Screens or books? Isotemporal substitution of different home activities on language and socio-emotional skills in preschool children

ObjectiveTo investigate relationships among parental self‐efficacy, home learning activities, and children's socioemotional and language skills for preschool children.BackgroundHigher parental self‐efficacy is often related to better child skills and with more home learning activities. However, the relationships between parental self‐efficacy, home learning activities, and children's skills have not yet been investigated.MethodThe path models draw on data from 727 parents of preschool children (full sample: 85.1% female, 50.9% employed, 24.8% non‐German family language) and a subsample of 108 parents of preschool children who soon transition to elementary school in Germany. The self‐report data come from the German evaluation study “Language Daycare Centers.”ResultsWe found significant positive links among (a) general parental self‐efficacy with home learning activities and children's language skills, (b) language supporting parental self‐efficacy with home learning activities and children's socioemotional skills, and (c) a negative link between language supporting parental self‐efficacy and children's socioemotional problems.ConclusionThe more self‐efficacious parents felt, the more often they offered home learning activities and the higher they rated their children's language skills at age 5 years.ImplicationThe findings highlight the importance of parental self‐efficacy for engaging with children and the positive parental assessment of children's skills. Promoting parental self‐efficacy might stimulate home learning activities and improve the home learning environment.

Several studies document the importance of communicative abilities for children's development. Especially in recent years verbal communication in preschool children with developmental language disorder (DLD) has been studied, relying heavily on statistical analysis, outcome measures, or/and parents' reports. This explorative study investigates the effects of speech therapy on the development of language and verbal communication skills in preschool children with DLD within their peer group in a day-to-day setting using objective video-documentation. Speech therapy leads to improvement of language, communication, and possibly to concurrent development of both language and verbal communication skills in preschool children. Preliminary prospective study to assess language and verbal communications skills of nine preschool children (seven boys, two girls, 4-6 y) with DLD in a speech therapy kindergarten using video recordings over a one-year therapy period. The communicative participation of the members of the peer group was assessed and included the verbal address (Av) and the ratio of "verbal address/verbal reaction" (Av/Rv). The investigation results in evidence for two outcome groups: One group with suspected preferential verbal communication disorders (n = 4) was characterised by a high Av/Rv value, meaning they were scored to have a normal or high verbal address (Av) and a low verbal response (Rv) (predominantly interpersonal communication related disorder). This group showed minimal changes in the short term but demonstrated improvement after 5 years of schooling; thus, pedagogical activities seemed to be particularly effective for these children. The second group showed a balanced Av/Rv ratio (predominantly language related disorder) (n = 5); but after five years they demonstrated a partial need for special school support measures. This group may therefore particularly benefit from speech therapy. The present study clearly shows that even with speech-language therapy, the linguistic ability of DLD-disturbed children does not necessarily develop simultaneously with their communication ability. Rather, the investigations provide evidence for two groups of preschool children with DLD and communication disorder: One group demonstrated a predominantly verbal communication related disorder, where pedagogical intervention might be the more important treatment. The second group showed predominantly DLD, therefore making speech therapy the more effective intervention. In this study, all children expressed their desire to communicate with their peers. To the authors' best knowledge, this is the first study determining the ability to communicate in a preschool cohort with DLD using characterisation with video documentation in a follow-up for 1 year.

Little is known about the factors affecting children's language acquisition in transcultural situations and how clinicians can take these children's specific needs into account. To better understand the acquisition of bilingualism by migrant parents' children, our aim was to study the relations between parental transcultural perceptions and their children's language skills in both the heritage language and the host country's majority language. This cross-sectional study included 114 kindergarten children, born in France to migrant parents speaking Arabic, Tamil, or Soninke. Children's expressive language and comprehension skills were assessed with the ELAL and the N-EEL scales. In semistructured interviews, parents answered questions about perceptions of migration-related changes, extended-family relationships, and transgenerational transmission. Quantitizing methods and regression models were used to assess these factors' potential associations with children's language skills after adjustment for background characteristics and languages used at home. Children of parents with a strongly positive perception of transgenerational transmission had better expressive skills in their heritage language. However, strongly positive parental perceptions of extended-family relationships and of migration-related changes were independently associated with some poorer skills in the heritage language. None of these transcultural/familial factors was significantly associated with any of the majority language skills assessed. This research suggests that parental perceptions of migration, extended-family relationships, and transgenerational transmission are closely related to their children's heritage language skills regardless of the choice of languages spoken at home. Further research on transcultural factors is necessary to illuminate the mechanisms underlying bilingual learning and inform evidence-based practices for clinicians.

