Competence For Young Children Research Articles

The Novice Researcher: Interviewing Young Children

Being a novice researcher undertaking research interviews with young children requires understandings of the interview process. By investigating the interaction between a novice researcher undertaking her first interview and a child participant, the authors attend to theoretical principles, such as the competence of young children as informants, and highlight practical matters when interviewing young children. A conversation analysis approach examines the talk preceding and following a sticker task. By highlighting the conversational features of a research interview, researchers can better understand the coconstructed nature of the interview. This article provides insights into how to prepare for the interview and manage the interview context to recognize the active participation of child participants and the value of artifacts to promote interaction. These insights make more transparent the interactional process of a research interview and become part of the researcher’s collection of devices to manage the conduct of research interviews.

Aligning Research and Policy on Social-Emotional and Academic Competence for Young Children

Research Findings: The purpose of this article is to describe current education policies as they relate to the promotion of social, emotional, and academic (SEA) development and competence for young children. Academic and social–emotional competencies are described and conceptualized as developmentally linked, reciprocal processes that should be supported by education in an integrated, holistic manner. Practice or Policy: The article reviews major public policies and national initiatives that have implications for the education of young children (e.g., Head Start, No Child Left Behind, IDEA) and highlights opportunities within these policies to promote programs that can support SEA competencies, as well as the limitations of these policies. The article also includes a review of the limitations of existing resources available to educators to identify evidence-based programs that support SEA competencies and concludes with recommendations for better alignment between research and policy to support SEA competencies.

Behavioral and relational correlates of low self-perceived competence in young children

It is developmentally normative for preschoolers (aged four to five years) to have self-perceptions that are typically positive and even over-inflated. However, because not all children have positive self-perceptions in early childhood it is important to understand factors that influence the development of self-perceptions, especially low self-perceptions, in early childhood. Therefore, this study examined the associations between self-perceptions and teacher ratings of social behaviors, subtypes of withdrawal, and peer ratings of acceptance/rejection in preschoolers. Participants included 199 children (107 males, 92 females) attending two early childhood programs in a midsized community in the western United States. The major findings were that children in early childhood who have lower self-perceptions of their abilities than their peers tended to engage in more reticence, solitary-passive withdrawal, and solitary-active behavior.

The construct of social competence-how preschool teachers define social competence in young children

Preschool teachers share their environment with young children on a daily basis and interventions promoting social competence are generally carried out in the preschool setting. The aim was to find ...

Math Is for Everyone: Strategies for Supporting Early Mathematical Competencies in Young Children

Math Is for Everyone: Strategies for Supporting Early Mathematical Competencies in Young Children

Parenting Preschoolers in Rural Appalachia: Measuring Attitudes and Behaviors and their Relations to Child Development

SYNOPSIS Objective. This study examines the relations between multiple measures of parenting attitudes and behaviors and to child development in a sample of low-SES rural Appalachian European American families. Design. Seventy mothers completed questionnaire measures of parenting attitudes and behaviors, described their parenting behaviors in open-ended interviews, and were observed interacting with their child in the laboratory. Children were assessed with measures of mother-reported behavior problems, kindergarten teacher ratings of social competence, and standardized language scores. Results. Very limited convergence was found between parenting measures. These relations were more evident among measures with common source variance (parent-report) or those with more specific and concrete operational definitions of behavior. Rural Appalachian parenting, observed in the laboratory and described by mothers in interviews and questionnaires, accounted for significant variance in child social and language development, even when contextual predictors and child sex were taken into account. Negative parenting was more predictive than positive. Conclusion. In this little studied group, multiple methods identified individual differences in parenting behaviors, which related to behavior problems, language ability, and social competence in young children. The utility of semi-structured parent interviews was validated.

