Showing papers in "Early Child Development and Care in 1984"
TL;DR: The authors found evidence that the child builds iconography on a substratum of symbolizations which are as much to do with movement and time as they are with configuration, and that these experiments aid the child in understanding the nature of the worl...
Abstract: Most research on children's drawing concerns itself with analyzing configural end products, whilst all that precedes them is dubbed “scribbling”, and has received scant attention. This paper, based on detailed longitudinal and cross‐sectional studies, puts forward evidence which suggests that the child builds iconography on a substratum of symbolizations which are as much to do with movement and time as they are with configuration. The paper describes how the child experiments with 2D representation much earlier than has been commonly accepted, before and during the “scribbling stage”. Investigations made by the child at this time include those which monitor and represent the movement of imagined objects through space and time. Differing, interacting modes of representation are described, hitherto ignored by most investigators, which are mutually reciprocal in their contribution to the foundations of later iconography. More than this, these experiments aid the child in understanding the nature of the worl...
87 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors pointed out that females seeking employment, however, are often at a disadvantage for their choice of school subjects has not always prepared them for the mathematical and scientific career options available within an increasingly technological society.
Abstract: Societal trends in Australia include an expansion of the number of women in the workforce. Females seeking employment, however, are often at a disadvantage for their choice of school subjects has not always prepared them for the mathematical and scientific career options available within an increasingly technological society. Thus their career choices have, unfortunately, been narrowed. The current unemployment problem across Australia has exacerbated this situation for females. Schools and the system of schooling have been challenged to review their educational objectives for it is obvious that there are inadequacies in both the system and the practice. What was acceptable practice in the past is not necessarily acceptable now. Parents and educators are questioning current practices more than they have done in the past. Male‐female differences in educational achievement cannot be explained by current understanding of and research into basic sex differences in ability. It has been acknowledged that the te...
29 citations
TL;DR: Four groups of infants with iron deficiency but without anemia were studied in an attempt to discover behavioral signs that can be used to index high risk probability for iron deficiency.
Abstract: Four groups of infants with iron deficiency but without anemia (hemoglobin ≥ 11.0g/dL) were studied in an attempt to discover behavioral signs that can be used to index high risk probability for iron deficiency. The 38 9‐to‐12 month infants were classified as iron replete, iron depleted, or iron deficient, based on biochemical analysis. Intramuscular iron was given immediately to all infants after administration of the Bayley Infant Development Scales. A significant retest increase on the Bayley Mental Development Index (M Dl) of 21.6 points was found for iron deficiency infants compared to non significant 6.2 and 5.6 point changes for the iron replete and iron depleted infants. For 10/18 iron deficient infants who were rated high on solemnity during pretest but low on posttest, mean MDI increase was 30.3 points, compared to a 10.3 point increase for the 3/20 normal and iron depleted infants whose solemnity scores changed. Solemnity in well‐attached infants is suggested for use as a clinical sign to indic...
28 citations
TL;DR: A Play Rating Scale (PRS) was developed to observe young children's play behaviors in four different areas of play as discussed by the authors, i.e., physical, block, manipulative and dramatic.
Abstract: A Play Rating Scale (PRS) was developed to observe young children's play behaviors in four different areas of play. This scale consists of four subscales corresponding to four different forms of play including physical, block, manipulative and dramatic. In each area four types of children's play behaviors are observed: their frequency of play in that area, ability and creativity to communicate ideas, social levels of participation in play, and the capability to lead in the different play areas. A total of 2400 three‐, four‐ and five‐year‐old children were observed using the PRS. A heterogeneous group of three‐, four‐ and five‐year‐old children were selected to participate in this research. It was found that the children in these age groups played in the different play areas and responded to all of the play behaviors which are described in the different items of the PRS.
