Categories Of Children Research Articles

Engaging with parents' voices to support children with neurodiversity, anxiety, trauma, and attachment issues: Towards more inclusive practice in schools

AbstractThe return to school following the significant disruption to education during the COVID‐19 pandemic presents challenges for students, teachers, and parents. In the English context, education leaders have expressed serious concerns about the significantly increased levels of anxiety and school absenteeism among students of all ages, particularly those with special educational needs (SEND). This article reports on the findings of a study with 10 parents of children with neurodiversity, anxiety, trauma, and attachment difficulties. The parents' views were solicited using innovative participatory tools, such as Community Asset Mapping, Blob Trees, and Unfinished Sentences, over the course of a year. The use of these tools is particularly significant as it introduces a novel approach to gathering insights in this field. The parents proposed various ways for teachers and schools to develop more inclusive practices for children with SEND. These suggestions are organised under the categories of Children, Parents, and Processes.

Nocturnal Salivary Cortisol Is an Accurate Non-Invasive Test to Assess Endogenous Hypercortisolism in Children with Obesity and a Clinical Phenotype Suspicious for Cushing's Syndrome.

Cushing's syndrome (CS) constitutes one of the most challenging diagnostic assessments for paediatric endocrinologists. The clinical presentation of some children with exogenous obesity overlaps with those observed in hypercortisolism states. Accurate, non-invasive first-line tests are necessary to avoid false-positive results in the obese. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of salivary cortisol to assess endogenous hypercortisolism in children with obesity and clinical overlapping signs of CS. Case-control study that included children aged 2-18 years, BMI-SDS ≥2.0 and a follow-up >2 years. Patients were assigned to three categories: group A, features strongly indicative of paediatric CS (growth failure combined with increasing weight); group B, features suggestive of CS (e.g., moon face and striae); and group C, less specific features overlapping with CS (e.g., hypertension, hirsutism, insulin resistance). Children in categories A and B formed the control group. Ten patients with confirmed CS were the case group. All children collected saliva samples on the same day in the morning between 7 and 8:00 a.m. (morning salivary cortisol: mSC) and at 11 p.m. (nocturnal salivary cortisol: nSC). The mSC and nSC results were used to calculate the percentage decrease of cortisol at night (%D). Main outcomes by receiver operating characteristic for nSC and the %D were sensitivity, specificity, positive (P) and negative (N) predictive values (PV) and their corresponding 95% CI. Salivary cortisol was measured by electrochemiluminescence assay (lower limit of quantification: 2.0 nmol/L). 75/112 children met the inclusion criteria, whereas 22/75 children were eligible for the control group. Only controls decreased nSC (median and interquartile range: 2.0 [2.0-2.5] nmol/L) compared to mSC (6.9 [4.8-10.4] nmol/L), p < 0.0001. A cut-off for nSC ≥8 nmol/L confirmed CS within a sensitivity: 1.0 (0.69-1.0), specificity: 1.0 (0.85-1.0), PPV: 1.0 (0.69-0.99), and NPV: 1.0(0.85-0.99), achieving a diagnostic efficiency of 100%. The cut-off obtained for %D was 50%. No child with CS had a %D ≥50%, but 6/22 children in the control group had a %D below the cut-off, resulting in a lower overall diagnostic accuracy of 81% compared to nSC. Salivary cortisol at 11 p.m. is an accurate, feasible, and non-invasive first-line test to assess endogenous hypercortisolism in children with obesity and clinical suspicion of CS. The nSC was also useful in showing that the circadian rhythm of cortisol was preserved in children with exogenous obesity. In patients with nSC ≥8.0 nmol/L, other biochemical assessments and imaging studies are needed to further confirm the aetiology.

Feedback and observational learning differ in effectiveness during category learning in early school aged children and adults.

