Development Of Skills In Children Research Articles

Deductive Reasoning Skills in Children Aged 4-8 Years Old.

Young children possess the fundamental deductive reasoning skills for solving their upcoming problems in their daily lives. These skills are of great importance for their school readiness and academic development. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the age differences and predictive variables of deductive reasoning skills in young Hungarian children aged 4-8 years old who reside in Hungary and Slovakia. Face-to-face data were collected from 3050 participants. The instrument of deductive reasoning skills assessment was extracted from the school readiness test, DIFER (Diagnostic System for Assessing Development). Utilizing various statistical analyses with R, AMOS, and MPlus8 packages, it was found that there were significant differences in young children's deductive reasoning skills across countries and age groups. Parents' education levels had significant positive relationships with children's deductive reasoning skills development. And the variables of country and age were identified as significant predictors of children's deductive reasoning skills. And children's family background variables such as parental education played a significant role in predicting children's deductive reasoning skills in Hungary. The implications of this study emphasize the importance of educational contexts, parental involvement, cross-cultural exchange, and further research, with the potential to enhance young children's educational experiences and prospects in Hungary, Slovakia, and beyond.

A systematic review of the efficacy of group social skills interventions on social functioning and social participation in children with acquired brain injury or cerebral palsy.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Group social skills interventions (GSSIs) versus any comparator on social functioning in children aged 5-12 years with acquired brain injury or cerebral palsy. GSSIs are an evidence-based approach to foster social skills development in children with autism spectrum disorder. Currently, limited literature exploring GSSIs in children with acquired brain injury and cerebral palsy is available. MEDLINE, SCOPUS, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, clinicaltrials.gov, ICTRP and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses were systematically searched. Study screening, risk-of-bias, Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation and data extraction were performed in duplicate. Six studies were included in the narrative synthesis (one randomised controlled trial and five nonrandomised studies). Results indicate that GSSIs may increase children's social skills as measured on the Social Skills Rating System and Social Skills Questionnaire. Very low certainty evidence was found for improvements in social functioning and competence. There is low certainty evidence that participation in GSSI may lead to gains in social functioning for children with acquired brain injury or cerebral palsy. Given the certainty of the evidence, these results must be interpreted with caution. Only one randomised controlled trial of GSSIs for children with acquired brain injury was identified, underscoring the need for additional high-quality studies.

Associations between physical activity and development in preschool-aged children born

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of physical activity (PA) on development (motor, cognitive, social-emotional) in children 4–5 years old born <30 weeks’ gestation, and to describe subgroups of children at risk...

Investigating if high-quality kindergarten teachers sustain the pre-K boost to children's emergent literacy skill development in North Carolina.

This study tested the hypothesis that high-quality kindergarten teachers sustain and amplify the skill development of children who participated in North Carolina's NC Pre-K program during the previous year, compared to matched non-participants (N = 17,330; 42% African American, 40% Non-Hispanic White, 15% Hispanic; 51% male; Mage = 4.5 years at fall of pre-K). Kindergarten teacher quality was measured using a "value-added" approach. NC Pre-K participants outperformed non-participants in the fall of kindergarten (β = .22) and 11% of this boost remained evident by the spring of kindergarten. Higher value-added teachers promoted the skill development of all children (β = .30 in the spring) but did not differentially benefit the skill development of former NC Pre-K participants compared to non-participants.

I-MovE. An intervention to promote movement at childcare centers: Benefits for motor cognitive and socio-emotional development.

The present contribution aimed to analyze the effects of a motor program intervention (i.e., I-MovE intervention) implemented indoors and outdoors at nursery school, on children's motor, socio-emotional, and cognitive skills. The study uses a non-randomized pre-post test design. Participants were children attending twenty nursery schools in the North of Italy. The intervention activities were adapted to age: Level 1 activities were addressed to children between 6 and 12 months, and Level 2 activities were addressed to children between 13 and 43 months. Within each level, one group of children developed the intervention indoors (IN-group; Level 1: n = 10; Level 2: n = 104) and another group developed the intervention outdoors (OUT-Group; Level 1: n = 12; Level 2: n = 66). Finally, one additional group was involved as the control group (CONT-Group; Level 1: n = 15; Level 2: n = 98). Children's motor, cognitive, and socio-emotional skills were assessed before and after the intervention by nursery school teachers. The main results showed that the motor intervention promoted children's motor skills development in both groups (i.e., groups implementing Levels 1 and 2 activities) and the cognitive and socio-emotional skills in the older group (i.e., group implementing Level 2 activities), especially the group that performed the intervention outdoors.