27 citations
27 citations
TL;DR: The relationship between play and language usage is explored to determine if play contributes to children's language development and if play is a useful intervention technique for increasing the language competence of young children as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The relationship between play and language usage is explored to determine if play contributes to children's language development and if play is a useful intervention technique for increasing the language competence of young children. This review of literature examines (a) the use of language to facilitate play, (b) play with language as an object, and (c) egocentric speech in play situations, and determines that there is a definite link between language and play. In addition, it is suggested that play is an effective intervention method for stimulating language development.
26 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the adoption and fostering journal of British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering (B.A.F) has published a survey of adoption and foster care.
Abstract: †This article first appeared in “Adoption and Fostering”, Vol. 7, No. 1. 1983— the quarterly journal of British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering (B.A.A.F.). Their permission to reprint this article is gratefully acknowledged.
23 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a risk factors in infancy and early child development and care: Vol. 16, No. 1-2, pp. 1.1-8.
Abstract: (1984). Risk factors in infancy. Early Child Development and Care: Vol. 16, No. 1-2, pp. 1-8.
21 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss using the bibliotherapeutic technique to treat children who have been abused and discuss the application of bibliotherapy with abused children, as well as its limitations.
Abstract: This article discusses using the bibliotherapeutic technique to treat children who have been abused. Several appropriate children's books dealing with abuse are mentioned. The application of bibliotherapy with abused children is discussed, as well as its limitations.
19 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, three and four-year-old children were observed at four computer tasks in order to determine the extent to which spatial knowledge and memory for the language and mechanics of programming were related.
Abstract: Thirty‐one threeand four‐year‐old children were observed at four computer tasks in order to determine the extent to which spatial knowledge and memory for the language and mechanics of programming were related. Results indicate only a slight relationship between the children's predicting ability and their programming ability although a significant improvement in both tasks emerged by the last session. On one prediction task and one programming task significantly more fouryear‐olds than three‐year‐olds improved over time. Gender had no effect on either task.
19 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the results from a longitudinal experiment in early education designed to prevent mild mental retardation in high-risk families were discussed within a General Systems Theory approach to risk and primary prevention.
Abstract: This paper reviews the results which have been obtained from a longitudinal experiment in early education designed to prevent mild mental retardation in high‐risk families. Test of cognitive development indicate that risk frequently becomes manifest deficits by the second year of life but that systematic and intense early education can prevent that occurrence. The results are discussed within a General Systems Theory approach to risk and primary prevention.
TL;DR: It is found that the early home environment does alter developmental competence in preterm children and the interaction an infant has with its mother explains only a small portion of the variation in mental test performance, concurrently and later.
Abstract: We find that the early home environment does alter developmental competence in preterm children. Although the fact of prematurity and the attendant complications that infants sustain do place them at risk, recovery occurs in most infants. Medical factors do not predict which infants will have later problems in mental development whereas the nature of the environment in which they are being reared does. Yet the early home environment and the interaction an infant has with its mother explains only a small portion of the variation in mental test performance, concurrently and later. All studies of risk children have noted wide variations in outcome. Some children appear to be invulnerable to early sickness, unresponsive caregiving, and poor family circumstances. We need to increase our understanding of children who succeed despite adversity, and the factors that buffer them, as well as factors associated with deficits.
TL;DR: The effect of an early intervention stimulation program carried out during the routine visits in a Maternal and Child Health Clinic on home environment and mother‐child interaction at age 2 was assessed during home visits by a psychologist, using the HOME scale.
Abstract: The effect of an early intervention stimulation program carried out during the routine visits in a Maternal and Child Health Clinic on home environment and mother‐child interaction at age 2 was assessed during home visits by a psychologist, using the HOME scale. In addition, the relationship between the HOME scale at two years and the Developmental Quotient at the same age was studied. The study population consisted of 36 mother‐infant dyads exposed to the intervention and 30 controls. The population was Jewish, the mean educational standard of mothers in the controls was 10.5 and in the intervention 10.2 years of schooling. The HOME score was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the controls controlling for educational standard and region of birth of the mother. A relationship was noted between the HOME scale and the DQ at two years of age independent of educational standard and study group. The HOME scale explained 33.6% of variance in the DQ score. A relationship between HOME and DQ i...