When learning new categories, do children benefit from the same types of training as adults? We compared the effects of feedback-based training with observational training in young adults (ages 18-25) and early school aged children (ages 6-7) across two different multimodal category learning tasks: conjunctive rule based and information integration. We used multimodal stimuli that varied across a visual feature (rotation speed of the "planet" stimulus) and an auditory feature (pitch frequency of a pure tone stimulus). We found an interaction between age and training type for the rule-based category task, such that adults performed better in feedback training than in observational training, whereas training type had no significant effect on children's category learning performance. Overall adults performed better than children in learning both the rule based and information integration category structures. In information integration category learning, feedback versus observational training did not have a significant effect on either adults' or children's category learning. Computational modelling revealed that children defaulted to univariate rules in both tasks. The finding that children do not benefit from feedback training and can learn successfully via observational learning has implications for the design of educational interventions appropriate for children.

Assessment of Environmental and Health Risks of Toxic Heavy Elements in the Dust Falling on Different Areas of Kirkuk

This research aims to find the values of toxic heavy elements in the dust falling from selected sites within the areas of the city of Kirkuk samples were taken from eight sites of the city and analyzed using ICP-MS. There was a rise in the concentrations of Zn (407.21µg/kg), Pb (28.91µg/kg), Co (34.36µg/kg), Cu (38.29µg/kg), Cd (0.73 µg/kg) and As (3.17 µg/kg) and were higher than Global limit. The enrichment factor in the study area showed that the element zinc falls into the category (significant enrichment), and the contamination factor showed that the element zinc is among the high pollution. It was shown through the degree of contamination of heavy elements in the falling dust that it generally falls into the classification (Considerable contamination). it was found through the hazard quotient and hazard index of the elements that there are non-carcinogenic health risks, including the children's category for arsenic and lead elements. The results indicate the necessity of implementing strategies to mitigate the exposure and potential health effects of these toxic elements on the local population and the environment.

ASPECTS OF SPEED AND AGILITY MONITORING IN PUPILS WHO PRACTICE TENNIS AS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Problem statement. Tennis is a sport that lately demonstrates that the final result is not just the player's talent for handling the rocket or the ability to send the ball where it is needed. The ensemble of physical abilities represents an increasing weight in the training process, even from the beginning in tennis, all these taking into account the specific stages of growth and development of the body. Speed and agility are some of the main directions that can be addressed in the physical training of young juniors, knowing the fact that, at this age, the body development processes are evolving, the approaching of these qualities being done with obvious effects. Purpose of Study. The purpose of the research was to highlight the importance of monitoring speed and agility during tennis players' training periods, the children's category. Methods. The study has had as participants 5 tennis players aged between 10 and 12 years(±0,84years). The tests used to monitor the speed and agility were: 15 m sprint; 5 x 10 m shuttle sprint; visual stimulus reaction and running in a 3x3m square by changing direction; from the "T" running towards the net - approaching to a smart indicator and return to "T". Findings and Results. In terms of monitoring the running during 15 m, the time obtained ranged between 2.91 s - 3.21 s, while in the shuttle test, the time ranged between 12.25 s and 17.73 s. The agility tests expressed very good indicators regarding the ability of the tennis players to react, run to an indicated point and return to the start point. Conclusions. It was revealed that speed and agility monitoring in young junior tennis players is a very useful and important manner to achieve adequate, objective and proper training, especially at this age. The monitoring tests and hardware that were used proved to be motivational tools for the athletes having the chance to interact with some devices that gave them objective and smart feedback.

ANALISIS VISUAL ILUSTRASI ANIMASI PADA IKLAN TVC DJARUM BEASISWA BULUTANGKIS 2018

TVC Djarum badminton scholarship 2018 advertisement is the only TVC PB Djarum that applies 2D animation, since TVC Djarum badminton scholarship has existed since 2007. This TVC’s 2018 was able to get the highest number of viewers on the official account of PB Djarum's Youtube platform. Thus, it was found the effect of animation on this TVC. Visually, the 2D animation in this TVC depicts children's characters and figures. This study aims to analyze how 2D animation in the form of illustrations of children playing badminton is applied to this TVC advertisement. Analysis of the application of this animation can examine the visualization of meaning, uniqueness, colors used, and the role of the illustration itself. The purpose of this study was to determine the character and meaning of the animation applied to the 2018 TVC Djarum Badminton Scholarship ad. literature review. This study found that TVC videos targeting the children's category would be better off using a 2D animation approach, using a cartoon style, and displaying color visuals that are impressively cheerful, enthusiastic, active, and courageous.

