Early School-age Children Research Articles

(Nie)kwestionowane granice decyzyjności pedagoga w kształtowaniu obrazu świętości wśród dzieci?

A teacher’s work with children of preschool and early school age focuses on achieving the teaching and educational objectives, as well as those related to childcare. The tasks include, among others, supporting pupils in shaping the image of the world, recognising different values and criteria,as well as methods of choosing them, obtaining basic social skills, and shaping moral and religious attitudes. The educator is obliged to show the children universal values and ethical principles. They also have to present role models and motivate their pupils to imitate them. All of this fosters an image of sanctity among children. When it comes to making decisions regarding the shaping of the image of sanctity among children, the teacher is restricted by educational law, especially the core curriculum of general education, as well as the school’s curriculum. This restriction applies mainly to the objectives and content of teaching and education. However, in matters of methodology, the teacher has many possibilities for creative action. They may exceed the methodologies suggested by educational law and design their own teaching innovations. With regard to shaping the image of sanctity among children, of particular note are All Saints’ Day balls, Angel Days, educational games and activities, family fairs, saints’ parades, competition and stage productions.

Causal learning from joint action: Collaboration helps first graders but hinders kindergartners

This study investigated whether early school-aged children’s causal learning from collaborative joint action differs from their learning from their own individual action or observation. Children in a joint condition performed causal interventions with an adult on two causal systems. Children in an independent condition took turns and observed an adult perform the same interventions on one system and performed the same interventions themselves on the other system. Joint action improved first graders’ (n = 60) causal inference compared with individual action and observation. However, joint action impaired kindergartners’ (n = 60) inference relative to individual action and observation. These findings demonstrate that joint action, as a component of collaborative activity, can help or hinder inductive causal learning depending on features of the learner. Children’s abilities to learn from collaborative joint action undergo a developmental shift during the early school years.

A Fuzzy Skill Predictor for Early Childhood Educators

This study presents a model of a two-input single output (TISO) Fuzzy Skill Predictor based on Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences to assist early childhood educators in discovering latent skills in children of early school age as to tailor them towards professional skill development in their future lives. The skill prediction system was developed in two phases beginning with the generation of weighted fuzzy rules and then followed by the development of a fuzzy rule-based decision support system. The Mamdani Fuzzy inference model in MATLAB was used in implementing the system using weighted attributes of intelligence and ability to determine skills. The system was tested with hypothetical data based on Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence and was found useful for predicting skills based on the parameters used. The system was validated using early school academic records of 7 randomly sampled undergraduates studying various courses in the university. Though limited entries were used to test the system, the model is robust and can be easily modified to accommodate more entries and rules to predict as many skills as possible.

Long-Term Academic Functioning Following Cogmed Working Memory Training for Children Born Extremely Preterm: A Randomized Controlled Trial

To assess the effectiveness of Cogmed Working Memory Training compared with a placebo program in improving academic functioning 24 months post-training in extremely preterm/extremely low birth weight 7-year-olds. A multicenter double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized controlled trial was conducted across all tertiary neonatal hospitals in the state of Victoria, Australia. Participants were 91 extremely preterm/extremely low birth weight 7-year-old children born in Victoria in 2005. Children were randomly assigned to either the Cogmed or placebo arm and completed the Cogmed or placebo program (20-25 sessions of 35-40 minutes duration) at home over 5-7 weeks. Academic achievement (word reading, spelling, sentence comprehension, and mathematics) was assessed 24 months post-training, as well as at 2 weeks and 12 months post-training, via standardized testing inclusive of working memory, attention, and executive behavior assessments. Data were analyzed using an intention-to-treat approach with mixed-effects modeling. There was little evidence of any benefits of Cogmed on academic functioning 24 months post-training, as well as on working memory, attention, or executive behavior at any age up to 24 months post-training compared with the placebo program. We currently do not recommend administration of Cogmed for early school-aged children born extremely preterm/extremely low birth weight to improve academic functioning. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12612000124831.