Changes in social competence in young children treated because of conduct problems as viewed by multiple informants

In the present study changes in social competence were examined in a clinic sample of 127 children aged 4-8. The children were recruited to a controlled treatment study because of conduct problems at home and were randomised to the Incredible Years parent training (PT), combined PT and child therapy (CT) or a waiting-list control-group. Assessments were conducted pre- and post-treatment and at a one-year follow-up by multiple informants (mother, father, teacher and child). Parent training combined with child treatment showed most improvement in child social competence based on mother, father and child reports, however, father reports showed positive results for children treated with PT only. Treated mothers and fathers showed a decrease in correlations in their reports of social competence in the child after treatment as compared to parents in the waiting-list condition. No generalisation effects to peer-relationships in day-care/school were found, neither on teacher or child reports. A broad perspective using multiple informants from different settings is needed when effects of treatment of young children with conduct problems are evaluated and should include various aspects of social competence.

Numerical competence in young children and in children with mathematics learning disabilities

A longitudinal study was conducted on 82 children to investigate, firstly the numerical competence of young children and the predictive value of (pre)-numerical tests in kindergarten, and, secondly, whether children's knowledge of the numerical system and representation of the number size is related to their computation and logical knowledge and to their counting skills. In an additional cross-sectional study on 30 children with a clinical diagnosis of mathematical learning disability (MLD) of 8,5 years, age- and ability-matched with 2 × 30 children the same parameters of numerical competence were assessed. The longitudinal data showed individual differences in numerosity, as well as the relationship between a delay in arithmetics in grade l and problems on numerosity in kindergarten. In the cross-sectional results some evidence was found for the independence of numerical abilities in MLD-children. About 13% of them had still severe pre-numerical processing deficits (in number sequence production, cardinality skills and logical knowledge) in grade 3. About 67% had severe difficulties in executing calculation procedures and a lack of conceptual knowledge. A feature of 87% of the MLD-children was severe translation deficits, with a significantly worse knowledge of number words compared with the knowledge of Arab numerals. Finally a severe deficit in subitizing was found to be present in 33% of the MLD children. On a group level the processing deficits were linked to understanding numerosity, since the ability-matched younger children and the MLD-children had the same pre-numerical and numerical profile. Implications for the assessment of mathematical disabilities and the value of TEDI-MATH® as an instrument in this process are discussed.

New Measure of Perceived Motor Competence for Children Ages 4 to 6 Years

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a test for the assessment of perceived motor competence in young children ages 4 to 6 years old. The structure of the Children's Perception of Motor Competence Scale was analyzed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with 495 children between 4 and 6 years of age. A second-order model was selected and consisted of one scale of Perceived General Motor Competence and two subscales, Perceived Gross Motor Competence and Perceived Fine Motor Competence. The number of items was 22. This test showed acceptable internal reliability: global scale (alpha = .81), Perceived Gross Motor Competence (alpha = .80), and Perceived Fine Motor Competence (alpha = .65). Children manifested accuracy in the assessment of the competence. Perceived motor competence was related to actual motor competence as measured by the Movement ABC Test and by an observational scale used by Physical Education teachers. There were no sex differences. The Children's Perception of Motor Competence Scale could be considered an interesting assessment test for identifying current self-perceptions of motor competence in young children.

