Early Elementary School-age Children Research Articles

Comprehension of indirect answers: Developmental trajectory for preschool- and early elementary school-aged children with typical development.

Indirect answers are a common type of non-literal language that do not provide an explicit "yes" or "no" to a question (e.g., "I have to work late" indirectly answered "Are you going to the party?" with a negative response). In the current study, weexamined the developmental trajectory of comprehension of indirect answers among 5- to 10-year-old children with typical development.Forty-eight children, 23 boys and 25 girls, between the ages of 5 years; 0 months and 10 years; 11 months (M= 8;2,SD= 19.77 months) completed an experimental task to judge whether a verbally presented indirect answer meant yes or no (Comprehension Task) and then explain their choice (Explanation Task). Responses were scored for accuracy and coded for error analysis.On the Comprehension Task, the 5- to 8-year-oldsperformed with approximately 85% accuracy, while the 9- and 10-year-olds achieved 95% accuracy. On the Explanation Task, the cross-sectional trajectory revealed three stages: the 5- and 6-year-olds adequately explained indirect answers 32%of the time, the 7- and 8-year-olds performed significantly higher at 55%, and the 9- and 10-year-olds made significant gains than the younger children at 66%. Error analysis revealed that when children fail to interpret speaker intentions appropriately, theyrepeat the speaker's utterance or provide an insufficient explanation80% of the time. Other responses, such as those irrelevant to the context, indicating "I don't know" or no response, or that were made-up interpretations each accounted for 2%-10% of total inadequate explanations.Studyfindings indicate discrepancies between task performances and offer two separate sets of baseline data for future comparisons that investigate comprehension or explanation of indirect answers by children with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds and by those with varying cognitive and language profiles.

Engaging Preschool and Early Elementary School-Aged Children in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP).

Engaging children and caregivers in exposure and response-prevention (ERP) is a critical element in effective treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in young children. Several clinical challenges pose barriers to participation and implementation of successful treatment such as specific parenting behaviors (e.g., accommodation of obsessions and compulsions) and child motivation for treatment. The authors offer strategies to address common clinical challenges in engaging young children with OCD and to promote effective implementation of ERP with children and caregivers.

Child Maltreatment and Mental Health in Middle Childhood: A Longitudinal Study in Japan.

Toxic stress caused by child maltreatment can lead to adverse mental health outcomes in later life, yet unmeasured confounding has been a major issue in many previous studies. To examine the association between child maltreatment and resilience and behavior problems among early elementary school-age children, we used data from a population-based longitudinal survey targeting all first-grade children in 2015 in Adachi City, a ward in Tokyo, Japan. Children whose caregivers provided valid responses during the 2015 (first grade; ages 6-7 years), 2016 (second grade; ages 7-8 years), and 2018 (fourth grade; ages 9-10 years) waves of the study were included in the analysis (n=2,920). Fixed-effects regression models revealed that child maltreatment was inversely associated with resilience (β = -0.89, 95% confidence interval (CI): -1.05, -0.72) and prosocial behavior (β = -0.03, 95% CI: -0.05, -0.003) and positively associated with behavior problems (β = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.27, 0.37) over 4 years of follow-up (2015-2018), after controlling for all time-invariant confounders and measured time-varying confounders and survey year. These associations were consistent across sex. Child maltreatment may hamper the development of resilience and prosocial behavior and induce behavior problems in early elementary school children over time. Future researchers should identify modifiable protective factors for better mental health among maltreated children.

Intraindividual reaction time variability, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and children's externalizing problems

Intraindividual reaction time variability (IIRTV) is a unique cognitive function index that is independent of accuracy and has been found to be related to children's externalizing problems. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity to challenge tasks was also found to be a potential influence factor of children's externalizing problems. The present study examined whether IIRTV interacts with RSA reactivity to relate to externalizing problems in children. The flanker task was administered to 168 early elementary school-age children to assess their IIRTV, and the Child Behavior Checklist-Chinese version (CBCL-CV) was completed by their parents to assess children's externalizing problems. Electrocardiogram data were collected during the resting and task period to calculate resting RSA and RSA reactivity. The results indicated that children's IIRTV was correlated with their externalizing problems. Importantly, IIRTV interacted with RSA reactivity to relate to externalizing problems. IIRTV was positively related to externalizing problems in children with RSA suppression but was not significantly related to externalizing problems in children with RSA augmentation during the task. These findings suggest that poor attentional or cognitive control, as indexed by greater IIRTV, is related to more externalizing problems. Moreover, during mild cognitive stress, greater RSA suppression might indicate poor physiological regulation, which is more likely to increase externalizing problems for children with poor attentional or cognitive control.

