Intellectual Development Of Children Research Articles

The values of dramatic play in children

The value of dramatic play seems to lie in five basic functions: 1) it provides personal expression and catharsis of inner desires; 2) it helps the child to distinguish between reality and fantasy; 3) it provides for children's social adaptation: 4) it is dynamic for learning; and 5) it improves intellectual development and specifically creativity, through interaction, transformation and imagination. Generally, dramatic play is fundamental to emotional, social and intellectual development of children.

Public policies and Early Childhood Education

SUMMARY The paper presents the distinguishing attributes of the Swedish family support system. This system fulfils two major functions and is organized according to at least four different principles. The Swedish family policy is very comprehensive in its nature, trying to include as many families as possible. The programs are, as far as possible, general and not selective, and offered by the public as opposed to private services. One part of the family support system is the day care system. A study is presented in which children and families are followed from early age up to age 16. The children's intellectual and socioemotional development are related to background variables and the age when they first entered public day care. Those children who started very early — between 6 and 12 months of age — developed as a group more positively on all measured aspects of development than those who started at a late time or did not have any public day care at all.

Parental Employment and Child Ca1re Trends: Some Critical Issues and Suggested Policies

The growing trend for employment of both mothers and fathers outside the home has been accelerated by the welfare-to-work requirements of the Family Support Act of 1988. This article reviews pertinent research concerning the effects of parental employment and various kinds of substitute child on very young children and their mothers and fathers. The article also summarizes recent federal legislation concerning child provisions for young children of working parents, income supports for the working poor population, and job-training provisions for recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children. The pros and cons of full-time employment of parents of the very young children are briefly examined from the viewpoints of related research and clinical observations. The author closes with some suggestions for further studies, direct practice with families, and action for improved social programs. It is common knowledge that there has been a rapid increase in the number of women in the labor force since the late 1960s (Hayes, Palmer, & Zaslow, 1990). This continuing growth is particularly true for mothers of young children; for example, more than half of the mothers of children younger than six were in the labor force in 1990 (Hofferth, Brayfield, Deich, & Holcomb, 1991). This has also been found to be true for children younger than three (Kammerman & Kahn, 1991). Many reasons exist for the increase in maternal employment: the push for equality between women and men in both the home and the workplace; the rise in the cost of living without sufficient concomitant increases in wages; the growth in the number of female-headed families; changes in the nature of many jobs from heavy, unskilled labor to service and white-collar work; and widespread cultural norms that emphasize individual achievement and economic independence through employment for both women and men, as well as materialism and conspicuous consumption (Bohen, 1984; Dornbusch & Stober, 1988; Phillips, 1990; Spitzer, 1988). This article summarizes related research regarding the impact of these trends on parents and children and presents related parental employment and child federal legislation, with an emphasis on recent developments. The article then looks at the pros and cons of parental full-time employment versus full- or part-time stay-at-home parenting. Finally, some suggestions are outlined for changes in current norms and values, as well as in public and private policies. Although issues for poor people are emphasized, the discussion also considers parental employment and child concerns of more advantaged families. Effects of Child Care Outside the Home Hayes et al. (1990), in a report of the National Research Council, provided an important overview and analysis of child research as developed by two national committees of outstanding scholars in child policy and child development research and public policy. summarizing large bodies of research on the effects on children of child outside the home, the scholars concluded that * Child outside the home is not necessarily harmful to a child's development. fact, high-quality programs can be useful in promoting a child's intellectual and social development. * The quality of child is of prime importance. * A child's experiences at home and in child settings are closely linked; both sets of factors interactively contribute to a child's development. * A child's placement in child of higher or lower quality in part reflects family psychological and socioeconomic factors. In the absence of subsidies or interventions, families that are more stressed, both psychologically and economically, are more likely to use lower quality care (Hayes et al., 1990). * Questions remain as to the impact of child by parent substitutes during the first year of life. Hayes et al. …

Are Preschool/Day Care Personnel Ready for Non-English-Speaking Children?

0 The greatest development in language takes place between birth and 8 years of age. These early childhood years are crucial to all aspects of children's physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development (Bredekamp, 1987; McGee & Richgels, 1990; Perez & Torres-Guzman, 1992; Ziegler & Lang, 1991). An estimated 8 million children in the U.S. spend a part of those years in preschools or day care centers and many of them come from homes where a language other than English is spoken. Although it is difficult to estimate the numbers of non-English-speaking children in preschool/day care settings, the population of non-Englishspeaking children aged birth to 4 years in the U.S. was estimated to be 2.6 million in 1991 (Diaz Soto, 1991). For non-English speakers, preschool/day care settings may be the first encounters with an all-English-speaking environment. Children's attitudes toward and perceptions of not only self but schooling and their place in U.S. education begin to be formed by experiences in preschool/day care settings. Activities and climate must be developmentally appropriate for L2 learners in order to maximize their growth in all areas. This means that caregivers in preschool/day care settings must have some understanding of what is developmentally appropriate for L2 learners. Teachers who care for children learning an L2 in the preschool years should have an understanding not only of first language development but of second language acquisition (SLA) as well. Further, an awareness and understanding of the culture surrounding the students' L1 is also crucial to the cognitive, social, and emotional growth of children. What teachers of second language learners should know is well documented (Ada, 1986; U.S. Department of

