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This book presents an overview of the contemporary approaches in the departments of child education and psychology, with the hope of them growing up as happy, peaceful, balanced, thoughtful confident and successful individuals.

The mental health of the children ensures that they are able to use their developmental abilities, cope with difficulties in life, be productive and creative, and demonstrate cognitive, emotional, and behavioral characteristics appropriate to their developmental turn. This research was conducted to be able to identify behavioral disorders that may be a sign of children's mental problems and to shed light on the resolution of possible problems.

It is obvious that children today are more into tablet computers, social networks and online games than traditional child games. Artificial intelligence, machine learning and robots are another story of the contemporary world. The increasing emphasis on innovation, cooperation, critical thinking, being creative, problem solving, communication skills and project management is an indicator of what kind of a business world will today’s children meet in the future.  Chapter 1 is focusing on thinking and learning demands expected contemporary children to meet. The changing world was depicted briefly and then demands of the contemporary age on critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving and learning were explored respectively.

Chapter 2 draws on the current situation of limited access of young children to early childhood education and care settings in Tanzania. It offers information and evidence on early childhood education and care from an international perspective to those who are involved with young children and their families. 

Chapter 3 examined the factors and relationships about early childhood educators’ attitudes towards the integration and behavioral intention of digital learning tools into young children’s innovative pedagogical activities using a questionnaire survey. The early childhood educators with positive attitudes towards the innovative consideration and practical instructional applications of digital learning activities had more behavioral intention to plan and design instructional activities with innovative applications of digital learning tools.

Today’s people want to change. They want to change the world, the technology, the economy, the educational system, the health system. Many people are in search of innovations, new ideas and new trends. 

Today’s children have to cope with changing technology, changing trends and changing role models. They are unable to find close social bonds preventing them to do the wrong. When large amount of knowledge a child has to learn, it becomes clearer that being a contemporary child is not easy. Contemporary children need to learn more and have certain cognitive skills to cope with demands of their societies.

Early education is the foundation for all formal education worldwide. Early childhood education and care is conceptualized as incorporating both education and care. 

Views of children as a distinct social group with rights have developed over time. Early education was largely invisible as a state-policy concern. The child as an individual social entity was largely unrecognized. This portrayal contrasts with an understanding that children are persons who, while thriving in conducive, warm, and supportive environments, are active participants in their social worlds and have a unique part to play in their own development.

The innovative application of digital learning activities help young children with special needs or multiple learning styles to have more meaningful channels and opportunities to access appropriate digital instruction to improve their physical and mental development. Digital learning activities help young children access and understand the world in meaningful and unlimited ways to explore their lives or society using digital applications.

This section discusses two main arguments as to why early childhood education and care (ECEC) is regarded as valuable and why governments should invest in it. The arguments are concerned with the benefits of early investment for children’s learning and development, society and the economy and social changes.

A study by reports that the early years (ages 0–6) are the time for brain development; therefore quality ECEC programs are a key societal as well as personal imperative.

Investment in children 0–8 years is important because it gives “a good start in life involving a nurturing, caring and safe environment” to children who are the future hope of any society and nation.

Many researchers have noted that improving human development in the early years is a way to break out of poverty because early investment has a very high economic rate of benefits.

ECEC is an essential part of the education system worldwide. Learning starts from birth continues until formal education begins and continues all the way through life. One aim of ECEC has been described as building a bridge from early year’s education to compulsory schooling. ECEC is meant to support parents in the education of their children and to address any apparent developmental delays.

The second main reason for ECEC provision is claimed to be in response to social changes. Economic prosperity depends on maintaining high employment levels including maternal employment and this has been a key driver of government interest in expanding ECEC.

The situation of ECEC in many African countries is one of the developments due to various reasons. The level of training of staff is poor and many staffs have no training.

This study developed a questionnaire to survey early childhood educators in Taiwan regarding their attitudes towards innovative instruction and the integration of the digital learning activities for young children. The researcher used structural equation modeling to analyze the survey data and employed a two-stage approach to test the measurement and structural models of a theoretical model hypothesized in previous studies. Finally, the researcher examined the total effects of the hypothesized relationships between latent constructs in the responses.

A questionnaire was distributed to early childhood educators working in Taiwan to examine their behavioral intention to use digital learning activities to implement their innovative instruction and professional development. 

