Children In Context Research Articles

Sociodemographic trends in special educational needs identification in Wales

AbstractIn the context of an emerging new additional learning needs (ALN) system in Wales, this research explores who was likely to be identified with special educational needs (SEN) under the previous system. Our study reveals analysis of linked Welsh education and health data on SEN identification in learners in mainstream education settings born between 2002/3 and 2008/9. Using longitudinal multilevel modelling, we explore (i) who is likely identified with SEN and (ii) whether there is evidence of social patterning in SEN identification. We find that 48% of those born in the year 2002/3 were identified with SEN at some point during their schooling years. Furthermore, when controlling for health‐related variables, those who are identified with SEN in Wales were more likely to be male, White, from a deprived background, with lower school attendance, had not experienced breastfeeding and were born later in the academic year. Taken together, the research findings suggest that SEN identification was influenced by a child's context. The study thus underscores the critical importance of examining the relationship between socioeconomic, environmental and biological factors in SEN identification, urging for a comprehensive and cross‐organisation approach to enhance outcomes for learners with diverse needs. It also highlights the need for follow‐up research to explore unfolding trends as the new ALN system in Wales becomes fully implemented and integrated over the coming years.

Nomophobia syndrome and its impact on morale and behavior change in early childhood

Nomophobia has become a prevalent issue which affects individuals today. This leads many to feel constantly connected to their devices. The term, derived from "No Mobile Phone Phobia," describes an excessive reliance on gadgets. This psychological condition is recognized as a global psychosocial phenomenon that influences mobile phone users and affects their morals and behavior. Alarmingly, this issue has also emerged among young children, with many preschoolers showing signs of addiction. This study is aimed at exploring the effects of nomophobia on early childhood, focusing on its moral and behavioral consequences in daily life. The study employed a qualitative case study approach and it involved two 5-year-old children. Data were collected through observations and unstructured interviews with their parents. The findings indicated that excessive gadget used in early childhood could significantly alter children's morals and behaviors. This was primarily due to insufficient parental supervision of their app usage. The study emphasized the need for intervention from adults, including both parents and teachers, who are the closest guardians to children in monitoring smartphone usage. These collaborative preventive measures to monitor and mitigate the negative impacts of smartphone usage are important to do. Future studies for exploring nomophobia in early childhood contexts are encouraged to delve deeper into the surrounding events and circumstances that affect children.

“It’s the Only World We’ve Got.” Children’s Responses to Chris Jordan’s Images about SDG 14: Life Below Water

Abstract Broad and complex ideas about sustainability can be communicated through the Arts. Australian curriculum documents support the integration of Arts education with education for sustainability. Responding to artworks as a viewer is a key aspect of Arts education in Australian schools. Chris Jordan is a US artist whose online media galleries communicate ideas about environmental and social justice themes. This paper reports interview data from a larger project exploring children’s responses to Chris Jordan’s artworks. Conversations were held with 28 children aged between 4 and 12 as they navigated Jordan’s website to explore the images they encountered. Data relating to SDG14: Life below water were selected for the specific focus of this paper. Thematic analysis of the data revealed five themes: connections to prior experience and knowledge, links with local contexts and places, emotional engagement with the images, solutions and action-taking and ideas related to post-humanism and the human-nature binary. These findings endorse the power of Arts-based experiences for enhancing education for sustainability in primary schools and early childhood contexts.

Dialogic reading in an early childhood education setting: ECEs’ learning in the context of a community of practice model

ABSTRACT The professional development (PD) of early childhood educators (ECEs) is key to childcare quality. The Professional Learning Community (PLC) model has been well-researched in K-12 settings and is found to have advantages over traditional models of PD; thus, it holds promise for educators in other settings such as early childhood education centers. Indeed, there is an increasing call for the implementation of this model in ECE settings. Some research has found that supporting ECEs’ professional learning (PL) through PLC development is a promising approach; nonetheless, PLCs remain under-researched in early childhood contexts, and findings are less conclusive. The current study examined the potential of PLC development for supporting learning about Dialogic Reading (DR) – a topic of interest to ECEs. In the current study, ECEs in one Canadian context participated in an online project in which they concurrently learned about the PLC model and DR. Our research, including ECEs’ written reflections, and video data of the ECE-child storybook reading, yielded novel findings. These findings suggest that ECEs learned to employ the specific techniques of dialogic reading for engaging children and enriching the dialogic interactions during storybook reading, while also learning to enact processes associated with a PLC model. The ECEs attributed several features of the PLC model to deepening their DR learning. These findings and their implications for practice and future research are further considered.