TL;DR: For example, the authors found that among fathers, adaptability, approach, and persistence were positively associated with parent involvement, reasoning guidance, limit setting, and Intimacy, as measured on the IPBI.
Abstract: Children's temperament is increasingly recognized as an influence upon the quality of the child's interactions with the environment. In this study 19 mothers’ and 19 fathers’ ratings of laboratory preschool children's activity level, mood quality, intensity, approach, adaptability, and persistence were correlated with self‐reported parent behavior factors, as measured on the Iowa Parent Behavior Inventory (IPBI). Among fathers, adaptability, approach, and persistence were positively associated with Parent Involvement, Reasoning Guidance, Limit Setting, Responsiveness, and Intimacy, as measured on the IPBI. Children's intensity and activity level were negatively associated with father behavior factors. Among mothers, few significant correlations were obtained. The variability of behavior style within this sample of “normally developing” children and apparent differences in mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of children's behavior in relation to their own behavior is worthy of further attention. The results ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors interviewed thirty-one caregivers and directors involved in various types of day care for young children were interviewed and qualitative methods were used to assess their role identity constructs and attitudes toward parents and the child care profession.
Abstract: Thirty‐one caregivers and directors involved in various types of day care for young children were interviewed Qualitative methods were used to assess their role identity constructs and attitudes toward parents and the child care profession Caregivers thought of themselves as “mothers,” “grandmothers,” or “teachers” These social role identities clustered with attitudes about parents and professional role (eg, “mothers” tended to see parents as neglectful, while “teachers” felt parents failed to reinforce progress made in day care) The authors concluded that conflict over attachment issues contributed to problems between parents and caregivers
TL;DR: In this paper, the antecedents and consequences of social comparison exchanges, manifested by young children in preschool settings, were examined and analyzed using data drawn from naturalistic observations of 3, 4, and 5-year-old children, enrolled in three classrooms of two nursery schools, serving predominantly white middle class families.
Abstract: This paper describes and analyzes several examples, drawn from an on‐going research investigation, to examine the antecedents and consequences of social comparison exchanges, manifested by young children in preschool settings. Data is drawn from naturalistic observations of 3, 4, and 5‐yearold children, enrolled in three classrooms of two nursery schools, serving predominantly white middle class families. The data provide variegated descriptions of the social components of comparison behaviors in naturally occurring classroom contexts. The children were regulating their play, undirected by a teacher. Social comparisons occurred in these classrooms because the children themselves thought of them. †The research reported here was funded by a grant from the Maris B. and Mary )Higgins( Proffitt Endowment, Indiana University, Bloomington. I would like to express my appreciation to Mary Beth Childers for assisting with data collection and analysis.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the mainstreaming a blind child in a preschool day care program and the problems perceived in a day care environment with blind children in the context of early childhood development.
Abstract: (1984). Mainstreaming a blind child — Problems perceived in a preschool day care program. Early Child Development and Care: Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 155-167.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the relationship between the language delay and children's social development in terms of play with peers and found that the language slow children tended to show less mature patterns of play than the younger language competent children.
Abstract: Language delays have traditionally been associated with generalized cognitive delays. However, a population of children who appear to have language deficits with no other cognitive deficits has been described. What little work has been done on this population has tended to focus on mother‐child interactions with no investigation of the relationship between the language delay and children's social development in terms of play with peers. In the present study, 11 language slow children were compared with 11 younger language competent children on their play patterns; the children were matched on language level. The language slow children tended to show less mature patterns of play than the younger language competent children showed. 1. This work was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant No. HD00973, awarded to the Institute on Mental Retardation and Intellectual Development at the John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development at George Peabod...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared the performance of thirty eight experienced early childhood educators on real life moral decision, with their hypothetical moral knowledge, and found that the educators' hypothetical knowledge explained 28.9% of the variation in their real-life moral decision.