Analisis Risiko Kesehatan Lingkungan Sisa Klor (Cl2) pada ZAMP Perumda Air Minum Tugu Tirta Kota Malang

Zona Air Minum Prima (ZAMP) drinking water produced by the Perumda Air Minum Tugu Tirta Kota Malang can be consumed through taps directly from people's homes or ZAMP ready-to-drink water taps in public facilities. One of the processing processes is by adding chlorine gas to ZAMP water so that if the water consumed by the community is not processed further, there will be residual chlorine that enters the human body. The aim of this study is to analize the health risk due to residual chlorine that enters the human body. This descriptive study examined ZAMP water samples located in 9 public facilities in Sawojajar Malang. The residual chlorine was determined with laboratory test and analyzed with Enviromental Health Risk Assessment (EHRA). The result showed that the average residual chlorine content in ZAMP drinking water is 0.00611 mg/l, with a maximum value of 0.2 mg/L and a minimum of 0.001 mg/L. Risk characterization in the population shows that the risk of residual chlorine through ingestion is less than one (RQs < 1) both in adult and the children's category. There was no risk of exposure to residual chlorine contained in ZAMP within the next 30 years. Efforts to manage the risk of residual chlorine from exposure to residual chlorine in drinking water of ZAMP Perumda Water Drinking Tugu Tirta Malang City are not needed.

Transgression vs the Politically Correct: Phases and Faces of a Core Category in Children’s Literature

It seems that in recent years criticism has been eagerly focusing on ‘transgression’ and ‘transgressive’ as keywords that enlarge the epistemic horizon, allowing the scholar’s gaze to descry areas previously untouched, or explored with a different cultural bias. In the literary domain, as an intentional act that involves trespassing, and the breaking of rules performed in explicit ways, transgression is often linked to language and form, and also to questions of gender, politics, social behaviour. The following articles, while dwelling on transgression, locate it within the area of children’s fiction, thus operating a first preliminary transgression, inasmuch as this kind of literature has been traditionally moulded by the romantic and pastoral fallacy of childhood as an innocent, untainted, happy condition, and, in turn, by the Victorian cult of the child that thrived on aesthetically idealized representations of childhood and youth, teeming with sound moral principles, healthy didacticism, excellent examples of virtue.

Body mass index, clusters of health behaviour among school-age children and young people in Sweden

Background: A healthy lifestyle for children is important for future health. Aims: To identify temporal patterns of change in body mass index (BMI) and associated health behaviour among 6–16-year-old children and young people in Sweden. Methods: A quantitative design with longitudinal cluster analysis. Findings: School-age children and young people tended to maintain their BMI categories established at the age of 6 years or when they entered the fourth grade, and the categories were stable in age and gender over time. Conclusions: Healthy behaviours affecting BMI should be established before children begin school. Although slight changes in children's categories of BMI may occur once they reach school age, the categories established at preschool generally persist at least until the age of 16 years. Because school-age children and young people generally maintain their categories throughout their school years, early preventive work regarding BMI and health behaviour is needed with particular focus on overweight and obese children and young people.