Multilingual and multimodal methods to examining the situated communication among deaf children and their caregivers

ABSTRACT This paper discusses methodologies for examining the multilingual language experiences of young deaf children that are sensitive to different cultural contexts of childhood, caregiving and language practices. We argue that in the context of early support, the combined use of situated multilingual and multimodal approaches to examine and assess individual language resources can provide rich and reliable information about individual communicative repertoires in their given context. This approach extends commonly used monolingual and unimodal research and assessment tools that lack the inclusivity of reach and granularity of analysis needed to inform contextually appropriate early intervention for multilingual and migrant deaf learners. We illustrate the potential of these methods using case study examples from multimodal video-based and ethnographic data gathering and analysis techniques deployed across three projects in different multilingual contexts, in Ghana and the UK. We use these case studies to examine the methodological choices, challenges and opportunities of researching different multilingual environments in culturally sensitive ways as a basis for supporting and assessing the language and communication development of young deaf children in multilingual and migrant contexts. We discuss how the resulting new knowledge base can extend Euro-Western epistemologies that are currently leading models of early intervention and support.

The politics of belonging in early childhood contexts: A comprehensive picture, critical factors and policy recommendations

This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of belonging in early educational institutions based on key findings developed within the international project Politics of belonging: promoting children’s inclusion in educational settings across border (85644). The research questions are: What are the main empirical and theoretical contributions to the understanding of belonging in early childhood institutions? and What kinds of critical factors regarding belonging can be identified? This study applies Yuval-Davies’ theory about the politics of belonging. The data consists of key findings from 28 publications from the aforementioned project. Theoretically, the project provides a novel perspective regarding processes related to belonging in early educational institutions. Such processes involve transgressing, defending and defining borders dictating who is inside or outside these communities. Empirically, the project contributes knowledge about how belonging is performed in practice. Belonging manifests as a joint enterprise involving children, educators, parents and policymakers; it is also multifaceted and powerladen. This study delineates critical elements of children’s belonging. On a micro level, these elements require specific forms of agency amongst children and specific forms of responsibility amongst educators, which exert consequences on a macro level. The discussion concludes with five recommendations regarding policy and practice.

The role of music in supporting young children’s holistic learning and wellbeing in the context of Froebel’s mother songs

Researchers have criticised the pragmatic focus on the value of music education for its contribution to the acquisition of children’s academic skills such as literacy and numeracy development in schools across the international contexts driven by neoliberalism. In the context of Froebel’s Mother Songs, this paper via documentary research focuses on a Froebelian approach to music education in early childhood context to counterpart the neoliberal pragmatism in educational landscapes. The Froebelian perspective brings in implications for early childhood practice, research and policy-making by addressing the important role of music in supporting young children’s holistic learning and wellbeing in responding to the neoliberal pressures on children and practitioners in the 21st century.

Early Childhood Teachers’ Emotion Validating Language Regarding Negative Emotions: Comparisons by Child Gender

ABSTRACT This study examined teachers’ emotion-validating language regarding negative emotions in early childhood classrooms. By analyzing teachers’ emotion language differing by child gender, the research highlights the gendered socialization of emotional expression, especially regarding negative emotions, in early childhood contexts. In toddler and preschool classrooms, 28 teachers were video recorded during four 30-minute sessions of free play time for a total of approximately 40 hours. Videos were coded for teachers’ emotion language regarding negative emotions with attention to the gender of the child to whom the language was spoken. Results indicate that teachers validate negative emotions more to girls than to boys. This aligns with previous research suggesting that girls’ expression of emotion is more encouraged and acceptable than boys’. This work highlights potential gender differences in emotion socialization and points to missed opportunities to validate boys’ negative emotions and thus develop their emotion language and regulation skills. Implications for teacher professional development are discussed.