Many children are at risk for reading difficulties because of inadequate emergent literacy skills. It is widely accepted that development of emergent literacy skills is strictly related to children’s early literacy experiences at home and school. Dialogic reading is an evidence-based intervention to promote the language skills of preschool children. This study examined the feasibility and efficacy of a parent-focused dialogic book reading intervention that aimed to foster the early language and literacy skills of pre-school children. A sample of 40 Italian preschoolers (Mage = 62.9 months, SD = 6.3) and their parents were divided into three groups: treatment group (n = 12); information group (n = 12) and control group (n = 16). The efficacy of the intervention for oral language skills was examined by analyzing the improvements from pre- to post-intervention in children’s oral language outcomes, through ad hoc and standardized tasks; specifically, by measuring proximal and distal abilities. Additionally, we analyzed the intervention effects on parent–child interaction and dialogic behaviors during shared book reading. Results suggest that a relatively brief intervention (6 weeks) using dialogic book reading strategies can lead to sustained improvements in early language and literacy skills in preschoolers (both proximal and distal) and in parent dialogic behaviors during shared book reading.

BackgroundThe question of whether children and infants have memory capabilities similar to adults has long been of interest. Until recently, it was thought that compared to adults, infants have very limited memory processing abilities. Knowledge about factors affecting a child's memory abilities can help families (specifically mothers) behave in a manner that best benefits their children in language and memory skills. The present study examines one factor that may underlie a child's memory capabilities; namely the mother's narrative style.MethodsConvenience sampling was used to select participants. Forty healthy children (mean age of 31.55 months, range 25-37 months) and their mothers were entered into the study. All participants were native Turkish speakers, from similar socioeconomic status backgrounds. Memory was assessed by a modified version of the Magic Shrinking Machine. Narrative style was assessed by the mother "reading" a Frog Story; a picture book with no words in it. Children were then grouped according to their mother's level of narrative style. Children's language skills were measured via the Turkish form of the CDI (Communicative Development Inventory) which was translated to Turkish as TIGE.ResultsTo explore the relationships between mothers' narrative styles and children's memory and language skills and between children's language skills and memory capabilities, linear regressions were run. There were no significant correlations among any comparisons (P > 0.05).ConclusionsChildren's language skills do not improve according to their mothers' narrative styles, and children do not show better memory abilities when mothers use more words and longer sentences. In order to have a better understanding of these relationships, future research that includes several more variables is needed.KeywordsChild; Mother; Memory; Narrative style

ABSTRACTImportanceCleft lip and palate (CLP) is globally among the most common childhood malformations. This disorder impacts childhood development, including speech and language, and affects children worldwide.ObjectiveTo analyze child development skills (adaptive fine motor, gross motor, personal‐social, and language) in preschool children with isolated CLP compared with children without this malformation.MethodsThe participants included an experimental group of 27 children with isolated CLP and a comparison group of 27 children without CLP aged between 48 and 59 months. The groups were evaluated using two instruments: the Denver Developmental Screening Test II (DDST‐II) and the Avaliação do Desenvolvimento da Linguagem (ADL‐Language Development Assessment). Data were analyzed by descriptive and inductive analyses, using the Student’s t‐test and the Mann‐Whitney test, at a significance level of P ˂ 0.05.ResultsAll children in the comparison group performed within normal standards for their age range in the DDST‐II and the ADL. The worst performance in the experimental group was observed in language skills, followed, in declining order, by adaptive fine motor, personal‐social, and gross motor as measured by the DDST‐II. Children with isolated CLP also performed poorly in receptive, expressive, and global language in the ADL. No statistically significant differences were observed in the experimental group’s scores for the ADL and the DDST‐II.InterpretationDevelopmental skill levels were below expectations for children of this age with isolated CLP.

The structural language skills of preschool aged children with autism

Introduction. The article is devoted to the substantiation of the theoretical and methodological foundations of the process of formation of creative self-expression skills in preschool children in the process of artistic and aesthetic activity, which allow to identify patterns and principles, as well as prospects for the development of the studied direction in the pedagogy of preschool childhood. Methodology. The article provides an analysis of the content of key methodological provisions based on the analysis of scientific sources on the problem of research, as well as general scientific methods of analysis, generalization and synthesis. Results. The article analyzes the “mechanisms” of the formation of creative self-expression skills in children of preschool and primary school age in the process of artistic and aesthetic activity; a detailed justification of the three selected approaches (systemic, culturological, subject-activity) and principles (cultural conformity, dialogic, integrative artistic and aesthetic development of reality, emotional openness, value-semantic orientation of artistic and aesthetic activity, empathic interaction, polysubjectivity), which form the methodological basis of the study, is presented. Conclusions. For the first time, the paper reveals the initial methodological foundations of the process of formation of creative self-expression skills in preschool children in the process of artistic and aesthetic activity, making a significant contribution to the expansion of scientific ideas about the creative self-disclosure of a child by means of artistic and creative activity. The expediency of using systemic, culturological, subject-activity approaches as a methodological basis for the formation of creative self-expression skills in older preschool children in the process of artistic and aesthetic activity is substantiated. It is shown how the general ideas of these approaches are implemented through the holistic implementation of a number of provisions and principles.