Delayed development of basic numerical skills in children with developmental dyscalculia.

Research suggests that children with developmental dyscalculia (DD) have deficits in basic numerical skills. However, there is conflicting evidence on whether basic numerical skills in children with DD are qualitatively different from those in typically developing children (TD) or whether basic numerical skills development in children with DD is simply delayed. In addition, there are also competing hypotheses about deficits in basic numerical skills, assuming (1) a general deficit in representing numerosities (Approximate Number System, ANS), (2) specific deficits in an object-based attentional system (Object Tracking System, OTS), or (3) deficits in accessing numerosities from symbols (Access Deficit, AD). Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether deficits in basic numerical skills in children with DD are more indicative of a developmental delay or a dyscalculia-specific qualitative deviation and whether these deficits result from (selective) impairment of core cognitive systems involved in numerical processing. To address this, we tested 480 children (68 DD and 412 TD) in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades with different paradigms for basic numerical skills (subitizing, counting, magnitude comparison tasks, number sets, and number line estimation tasks). The results revealed that DD children's impairments did not indicate qualitatively different basic numerical skills but instead pointed to a specific developmental delay, with the exception of dot enumeration. This result was corroborated when comparing mathematical profiles of DD children in 4th grade and TD children in 2nd grade, suggesting that DD children were developmentally delayed and not qualitatively different. In addition, specific deficits in core markers of numeracy in children with DD supported the ANS deficit rather than the AD and OTS deficit hypothesis.

The evolution of nutrition management in children with severe neurological impairment with a focus on cerebral palsy.

Nutritional management of children with severe neurological impairment (SNI) is highly complex, and the profile of this population is changing. The aim of this narrative review was to give the reader a broad description of evolution of the nutritional management of children with SNI in a high resource setting. In the last decade, there has been an emphasis on using multiple anthropometric measures to monitor nutritional status in children with SNI, and several attempts at standardising the approach have been made. Tools such as the Feeding and Nutrition Screening Tool, the Subjective Global Nutrition Assessment, the Eating and Drinking Ability Classification System and the Focus on Early Eating and Drinking Swallowing (FEEDS) toolkit have become available. There has been an increased understanding of how the gut microbiome influences gastrointestinal symptoms common in children with SNI, and the use of fibre in the management of these has received attention. A new diagnosis, 'gastrointestinal dystonia', has been defined. The increased use and acceptance of blended food tube feeds has been a major development in the nutritional management of children with SNI, with reported benefits in managing gastrointestinal symptoms. New interventions to support eating and drinking skill development in children with SNI show promise. In conclusion, as the life expectancy of people with SNI increases due to advances in medical and nutrition care, our approach necessitates a view to long-term health and quality of life. This involves balancing adequate nutrition to support growth, development and well-being while avoiding overnutrition and its associated detrimental long-term effects.

Effects of Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids (Spark) Versus Fundamental Motor Skill Training on Social Skill Development in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) presents significant challenges in social skills development in children. Recent research has suggested the potential benefits of physical activity-based interventions in addressing these challenges. Objective: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids (SPARK) and Fundamental Motor Skill Training (FMS) in improving social skills in children with ASD. Methods: A comparative study involving two groups, each consisting of nine children diagnosed with ASD, was conducted. Both groups underwent 30 sessions over a 10-week period. Group A participated in the SPARK program, while Group B was engaged in FMS. The social skills were assessed using the Gillium Autism Rating Scale, both before and after the intervention. Results: The study found significant improvements in communication behaviors in the SPARK group, suggesting its effectiveness in enhancing social interaction. While both SPARK and FMS showed benefits in social skill development, SPARK had a more pronounced effect on communication behaviors. Conclusion: Both SPARK and FMS programs were effective in improving social skills in children with ASD, with SPARK showing a particularly strong impact on communication abilities. These findings support the inclusion of physical activity-based interventions in treatment strategies for ASD.