Abstract: Many dilemmas in the day‐care center call for moral decisions. What is the educator's source of moral knowledge? How does s/he apply such knowledge in real life? This paper presents a study which examined these questions within the cognitive developmental approach to moralization (Kohlberg, 1976). It compares the performance of thirty eight experienced early childhood educators on real life moral decision, with their hypothetical moral knowledge. The results suggest that the educators' hypothetical moral knowledge explains 28.9% of the variation in their real life moral decision. The phenomenon of inconsistency between the two types of moral knowledge is explained.
TL;DR: A comparison of the caregiving methods of the nurse‐visited and control‐group families at greatest risk indicated that even though the nurses were frustrated in their work with certain high‐risk families, without the nurses' help, the proportion of families using positive caregiving increased.
Abstract: A comprehensive program of prenatal and postpartum nurse home visitation for high‐risk families is examined. The overriding objective of the program was to improve child health and development by improving maternal prenatal health habits, qualities of caregiving, and informal and formal community social support. The homevisiting program was evaluated in the form of a field experiment, with comparison groups assigned essentially at random. In this report, three cases are examined in which the nurses were relatively unsuccessful in improving qualities of maternal caregiving. Particular emphasis is given to understanding psychological and social factors in the family that interfered with the nurses' efforts to promote positive caregiving. A comparison of the caregiving methods of the nurse‐visited and control‐group families at greatest risk indicated that even though the nurses were frustrated in their work with certain high‐risk families, without the nurses' help, the proportion of families using positive m...
TL;DR: For instance, this paper found that 5 of the 6 children with the lowest percentages of prosocial behaviors had mothers with scores which represented a high need for adult control, while all eight of the children who exhibited the lowest level of prosociocial behavior had fathers whose scores were all below the factor mean.
Abstract: Thirty preschool children from 3 to 6 years of age whose parents had shown congruence or lack of congruence in their attitudes toward adult control were observed in their homes on three occasions. Prosocial behaviors of children were observed and parent attitudes were measured by a revised Parent as a Teacher Inventory. While the chi‐square was not significant, data show that 5 of the 6 children with the lowest percentages of prosocial behaviors had mothers with scores which represented a high need for adult control. Likewise, all eight of the children who exhibited the lowest level of prosocial behavior had fathers whose scores were all below the factor mean. There is a need for further investigation of the effects of congruence between parent attitudes, parent behavior and child behavior.
TL;DR: For example, at age 2, a 2-year-old boy picks up a crayon and scribbles across the paper and onto the table, scribbling lines, circles and diagonals as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Billy, age 2, picks up a crayon and scribbles across the paper and onto the table. At age 2‐1/2, his marks stay on the paper, his scribbling is controlled, lines, circles and diagonals fill the paper. By age 3, Billy chooses a red crayola, draws a circle, fills it in, and places lines outward from his circle. “A sun” he exclaims! At age 4 or 5, Billy says, “I'm going to draw an airplane,” and he does. Susan, age 2, picks up two wooden blocks, bangs them together, then stacks one on top of the other. At 2‐1/2, she carefully stacks many blocks knocks them down and laughs, only to build outward or upward again. After much practice with blocks, at 3, she balances one rectangle across two others. “A bridge,” she exclaims! At 4‐1/2, Susan builds houses, cages for the toy animals at school, and parking lots.
TL;DR: In this paper, a developmental structuralist framework is proposed to describe and categorize how infants or young children organize experience, either adaptively or maladaptively, at each stage of early development.
Abstract: This approach, based on a developmental structuralist framework, describes and categorizes how the infant or young child organizes experience, either adaptively or maladaptively, at each stage of early development. Categories include: how infants first deal with the task of using their senses to take an interest in the world and simultaneously to regulate themselves, the variations in the way in which infants take a special interest in the human world through forming an emotionally laden attachment, and the variations in the way in which babies learn purposeful communication within an intimate human relationship. Furthermore, categories include descriptions of how toddlers go on to organize more complex social and emotional patterns and learn to abstract the functional properties of both their human and inanimate objects, and children develop the capacity to create their own internal experience through organizing internal representations (i.e., symbols) and both elaborate and differentiate these represent...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the affective components that are related to cognitive achievement and found that self-concept accounted for a significant percentage of variance in achievement variance for both the boys and the girls.