DAMPAK PENGGUNAAN GAME ONLINE TERHADAP KEMAMPUAN BERKOMUNIKASI ANAK

All students admitted that they had been given cellphones by their parents, and all of them had online game applications. This study aims to explain the impact of using online games on children's communication skills. This research is a descriptive study with a qualitative approach. This research is located in the village of Pagendisan Dukuh, Kampung Metu Pati, Central Java, with the subjects of grade IV elementary school students. Data collection techniques in this study were interviews, questionnaires, observation, and documentation. Data analysis in the study consisted of data collection, data reduction, data display, and verification. Child A starts addicted to online games and has an impact on verbal and nonverbal communication skills in the less category. Child B is an online game addict and has an impact on verbal and non-verbal communication skills in the poor category. Children C are not addicted to online games, even for children C online games have a positive impact, such as getting English words and drawing clothes designs. Child D becomes addicted to playing online games. His addiction to playing online games affects children's communication skills. D. In conclusion, the impact of using online games on children's communication skills depends on the child's category in the intensity of time playing online games

Utility of Body Mass Index Quick Screening Tool for Assessing Nutritional Category of Children

Body mass index (BMI) quick screening tool was used on retrospective data of 415 boys and 428 girls (8-14 years). Sensitivity and specificity of the BMI tool were assessed by comparing with the Indian Academy of Pediatrics BMI charts. The BMI tool had high sensitivity and specificity to identify children with normal BMI and underweight. However, its sensitivity varied between 50-57.4% for overweight and obese children, respectively.

LA OBSERVACIÓN EN CONTEXTO DE LOS NIVELES DE ACCIÓN EN BALONMANO

Esta investigación plantea como objetivo principal diseñar un instrumento de registro que permita describir y relacionar tres niveles de acción del balonmano (juego de equipo, juego grupal y juego individual), vinculándolos al contexto de competición y atendiendo a su eficacia. Siguiendo las directrices de la metodología observacional se opta por un sistema combinado de formatos de campo y sistema de categorías, utilizando un diseño de investigación de carácter ideográfico, puntual y multidimensional. Se utiliza como instrumento de registro el software Dartfish TeamPro V.4.5 para analizar siete partidos de categoría absoluta, y siete partidos de categoría infantil, generándose datos de tipo concurrente y de evento. Se aplican técnicas estadísticas descriptivas e inferenciales bivariadas para el análisis relacional de los datos. Destacamos los resultados que constatan la asociación entre sistemas de juego y procedimientos colectivos tanto ofensivos como defensivos, y la dificultad en establecer relaciones significativas entre el ataque y la defensa.

Next Generation Sequence Minimal Residual Disease (NGS-MRD) Predicts Event Free Survival (EFS) Irrespective of Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT) Conditioning Regimen, Graft Αβ T and B-Cell Depletion or Patient Weight Category in Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)

MRD detected by flow cytometry (FC) or PCR has been associated with key outcomes after HCT for ALL. In a prospective multicenter trial (NCT02646839; Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium [PBMTC] ONC1401), we performed a planned analysis of NGS-MRD to predict outcomes pre- and post-HCT for ALL patients (n=57, median follow-up 523 [range 58-1198] days post-HCT). We evaluated baseline blast samples from 74 patients for dominant BCR/TCR rearrangements and to follow MRD by NGS. Dominant clones were identified in 100% of B-ALL patients, 96.8% (61/63) in BCR and 3.2% in TCR gamma. For T-ALL patients, clones were identified in 62.7% (7/11), with the remaining 37.3% being polyclonal. Patients proceeded to HCT only if they were in morphological remission. Pre-HCT NGS-MRD from bone marrow (BM) was highly predictive of EFS (n=29 P=0.027, Figure 1) and NGS-MRD from peripheral blood (PB) trended similarly (n=27, P=0.17, Figure 2). In BM NGS-MRD negative patients, relapse was exceptionally low with all events due to transplant related mortality (TRM). There did not appear to be a benefit of acute (Figure 3) or chronic graft-vs-host-disease (GVHD) in NGS-MRD- patients. Pre-HCT, 10% of the BM samples were MRD+ by FC, but 35% were MRD+ by NGS. Direct comparison of NGS-MRD in BM and PB with FC MRD pre- and post-HCT showed improvements in positive and negative predictive power. Αβ-T and B-cell depleted haploidentical grafts had similar outcomes to other stem cell sources (Figure 4) with decreased incidence of GVHD [aGVHD > grade 2: n=1 (3.3%) and extensive cGVHD: n=1(3.3%)]. TBI (total body irradiation) based myeloablative conditioning (TBI/TT [Thiotepa]/CY [Cyclophosphamide], TBI/CY, or TBI/VP16; ± anti-thymocyte globulin [ATG]) and non-TBI reduced toxicity (Flu [Fludarabine]/Mel [Melphalan]/TT; ± ATG) had similar EFS (P= 0.31). TRM was very low 8.7% (n=5) in this population (n=57)) and rescue of relapse was high for the duration of follow up to date, resulting in similar OS for MRD- vs. MRD+ patients (P= 0.15), likely due to rescue with cell/immunotherapy. We examined the interaction of obesity, using body mass index (BMI) based on height/weight, pre-HCT, in the context of NGS-MRD on EFS. The BMI was converted to a percentile through population norms for age, gender, and defined thresholds published by the Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC). Lean patients (< 85th percentile [%]) overall had better survival than the overweight (OW)/obese (85-94%/≥95%) (Figure 5: P=0.016). Among the lean patients, NGS-MRD was prognostic, with NGS-MRD+ patients having worse EFS. This was also observed with the OW/obese group, where being NGS MRD+ led to dismal survival. Overweight/Obese patients who were pre-HCT MRD- had survival similar lean/MRD+ patients. Thus, both factors, weight category and NGS-MRD influenced EFS (Figure 6: P=0.02).