Big little leap: The role of transition difficulties in children's skill development during kindergarten

Considerable interest is directed to promoting children’s success as they transition to kindergarten. It is generally proposed that children who experience lower levels of transition difficulties at kindergarten entry achieve higher academic and socialemotional gains, although this premise has seldom been explicitly evaluated in tandem with children's kindergarten readiness skills. To improve understanding of the consequences of transition difficulties, this study investigated the role of transition difficulties at the child level to children's achievements at the end of the kindergarten year in a Midwestern state in the US. Results from a series of covariate-adjusted regression models showed that children who experienced less transition difficulties at the beginning of kindergarten demonstrated relatively more gains in math, reading, and social-behavioral skills at the end of kindergarten, even when controlling for kindergarten readiness skills, child and family characteristics, and classroom-level contextual factors. The findings also indicated that the associations between kindergarten transition difficulties and academic and social-behavioral skill development at the end of kindergarten did not vary by children's academic and social-behavioral skills at kindergarten entry. Taken together, these findings suggest that transition difficulties that children encounter within the kindergarten context may have significant and independent implications for children's skill development. Possible practices to ease transition difficulties are discussed.

Action Research on Promoting Spatial Skills Development of Older Children in Block Play

Spatial skills are an important part of human intelligence and have a profound impact on children's later learning and development of mathematics, and block play, as one of the most fundamental activities in kindergarten, has a positive effect on the development of children's spatial skills. In order to improve children's spatial skills through block play, this study used an action research paradigm to intervene with 30 children in the experimental and control classes over a period of three months. In quantitative terms, the spatial skills of the children in the experimental class showed significant improvements in comparison with those in the control class. In terms of quality, the children in the experimental class used significantly more spatial language in their block play and their level of construction improved significantly. Problem solving skills were developed and interest in constructing was increased during collaborative construction. Teachers who participated in the action research were less 'resistant' to the role of the teacher in block play, and their ability to use block play as a guide for children's spatial skills development was improved. The collaboration of the research team members was a key factor in the success of the action research. Teachers should use different types of block play to improve children's construction skills. Promote peer block building to bring out the unique value of peer construction. Focus on the role of spatial language and encourage children to use it to communicate.

Improving Social Skills Using Pop-Up Media for Elementary School Students

Students' social skills can be honed with various teaching techniques, including using learning media. The use of pop-up media is an option to help students develop social skills that are responsive to environmental issues. Thus, this study aims to analyze social skills using pop-up media in elementary schools. This study used a nonequivalent control group design and a quasi-experimental approach, treating the experimental and control groups differently. All 48 participants in this study were fourth graders, constituting the study population. The sample of this research is 48 people and based on the saturated sample technique. The data collection technique for this study used a closed questionnaire and observation. Descriptive and inferential data analysis methods include homogeneity, normality, and hypothesis analysis. Analysis of descriptive data on the influence of pop-up media on children's social skills development in social studies learning determined that the value of P = 0.005 is more diminutive than = 0.05. So, using pop-up media impacts how students build their social skills. Therefore, pop-up media can improve students' social skills in elementary schools, especially in responding to environmental issues and can be used as an alternative teaching technique for developing students' social skills.

French preschool and primary teachers' attitude towards finger counting

Teachers' beliefs and attitudes are known to guide the type of activities they implement in their classrooms. A traditional conception that finger counting is merely a back-up when children fail to use more sophisticated and efficient strategies could therefore prevent teachers from encouraging children's use of fingers in arithmetic tasks. However, the potential benefit of finger counting for young learners has been recently documented and setting aside its practice within classrooms may hinder children's mathematical skill development. It is therefore important to establish whether there is a discrepancy between teacher's beliefs regarding finger counting and the latest discoveries in this field of research. To this aim, we interrogated 413 teachers from preschool to Grade 5. We found that, despite being generally positive towards finger counting, teachers think that finger counting is typical of children who present math difficulties or lack of confidence, even during the first years of learning. These results are discussed considering what is known and what remains to be determined in the current scientific literature.

Welfare Reform and the Quality of Young Children's Home Environments.

