Development Of Skills In Children Research Articles

Implications of Media on Skill Development of Children

Implications of Media on Skill Development of Children

Math for 2s and 3s: The impact of parent-child math activities on parents’ beliefs and behaviors and young children's math skill development

Mathematics knowledge and skills are critical for success in school and beyond. Professional interest in the role parents play in young children's math development has been increasing, but there is still relatively little rigorous research on this topic, especially for children younger than 4 years old and as compared with research on parents’ role in literacy development. This study provided parents of 2- and 3-year-old children with a 12-week series of simple, fun math activities to do with their children and used a randomized controlled design to examine whether the program had effects on parents’ ideas and beliefs about math for young children, their math interactions with their children, and the children's learning outcomes. The sample consisted of 358 families who were randomly assigned to receive the early math activity program, which was delivered via text messaging, or not. Findings indicated that the program strengthened parents’ beliefs that math was important for young children, increased their engagement in math activities with their child (particularly while they were receiving the program), and enhanced children's skill in subitizing, a foundational early math concept. The program did not significantly affect children's skill levels in other math domains, parents’ own math self-efficacy, or parent and child outcomes not related to math.

Toward assessment for playful learning in early childhood: Influences on teachers' science assessment practices

AbstractIn many countries, play is the vehicle for teaching and learning, requiring early childhood teachers to recognize and assess children's demonstrations of knowledge and capabilities as they are displayed during play. In the context of science learning, assessing what children know already, referred to as “assessment for learning,” equips teachers with the knowledge required to make purposeful decisions during these playful experiences and guide children's science process skill development while following their interests. Consistent evidence since the introduction of national quality standards in Australia has identified a need to strengthen teacher capabilities in assessment. This research investigated teachers' assessment practices, and the influences on these practices, during the implementation of a suite of playful science experiences in long day care and preschool settings in the Northern Territory (NT), Australia. Teachers were introduced to the NT Preschool Science Games and were supported to apply an assessment tool designed for the observation and development of science process skills. Adopting a multiple case study approach, semistructured interviews from three cases were thematically analyzed. Our findings demonstrate that despite having specific tools to support assessment for learning these were inconsistently applied. Thematic analysis of semistructured interviews revealed that assessment practice was influenced by contextual influences, affective responses and teaching practice. Unpacking these themes further, we identified that following children's interests was associated with the absence of systematic assessment of scientific thinking to inform planning for learning within the informal curriculum. To support teacher practice in early childhood science, and promote the assessment of children's capabilities within playful learning, we propose a model of Assessment for playful learning.

A Decision Support Toolkit for the Design of Children-Oriented Urban Outdoor Learning Environments

Urban rapid development has created poor open spaces and fewer outdoor learning environments for children. This issue highlights the quality design of urban public and open spaces that can significantly help children’s healthy growth and development. The urban plaza is one of the potential urban open spaces that positively affect the development of talent and creativity in children and develop their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive skills. As public art is an encouraging landscape medium, integrating public art in urban plazas can aid substantially in achieving this goal. The lack of a decision support tool for designing inclusive learning environments at urban plazas has persuaded us to develop the children-oriented urban plaza design (COUP) Toolkit. The COUP Toolkit is a universal tool that can aid design professionals and children’s therapists in assessing and evaluating the impact of urban plaza design on children’s skills growth. By applying the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method, it was found that the Urban Oasis type of urban plaza contributes the most to skills development in children (WAlt.3 = 0.336), compared to other types (i.e., street plaza, corporate foyer, transit foyer, street, and grand public place). The COUP toolkit has 14 features for designing the urban plazas embedding the public art. Applying AHP indicated that performance art (W2.2 = 0.106), interactive instrument art (W2.3 = 0.106), and spatial composition (W1.1 = 0.103) are most vital in the design of a children-oriented urban plaza. The COUP toolkit was validated through a case study, the Musical Swings (i.e., 21 Balancoires) urban plaza in Montreal, Canada. The COUP toolkit is a rating system and proposes four grading labels based on the scores earned during the assessment process: gold, silver, bronze, and not-certified. The COUP toolkit determined that Musical Swings is ranked as silver; hence, it needs minor improvements, particularly in providing fountains (WSMC2.5 = 0.57) and wading pools (WSMC2.6 = 0.60) to create a proper learning environment for children.