Children best learn language through playful learning experiences in the preschool classroom. The present study focused on developing oral language skills in preschool children through a sociodramatic play intervention. The study employed a case study design under qualitative approach. The researcher conducted a sociodramatic play intervention collaboratively with the class teacher for a group of 10 children selected utilizing purposive sampling method in a preschool classroom. The intervention was conducted in a preschool located in Colombo, Sri Lanka for 3 weeks. The observation, interview and reflective journal were the instrument used to collect data. The observation carried under two criteria namely, ability to initiate a conversation and ability to respond in a conversation revealed that the sociodramatic play intervention created many opportunities to develop oral language skills in the children than the regular classroom activities. The sociodramatic play activities enhanced children's oral language skills while creating a language rich playful learning experiences. Keywords : Language development, Early childhood education, Sociodramatic play

This study aimed to evaluate the language skills of preschool children through narrative. The Turkish Test of Early Language Development (TEDIL) was used to evaluate the receptive and expressive verbal language skills of the children, and language samples were collected using the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (ENNI). The Mean Length of Utterance (MLU), Number of Different Words (NDW), and Total Number of Words (TNW) were examined in the language samples taken from the narrative analysis. A total of 100 children, 50 in the age group of 48-60 months and 50 in the age group of 61-72 months, were evaluated. According to the results obtained from the evaluation of the language skills of the children between the ages of 48 and 60 and 61 and 72 months, it was found that, children between the ages of 61-72 months were more likely to tell longer stories than the children of 48-60 months. It was seen that there were developmental differences in NDW and TNW in the stories of children between these two age groups. It has been revealed that the ENNI can be used as a language tool to assess the language skills in preschool children.

Purpose The aim of this pilot study is to gather preliminary results on the effectiveness of intensive, parent-oriented, telepractice-based intervention to improve language skills in preschool children with neuromotor and intellectual disorders. Method Nine preschool children (M = 63 months, SD = 8.7 months) underwent a telepractice program 4 times a week designed to promote speech, lexical, and syntactic skills. Families were remotely connected from home with the therapists, who controlled the rehabilitation procedures from the hospital. The number of stable phonemes, of understood and repeated words, and of understood and repeated sentences were evaluated as outcome measures 3 months (prebaseline) and 1 week (baseline) before the intervention, immediately after the intervention (T1) and at a 3-month follow-up (T2). Results An increase in the number of stable phonemes was detected after the treatment, even if it was not statistically significant. After the intervention program, there was a significant increase in the number of understood words (ratio T1 vs. baseline: 1.33; 95% CI [1.03, 1.71]) and repeated words (ratio T1 vs. baseline: 1.39; 95% CI [1.00, 1.92]), as well as of understood sentences (ratio T1 vs. baseline: 1.80; 95% CI [1.24, 2.35]) and repeated sentences (ratio T1 vs. baseline: 4.23; 95% CI [1.96, 9.12]). No significant differences were found when comparing all the outcome measures at prebaseline and at baseline. Conclusion An intensive, parent-oriented, telepractice-based intervention has the potential to increase scores of lexical and syntactic tasks in children with neuromotor and intellectual disorders.

Hanging letter block media is a combination of games and learning aimed at improving children's letter recognition, vocabulary, and language skills. Early childhood is in a stage of rapid development, so effective learning can affect their language skills. The purpose of this study is to analyze teachers' strategies in improving the language skills of children aged 5-6 years through the medium of hanging letter blocks. This study uses a literature study method, by analyzing various articles and books related to the use of this media in early childhood learning. The source of data for this research is scientific articles from Google Scholar. The data analysis technique used is the content analysis technique. The results of the study showed that the use of hanging letter block media was effective in improving children's language skills, as well as supporting fine motor development and cognitive skills. Despite challenges such as the need for more intensive mentoring and the duration of activities that need to be adjusted, this media can improve children's language skills and social-emotional skills. The development of this media with a variety of images and letters can increase its effectiveness in learning.

Risk of stuttering onset and persistence linked to early language skills: Results from the Generation R Study.

This study examined associations among parenting style, home literacy practices, and children's language skills. A total of 181 ethnically diverse parents, primarily African American, and their preschool‐aged child participated. Results suggest that an authoritative parenting style was positively associated with informal home literacy (book reading) practices and formal literacy (parental teaching) practices whereas an authoritarian parenting style was negatively associated with informal home literacy practices. Informal home literacy experience was positively and parents' teaching literacy was negatively related to children's oral language scores. In a mediational model, parents who were more likely to have authoritative parenting style provided their children with informal (reading) home literacy experiences, which in turn, was associated with children's oral language skill. Parent education was positively related to home literacy experiences and directly related to children's oral language skill. Findings suggest that researchers should acknowledge multiple aspects of parenting when considering relations among home literacy practices and children's language and literacy development.Highlights Parenting style is associated with parents' engagement in home literacy activities with children. The relation between parenting style and children's oral language skills is mediated by the home literacy environment. Parent education has a strong and direct impact on children's oral language skills.

In this study, we examined changes in the early home learning environment as children approached school entry and whether these changes predicted the development of children's language and academic skills. Findings from a national sample of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,018) revealed an overall improvement in the home learning environment from 36 to 54 months of children's age, with 30.6% of parents of preschoolers displaying significant improvement in the home environment (i.e., changes greater than 1 SD) and with only 0.6% showing a decrease. More important, the degree of change uniquely contributed to the children's language but not to their academic skills. Home changes were more likely to be observed from mothers with more education and work hours and with fewer symptoms of depression.