General Education Teachers' Contribution to the Identification of Children With Language Disorders

Purpose The estimated prevalence of language disorders in early elementary school-age children is 7%–12%. Despite its prevalence, only 18% of children are identified and receive treatment. Children with language disorders who go unidentified and, consequently, untreated upon entry to kindergarten are at a cumulative risk for academic and social difficulties during their formative and later school years. Since there is no policy supporting universal screening for language impairment identification in public schools, vulnerabilities may exist in referral-based systems for language impairment identification. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the positive predictive value of general education teachers for language impairment identification. Method A record review of special education referrals across four elementary schools was conducted. A total of 177 referrals across all disabilities were examined. Forty-four of those language-based referrals became the focus of this study. Results Results showed, of the 44 referred for language impairment, general education teachers were the least correct of referral sources, with a positive predictive value of .35. Variables of teacher age, sex, years of teaching experience, and years of education did not predict general education teachers' ability to identify children with language impairment. The identification rate across the four schools was 1.38%. Conclusions General education teachers were responsible for nearly half of the referrals made to special education but demonstrated the most difficulty in correctly identifying children with language impairment. As a result, identification rates were considerably lower than prevalence expectations. This is of particular concern as teachers play a primary role in the identification of this population under a referral-based format.

Oral Face-to-Face Versus Online Administration of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Stuttering/Child

Background The Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Stuttering/Child (POSHA-S/Child; Weidner & St. Louis, 2014 ) is a standard instrument designed to measure the attitudes of children as young as 3 years of age toward stuttering. With preschool and early elementary school–aged children, the POSHA-S/Child is administered individually and face-to-face by an examiner. Older children who are satisfactory readers could be expected to respond to the instrument online, an increasingly popular mode of administering surveys. Purpose The purpose of this study was to compare administration of the POSHA-S/Child in face-to-face versus online administration. Method Children primarily from 1 elementary school and children from other areas in the region responded to the POSHA-S/Child in either a face-to-face individual setting or online. Three grade levels were included: 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade. Results POSHA-S/Child ratings for individual items, components, subscores, and the Overall Stuttering Scores from the 2 modes of administration were similar. Conclusion With satisfactory reading abilities, children aged 9 years and older can be administered the POSHA-S/Child online with similar results as face-to-face administration.

Evaluation of a multi-component and multi-agent intervention to improve classroom social relationships among early elementary school-age children

We present the preliminary evaluation of a comprehensive, multi-component and multi-agent 2-year classroom intervention to enhance children's relationships with their peers and teachers among early elementary school students in Spain. The intervention contained universal components directed to the whole class plus targeted components for children with peer problems. Using a quasi-experimental design, 229 children (in 10 classrooms) formed a comparison group whose teachers engaged in their typical practices, followed the next year by 214 children (in 9 classrooms) who received the intervention. Children completed a sociometric procedure, and reported their self-perceptions of peer functioning and their relationship quality with teachers at the beginning of 1st grade (pretest) and the end of 2nd grade (posttest; 93% retention). After statistical control of pretest functioning, by posttest those in the intervention group received fewer negative sociometric nominations, perceived themselves to receive fewer negative sociometric nominations and to have greater overall peer acceptance, and reported their teachers to have greater warmth and organization, compared to children in the comparison group. However, intervention group children also received fewer positive sociometric nominations (as well as perceived themselves to receive fewer positive nominations) than comparison group children. Target children, selected for being disliked by peers, received accentuated benefits from the intervention on the outcome variables of fewer negative nominations received and greater teacher warmth. Implications for practice are discussed.