O8-8 Foundation of Move Healthy: athletic skill development in children from a motor learning perspective

BackgroundIn the European Union, 6.1 million people are being treated in hospital annually for a sports injury. Of this, 31% of these injuries affect young people (15-24 years). Injury incidence, medical and lost productivity costs can be reduced by promoting a healthy and active lifestyle, where attention is paid to primary injury prevention. However, after two decades of initiatives, traditional injury prevention prevention programs seem effective in the short-term and controlled study settings, but have not decreased long-term injury incidence. One reason for this is the content of the exercises, currently being mainly ?closed and static? exercises. These exercises don't reflect real-world situations where unexpected and automatic movements are required involving complicated motor control adaptations. In addition, physical educators (PE) and trainers/coaches (TC) neither experience current exercises as being context specific and contributing to their training goals. To overcome this implementation gap, the purpose of the MoveHealthy project is to create exercise routines PE and TC can use, where children acquire the ability to sustain optimal automatic motor control while engaging in complex athletic, unpredictable environments (e.g. movement of another child, or a ball), whilst minimising their risk to sustain an injury.MethodsExercise routines (3 for primary and 3 for secondary education, 3 for soccer and 3 for basketball) were co-created with the end-users (PE & TC) and their wishes and needs have been incorporated. Furthermore, to train the complex task-person-environmental interaction, real-world aspects such as visual-motor control where quickly processing environmental cues and anticipation and decision is crucial, was included into all conceptual considerations.ResultsTwelve prototype exercises have been developed. Merging theoretical foundations of motor learning and wishes and needs of end-users made it possible to create exercises that serve both needs.ConclusionsThe development of these prototype exercises guides towards further validation and final development of innovative exercise routines where real-world aspects are incorporated. With this, we will better ensure real-world effects of injury reduction.AcknowledgementsThis project is financially co-funded by the Erasmus+ Sport program from the European Union.

Teacher perpectives of social interaction in children with autism

Social interaction with others is considered to play an important role in an individual’s growth and psychological wellbeing. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurological disorder characterized by changes in social and interpersonal interactions, as well as limited and repetitive patterns, behaviors, interests, and activities. Planning suitable interventions for social skill development in children with autism requires a clear understanding of the social skills in children with autism. Teachers being a significant people who encounter and address of this children should have a clear understanding of the condition. Thus, the study aims to study the teacher’s perspective of social interaction in children with autism. 200 Teachers of children with autism were chosen for the study. The impact of variables like birth order, religion and parents’ occupation were analyzed. The results of the study are discussed in detail with its relevance to day-to-day situation in this article.

Social Interaction Skills Development in Children with ASD: A Group-Based Comparative Study

Autism is a processing disorder that disrupts the ability to understand and utilize language and significantly poor social skills. During a typical group therapy session, children are facilitated to socialize with their peers, initiate or participate in the group play or express their potential. This study aimed to see the effect of different types of therapy as a team approach (Speech therapy & Occupational therapy) during the group therapy session and apply it during the group therapy sessions, and to see the impact of different age groups in developing social interaction skills. A total of 5 mainstream children with ASD (age range- 6 to 8 and 8-10 years) were selected. 6 sessions of group therapy for 2.5 hours were conducted with OT and ST together. The objectives of the group therapy were rated on four rating scales and compared before and after the session by the parents and therapist. The Wilcoxon signed ranked test was done to find any significant difference between the two groups and the Mann-Whitney U test was to see the impact of different age groups in developing social skills. The finding indicated that the children from both groups showed improvement in social communication with their peers, and show interest to participate; initiating, and taking a turn in storytelling, and various art, and craft activities. However, children in the higher age group showed more improvement in their social skills. This signifies that the transdisciplinary approach in group therapy is a useful treatment strategy to facilitate the children to initiate and interact with their peers. Keywords: Group Therapy, Transdisciplinary approach, Social Skills, Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist.

Development of mathematical skills at the cognitive level of basic general education students

The objective of the research was to evaluate the development of mathematical skills at the cognitive level of Basic General Education students of the Magaly Masson de Valle Carrera Educational Unit in the 2022, that in view of the learning results of the students and that according to national evaluations, the students did not reach the established average according to the evaluations carried out in Ecuador, they present a low cognitive level and a limited development of mathematical skills, for reasons of teacher training in technological and virtual tools, connectivity and the accompaniment of a significant adult at home. In the study, the theory of cognitive development is proposed, who explains how these are developed in the child and how their contribution helps to solve problems, which configure logical connections for the understanding of life situations. The level of the investigation was descriptive and explanatory; the quantitative approach, using scientific, inductive, deductive, analytical, synthetic, and statistical methods. The result was no relationship of mathematical skills in proportion to the cognitive level, in addition to the development of skills in children who had synchronous connectivity was high, who do not accept the virtual class system.

