmission of Competence
2. Sampling Children's Developmental Experience
3. 42 American Families
4. Everyday Parenting
5. Quality Features of Language and Interaction
6. The Early Experience of 42 Typical American Children
7. Accomplishments of the 42 Children at Age 3 and Later
8. The Importance of the First 3 Years of Family Experience
9. Intervention to Equalize Early Experience
References
Appendix A: Quality Features
Appendix B: Figures
Index
Published by Paul H. Brookes
ISBN 1-55766-197-9 (1995) (hardcover) 304 p.