Poczucie kontroli dzieci twórczych i nietwórczych w wieku wczesnoszkolnym

The research was aimed at finding an answer to the question about the relationship between the sense of control and the level of creative abilities of children in early school age. This topic is part of a wider research problem, which is the search for determinants of creative abilities of children. The results of our own research have shown that the highest percentage of children in early school age reveals a transient sense of control in the global aspect. This confirms the fact that the location of the control is a feature that develops throughout the whole adolescence period. According to some studies, even in adolescents, this belief is not yet fully crystallized. It forms on the basis of many experiences that either support the belief of having control or are not favorable to it. The main hypothesis was verified positively. It was confirmed that the sense of control correlates with creative abilities, or more accurately, that the inner sense of control coexists with a high level of these abilities. It can, therefore, be concluded that children revealing a high conviction about having influence on the effects of their own actions are also more creative in thinking. This dependence was already pointed in the older literature of the subject, where the inner sense of control was considered to be an important component of the creative personality.

Effect of maternal pre-pregnancy underweight and average gestational weight gain on physical growth and intellectual development of early school-aged children

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of low maternal weight at pre-pregnancy and the average gestational weight gain on undernourished children and their intellectual development. From October 2012 to September 2013, we followed 1744 offspring of women who participated in a trial conducted from 2002 to 2006. Pregnant women recruited in the original trial could receive three prenatal health checks for free, at which maternal weight and height were measured. WISC-IV was used to estimate the intellectual development of children. Weight and height of both pregnant women and children were measured by trained anthropometrists using standard procedures. Having low maternal weight at pre-pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of undernutrition amongst children (underweight: OR = 2.02, 95%CI: 1.14–3.56, thinness: OR = 2.79, 95%CI: 1.50–5.17) and a decrease in verbal comprehension index (−2.70 points, 95%CI: −4.95–0.44) of children. The effect of average gestational weight gain on occurrences of underweight children (OR = 0.08, 95%CI: 0.01–0.55) was also found. We identified the effect of maternal pre-pregnancy underweight on impairment of the separate intellectual domains (verbal comprehension index) and increasing occurrence of undernourished children. Average gestational weight gain was positively associated with a decreased prevalence of underweight children but not with the intellectual development of children in rural China.

Drinking water lead, iron and zinc concentrations as predictors of blood lead levels and urinary lead excretion in school children from Montevideo, Uruguay

The global burden of water-based lead (Pb) exposure on children is largely unknown; however, the importance of water sources as a path of Pb exposure is receiving increased attention due to recent prominent exposure events related to corroded plumbing infrastructure in the US. This study investigated the contribution of Pb in household drinking and cooking water to Pb levels in blood (PbB) and urine (PbU) within 353 early school-aged children from Montevideo, Uruguay. Additionally, the analysis considered the child's iron status and the water content of iron (WFe) and zinc (WZn) in relation to water Pb and blood/urine Pb concentrations. Lead concentrations for both PbB and PbU were fairly low (M ± SD: 4.2 ± 2.1 μg/dL; Median [5%, 95%]: 1.9 [0.6, 5.1 μg/L, respectively]); however 21% of the sample had a PbB >5 μg/dL but ≤ 10 μg/dL. Overall, there was little evidence of an association between water metal concentrations and children's PbB/PbU. However, when the sample was stratified by children's iron status, WPb was positively related to PbU, but negatively related to PbB in iron-replete children, even after adjusting for WFe and WZn. In iron-deficient children, there was no elevation in PbU with increasing WPb. In this sample of children with low Pb levels, there were no overwhelming relationships between WPb and either PbB or PbU, however, there was some evidence that iron-replete status promotes excretion of WPb.

“Gifted child” - how parents label their children

This article presents the results of the research on parental labeling of gifted children in early school age. The narratives of the parents were acquired in the interviews. Results were analyzed in terms of the meanings they gave to concepts such as giftedness, abilities, talents, and also in terms of the parental descriptions of children’s predispositions.

