Assessment of Social-Communicative Behaviour Problems and Expression of Emotions in Three- to Six-Year Old Children in Nursery School and Kindergarten

Abstract

Developmental support and promotion of children with behavioural disorders received little attention in nursery school and kindergarten in the last years. Parents expect that their children exhibiting psychosocial deficits or problems in social-communicative competence will also get support by the said educational institutions. This requires a preliminary, but reliable and economic monitoring, estimation and evaluation of selected behaviour patterns. Therefore, we developed and validated a scale to rate social-communicative behaviour problems and expression of emotions. Factor analysis suggested two factors which corresponded to the intended measurement object and the defined taxonomy of behavioural problems (scale 1: mainly internalized behaviour; scale 2: externalized behaviour). Both internal consistency and split-half reliability proved to be good. High convergent criterion validity was found for scale 1 and still substantial, although lower, for scale 2. The rating is simple and can be performed within ten and scored within five minutes. The result is a reliable indicator for a step-by-step approach to recommend an expanded specific psycho-diagnostics, so that therapeutic interventions as well as prevention programmes for vulnerable children and appropriate social training programmes can start timely.