Editorial

Dear readers,

Welcome to the pages of the LKL journal, December issue. No doubt you’ll notice when leafing through this issue that this time three articles by Czech and Slovak authors are being published in English. We have made this small change, commencing with this issue, to publish selected articles in English to increase their reach for readers outside our language zone. This will bring a higher citation rate for the articles and of course open the doors to obtaining further interesting texts for our journal. Nothing changes for our Czech and Slovak readers, however, since each original article is available on the journal’s website, by clicking on the link in the introduction. It’s up to you which language you choose to read. Nevertheless, due to the necessary time buffer for potential translation of Czech and Slovak articles, the deadline for the delivery of manuscripts in these two languages has been brought forward by two weeks, i.e. from 14 March/September to 1 March/September. English-language manuscripts will continue to be accepted for review by 14 March/September. We trust that this minimal change will meet with your understanding.

The main theme of this issue is early intervention, i.e. care for children under six years of age. This relatively long period, yet an extremely short one in terms of human lifespan, is the formative essence of all our future experiences, relationships, abilities, habits and needs. The foundations of our development are largely determined by genetics. Genetic wherewithal is the loam that feeds out abilities, and how they flourish depends to a large extent on how fertile and tended that nutrient soil is. Not all of us are identically gifted, and every one of us is aware of some abilities that are difficult to grow on the untended ground of our innate talents. This is when early intervention can be the soft rain that triggers and boosts growth. Early intervention can therefore be seen as an opportunity and a challenge, while allowing with humility and respect for those givens that we can only moderate, but not alter.

It is our heartfelt wish to everyone to be blessed with the wisdom to know when, to what extent, and just how best to nurture the seeds of the abilities and skills of the children entrusted to us, not only in the coming year 2025.

On behalf of the LKL editorial team

Zuzana Lebedová