Dual Earner Parents’ Work-Family Conflict, and its Associations with Warm Parenting and Early School-Aged Children’s Problem Behaviors

Dual Earner Parents’ Work-Family Conflict, and its Associations with Warm Parenting and Early School-Aged Children’s Problem Behaviors

Making the Most of the Chicago Benchmarking Collaborative

In this case, lessons from the Chicago Benchmarking Collaborative illustrate key principles of collaborative action and the importance of using data to achieve SMART goals. In 2015, the Chicago Benchmarking Collaborative (CBC) was a network of seven agencies in Chicago, Illinois, serving 12,000 low-income residents. Each of the agencies had early childhood, school-age children, and adult education programs. At the prompting of the Chicago Community Trust, they came together to (1) benchmark their education programs outputs and outcomes; (2) learn and share best practices through developing a common set of metrics and measurements and implementing these measurements into a case management software system; and (3) share the costs of the case management software system to be used for program evaluation and continuous quality improvement. Three aspects of CBC are particularly noteworthy. First, there are no joint program activities or clients among these agencies. Their exchange is limited to sharing data and other information. This makes CBC distinct from collaborations formed to begin a program or to advocate for a policy. Second, the group requires each agency to enter data on a timely basis and to set SMART goals based on the data reports. The agencies are held mutually accountable for their work to achieve their own SMART goals during the year and report on progress. Third, CBC used monetary incentives to ensure that data entry and SMART goal action remained a priority for each agency.

Selective eating behaviors in children: An observational validation of parental report measures

Selective eating in children is commonly measured by parental report questionnaires, yet it is unknown if parents accurately estimate their child's selective eating behavior. The objectives of this study were to test the validity and stability of two measures of selective eating using observed child behavior. Low-income mother-child dyads participated in a videotaped laboratory eating protocol at two time points (baseline: mean child age = 5.9 years; follow-up: mean child age = 8.6 years), during which they were presented with a familiar and an unfamiliar vegetable. Videos were reliably coded for child selective eating behaviors: amount consumed, child hedonic rating of vegetables, child compliance with maternal prompts to eat, latency to first bite, number of bites, and negative utterances. Mothers completed the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire Food Fussiness (CEBQ FF) scale and the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS) at both time points. Questionnaire validity, stability of measured behaviors, and discriminant validity of questionnaires were examined in the full sample. CEBQ FF scores and FNS scores were both inversely correlated with the quantity consumed, child hedonic rating, and compliance with prompts to eat for both familiar and unfamiliar vegetables at baseline and at follow up. CEBQ FF and FNS scores were inversely correlated with number of bites (for both foods), positively correlated with latency to first bite (for both foods), and inversely correlated with child negative utterances (for the familiar food only). Notably, FNS scores correlated with observed behavior for both familiar and unfamiliar foods, rather than demonstrating a specific association with unfamiliar foods only. This study supports the validity of the CEBQ FF and FNS in low-income early school-aged children.

Making sense of family language policy: Japanese-English bilingual children's creative and strategic translingual practices

ABSTRACT Recent developments in multilingualism research urge us to move beyond seeing bilingualism as ‘double monolingualism’ and towards translanguaging, which conceptualises language as a bundle of socially constructed linguistic resources that individuals can deploy to make sense of their multilingual world. Despite this theoretical development, the monolingualist ideology remains strong in child language acquisition and bilingual education. The One Parent One Language policy (OPOL) which I examine in detail in this paper is one of the most commonly practiced family language policies; it requires parents to constantly monitor their language practices at home based on the assumption that language is a fixed, countable, and complete system. Part of a broader ethnographic research with Japanese-English multilingual families in the UK, this article focuses on a single-family case study, through which it aims to critically examine the way in which OPOL is negotiated and exercised in situated language practices in the family home. Focusing particularly on language interactions between two pre- and early-school age children and their mother, the paper shows how the strategic and creative employment of linguistic resources by children undermines monolingualist dogmas that OPOL is reliant on. The paper thus makes a significant contribution to the empirical study of translanguaging.

Intrinsic motivation and academic performance in school-age children born extremely preterm: The contribution of working memory

Intrinsic motivation is associated with better academic performance. Working memory abilities may contribute to this association, especially in children at risk for learning and academic difficulties such as those born extremely preterm. This study examined whether verbal and visuo-spatial working memory abilities mediate the relationship between intrinsic motivation for school learning (mastery, challenge and curiosity) and academic performance (word reading, spelling and mathematics) in 7-year old extremely preterm or extremely low birth weight children (n = 91). Structural equation modeling revealed verbal short-term memory to mediate associations between aspects of intrinsic motivation and literacy performance. Positive associations between mastery and verbal short-term memory, reading and spelling, and a positive association between challenge and mathematics performance were also identified. These findings highlight potential pathways linking intrinsic motivation for school learning, working memory, and academic achievement in early school-age children at risk of academic impairments. Examination of individual characteristics such as motivation and cognitive skills is important for understanding factors that shape children's learning and performance.