Sugar Content in UK Breakfast Cereals: A Market Survey

AbstractBreakfast cereals are known to provide a nutrient-dense meal and are a useful source of carbohydrate, fibre and micronutrients. However, in the UK cereal products are the primary contributor of free sugars in the diets of children aged 1.5 to 10 years; and are the second leading source of free sugars in children aged 11 to 18 years and adults aged 19 to 64 years. For this reason, breakfast cereals were included among food items recommended by the UK government for a 20% reduction in sugar by 2020 for childhood obesity prevention. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the nutrient contents, including sugars, of breakfast cereals sold in the UK, in particular those marketed to children. Nutritional information and ingredients of cereal products available in five major online supermarkets in the UK, in 2018, were collected into a comprehensive database for analysis. A systematic process flow approach was utilised to separate products into nine distinct categories. Children's products were stratified both on being wholegrain rich (≥ 50%, WG) or not (NWG), and on total sugar content; with &gt; 12.3g/100 g defined as ‘highly flavoured and sweetened’ (HFS) versus ‘plain’ containing ≤ 12.3g/100 g (the target set by the UK for industry sugar reduction). Of the 757 unique products surveyed, 97 cereals were categorised as children's. Cereals not explicitly marketed to children were categorised as either ‘family favourites’ (containing &lt; 50% wholegrains), ‘free-from and organic’, ‘porridge and oats’, ‘healthier with dried fruits’, or ‘healthier without dried fruits’ (healthier defined as wholegrain rich, ≥ 50%). Children's HFS products (n = 78) contained by far the highest sugar contents of all cereals examined. While there was no difference in total sugar between NWG/HFS (n = 69, median [range]: 29.0g/100 g [12.4, 41.0]) and WG/HFS (n = 9, 22.0g/100 g [13.6, 26.0]) cereals; these were much higher (P &lt; 0.01) than the median sugar contents (8.8–19.0g/100g) observed in the other seven product categories. Children's NWG cereals contained dramatically lower fibre (NWG/HFS: 3.5 [0, 8.7], NWG/Plain: 1.6g/100 g [1.3, 7.2]) than all other product categories (7.3–9.1g/100 g; P &lt; 0.001). Similarly, NWG/HFS cereals were lower in protein content (7.4/100 g [3.6, 17.2]) than the non-children's cereals (8.8–11g/100 g; P &lt; 0.05). In conclusion, children's categories of cereal contain significantly greater amounts of sugar and lower amounts of fibre and protein than other cereal categories. Despite their fortification with vitamins and minerals, reformulation of this food category should be a priority alongside additional sugar-reducing strategies.