To assess the attitudes of early childhood educators towards innovative values and implementation of digital learning activities, instructional practices and professional autonomy and behavioral intention to use digital learning activities for young children, the researcher implemented a Chinese questionnaire, the attitude survey of digital innovative instructional applications.

The researcher proposed the following five latent constructs for digital innovative practices: digital innovative value (DIV), digital innovative practices (DIP), perception of instructional use (PIU), instructional professional autonomy (IPA), behavioral intention to use (BIU).

The researcher employed a two-stage approach to test the measurement model and structural model of a theoretical model hypothesized in previous studies. In the first stage, the measurement model was analyzed. In the second stage, the researcher assessed the estimations of model fit, path coefficients and measures of explained variances in structural model. 

This paper presents a bibliometric study of the scientific production about the use of virtual reality as a tool for improving the behaviour of children with high functional autism.

The main research areas are psychology, computer science, rehabilitation, education and educational research, engineering, communication and neurosciences.

There are several steps in the bibliometric study:

1) Organization of the information according to the variables;

2) Selecting the bibliometric indicators;

3) In order to provide a deeper picture of the main strategies of research, a special classification was made defining both social and emotional skills sub-domains.

The aim of the chapter consists in carrying out a bibliometric analysis about the state of scientific production with regard to the use of VR as a learning tool for individuals with high functional ASD. VR provides a safe customizable learning environment where ASD students are able to repeatedly practice and develop their social and emotional competences. This field of research, which started more than 20 years ago, has been conditioned by both the VR technology development and all the substantial changes that have occurred over this period with regard to the categorization of ASD. 

The present study has enabled the author to quantify some clarifying results about the understanding and evolution of the topic of research. First, the scientific production in this field is rather small considering its relatively wide trajectory. As for the variables selected when classifying the documentary information about VR and ASD and the bibliometric indicators chosen, it is worth highlighting that most of the scientific production is concentrated between 2010 and 2017. This probably has to do both with the level of development and affordability of the VR technology and the capability of adopting strategies to use it as a learning tool for ASD individuals.

Adolescence is the period in which psychological, cognitive and emotional changes are experienced because of seeking identity, the need for intimate relationship, cognitive development, rapid sexual development and the struggle for being psychologically independent from family.

The outcomes of changes in adolescence period might have an impact on future life of the adolescent.

The most important challenge in adolescence is the beginning of self-exploration as an individual. The adolescent needs parents who would provide trust and support in struggling with distress, pleasant feelings. If parents are able to listen to the adolescent without criticizing, despising and judging, they provide an opportunity to adolescent for self-expression and better condition for personality and identity development.

The role of parents in adolescence period is supposed to be backed up in resolving conflicts and struggling in identity confusion.

Anxiety is defined as a state of extreme worry, fear and uncertainty, which results from the expectation of a threatening event or situation.

There are different types of anxiety disorders:

- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) refers to the statement of the feeling of anxiety almost all the time in any kind of circumstances or the case that is characterized with a persistent and a long duration of anxiety, which makes it different from the other forms of anxiety disorders.

- Agoraphobia refers to the statement of intense fear that develops in places or situations in which is difficult to escape. 

Contemporary children have to learn and think more than their peers in the past, as they have to face different challenges. 

It can be concluded that not only financial investment in ECEC would change the situation. There are a number of other related issues such as governance and financial management, cultural issues, socio-economic status, gender discrimination, awareness of parents and community of the importance of early education investment, and others that need to receive adequate attention. All these issues contribute to the ongoing debate on childhood and family policy in Tanzania. 

The author explored early childhood educators’ perceptions of innovative pedagogy using digital instructional activities for young children. The researcher found significant relationships between latent constructs. It has been found that early childhood educators’ attitudes towards the innovative values, practical practices, and professional autonomy via digital learning activities affected their behavioral intention to use such tools. Though some early childhood educators are interested in the applications of digital learning tools, they do not completely apply or embed digital learning tools into their instructional practices. 

Early childhood education can use digital learning tools to construct their instructional community for professional awareness. They can exchange their different ideas regarding the application of such innovative pedagogical tools to develop continuous behavioral intention to use such strategies. They can apply their professional pedagogical knowledge and experiences within the digital learning community to consider meaningful pedagogy and strengthen their confidence and willingness to use the digital learning tools into the instructional activities.

The author attempts to begin to construct and test the configuration of innovative pedagogy and related instructional practices in preschools.