Is There an Adverse Effect on the Intellectual Development of Children Exposed to Low Levels of Lead

Is There an Adverse Effect on the Intellectual Development of Children Exposed to Low Levels of Lead

Is There an Adverse Effect on the Intellectual Development of Children Exposed to Low Levels of Lead

Is There an Adverse Effect on the Intellectual Development of Children Exposed to Low Levels of Lead

A Home Is Not a School: The Effects of Child Care on Children's Development

Assessments of 150 2–4‐year‐olds in six different child care arrangements revealed that the social and intellectual development of children in centers (part time or full time) was advanced over that of the children in home care (with mother, sitter, or day care home provider). Previous research was reviewed to account for this finding. It was concluded that the most likely causes of the difference in children's development were educational lessons, opportunities to practice skills and follow rules with a variety of peers and nonparental adults, and encouragement of independence by nonauthoritarian teachers—experiences that are qualitatively different from the experiences most children have in home care environments.

Thyroxine levels may affect the intellectual development of children with congenital hypothyroidism

Thyroxine levels may affect the intellectual development of children with congenital hypothyroidism

Intellectual development in children with congenital hypothyroidism in relation to recommended thyroxine treatment

The relationship between the treatment serum thyroxine level and intellectual development at 2 and 6 years was investigated in 46 Norwegian children with congenital hypothyroidism identified by neonatal screening. The level of serum thyroxine during the first 2 years was positively correlated with the Mental Development Index at 2 years of age (Bayley Scales of Infant Development) and the Verbal IQ at 6 years of age (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence). Children with a mean serum thyroxine level greater than 180 nmol/L (14 micrograms/dl) during the first year had a significantly higher Mental Development Index at 2 years and Verbal IQ at 6 years than children with serum thyroxine values less than 129 nmol/L (10 micrograms/dl). Boys had a lower Mental Development Index at 2 years of age than girls (86.9 vs 105.1; p less than 0.001) and a higher frequency of elevated serum levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone during the first year (p = 0.001). No signs of toxic effects of a high hormone level at the time of IQ assessment were detected. However, high serum levels of thyroxine at ages 2 to 4 years in girls were related to lower Performance IQ at age 6 years. The results demonstrate that the serum level of thyroxine is of importance in relation to intellectual development. Thyroxine levels above the upper reference range during the first 2 years were related to best intellectual development at 2 and 6 years.

Psychological Development of Children Who Were Treated Antenatally With Corticosteroids to Prevent Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Potential side effects of antenatal administration of corticosteroids to prevent neonatal respiratory distress syndrome were studied in 10- to 12-year-old children whose mothers had participated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of betamethasone. Aspects of the children's intellectual and motor development, school achievement, and social-emotional functioning were investigated. There were no differences between the corticoid group and the placebo group on these variables, nor were there more children with learning difficulties and behavioral disturbances in either of the groups.

An Introduction to Using Children??s Drawings as an Assessment Tool

This article is intended to familiarize the ambulatory care provider with possible uses of children's drawings as assessment tools. Drawings can be a useful adjunct in detecting perceptual-motor difficulties and developmental delay, and can provide clues to self-image and family dynamics. Piaget's theory of cognitive development provides a framework to evaluate the child's intellectual development as reflected in drawings. The developmental scales of Koppitz are presented as a practical screening tool. The Koppitz scales include both developmental norms and items that might indicate emotional problems. Observing the child's drawing of the family provides clues to family dynamics. Becoming highly skilled in the evaluation of children's drawings requires a familiarity with neurophysiology, education, psychology, and psychoanalytic and developmental theory, along with intuition and practice. This article presents an introduction to evaluating children's drawings.

Alternative to the available: Home based vs. centre based programs

During the recent years there is an increasing agreement about the advantages of attention to early child care and education and important initiatives have already been taken by several countries. The research project which I will summarize here can be considered as an attempt to increase, demonstrate the importance of early child care and education in Turkey. It illustrates the positive effects of the existing early childhood education services in the country, and also demonstrates an alternative model which can be effective in extending them. A home‐intervention programme is described, and research is presented concerning its effects on children's intellectual and social development.

