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Both research and child protection practice are still far away from having uniform definitions of violence against children. The different disciplines involved in the sectors of national child protection systems rely on separate discourses and terms; definitions are sometimes rather general or implicit, and operationalizations of important elements are rare. The various terms in use – child maltreatment, child abuse and neglect, child endangerment, children at risk, children in need, etc. – speak of the variety, not only of concepts, but also of practices. With respect to the latter, definitional issues are also issues of the scope and thresholds of intervention. This chapter provides an overview of major terms and definitional approaches to violence against children and identifies eminent differences between them. Findings from several studies on the Swiss child protection system, including the first multi-sectorial national survey on agency responses to child maltreatment, illustrate how professionals use definitions and the consequences of having multiple definitional concepts for documenting reported cases. We conclude by advocating for a consensus-based interdisciplinary process of developing shared definitions of violence against children.

All individuals are challenged by the movement from being an adolescent living at home and attending school to being an adult typically heading a household and working to support him or herself. This period of time is called the transition to adulthood and is even more challenging for youth from vulnerable populations such as youth with disabilities, in foster care, in juvenile justice system, and the like (Osgood, Foster, Flanagan, & Ruth, 2005). The ages that transition encompasses have not gained consensus in research literature or policy. It begins at ages 14–16 in policies such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; PL101-476, 1997 and 2004 amendments) or Federal programs such as the Social Security Administration's SSI Youth Transition Demonstration Projects, which identifies ages 22 and 25, respectively, as ending transition. Recent studies on young adulthood in the general population (Settersten, Frustenberg, & Rumbaut, 2005), found that by age 30, the rapid changes of young adulthood had typically stabilized. Thus, using the broadest ages indicated by policy and research, transition to stable adulthood encompasses ages 14–30.

There are very few Black children in programs for gifted children when both historical and contemporary research indicate that such environments contain elements very similar to those described as advantageous for Black children. Presented here is an overview of the research regarding Black children’s learning styles, multiple intelligences, and cultural expectations around adult-child interactions and a comparison to characteristics of gifted (and potentially gifted) children. In addition, the evolution and refinement of the definition of giftedness is outlined along with the impact of those definitions on Black children. The identification, assessment, and testing processes used to place students in gifted programs are outlined along with policies (e.g., universal screening) and practices (e.g., more multicultural education and gifted education in teacher in-service and pre-service education) that can transform gifted programs into diverse and inclusive learning environments where gifted Black students learn, grow, and thrive. Finally, classroom practices that cultivate the genius and giftedness of Black children are presented – practices that give teachers an opportunity to add to their repertoire of strategies and pedagogy in order to increase their ability to create more inclusive learning environments that benefit all children in general and Black children in particular.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopted a new Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (No. 182) in 1999. The aim of this paper is to analyse the United Nations (UN), ILO, Council of Europe (COE) instruments related to child exploitation and discuss whether child pornography and prostitution are economic crime or work that should be regulated.

This paper compares the definitions of child pornography and prostitution and child labour in the UN, ILO, COE instruments.

Although child labour does not imply child prostitution and pornography, the Convention No. 182 Article 3 includes child prostitution and pornography in the term “child labour” and identifies child pornography and prostitution as among the worst forms of child labour. The paper concludes that, no matter what role the children have in participating in the sexual activities, they should be viewed as victims and witnesses. They should not be viewed as “sex workers” or “child labourers”. The view that sexual exploitation of children is a kind of labour might be seen to legitimise it in some countries and might cause more trauma for children.

This paper argues that the ILO should have either considered child pornography and prostitution as a kind of modern slavery in a separate paragraph in the C. 182 or introduced a separate instrument to combat against child sexual exploitation.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the patterns and incidence of child labour in India and to examine the magnitude of child labour across different social groups. It analyses the impact of the socio-economic background of the children on their participation in the labour market.

The paper primarily relies on the data collected from secondary sources. The census of India data and the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) 66th round data (2009–2010) on employment and unemployment in India for the study. The dependent variable on child labour has been computed by the author for the analysis in the paper.

The findings of the paper suggest that poverty is not the only determinant of child labour, but gender and caste of a person is also a significant factor for child labour. The study found that children from lower-caste backgrounds in India seem to participate more in the labour market. In terms of gender, the study found that boys are more likely to engage in economic activities or paid jobs while girls are more likely to engage in household activities.