Validity and Reliability Tests of Ahmad Dahlan Linguistic Test (ADLT)

Language development assessment tools for early childhood currently often refer to the Developmental Milestones Standards for Children (STPPA), based on core competencies and basics in the 2013 Early Childhood Education curriculum. These standards are used as references for development to ensure age-appropriate play activities for children. However, language development assessment tools for broader use still require further development to effectively identify children's language development. The aim of this study was to develop a language development assessment tool for early childhood, focusing on phonetics, semantics, and syntax according to Otto's theory (2015), to enable early detection of language delays in children. The researchers conducted three stages, including tool development, validation by experts, and testing on a limited sample. Although the tool was validated by five professors with Aiken's V scores > 0.8 and an overall reliability of 0.739, the semantic aspect was found to be unreliable (Cronbach Alpha < 0.7). Therefore, while the Early Language Detection Tool (ADLT) is considered valid and reliable, it still requires further adjustment to better suit the context of early childhood.

Corrigendum to “Complexifying quality in early childhood contexts through a theory of quality ecologies”

Corrigendum to “Complexifying quality in early childhood contexts through a theory of quality ecologies”

Zelfopoffering, onderwerping en pleasing bij vrouwen met CVS in vergelijking met vrouwen met reumatoïde artritis: een observationele studie

Self-sacrifice, subjugation and approval-seeking in women with CFS in comparison to women with rheumatoid arthritis: an observational study CFS is a disorder with a multifactorial pathogenesis in which symptoms arise when precipitating factors combine with predisposing factors. An increasing body of research points to a dysfunction of the stress axis and finds evidence for a high prevalence of early childhood trauma, one of the most important vulnerability factors. Several pathways are conceivable through which early trauma may contribute to the vulnerability to or maintenance of the stress response and the symptoms. In this study, the authors used self-report questionnaires to identify maladaptive patterns that often stand out in clinical practice and may play both a predisposing and a maintaining role. These interpersonal patterns have often been adaptive in an early childhood context, but become harmful when they generalize and remain active in adult life. The authors investigated a group of 49 female CFS patients using 3 subscales of the Young Schema Questionnaire measuring the interpersonal styles of self-sacrifice, approval-seeking and subjugation. They included 45 women with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis as a control group. The authors found significantly higher scores in the CFS group for the 3 variables, with a large effect size for each. The present findings have implications for the further research and treatment. These interpersonal patterns are usually very rigid and serve to protect self-esteem and sense of security. The standard treatment of graded exercise and a limited number of sessions of psychoeducation and cognitive behavioral therapy is often insufficient to allow recovery and prevent relapse. Further research is required to substantiate which is the most optimal treatment strategy to mitigate these patterns.

Agonist relationships in the toddler classroom: Exploring the connection between conflict and care

Dominant Western discourse in early childhood education frames conflict as a disruptive and damaging force that is antithetical to the “ideal” classroom environment. However, critical early childhood scholars have begun to reconceptualize the role of conflict in early childhood classroom dynamics, exploring its potential as a productive and necessary force that supports current and future political participation for young children. This paper draws from data collected during an eight-month ethnography of care practices in an infant/toddler classroom at a university laboratory school in the Southeastern United States. Using Chantal Mouffe's theories political conflict, we interpret one teacher's understandings of conflict in her classroom and the practices that she engaged in support of what Mouffe would term “agonist conflict” (i.e., friendly, rather than antagonistic, conflict). Findings demonstrate that this teacher views agonist conflict to be a productive process for young children—one that enables them to articulate their political subjectivities as members of their classroom community and one that will foster their engagement as citizens of a broader democratic society. As such, the emotional support and scaffolding she provided to support such engagement constitute a political form of care. This research holds implications for reconceptualized understandings of peer conflict in early childhood contexts and insight into how teachers can better support children's developing political engagement through agonist conflict with their peers.