Touch and look: The role of visual‐haptic cues for categorical learning in primary school children

AbstractBenefits of synchronous presentation of multisensory compared to unisensory cues are well established. However, the generality of such findings to children's learning with visual and haptic sensory cue pairings is unclear. Children aged 6 to 10 years (N = 180) participated in a novel tabletop category‐learning paradigm with visual, haptic, or visuohaptic informative cues. The results indicated that combinations of complimentary visual and haptic cues facilitated learning above unisensory visual cues only in 8‐year‐old children. Primarily, however, haptic information was found to dominate children's category learning across ages, particularly in the youngest children (6‐year‐olds), even with equal discriminability of haptic and visual exemplars. These findings suggest developmental changes in the ability to effectively combine unrelated visual and haptic information for categorical learning. Implications for the use of nonpertinent visuohaptic cues in learning tasks within educational settings at different ages, and in particular the dominance of haptic stimuli for children's learning, are discussed.Highlights A novel category learning task examined the role of unisensory and multisensory visual and haptic information in children's learning. Haptic cues dominated learning from 6 to 10 years of age, particularly when combined with visual information in older children. Findings infer protracted development of benefits in combining visuohaptic cues, and dominance of haptic over visual information for category learning.

Distinct Gut Microbiota Composition and Functional Category in Children With Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy.

Cerebral palsy (CP) and epilepsy are two interactive neurological diseases, and their clinical treatment can cause severe side-effects in children's development, especially when it involves long-term administration of antiepileptic drugs. Accumulating studies on the gut-brain axis indicated that the gut microbiota (GM), which participates in various neurological diseases, would provide a harmless therapeutic target for the treatment of CP and epilepsy. To explore the GM characteristics in children with both CP and epilepsy (CPE), we collected fecal samples from 25 CPE patients (CPE group) and 21 healthy children (Healthy group) for 16S rDNA sequencing. In this study, we discovered significantly higher microbial diversity in the CPE group compared to healthy group (P < 0.001). After selecting the top 15 most abundant genera in each group, we found significantly enriched Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus, Akkermansia, Enterococcus, Prevotella, Veillonella, Rothia, and Clostridium IV in the CPE group, and noticeably reduced Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium, Blautia, Ruminococcus, Roseburia, Anaerostipes, and Parasutterella. A GM co-occurrence network was also constructed, and negative correlations were discovered between Bacteroides and Lactobacillus (r = −0.768, P < 0.001, FDR < 0.001), as well as Intestinibacter and Bifidobacterium (r = −0.726, P < 0.001, FDR < 0.001). After KEGG annotation and functional enrichment, 24 functional categories exhibited different enrichment levels between the CPE and Healthy groups. The functions, associated with xenobiotics metabolism, immune system diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases, were enriched in the CPE group. Conversely, the functional categories related to the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites were reduced. Furthermore, the neurodegenerative diseases were mainly attributed to Streptococcus, while an increased risk of immune system diseases was associated with enriched Akkermansia in the CPE patients. Generally, this study characterized the GM in CPE patients, illustrated the microbial co-occurrence relationships, and detected the functional distributions of the bacteria.

Analytical support to organization system of children transportation in long-distance trains