Abstract: To determine the affective components that are related to cognitive achievement the following seven characteristics were examined: 1) delay of gratification, 2) relationship with achievement model, 3) dependency, 4) motor inhibition, 5) self‐control, 6) self‐concept, and 7) risk taking. A cognitive ability measure was used as a covariate to remove the purely intellectual factor from the measure of achievement to insure that the characteristics being examined were of an affective nature. Results of the regression analysis indicated that self‐concept accounted for a singnificant (p. < .05) percentage of achievement variance for both the boys and the girls. Self control, delay of gratification, and motor inhibition accounted for a significant percentage of variance (p. < .05) for the boys but not for the girls. However, risk taking was related (p. < .05) to school readiness for the girls but not for the boys.
TL;DR: In this paper, the social and play behaviours of special needs and non-special needs toddlers enrolled in two early childhood programs were observed, where video tapes of each child were made during four different free play periods.
Abstract: The social and play behaviours of special needs and non‐special needs toddlers enrolled in two early childhood programs were observed. Video tapes of each child were made during four different free play periods. These tapes were analyzed to assess the interaction of special needs and non‐special needs toddlers with adults and peers. The play of the children was assessed in terms of Parten's categories. Peer interaction did not differ markedly, however, the special needs children spent more time looking at/listening to other adults and children. The special needs children were also less verbal in their interactions. Solitary and parallel play were the major types of play activity for the special needs children. Adults tended to ask questions and elaborate more in their interactions with non‐special needs toddlers. Special needs children experienced more direction and helping behaviour from the adults. †Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education Ottawa, June 1982
TL;DR: In this article, a study was designed to predict child maltreatment using several measures which were collected prospectively, which represent the generally accepted models of child malt treatment, and which are relatively easy to obtain.
Abstract: Prediction of child maltreatment has been an elusive goal, partially because little prospective data has been available from which to generate predictive hypotheses, partially because some researchers have tended to adhere to one or another of the models of child maltreatment to the exclusion of the others, and partially because what predictive data do exist have tended to be difficult to obtain or utilize and thus have not been widely adopted. The present study was designed to predict child maltreatment using several measures which were collected prospectively, which represent the generally accepted models of child maltreatment, and which are relatively easy to obtain. Data were used from the prenatal period through the child's fourth month of life to predict maltreatment through the third year of life. Measures included information of the mother's family of origin, her personality, stresses, her view of her baby's temperment, her health, and the baby's health. These measures accounted for 34% of the var...
TL;DR: In this article, Brodzinsky et al. published a survey of adoption and fostering in the UK, which was later published in the Quarterly Journal of British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering.
Abstract: †The Editor gratefully acknowledges the kind permission of the Author and the Editor of Adoption and Fostering to reproduce this paper. Professor Brodzinsky's paper first appeared in 1984 in Vol.8, No. 2 of Adoption and Fostering, the Quarterly Journal of British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering.
TL;DR: This paper investigated the relationship between the self-reported attitudes and adjustment of young children of divorce and their parents' perception of this adjustment and found that the divorced parents were able to accurately assess their children's current attitudes about the family situation with the following three exceptions: child's self-rating of feeling upset, sad or worried; current behavior problems at school; and estimates of father's emotional state.
Abstract: The present study investigated the relationship between the self‐reported attitudes and adjustment of young children of divorce (N = 48) and their parents' (N = 48) perception of this adjustment. When compared to a nuclear family control group (N = 49), the divorced parents were able to accurately assess their children's current attitudes about the family situation with the following three exceptions: child's self‐rating of feeling upset, sad or worried; current behavior problems at school; and estimates of father's emotional state. Analysis of errors made by the divorced parents revealed their tendency to over‐estimate the children's level of concern in these and other areas. †Portions of this paper were presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Anaheim, California, August, 1983.