Models of Behaviour and the Behaviour of Models

A model proposed by Bateson suggests that the discrepancy between an adopted child's genotype for I.0. and the adoptive parents' I.Q. should contribute negatively to the child's intellectual development. In support, he cited evidence from an adoption study that the absolute difference between birth mothers' and adoptive mothers' I.Qs is negatively correlated with adopted child's I.Q. Further confirmation of the empirical relationship is reported; however, it is pointed out that such a correlation may artefactually result from a difference in parental means, and that the formal model presents other problems as well.

New Parents as Teachers: Evaluation of an early parent education program

A structural equation, latent trait model was used to identify treatment effects for a quasi-experimental design based on post-treatment status alone. This evaluation concluded that a high quality parent education and support program during a child's first three years increases the child's intellectual development at age three. Staff assessments indicated that high quality parental involvement with the parent educator during home visits was the key to the program's success. The relationship of background characteristics and socioeconomic advantage to children's abilities was not significant. The consistent relationships between observed at-risk characteristics and outcomes provide support for the theory that stress-producing situations can have direct impact on children's language development and achievement—even by age three.

Basic Principles in Analyzing Instruction and Development from the Perspective of the Theory of Activity

"Reports on a method for developmental studies in psychology and for defining criteria for the intellectual development of children gave rise to a special discussion. The discussants criticized the speakers for their tendency to reduce development to learning and for their denial of the existence of inherent laws of development of the child's mind" (from a "Review of the Proceedings of a Ukrainian Conference on Psychology, December 1964," Vop. Psikhol., 1965, No. 3, pp. 188-89).

Intellectual Development in School-Aged Children With Asymptomatic Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection

Congenital cytomegalovirus infection occurs in about 1% of live births. Although symptomatic congenital infection often results in severe developmental deficits and mental retardation, about 90% have asymptomatic infection. Previous studies of the intellectual development in children with asymptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus have resulted in mixed findings. To control for the effects of hearing impairment (which occurs in about 15% of asymptomatic children) on intelligence scores, we tested 18 prospectively followed, normally hearing, school-aged children with asymptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus (15 black, ten male) and 18 controls matched for age, sex, race, school grade, and socioeconomic status. Children were tested via the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, and the Wide Range Achievement Test. Multivariate analysis revealed no differences between groups on intelligence scores or subscales, achievement scores, or incidence of learning disabilities (defined as significant discrepancy between intelligence and achievement), and mean scores for both groups were very close to national norms. It is concluded that the 25,000 children born in the United States each year with asymptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus and normal hearing are not likely to be at increased risk of mental impairment.

Criteria of Intellectual Development in Children

The psychodiagnosis of child intellectual development has become a timely problem in connection with our country's school reform [1]. Now that school-entry age has been lowered to six years, procedures for diagnosing level of intellectual development, to determine whether children are ready for school, must be developed and applied routinely. This, in turn, requires the development of scientifically sound criteria of intellectual development, based on modern psychological concepts of the development of intelligence in ontogeny.

The Early Years: Preparation for Creative Thinking

This paper stresses the importance of parent-child interaction in the early years as the basis of a child's intellectual development. The writer also argues that creativity is fostered in an environment where the child is emotionally secure and encouraged to take risks with new and unfamiliar ideas. Free and imaginative play is an essential requirement for free growth of cognitive and affective functioning but this must also be allied to the sensitive and unobtrusive intervention of teacher or parent which extends and encourages the child's questioning. Creative thinking demands self-confidence, an environment which promotes free thinking and acceptance of new ideas.

Family size, milieu, and intellectual development

The influence of family size and socio-professional milieu on children's intellectual development was studied, and the following conclusions were made: The unfavourable effect of a large family size on the intellectual performance of the children is not present in the higher social classes. In all other social classes the optimal situation is that of limited family size, with a threshold of three children. The relation between family size and intellectual performance is linear, rather than curvilinear. Family size and the fathers' professional milieu are inter-dependent and mutually reinforcing in the determination of the childrens' intellectual capacities. The fathers' professional environment operates through its cultural rather than through its economical attributes.

Alcoholic fathering and its relation to child's intellectual development: a pilot investigation.

In this study, the relationship between being raised by an alcoholic father and intellectual and academic achievement of the child were investigated. One hundred children of non-alcoholic mothers, 50 of whom had alcoholic fathers and 50 of whom had non-alcoholic fathers, were administered age-appropriate IQ, developmental, and achievement tests. Analysis of covariance revealed significant relationships between alcoholic fathering and IQ and achievement scores, independent of a number of possibly confounding variables. When children with alcoholic biological fathers were excluded, a relationship between IQ and alcoholic fathering persisted. Thus children raised by alcoholic fathers are a population at risk, in need of further scientific and clinical attention.