Emerging inequality in effort: A longitudinal investigation of parental involvement and early elementary school-aged children’s learning time in Japan

While studies on effort (e.g., Carbonaro, 2005; Kariya, 2000, 2013) have revealed relationships among students’ effort (e.g., self-reported learning time), socioeconomic status, and school-related factors (e.g., tracking) through secondary education data, whether and how the effort gap emerges and widens in the early years of compulsory education have not been researched. This study investigates the beginning of inequality in effort by using four waves (from first- to fourth-grade students) of the Longitudinal Survey of Babies in the 21st Century, collected in Japan. The results indicate that college-educated parents tend to employ parenting practices that directly and indirectly shape children’s learning time; inequality in effort exists, and it becomes exacerbated partly because of parenting differences in a society with a relatively equal elementary education system.

Stability of Language and Literacy Profiles of Children With Language Impairment in the Public Schools.

The present study focused on the identification and stability of language and literacy profiles of primary school children receiving school-based language therapy over the course of one academic year. Participants included 272 early elementary school-age children (144 boys, 128 girls) who had been clinically identified as having a language impairment. A latent profile analysis was used to identify distinct profiles on the basis of a battery of language and literacy assessments in the fall and spring of the academic year. Four profiles were identified in both fall and spring that could be best described as representing high, average, and low overall abilities. Two average groups were identified that differentiated according to phonological awareness abilities. Children's profile membership was variable from fall to spring with nearly 60% of children shifting into a higher profile. The results of t tests comparing children who shifted into higher profiles from those who remained stable in profile membership revealed group differences regarding language severity, socio-economic status, and proportion of therapy sessions received in the classroom. These results provide further evidence regarding the heterogeneity of children with language impairment served in the public schools, indicating that differences may be best conceptualized along a continuum of severity.

Examining social-cognitive predictors of parenting skills among mothers with preschool and early elementary school-aged children.

Context:Identification of parenting skills determinants among mothers is an ongoing field of research.Aims:The aim of this study was to identify the social cognitive predictors of parenting skills among mothers.Settings and Design:Previous studies have demonstrated the health action process approach (HAPA) as a credible frame for predicting behavior, but the number of studies considering the predictive value of parenting skills determinants among mothers is rare.Subjects and Methods:An 8 months prospective design was applied. Participants were mothers with preschool and early elementary school-aged children. At the 1st time, 120 participants completed self-report questionnaires regarding their risk perception, outcome expectancies, task self-efficacy, and intentions toward parenting skills. At the 2nd time, they returned a follow-up questionnaire, which measured planning, coping self-efficacy, and recovery self-efficacy and finally, 8 months later as the 3rd time, parenting skills were measured. Path analysis was used for analysis.Results:Path analysis indicated that, in the motivational phase, there was no relationship between parenting skills intention and risk perception, outcome expectancies, and task self-efficacy. Furthermore, no relationship was found between parenting skills intention and planning. In the volitional phase, coping self-efficacy, recovery self-efficacy, and planning were statistically significant predictors of parenting skills.Conclusion:The results of this study confirm that volitional phase of the HAPA model is useful in determining parenting skills. However, the role motivational variables seem to be unimportant in performing these behaviors. It was concluded that everybody intended to apply parenting skills, in nature, and intervention strategies should be focused on turning intentions into behavior.

Absence of Lateral Navigational Bias in Young Children

Previous research has shown American adults exhibit a systematic navigational bias to favor moving to the right when locomoting around obstacles and other people. To further investigate how and when the right-side navigational bias develops, the authors tested pre-school and early elementary school aged American children. Children ran down a straight pathway with an object at the center of the end-line. Unlike replicated findings with adults, both pre-school and early elementary school aged children showed no tendency to favor either side of the object. These findings support that the rightward navigation bias found in adults is not present in children up to elementary school, and suggest that the onset of bias occurs during the age range of late elementary or secondary school.

Social Network Profiles of Children in Early Elementary School Classrooms

This study characterized the social network roles and peer relationship features of early elementary school-age children from kindergarten to 2nd grade. Children were asked to identify who they liked and did not like to play with and peer groups who played together from their classroom. Consistent with the literature, we found similar patterns for outward friendship nominations and friendship reciprocity by group centrality status. However, the authors found more complex associations between children's gender, grade level, and centrality status on the number of received nominations, rejections, and total number of connections. These results shed light on the multifaceted nature of children's peer relationships at school.

