cognitive stimulation

(Society for Research in Child Development) Mothers with greater social and economic resources were found to be more supportive parents than those with fewer resources, which in turn affected young children's cognitive performance.

Conversely, children's cognitive performance also influenced mothers' supportiveness, which included displaying more warmth and sensitivity, and encouraging more cognitive stimulation.

This was true even among low-income families. Findings are from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Study, which included 2,089 low-income mothers and their children.

(University of Rochester Medical Center) Almost one-third of US parents have a surprisingly low-level knowledge of typical infant development and unrealistic expectations for their child's physical, social and emotional growth, according research from the University of Rochester.

The new findings, which suggest that such false parenting assumptions can not only impair parent-child interactions, but also rob kids of much-needed cognitive stimulation, will be presented Sunday, May 4, at the Pediatric Academic Society meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.