This study investigates the effects of welfare reform-a major policy shift in the United States that increased low-income mothers' employment and reliance on earnings instead of cash assistance-on the quality of the home environments mothers provide for their preschool-age children. Using empirical methods designed to identify plausibly causal effects, we estimate the effects of welfare reform on validated survey and observational measures of maternal behaviors that support children's cognitive skills and emotional adjustment and the material goods that parents purchase to stimulate their children's skill development. The results suggest that welfare reform did not affect the amount of time and material resources mothers devoted to cognitively stimulating activities with their young children. However, it significantly decreased emotional support provision scores, by approximately 0.3-0.4 standard deviations. The effects appear to be stronger for mothers with lower human capital. The findings provide evidence that welfare reform came at a cost to children in the form of lower quality parenting. They also underscore the importance of considering quality, and not just quantity, in assessing the effects of maternal work-incentive policies on parenting and children's home environments.

Effect of Scheming Play Training Package on the Development of Selective Adaptive Skills among Children with Intellectual Disabilities

Scheming play is a method that has potential to facilitate development of skills in the domains of functional academics and daily life skills for children with intellectual disabilities. The present study investigates the effect of this method for development of skills in children with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities using a two group experimental design (control (n=4) and experimental group (n=4)) and the non-parametric test, Mann-Whitney ‘u’ test, for statistical analysis. Four areas of functional mathematics skills and three areas of daily life skills were selected. The age range of the children selected for this study was 10 – 14 years. The study found that scheming play based training brought about a statistically significant improvement in the chosen functional mathematical skills and one area of daily life skills. One possible reason for the lack of observable improvement in fine motor and receptive domains in the present study could be due to the higher variability of change scores for these two areas among students with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities, which may be attributed to their prior experience with these activities. The high variability could have confounded the identification of an observable pattern of effect due to the small sample size. Therefore this effect needs to be studied further, using larger sample sizes.

A wearable device-enabled therapeutic approach to improve joint attention in autism spectrum disorder: a prospective pilot study.

It has been previously proposed that interventions aimed at integrating and co-activating music processing and motor control systems could have therapeutic potential for priming social skill development in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this study, we assessed this hypothesis through a wearable sensor platform called Ambulosono ("Ambulo"-walk; "sono"-sound) in which pleasurable children's musical stimuli are contingently linked to effortful motor action (locomotor step size), thus creating a motivational state proposed to be conducive to joint attention (JA) operation. Five participants were recruited from a community-based partner and were assessed by scoring responses following therapist-directed bids for JA. Multiple assessment sessions through a repeated time-series design were conducted to determine baseline and post-intervention scores. The intervention session consisted of approximately 15min of Ambulosono exposure. Baseline and post-intervention data were aggregated and analyzed using a linear mixed-effect model. The wearable sensor and wireless headphones of the Ambulosono system were tolerated by the participants, and there were no adverse effects associated with the use of the device. We found an increase in the average responses to bids for JA during the Ambulosono intervention phase compared to baseline across participants. This increase did not appear to result from enhanced general arousal. Our pilot data support feasibility and further testing of Ambulosono as a therapeutic aid for integration into community-based ASD programs to augment shared child-therapist social interactions.

The Impact of Swimming on Fundamental Movement Skill Development in Children (3-11 Years): A Systematic Literature Review.

Swimming is the only sport providing lifesaving skills, reducing the risk of death by drowning, a top cause of deaths in children aged 1-14 years. Research shows swimming amongst other sports can aid fundamental movement skill (FMS) development. Therefore, this review investigated the following: (1) how swimming impacts FMS development in children aged 3-11 years, (2) successful tools assessing swimming and FMS, and (3) recommendations appropriate to the UK curriculum based on findings of this study. A systematic literature review using Google Scholar, PubMed, and SPORTDiscuss was conducted to investigate the effects of swimming on FMS development. Methods included database searching, finalising articles appropriate to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and identifying relevant articles using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool assessed data quality and bias risk, whilst thematic analysis synthesised data alongside descriptive results. Ten papers were synthesised, identifying significant positive impacts of swimming on FMS, including significant pre-post testing (p < 0.01), significant improvements compared to other sports (p < 0.001), and significant improvements in specific motor skills (Balance; p = 0.0004). Future research specifically addressing swimming and FMS is essential to improving the curriculum.