Social Competence in Young Children With Inflicted Traumatic Brain Injury

As infants develop skills that allow for increasing independence in social and cognitive domains, they acquire the ability to identify goals, sequence behaviors to carry out goals, and to flexibly use strategies for attaining goals in both social and independent play contexts. Little is known about how brain injury in young children may disrupt the precursors to such executive processes. In this study, we examined social and cognitive competence in 25 infants ages 3 to 23 months who sustained moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) secondary to physical abuse and in 22 healthy community comparison children. Children with TBI were evaluated an average of 1.6 months after the injury. A toy-centered activity with the examiner was used to capture joint attention and social behavior and an exploratory toy play situation was used to measure independent goal-directed play. The inflicted TBI group showed significant reduction in both social and cognitive domains relative to the comparison group. Canonical correlation analyses disclosed that inflicted TBI was associated with reduction in (a) initiation of social interactions, (b) responsiveness to interactions initiated by the examiner, (c) positive affect, and (d) compliance. The groups performed comparably on indexes of gestural and verbal communication and for the occurrence of negative affect. Joint attention was an area of vulnerability for the TBI group in both social initiation and response contexts. Although general cognitive and motor scores were lower in the inflicted TBI group, the complexity of independent toy play did not differ across groups. Early brain injury causes significant disruption in behaviors regulating initiation and responsiveness in social contexts. Longitudinal follow-up will characterize the long-term consequences of early disruption in joint attention and other behaviors on the development of social and cognitive precursors to executive processes.

Strengthening Social and Emotional Competence in Young Children—The Foundation for Early School Readiness and Success

The ability of young children to manage their emotions and behaviors and to make meaningful friendships is an important prerequisite for school readiness and academic success. Socially competent children are also more academically successful and poor social skills are a strong predictor of academic failure. This article describes The Incredible Years Dinosaur Social Skills and ProblemSolving Child Training Program, which teaches skills such as emotional literacy, empathy or perspective taking, friendship and communication skills, anger management, interpersonal problem solving, and how to be successful at school. The program was first evaluated as a small group treatment program for young children who were diagnosed with oppositional defiant and conduct disorders. More recently the program has been adapted for use by preschool and elementary teachers as a prevention curriculum designed to increase the social, emotional, and academic competence, and decrease problem behaviors of all children in the classroom. The content, methods, and teaching processes of this classroom curriculum are discussed. Key words: behavior problems, emotional regulation, problem-solving, school readiness, social competence

Treating Conduct Problems and Strengthening Social and Emotional Competence in Young Children

Young preschool and early-school-age children with early onset conduct problems are at high risk for school dropout, substance abuse, violence, and delinquency in later years. Consequently, developing treatment strategies for reducing conduct problems when aggression is in its more malleable form prior to age 8, and thus interrupting its progression, is of considerable benefit to families and society. This article describes a treatment program—the Dina Dinosaur Social, Emotional and Problem Solving Child Training Program—that was designed specifically with developmentally appropriate teaching methods for young children (ages 4 to 8 years) and based on theory related to the types of social, emotional, and cognitive deficits or excesses exhibited by children with conduct problems.The program emphasizes training children in skills such as emotional literacy, empathy or perspective taking, friendship and communication skills, anger management, interpersonal problem solving, school rules, and how to be successful at school. Emphasis is placed on ways to promote cross-setting generalization of the behaviors that are taught by involving parents and teachers in the treatment. A review of two randomized trials with this treatment approach and long-term results are provided.

Family and Child Characteristics, Child-Rearing Factors, and Cognitive Competence of Young Children

In this paper, the contribution of a number of family, child, and parental child-rearing characteristics to the explanation of differences in the cognitive competencies of young children are considered. A model is formulated with not only clear attention to the ethnic and linguistic characteristics of the family, but also such factors as the child-rearing behavior of the parents, parent-child interactions, and the child-rearing competence of the parents. The model is then evaluated with the aid of data from a recent large-scale Dutch study of six-year-old children ( n = 10,774). The results of the LISREL analyses show the parental level of education to play a central role in the explanation of differences in the cognitive competencies of the children. The ethnic origin of the family, the use of Dutch in the home, and the parental level of mastery of the Dutch language are also found to be of influence. Parental child-rearing factors, however, do not affect the children's cognitive competence.

Do You Believe In Magic?: What We Can Expect From Early Childhood Intervention Programs

Do You Believe In Magic?: What We Can Expect From Early Childhood Intervention Programs

Neighborhood income and physical and social disorder in Canada: associations with young children's competencies.