Trunk rotation due to persistence of primitive reflexes in early school-age children.

The angle of trunk rotation (ATR) is a measurement that allows an objective assessment of a growing child's spine. Early detection of trunk rotation prevents the progression of scoliosis. One of the factors that predispose children to the formation of faulty posture may be primitive reflexes, which should be integrated in the central nervous system (CNS) by the age of one year. If retained, primitive reflexes affect children's physical development as well as their development at school. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of trunk asymmetry and the persistence of primitive reflexes and their inter-relationships in early school-age children. In this population-based survey, 61 children, average age 6.3 years (SD ±1.43), were examined. The ATR was examined using a scoliometer. The degree of integration of reflexes was assessed using tests developed by S. Goddard to assess the asymmetrical tonic neck reflex (ATNR), symmetrical tonic neck reflex (STNR), and spinal Galant reflex (SGR) on a 0-4 scale. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and the χ2 test were used in the statistical analysis. In almost half of the children body rotation was observed, in most cases toward the right (p = 0.012). This asymmetry was positively correlated with non-integrated Galant reflex on the same side (r = 0.335, p = 0.050). The presence of trunk rotation is associated with sex: There was higher frequency of asymmetry among the girls than among the boys. In the evaluation of scoliosis, it could be useful to examine primitive reflexes as a possible reason for trunk rotation. In the treatment of scoliosis, primitive reflex integration methods should be used in some cases.

Predictive validity of developmental screening in young children with sickle cell disease: a longitudinal follow-up study.

To assess the predictive validity of developmental screenings in children with sickle cell disease (SCD) for academic outcomes and stroke risk. Parent questionnaires and medical record data were collected for a cohort receiving developmental screenings between September 2004 and May 2008 as toddlers or early school age. Screening outcomes were dichotomized (positive, negative) by a priori criteria. Questionnaires assessed school and social functioning, services received, and quality of life. Medical record data assessed general SCD morbidity and stroke risk. Forty-one toddlers (mean age 2y 5mo; 25 males, 16 females) and 49 early school-age children (mean age 6y 5mo; 26 males, 23 females) completed follow-up. The mean follow-up period was 8 years 6 months (range 6.1-10.8y). For toddlers, positive screenings for language delays predicted lower academic performance (p=0.023). For older children, positive screenings for cognitive delays predicted more frequent academic/attentional problems at school (p<0.001), grade retention (p=0.007), and lower academic performance (p=0.001). Positive screenings were associated with an earlier onset of school problems and lower quality of life. Positive screenings for language/cognitive delays predicted increased stroke risk (both p<0.05). Screening for language or cognitive development in young children with SCD predicts academic outcomes and stroke risk. Developmental screening predicts academic outcomes in sickle cell disease. Children with concerning language/cognitive screenings have early-onset school difficulties. Developmental screenings may help predict cerebrovascular complications.

Association of sleep habits with behavior problems and resilience of 6- to 7-year-old children: results from the A-CHILD study

BackgroundChildhood sleep habits are associated with mental health development; however, little is known about the impact of irregular bedtimes on the mental health of early school-aged children. The aims of this study were to examine the effect of weekday sleep habits (varying bedtimes depending on the night of the week and later than 22:00 h bedtime) on behavior problems, prosocial behavior, and resilience of children aged 6–7 years. MethodsData were taken from the Adachi Child Health Impact of Living Difficulty (A-CHILD) study, which involved the participation of 4291 caregivers of first-grade children (6–7 years old) living in Adachi City, Tokyo. Resilience (using the Children's Resilient Coping Scale), behavior problems (using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire), both modified to range 0–100, and sleep habits were measured via a questionnaire filled out by caregivers. Propensity-score matching was used to determine the associations between irregular and late bedtime, behavior problems, prosocial behavior, and resilience. ResultsA total of 320 (7.5%) children showed irregular bedtime on school nights and 540 (13.6%) children went to bed later than 22:00 h. Children with irregular bedtimes on weekdays showed lower resilience (β = −3.50, 95% confidence interval (CI) = −5.90 to −1.10) and higher levels of behavior problems (β = 3.29, 95% CI = 1.13–5.46), especially hyperactivity/inattention (β = 5.76, 95% CI = 2.03 to 9.49) and peer relationship problems (β = 3.79, 95% CI = 1.02–6.55). On the other hand, no association between bedtime after 22:00 h and resilience or behavior problems was found. ConclusionAmong early school-aged children, irregular bedtime on weekdays may be a risk factor for lower resilience and behavior problems.

