Parenting and educating a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a unique experience for many reasons. Too often, the K-12 school system overlooks the needs of children with ASDs or educators find themselves unprepared to provide a learning environment that fulfills these needs. Parents of children with ASDs must also stay informed on autism support services, school system practices, developmental pediatrics, and more in order to be an active voice in how their children are supported within the school system. Understanding Parent Experiences and Supporting Autistic Children in the K-12 School System shares the experiences of children with ASDs in order to develop more supportive practices for these children as they navigate the K-12 system. It also offers best practices, strategies, and information for educators to provide a sufficient learning environment to support children with ASDs within their classrooms. Covering topics such as assistive tools, inclusive practices, and parent experiences, it is an ideal resource for K-12 administration and faculty, educators, pre-service teachers, policymakers, parents, researchers, and academicians.

All students deserve inclusive and engaging learning experiences. Opportunities for student growth and environments that honor culture and language are essential in a modern society that promotes inclusivity. Thoughtful disciplinary literacy practices offer embedded opportunities across grade levels and content areas to support inclusive classroom cultures. Therefore, the value of culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy, supported through literacy experiences, should not be underestimated and should become a priority within K-12 education. Disciplinary Literacy as a Support for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching and Learning develops a conceptual framework and pedagogical support for disciplinary literacy practices related to culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and learning. It presents a variety of research and practice protocols supporting student success through explored connections between disciplinary literacy and inclusive pedagogical practices. Covering topics such as cultural awareness, racialized text, and gender identity development, this premier reference source is an indispensable resource for pre-service teachers, educators of K-12 and higher education, educational administration, government officials, curriculum directors, literacy professionals, professional development coordinators, teacher preparation programs, libraries, researchers, and academicians.

School readiness is as much about schools recognizing the existing capabilities and knowledge each child has when they enter school as it is about supporting children and families in their preparation for entering formal learning environments. Effective approaches that address learning variability must take these differences into account, recognizing and leveraging opportunities inherent in the child’s ecosystem of resources. The Handbook of Research on Innovative Approaches to Early Childhood Development and School Readiness assembles the most current research and thought-leadership on the ways in which innovative education stakeholders are working together to impact the most critical years in a child’s life—the years leading up to and including kindergarten. Covering topics such as change agency, experience quality, and social-emotional development, this book is a crucial resource for educational researchers, child development professionals, school administrators, pre-K teachers, pre-service teachers, program managers, policymakers, non-profit service organizations, early childhood EdTech developers, curriculum developers, and academicians.

Teaching is a demanding profession as there is constant fluctuation and evolution. A portion of teaching is the ability to be able to adapt to various environments, especially shifting from in-person instruction to online practices. Over the last few years, early childhood and elementary school classrooms have been thrust into hybrid and remote learning environments, and it is vital that educators and institutions adapt to new practices and create various outlets for teachers to be able to more adequately reach their young audience. The Handbook of Research on Adapting Remote Learning Practices for Early Childhood and Elementary School Classrooms is a critical resource to assist teachers as they develop online teaching practices and work to cater to young students so that they can receive the strongest benefits from their education. Through coverage of topics such as hybrid learning and parental involvement, paired with sample lesson plans, course formats, concepts, ideas, and additional components to further the body of research pertaining to remote learning, this book is tremendously beneficial to administrators, researchers, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the reality of life in all aspects of human endeavors. The education sector was not spared—the school system was uprooted and procedures had to be made quickly for the safety of students and faculty. As a result, educators struggled with keeping students engaged academically during online learning and the stress of a health crisis on society. Preparing Early Childhood Teachers for Managing Emergencies explores international and cross-cultural perspectives on teacher effectiveness in handling education and learning in emergency periods as well as preparedness for post-COVID-19 experiences. This book identifies, shares, and explores the predominant theoretical and conceptual understandings of teacher preparedness toward emergencies and the aftermath. Covering topics such as first aid measures, teacher effectiveness, and technology usage, this book is an essential resource for global K-12 educators, pre-service teachers, K-12 administrators, policymakers, researchers, and academicians.

Motor games are incredibly useful in enhancing education and developing critical skills; they can entertain, produce pleasant emotions, improve moods, and increase the level of relationships. Motor games allow social, emotional, and cognitive development as well as the acquisition of motor skills such as knowledge and mastery of body, postural control and adjustment, and improvement of coordination. However, it is essential to select the appropriate game for each context to achieve the desired learning in all students. Further research on the opportunities, challenges, and future directions of motor games in education is necessary to successfully implement them. The Handbook of Research on Using Motor Games in Teaching and Learning Strategy presents significant advances in motor game education and collects research evidence that uncovers the certainties and testifies to the educational power of motor games in various situations and specific contexts that promote the learning of participants. Covering topics such as emotional physical education and educational mediation, this major reference work is ideal for researchers, academicians, educators, practitioners, and students.

Language is one of the greatest predictors of personal, social, academic, and professional success. No one is born a reader; instead, learning to read is a process that requires time, effort, and availability. The only way for reading comprehension to develop is through practice: one learns to read by reading. As such, it is integral to acknowledge the importance of knowing how to read and facilitating this skill in schools and at home. Reading is a cornerstone for learning and no child will know academic success if their reading ability is compromised. Modern Reading Practices and Collaboration Between Schools, Family, and Community is a premier reference book that consolidates knowledge on reading competence. It presents the processes inherent in the act of reading and the mechanisms underlying the teaching and learning of reading, as well as all recent research in this area. Covering topics such as communication development, learning motivation, and transliteracy, this innovative title is an excellent resource for preservice teachers, childhood educators, educators of K-12 and higher education, academic libraries, teacher training lecturers, faculty and administration of K-12 and higher education, researchers, and academicians.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

Multicultural Play Therapy fills a wide gap in the play therapy literature. Each chapter helps expand play therapists’ cultural awareness, humility, and competence so they can work more effectively with children of diverse cultures, races, and belief systems. The unique perspectives presented here provide play therapists and advanced students with concrete information on how to broach issues of culture in play therapy sessions, parent consultations, and in the play therapy field at large. The book includes chapters on multiple populations and addresses the myriad cultural background issues that emerge in play therapy, and the contributors include authors from multiple races, ethnicities, cultural worldviews, and orientations.

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) serves to globally promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights, and well-being of persons with disabilities. The theme of the most recent United Nations Day was “transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world”. It is in this spirit that Frontiers in Public Health is launching a new article collection inspired by this UN day, with a specific focus on children with disabilities and how innovative public health solutions to support them can contribute to making the world a more equitable and prosperous world for all.