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by E. Litwin

Litwin, Eric. Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. Illus. James Dean. New York: Harper, 2012. Print. Pete, the laid back, imperturbable puss is back and this time author and children’s performer Eric Litwin incorporates math into the story. Pete puts on his favourite shirt and begins to sing about his buttons. There is lots of repetition to help kids learn about numbers and subtraction. First Pete thinks about the total number of buttons and the numeral is displayed. Then the word “four” appears twice in the refrain: “My buttons my buttons, my four groovy buttons”. One by one the buttons pop-off and each time the resulting equation is displayed: “How many buttons are left? 4-1=3”. This sequence repeats until he is down to his belly button! As with the other Pete books, there is also a very important underlying message: don’t sweat the small stuff. Each time he loses another button, the author asks: “Did Pete cry? Goodness, no! Buttons come and buttons go”. This is reinforced in the conclusion: “I guess it simply goes to show that stuff will come and stuff will go. But do we cry? Goodness, No! We keep on singing”. Artist James Dean first painted an image of Pete in 1999 and the little bluish-black cat with the big yellow eyes is still going strong. His images are composed of bright, high-contrast colours. The visible brush strokes and thick black outlines create lots of interesting textures and highlights. Of particular note are the buttons that leave long spirals of black trailing behind them and look as if they are popping right off the page. Again, as with previous Pete books, ( I Love my White Shoes and Rockin’ My School Shoes), there is a free downloadable song available from the Harper Collins Web site (http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/petethecat/). The book is certainly engaging enough to be enjoyed on its own. However, there is also a substantial amount of bonus material on the web site that can be incorporated into school lessons or enjoyed at home: the song, links to a YouTube video that pairs animated images from the book with the song, printable activities and a link to a “School Jam” ipad/iphone app featuring Pete. A clever fusion of music and math sprinkled with a life lesson in resilience, this book would make a groovy addition to school and home libraries for preschool to early elementary school-aged children. Highly Recommended: 4 out 4 starsReviewer: Kim Frail Kim is a Public Services Librarian at the H.T. Coutts Education Library at the University of Alberta. Children’s literature is a big part of her world at work and at home. She also enjoys gardening, renovating and keeping up with her two-year old.

Peer Victimization, Poor Academic Achievement, and the Link Between Childhood Externalizing and Internalizing Problems

This study explored whether early elementary school aged children's externalizing problems impede academic functioning and foster negative social experiences such as peer victimization, thereby making these children vulnerable for developing internalizing problems and possibly increasing their externalizing problems. It also explored whether early internalizing problems contributed to an increase in externalizing problems. The study examined 1,558 Canadian children from ages 6 to 8years. Externalizing and internalizing problems, peer victimization, and school achievement were assessed annually. Externalizing problems lead to academic underachievement and experiences of peer victimization. Academic underachievement and peer victimization, in turn, predicted increases in internalizing problems and in externalizing problems. These pathways applied equally to boys and girls. No links from internalizing to externalizing problems were found.

Exploring the Association Between Cognitive Functioning and Anxiety in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Role of Social Understanding and Aggression

This study examined relations between anxiety, aggression, social understanding, IQ, and diagnosis in a sample of 231 children (ages 2–9) diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs; Autistic Disorder, Asperger's Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified) in a hospital setting. Children were administered tests of IQ, and parents completed measures of remaining variables. ASD diagnosis was associated with level of anxiety, and level of IQ explained this relation. IQ was significantly and positively associated with anxiety. Tests of a developmental model to explain the relation between IQ and anxiety showed that social understanding and aggression mediated the relation for toddlers. For preschool- and early elementary school-aged children, respectively, three-way interactions between IQ, social understanding, and aggression predicted anxiety, and graphs of the interactions suggest that the association between IQ and anxiety is increasingly driven by either aggression or social understanding over the course of childhood.