Tense and plural formation in Welsh-English bilingual children with and without language impairment.

Grammatical morphology has been shown to be problematic for children with specific language impairment (SLI) or developmental language disorder (DLD). Most research on this topic comes from widely spoken languages, such as English. Despite Welsh being the most extensively spoken indigenous in the UK after English, and Wales being the only official bilingual country in the UK, our knowledge about the morphosyntactic areas of Welsh that may pose problems for Welsh-speaking children with SLI is limited. Currently, Welsh-speaking speech and language therapists (SLTs) are heavily reliant on the use of informally translated English assessments. This can inadvertently result in a failure to take aspects of Welsh morphosyntax into account that are critical for the assessment and treatment of Welsh-speaking children. This is the first study to examine how Welsh-English bilingual children of early school age with typical development (bi-TD) and with SLI (bi-SLI) perform on production tasks targeting verbal and nominal morphology in Welsh. We targeted areas of Welsh morphosyntax that could potentially be vulnerable for Welsh-speaking children with or at risk of language impairment, such as tense marking and plural formation, and assessed their diagnostic potential. Twenty-eight Welsh-dominant bilingual children participated in the study: 10 bi-SLI and 18 bi-TD. They were administered three elicitation tasks targeting the production of verbal (compound and synthetic past tense) and nominal (plural) morphology in Welsh. The bi-SLI children performed worse than their bi-TD peers across all three tasks. They produced more uninflected verbs in the elicited-production task and were less likely to be prompted to produce the synthetic past, which is a concatenating, low-frequency form of the past tense. They also over-regularized less in the context of plural nouns, and when they did, they opted for high-frequency suffixes. By focusing on aspects of morphosyntactic development which are unique to Welsh, we have increased existing about how verbal and nominal morphology are acquired in Welsh-speaking bi-SLI and bi-TD children. The present results point towards productivity problems for Welsh-speaking bi-SLI children who are adversely influenced by low-frequency structures and fail to over-regularize in the context of verbal and nominal concatenating morphology. From a clinical perspective, targeting synthetic past-tense forms through a prompting task may be a promising assessment and intervention tool that future studies could explore further.

Drugie śniadanie dzieci w wieku wczesnoszkolnym jako element zachowań zdrowotnych związanych z odżywianiem

Drugie śniadanie dzieci w wieku wczesnoszkolnym jako element zachowań zdrowotnych związanych z odżywianiem

Prevalenca deformiteta kičmenog stuba kod dece mlađeg školskog uzrasta iz Republike Srpske

Due to the acceleration of biological and lifestyle changes, scientific and technological revolution, disproportionate growth and development, and the impact of endogenous and exogenous factors, postural disorders in the early school age children from the Republic of Srpska and the countries of the region have been increasingly on the rise. A research of a transversal character was conducted in order to analyse the presence of spinal deformities in children of early school age in the Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The sample included the population of children in the lower grades of elementary schools from Bijeljina and Foča (Republic of Srpska) and consisted of 90 boys and girls who were divided into two subgroups. One sub-sample consisted of 45 boys, while the other consisted of 45 girls. The measurement was conducted during the 2014/15 school year, when all pupils included in the sample attended the second grade of either 'Jovan Dučić' elementary school in Bijeljina or 'St. Sava' school in Foča. One of the most state-of-the-art 3D computer methods, Spine Win Pointer Zebris Medical, was used in the analysis of the spinal column. The results of the measurement showed an increased percentage of spinal deformity in the population of the school children in the lower grades of elementary school.

Impact of maternal common mental disorders on child educational outcomes at 7 and 9 years: a population-based cohort study in Ethiopia

ObjectivesTo examine the association between exposure to maternal common mental disorders (CMD) in preschool and early school age children and subsequent child educational outcomes.DesignA population-based cohort study.SettingThe study was undertaken...