Language skills development in children with congenital Zika virus syndrome

BackgroundThe characterization of the phenotype of children with congenital Zika virus syndrome (CZS) is an ongoing process, since many characteristics can only be described with the advancing age of children providing some insights into the long-term sequelae. AimsTo describe emerging findings on the impact of CZS on language development in children with CZS in a 4-year longitudinal study. Methods and procedures39 boys and 44 girls with CZS were allocated into four groups according to age ranging from 12 to 36 months. Language development was assessed using the Early Language Milestone Scale. Outcomes and resultsVisual, expressive, and receptive auditory skills of patients were lower than expected for their age. Despite producing vowel sounds, they did not babble; despite present hearing, the majority of the children did not understand simple commands. In over 4 years of follow-up, there was no evolution in language parameters, with the children stagnating at the language skills corresponding to 3 months of age. Conclusions and implicationsMost children with CZS are not able to produce vocalic sounds, but some may be able to communicate basic needs through alternative communication. What this paper adds?Some babies with CZS died prenatally, at birth, or in the first year of life due to associated complications such as respiratory infection, dysphagia, and epilepsy. However, the functionality of the future remains uncertain for surviving babies. This study adds information about the impact of Zika Virus on the central nervous system and, consequently, the severity and complexity of the CZS language. Over 4 years of follow-up, no evolution in language parameters was observed in children with CSZ. Children with CZS demonstrate severe neurodevelopmental impairment, stagnating in language skills at the age of 3 months. In the future, some of them may be able to communicate their basic needs through alternative communication.

Развитие коммуникативных навыков у дошкольников с ОВЗ средствами мульттерапии

Communicative skills development in children with mental retardation and other disabilities is a great chal-lenge, requiring the application of a wide range of pedagogical tools and techniques. This group is character-ized primarily by the pace lag of development. Directing animated films makes it possible to achieve significant results in the child’s natural environment without serious stress on his psyche. The article gives an outline of this approach, characterizes methods and tools for carrying out cartoon therapy in children’s preschool educa-tional organizations and speech centers. The peculiarities of the cartoon therapy classes organization are ana-lyzed, and various materials and techniques of creating cartoons are discussed. Conclusion dwells upon the fact that the developmental potential of this methodology, which combines reliance on the child's multiple senses, is enormous, which determines the broad prospects for its usage in preschool childhood, including for corrective purposes.

Educational digital game for the development of skills in children outside the literacy range

The use of educational applications is becoming increasingly common, parents and guardians are already looking for ways to make their children develop skills from an early age that facilitate the literacy process, such as thinking, following the rules, motor control, memory, among others. The great challenge for these parents is to find something to train this knowledge without their child being disinterested in practicing, and the use of technology can make this problem something tangible when well planned and executed. The use of gamification provides a basis for application developers to create software capable of meeting what is necessary for the child to evolve learning and, of course, having fun. The game was conceived and modeled (UML), defining the necessary software requirements for this target audience and built using the Construct 3 tool. A validation stage will be carried out in which there will be the collaboration of pedagogues and early childhood education teachers to verify the possible contributions of the game. The preliminary results of the design and construction of the digital game are presented here.

KICK-START LITERACY FOR ALL. COMPARATIVE RESULTS FROM ROMANIAN PREPARATORY GRADE CLASSROOMS

Research shows that reading performance in the early grades is a strong predictor of reading ability throughout the school years, and is therefore likely to impact children’s academic and career trajectories, with those of children coming from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds being negatively impacted (Cunningham &amp; Stanovich, 1997; Dolean et al., 2019). Using a comparative approach, the present study aimed to determine whether there were differences in literacy skills development in children from low socio-economic backgrounds who received specifically developed emergent literacy instruction (intervention group, IG) and those who did not (control group, CG). The literacy program was developed based on recent scientific evidence (Bear, 2022) emphasizing the importance of the following in emergent literacy instruction: concepts about print (1), alphabet and letter-sound knowledge (2), concept of word (3), phoneme awareness (4), and word recognition (5). The intervention took place in the 2021-2022 school year, over an 8-month period, and consisted of using emergent literacy assessments, as well as literacy learning materials developed specifically for the preparatory grades. The total sample consisted of 300 children in 25 preparatory grade classes, divided between intervention and control groups (260 and 40 students, respectively), who were all assessed on the five abovementioned emergent literacy concepts and skills, pre- and post-intervention. ANOVA analyses were conducted to test for differences between children in the two groups. Results highlight significant differences in terms of literacy development, with children in IG showing higher scores on all the five measures than children in the CG.