School-Based Behavioral Assessment Tools Are Reliable and Valid for Measurement of Fruit and Vegetable Intake, Physical Activity, and Television Viewing in Young Children

Interventions aiming to modify the dietary and physical activity behaviors of young children require precise and accurate measurement tools. As part of a larger community-based project, three school-based questionnaires were developed to assess (a) fruit and vegetable intake, (b) physical activity and television (TV) viewing, and (c) perceived parental support for diet and physical activity. Test-retest reliability was performed on all questionnaires and validity was measured for fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, and TV viewing. Eighty-four school children (8.3±1.1 years) were studied. Test-retest reliability was performed by administering questionnaires twice, 1 to 2 hours apart. Validity of the fruit and vegetable questionnaire was measured by direct observation, while the physical activity and TV questionnaire was validated by a parent phone interview. All three questionnaires yielded excellent test-retest reliability ( P<0.001). The majority of fruit and vegetable questions and the questions regarding specific physical activities and TV viewing were valid. Low validity scores were found for questions on watching TV during breakfast or dinner. These questionnaires are reliable and valid tools to assess fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, and TV viewing behaviors in early elementary school-aged children. Methods for assessment of children’s TV viewing during meals should be further investigated because of parent−child discrepancies.

Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention with Young Anxious Children

Despite evidence that preschool and early elementary school-age children can present with anxiety disorders that may put them at risk for later psychopathology and dysfunction, the cognitive-behavioral protocols available for treating anxiety in children have been tested almost exclusively in older children. However, there could be benefits to treating children earlier, before anxiety disorders begin to impair their social and academic development. This report discusses the adaptations necessary in providing cognitive-behavioral therapy to young anxious children and describes a manualized, cognitive-behavioral intervention, with child and parent components, that was piloted openly in nine families with children aged 4 to 7 years - each of whom had multiple risk factors for developing anxiety disorders, and most of whom had already presented with anxiety disorders. Eight of the nine children were judged "much" or "very much improved" at postintervention on number of anxiety diagnoses, number of DSM-IV anxiety symptoms, and ability to cope with feared situations. Cases are presented to illustrate the way that cognitive-behavioral therapy can be conducted with youngsters in this age range. Whereas randomized, controlled trials are needed to confirm the efficacy of this manualized treatment, our experience suggests that cognitive-behavioral protocols for anxiety can be adapted and successfully implemented with young children.

Changing the way children "think" about aggression: Social-cognitive effects of a preventive intervention.

The study reports social-cognitive outcomes of interventions in a cluster-randomized school-based aggression prevention trial in low and moderate resource urban communities. Targeted social cognitions were aggressive responses, aggressive/prosocial fantasy, and normative beliefs supporting aggression. Participants were 1,484 early elementary school-age children selected for aggression above school medians. Schools received no treatment, curriculum plus teacher consultation (Level A), or Level A plus small-group training (Level B) over 2 years. The Level A condition changed the social cognitions supporting aggression in the desired direction but only in the moderate resource communities. The small-group component did not appear to add to the effect of the Level A condition. Findings suggest that early prevention can modify children's social cognitions in moderate resource communities.

Modeling emotional, cognitive, and behavioral predictors of peer acceptance.

Integrating principles of differential emotions theory and social information-processing theory, this study examined a model of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral predictors of peer acceptance in a sample of 201 early elementary school-age children (mean age = 7 years, 5 months). A path analytic model showed that social skills mediated the effect of emotion knowledge on both same- and opposite-sex social preference, but social skills and verbal ability were more strongly related to opposite-sex peer acceptance. These findings suggest that adaptive social skills constitute a mechanism through which children express their emotion knowledge and achieve peer acceptance. Results also supported findings of previous studies that showed that emotion knowledge mediated the effect of verbal ability on social skills. Findings from the present study have specific implications for emotion-centered prevention programs that aim to improve children's socioemotional competence and enhance the likelihood of peer acceptance.

Perceptions of Social Support Among Young Children

225 children (ages 4 to 8, 103 girls, 37.5% Mexican-American) participated, reporting who provides support, frequency of receiving different types of support, and satisfaction with support received. These reports were subjected to factor analyses and results did not fit a prior conceptualization. Exploratory factor analyses resulted in a three factor solution that was both more interpretable and the solutions were more similar for reports of frequency of receiving support and satisfaction. A total of six subscale scores were computed, three each for the frequency and the satisfaction items, which were subsequently labelled: informational/emotional, recreational, and practical support. Analyses of the empirically derived subscale scores suggested that young, pre- and early elementary school-aged children responded to questions about their social support in reasonably reliable and valid ways. Significant correlations with indices of perceived competence and acceptance resulted. Remarkably little is known ab...