Data used in this paper has been extracted by the author from unit level data provided by NSSO. The variables used for the analysis in the presented paper has been constructed by the author and the figures provided are the result of the author’s estimation on data.

Ensuring that young children with severe and multiple disabilities are active participants in all aspects of their lives and that they make meaningful progress toward valued life outcomes can be a daunting endeavor for families and early educators. In this chapter, we describe evidence-based strategies that can be harnessed to ensure that each child is provided with high-quality inclusive education. Initially, we lay the foundation for the chapter by asserting shared assumptions fundamental to early childhood/early childhood special education practices with topics including strengths-based approach, self-determination, all does mean all, and play as a right for all children. Next, components of a high-quality inclusive program for young children designed to support access, participation, and meaningful progress are described. These components include the following: (1) collaborative teaming; (2) family–professional partnerships; (3) authentic assessment linked to meaningful outcomes; (4) discipline-free, functional outcomes or goals; (5) responsive, developmentally appropriate environments; and (6) levels of instructional support (e.g. universal design for learning (UDL), differentiation, and individualization). A vignette is used to further illustrate how to apply the practices discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how young children define prices and expensiveness.

Individual interviews were conducted. The sample was composed of 29 French children aged between five and 13 years old.

The findings show that children acquire price and expensiveness concepts very early but that their definitions are multidimensional.

The method of individual interviews conducted with French children led to a limitation of the representativeness. Moreover, this research is based on data obtained by interview, therefore it is possible that some children over‐rationalized their answers.

Before working on specific concepts with children, it is useful to be sure that these terms have a meaning for this specific population. The paper allows us to understand what the concepts of price and expensiveness are for children. Future research should further extend the knowledge about the way young consumers elaborate the notion of price.

Few empirical studies have been conducted on the elaboration of prices and expensiveness concepts among children. The first step is to understand what these concepts mean for children.

Purpose – This chapter aims to present an overview of what constitutes child murder, including definitions, history, prevalence, risk factors, offender motivations, and theoretical understanding.

Design/methodology/approach – The author uses secondary data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System, Uniformed Crime Reports, and Vital Statistics to show comparisons with previously conducted research. This allows for an overview of child murder.

Findings – There are numerous inconsistencies due to methodological issues. It is hard to find studies where a large sample was used. Definitions of child vary between studies, as does the age categories used. In addition, child homicide is predicted to be grossly underrepresented due to lack of communication between agencies, lack of formalized training, lack of a formalized classification system, and lack of reporting.

Originality/value – Research on child homicide can be instrumental in many areas including policy creation, implementation, and evaluation. It can serve as a benefit for those attempting to provide preventative measures. It may also help law enforcement with investigation. It is only through continued analysis of these types of cases and vigilant research, policy, and practice that society can more effectively protect young children from exposure to potentially murderous outcomes.

Children’s cooking abilities are correlated with increased self-efficacy (SE) for selecting healthy foods and increased consumption of fruits and vegetables. Instruments that measure outcomes of nutrition education programs require psychometric assessment for face validity. Survey items related to cooking experience (CE), SE, and attitude used in a school-based cooking program were assessed for face validity. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Cognitive interviews were conducted with children who had completed third to fifth grades in Northern Colorado, USA. Interviews were examined using content analysis to derive categories for children’s concepts of cooking and making food and to assess survey item comprehension.

In total, 24 children participated. Most were white, non-Hispanic/Latino and half had most recently completed fourth grade. Categories related to “making food” and “cooking” included foods prepared with and without a heat source, baked goods/desserts, and activities used in meal/food preparation. Most participants comprehended the survey items and provided responses that were congruent with operational definitions established from identified themes, demonstrating face validity with this sample.

Children’s concepts of “cooking,” although robust, show interpersonal variation requiring a prudent approach toward intervention evaluation and supporting use of these face valid survey items. Consider revisions of survey items that add frequency qualifiers and explicit cooking examples as appropriate.

This study addresses a gap in the literature on children’s understanding of cooking and offers face valid survey items to measure CEs, skill, and attitudes.