This study examined the association of census level, observational, and parent-reported neighborhood characteristics on the verbal and behavioral competencies of a national sample of Canadian preschoolers (N = 3,350). Children's verbal ability scores were positively associated with residing in neighborhoods with affluent residents and negatively associated with residing in neighborhoods with poor residents and in neighborhoods with low cohesion, even after controlling for family socioeconomic factors. Behavior problem scores were higher when children lived in neighborhoods that had fewer affluent residents, high unemployment rates, and neighborhoods with low cohesion, after controlling for family socioeconomic factors. These findings are discussed in light of neighborhood studies of children in the United States in the mid-1990s.

The Development of Ordinal Numerical Competence in Young Children

Two experiments assessed ordinal numerical knowledge in 2- and 3-year-old children and investigated the relationship between ordinal and verbal numerical knowledge. Children were trained on a 1 vs 2 comparison and then tested with novel numerosities. Stimuli consisted of two trays, each containing a different number of boxes. In Experiment 1, box size was held constant. In Experiment 2, box size was varied such that cumulative surface area was unrelated to number. Results show children as young as 2 years of age make purely numerical discriminations and represent ordinal relations between numerosities as large as 6. Children who lacked any verbal numerical knowledge could not make ordinal judgments. However, once children possessed minimal verbal numerical competence, further knowledge was entirely unrelated to ordinal competence. Number may become a salient dimension as children begin to learn to count. An analog magnitude representation of number may underlie success on the ordinal task.

Self-representations and socioemotional competence in young children: A 3-year longitudinal study.

Self-representations and socioemotional competence in young children: A 3-year longitudinal study.

Self-representations and socioemotional competence in young children: A 3-year longitudinal study.

In a longitudinal study, the connections between children's self-representations at age 5 and their self-perceptions, socioemotional competence according to the teacher, and peer acceptance at age 8 were examined. The sample consisted of 60 children (33 boys, 27 girls). Self-representations at age 5 were assessed by the Puppet Interview (J. Cassidy, 1988). Results generally revealed the expected connections between the positiveness of self at age 5 and self-perceptions and socioemotional functioning 3 years later. These findings support the predictive validity of the Puppet Interview. Moreover, they suggest that young children do possess at least a rudimentary sense of being generally worthy and lovable, which can be assessed by using adequate, age-appropriate interviews.

A Multimeasure Performance-Based Assessment of Social Competence in Young Children with Disabilities

Social competence is a concept that has been defined and measured in many ways. Odom and McConnell (1985) proposed a performance-based assessment of social competence that involved significant social agents in children's environments to make judgments about the competence of the children's social behavior. This study constructed and initially evaluated such an approach for assessing social competence of young children with disabilities. A multimethod assessment of children's social competence (i.e., direct observation, observer impressions, teacher rating, peer ratings) was conducted with 222 preschool children with and without disabilities. Principal component analysis yielded four factors, the first of which accounted for the largest percentage of variance and may be the better global assessment of social competence. Results of this investigation are discussed conceptually with respect to the adequacy of multiple-measure performance-based approaches and empirically with regard to the possibility of using these measures to evaluate factors affecting the development of social competence in early childhood special education.

Young Maltreated Children's Competence to Take the Oath

Two studies examined 192 maltreated young children's competence to take the oath. Study 1 found that despite serious delays in receptive vocabulary, a majority of 5-year-olds correctly identified truthful statements and lies as such and recognized that lying is bad and would make authority figures mad. However, most participants up to 7 years of age could not define "truth" and "lie" or explain the difference between the terms. Four-year-olds were above chance in recognizing the immorality of lying but exhibited a tendency to identify all statements as the "truth." Study 2 found that 4- and 5-year-olds performed above chance in identifying which of 2 story characters was lying or telling the truth and in identifying whether the truth-teller or the liar said something bad or would get in trouble. Children exhibited better understanding of the immorality of lying than the meaning of lying. Maltreated children's oath-taking competence may be underestimated due to linguistic and motivational difficulties.