Role of Data Augmentation and Effective Conservation of High-Frequency Contents in the Context Children’s Speaker Verification System

Role of Data Augmentation and Effective Conservation of High-Frequency Contents in the Context Children’s Speaker Verification System

Photographs of Play: Narratives of Teaching

Research affirms positive results between children’s play and academic success. While play is heavily featured within the early childhood curriculum, limited studies have explored how play is actually implemented within early years settings. The aim of this study was to enhance children’s play and learning by using photographs to explore play-related pedagogical practices of early childhood teachers in Australia over time. Using visual narrative inquiry, three families participated (mother and child) and shared school photos of the mother in an early childhood context and the current child in an early childhood context. The photos were analysed with a visual analysis approach to understand play and teaching across the two time periods. Key findings revealed what has changed and what has become part of the foundation of play in Australian early childhood education. Findings are important to expand the current understanding of play and the historical perspectives of play.

Fears of modern preschool children in a sociocultural context

The study is devoted to the problem of exposure of the senior preschool age children to various kinds of fears in connection with the sociocultural context, which is understood as a factor of the macroenvironment. The beginning of the 2020s is associated with large-scale events that have a significant impact on the life and well-being of the population. This is the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021) and the aggravation of the socio-political situation in the world (2022–2023). The study involved 127 children aged 5–6 years attending preschool educational organizations, who were offered the “Fears in the Houses” methodology by A. I. Zakharov and M. A. Panfilova. Data from a parent survey and analysis of documentation from preschool educational organizations were also used. It was found that the profiles of fears of children examined in 2019, 2021 and 2023 are quite similar; most of the identified fears in modern preschoolers correspond to age standards for children 5–7 years of age according to A. I. Zakharov, which allows us to talk about the universality of the age-related patterns and reasons for the appearance of fears in children described by him. The specificity of the cultural and historical context of modern childhood has manifested itself in the fact that the list of frightening characters has changed significantly: the heroes of virtual games in the horror genre are replacing the heroes of traditional children’s fairy tales. A comparative analysis of the results obtained in 2019, 2021 and 2023 confirmed the greater exposure to fears of preschoolers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the absence of an increase in the number of fears in children amid the worsening geopolitical situation in the world. It was found that during the pandemic, not only the number of specific medical fears in children increased, but also the number of fears that are not directly related to illness and death increased, which demonstrates the substitutive nature of fears in children and is of great importance for practical psychology.

An orientation model for implementing and sustaining integrated health and social care hubs for early childhood development.

Evidence is emerging on the efficacy of Integrated Health and Social Care (IHSC) hubs to improve the early detection and intervention of developmental vulnerability in children from culturally and linguistically diverse and/or socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. IHSC hub models typically involve co-located child and family health services and non-government organisations, which deliver a range of psychosocial services, for example playgroups, domestic violence support, mental health support, early childhood education. However, there remains a dearth of evidence on how to successfully implement and sustain the integration of health and social care. Our project aimed to evaluate the impact and implementation of IHSC hubs for migrant and refugee populations in three sites in New South Wales, Australia with high proportions of migrant and refugee communities. To help implement and sustain IHSC hubs, we developed an orientation model detailing the operational principles required for successful integration of IHSC hubs. This presentation is based on a qualitative exploration of the barriers and enablers to implementing IHSC hubs in three sites in New South Wales, Australia guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Development of the orientation model involved semi-structured interviews and five workshops with 25 participants including clinicians, providers, and managers from child and family health services and non—government social services to understand their perspectives on the barriers and facilitators to implementing an IHSC hub. Important findings from this work included the need for tangible guidelines that detail the activities that best enable the successful integration of services within a hub model. Our orientation model details the operational principles of integrating health and social services for early childhood health. These include the setting up phase activities of buy-in which details approaches for developing a common agenda and partnership development, which outlines mechanisms for fostering collaboration between health and social services. Following this, our orientation model articulates the need to establish connecting support, including infrastructure governance and resources that support integration between services; ongoing integration activities such as the feedback mechanisms and ongoing communication channels necessary for successful integration; and activities that enhance a hubs relevance for the community it services. This model establishes key components for implementing IHSC hubs, which are garnering increasing attention in early childhood contexts globally. Future work will involve disseminating the orientation model broadly across child and family health and social services and evaluating the uptake of the model in broader contexts.