Abstract. In modern conditions for passenger complex of Russian Railways, important tasks include improvement of transportation quality, maintenance of stable positions in a competitive environment and increasing demand. To address these issues, a customer-oriented approach is applied based on the segmentation of transport market in relation to certain groups of passengers. Performance of children's transportation is of particular relevance and social significance. Railways are charged with a huge range of work, including sale of travel documents, preparation and equipping of passenger cars, provision of food during the trip, instructing workers, ensuring security during the embarkation/disembarkation of passengers, etc. Children can travel as individually with accompanying persons and as part of organized groups. Processes of planning, organizing, monitoring the transportation of this age category of passengers are associated with the analysis of a large amount of reference and regulatory and reporting documentation. On the basis of the ACS “Express-3”, a program-analytical complex “Children's transportation” was developed and implemented, which allows to receive data at the regional and network levels in the operational (train number, day) and statistical (period of dates, month) modes. This information technology provides analytical support for key transportation management functions — planning, control, analysis. Planning of transportation of organized children's groups is carried out on the basis of a study of the dynamics of data on the number of applications received and travel documents issued, determining the routes of trains, periods of the highest intensity of passenger traffic, obtaining information about the stations of embarkation and disembarkation. To perform the functions of monitoring the embarkation and disembarkation at the destination station of groups of children, the employees involved receive information on the train number, car number, date and time of arrival, number of children in the group using the Children's Transportation software. For the analysis of transportation of children's age categories, a functional has been developed that ensures the construction of aggregated reporting based on trains data that completed the trip. Users receive reporting information in table form, including “strict” (designed according to the approved layout) and “flexible” forms (construction is performed according to specified parameters). Software and analytical complex is designed for managers and specialists of the passenger unit of the JSC “Russian Railways”, has a modular principle of increasing functionality and provides a solution to current problems in the system of organizing children's transport service.

Speech categorization develops slowly through adolescence.

The development of the ability to categorize speech sounds is often viewed as occurring primarily during infancy via perceptual learning mechanisms. However, a number of studies suggest that even after infancy, children's categories become more categorical and well defined through about age 12. We investigated the cognitive changes that may be responsible for such development using a visual world paradigm experiment based on (McMurray, Tanenhaus, & Aslin, 2002). Children from 3 age groups (7-8, 12-13, and 17-18 years) heard a token from either a b/p or s/∫ continua spanning 2 words (beach/peach, ship/sip) and selected its referent from a screen containing 4 pictures of potential lexical candidates. Eye movements to each object were monitored as a measure of how strongly children were committing to each candidate as perception unfolds in real-time. Results showed an ongoing sharpening of speech categories through 18, which was particularly apparent during the early stages of real-time perception. When analysis targeted to specifically within-category sensitivity to continuous detail, children exhibited increasingly gradient categories over development, suggesting that increasing sensitivity to fine-grained detail in the signal enables these more discrete categorizations. Together these suggest that speech development is a protracted process in which children's increasing sensitivity to within-category detail in the signal enables increasingly sharp phonetic categories. (PsycINFO Database Record

BMI Health Report Cards: Parents' Perceptions and Reactions.

In 2003, Arkansas became the first state to require body mass index (BMI) testing in public schools to raise awareness of the growing obesity epidemic among children and adolescents. Limited information exists regarding the effectiveness of school-based BMI screening programs. The purpose of this study was to determine if BMI health report cards affected parents' knowledge or actions regarding their child's health and to determine the accuracy of parents' perceptions of their child as underweight, normal weight, or overweight according to their child's BMI. A questionnaire was developed with the help of physical educators, pediatricians, and exercise scientists to determine parents' perceptions and behaviors regarding BMI report cards. The questionnaire was distributed to parents/guardians of children who sought medical care at two pediatrician's offices in Arkansas. Based on responses to survey questions, parents are not making changes to their child's diet and exercise habits if their child is classified as "at risk" or "overweight." However, parents did report that BMI health report cards are influencing their knowledge about their child's health. The majority of parents in the study (approximately 66%) did not accurately perceive their child's BMI category.

The Emergence of an Abstract Grammatical Category in Children’s Early Speech

How do children begin to use language to say things they have never heard before? The origins of linguistic productivity have been a subject of heated debate: Whereas generativist accounts posit that children’s early language reflects the presence of syntactic abstractions, constructivist approaches instead emphasize gradual generalization derived from frequently heard forms. In the present research, we developed a Bayesian statistical model that measures the degree of abstraction implicit in children’s early use of the determiners “a” and “the.” Our work revealed that many previously used corpora are too small to allow researchers to judge between these theoretical positions. However, several data sets, including the Speechome corpus—a new ultra-dense data set for one child—showed evidence of low initial levels of productivity and higher levels later in development. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that children lack rich grammatical knowledge at the outset of language learning but rapidly begin to generalize on the basis of structural regularities in their input.