Parents' Experiences of Communication With School Nurses About Their Child's Weight Development in Sweden.

This study aimed to describe parents' experiences of communication with school nurses concerning the growth data and weight development of their children aged 8 and 10 years old in Sweden. Eighteen interviews with parents were conducted and analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The result showed a need for improved dialogue where the parents viewed the health visit's purpose as unclear and lacked feedback. The parents desired access to their child's growth data and described the need for an improved channel for receiving information. The parents moreover experienced the lack of a child-centered perspective, described the child's context as not in focus, and desired collaboration around their child. This study shows the need for the development of evidence-based methods for communicating growth data and weight development between School Health Service (SHS) and parents, as well as the need for a reformed SHS perspective towards parents and children.

TRANSETHNIC META-ANALYSIS OF INTERACTIONS BETWEEN GENETICS AND EARLY-LIFE SOCIOECONOMIC CONTEXT ON COGNITION

Abstract Later-life cognitive function is influenced by genetics as well as early- and later-life socioeconomic context. However, few studies have examined the interaction between genetics and early childhood factors. Using gene-based tests (interaction sequence kernel association test [iSKAT]/iSKAT optimal unified test), we examined whether common and rare variants in 39 gene regions previously associated with cognitive performance, dementia, and related traits had an interaction with childhood socioeconomic context (parental education and financial strain) on memory performance or decline in European ancestry (EA, N = 10,468) and African ancestry (AA, N = 2,252) participants from the Health and Retirement Study. Of the 39 genes, 22 in EA and 19 in AA had nominally significant interactions with at least one childhood socioeconomic measure on memory performance and/or decline; however, only one, SLC24A4 x father’s education, remained significant after multiple testing correction (false discovery rate [FDR] < .05). In trans-ethnic meta-analysis, 2 genes interacted with childhood socioeconomic context: MS4A4A x mother’s education on memory performance, and SLC24A4 x father’s education on memory decline. Both interactions remained significant after adjusting for respondent’s own education, apolipoprotein-ε4 allele status, lifestyle factors, body mass index, and comorbidities. For both interactions in EA and AA, the genetic effect was stronger in participants with low parental education. Examination of common and rare variants in genes discovered through genome-wide association studies shows that childhood context may interact with gene regions to jointly impact later-life memory function and decline. Genetic effects may be more salient for those with lower childhood socioeconomic status.

Multimedia-Based Storytelling Learning Media Effectivity For Early Childhood’s Expressive Language Skill Development

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of multimedia-based storytelling learning media in improving early childhood expressive language skills within the context of Early Childhood. This study used a quantitative approach, with pre-experimental research method using a one-group, pre- and post-test design. There were 50 children in the population, and there were 34 children in the sample. Data collection using observation, questionnaires and documentation. Using paired-sample t-tests to test hypotheses. The results indicated that Ha was approved, indicating that there was a 19.27% increase in the children’s expressive language skill. Before and after treatment, there was an average difference in the expressive language capabilities of children. This demonstrates that multimedia-based learning media is effective at enhancing the expressive language skills of children. The study concludes that multimedia-based storytelling learning media is an effective tool for improving expressive language skills in early childhood.

Spirituality and creativity in the early childhood context

ABSTRACT This article reports a study on the impact of a customised spiritual education programme (SEP) on improving creativity for kindergarteners. The SEP was effective, and participants (n = 529) scored higher on creativity domains of figural fluency, originality, elaboration, abstractness of titles, and resistance to premature closure, compared to the waitlist control group. Girls, kindergarteners whose primary caregiver parents had higher formal education (postgraduate degree or professional degree), and who attended at least 80% of the SEP sessions (10–12 sessions), scored higher on all creativity parameters. Results suggest that spirituality, whose core is abstract and nonmaterial thinking, can be linked to nurturing creativity as a developmental asset among young children. The SEP may need some refining for young boys by including more externalising activities and simpler, relatable instructions for kindergarteners whose primary caregiver parents have lower formal education. Findings generally suggest that spiritual training can potentially bolster kindergarteners’ creativity.