Association between Motor and Language Skills Development in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review

ABSTRACT An emerging body of literature suggests that early motor skills may be a key predictor of language development in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, characteristics of subject groups, targeted skill areas and their assessment tools, and methodological approaches significantly vary across existing studies. This scoping review aimed to map out the associative nature of motor and language skills among children with ASD according to different age groups and ancillary attributes by investigating empirical studies published in the past 20 years. We searched research articles published in peer-reviewed journals between January 2000 and December 2020 using PsycINFO, PubMed, and ERIC. A total of 11 studies were selected and analysed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews Checklist. Available evidence indicates that despite a lack of agreement among available instruments for skills assessments, there exists a positive relationship between motor and language development in that early motor skills predict the rate of both receptive and expressive language development in children with ASD. More studies on such relationship in later childhood and adolescence are warranted to provide practical implications of motor and/or language delay in children with ASD and further timely intervention development.

Early maternal language input and classroom instructional quality in relation to children's literacy trajectories from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

Both early childhood maternal language input and the quality of classroom instruction in elementary school have been shown to be important environmental supports in predicting children's literacy skill development. However, no studies have simultaneously examined these two environmental supports in relation to children's early language skills and later literacy skills across elementary school. The current study examined how multiple years of early maternal language input from 6 to 36 months and later classroom instructional quality from pre-kindergarten (pre-K) through fifth grade were related to children's early language at 36 months and later literacy trajectories in word recognition and reading comprehension across elementary school. The study included a diverse, population-representative sample of 1,292 children who were born in low-wealth rural communities and followed through fifth grade. Video recordings and subsequent transcripts of mother-child shared picture book tasks in the home at four timepoints during early childhood were used to assess maternal diversity of vocabulary, utterance complexity, and engagement (wh-questions) during book sharing. The quality of instruction in elementary school was assessed using classroom observations from pre-K through fifth grade. Maternal complexity and engagement were indirectly related to children's literacy trajectories across pre-K to fifth grade through effects on early child language at 36 months. Higher-quality classroom instruction was not reliably related to concurrent literacy skills in pre-K through fifth grade. Findings suggested the enduring importance of early maternal language input in predicting children's early language and later literacy skill development during elementary school. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Parental Participation in Supporting the Development of Communication Skills in Autistic Children

Parental participation, when conducted appropriately, can support the development of communication skills in autistic children within various learning environments. Paquette and Ryan (2001) state that the microsystem of a child can play a major role in impacting the development of the child as family, community and school structures directly expose the child to learning situations. The aim of this research is to understand the nature, extent and impact of the parents’ demographics on parental participation in supporting the development of communication skills in autistic children. Three special-needs schools within the King Cetshwayo District, KwaZulu-Natal, participated in this research. This research used a mix of qualitive and quantitative approaches and a phenomenological design when dealing with the social, emotional and educational implications of autistic children for the role and level of participation parents have in their children’s development of communication skills at school and home. It was noted that educators favoured sensory-enhancing activities, sign language (which is taught to all learners), and picture-exchange methods to develop communication skills in learners. These techniques require practice and consistent use in different contexts. Parents experienced difficulties scheduling sufficient time due to work situations. Bissoli (2014) found that children’s communication skills are influenced by the people around them. The need for more parental engagement in Autism Spectrum Disorder education and training will aid in enhancing the development of skills in children.

A scoping review of longitudinal studies of children with vision impairment

In past comparative studies, children with vision impairment were often shown a developmental delay compared to sighted children in several developmental domains. Medical treatments of vision impairments and societal attitudes toward disabilities changed considerably. Besides, within the rehabilitation practices, a stronger integration of multiple perspectives and increased focus on social inclusion and participation in society is present. The main goal of this scoping review was to investigate what is known about the development in cognition, language and communication, motor, social–emotional, and adaptive skills development of children with vision impairment by longitudinal studies. Besides, the results of the past studies were related to a contemporary view on disability, the participation concept. This was done by applying the family of participation-related constructs (fPRC) framework to examine which factors were covered and which not. A systematic literature search was performed in Web of Science, PsycInfo, ERIC, and Medline. Studies were included if they have been published in peer-reviewed journals between 1994 and 2020 had a longitudinal design and examined the development of children with vision impairment with no additional impairments up to 18 years of age. From the 2698 identified studies, 32 studies were included. The most commonly assessed variables concerned cognition and language and communication development. To a lesser extent, studies examined adaptive skills, motor, and social–emotional development. The majority used vision status as a predictor variable for developmental outcomes. In terms of the fPRC framework, most studies included variables related to the factor activity competences. The factors preferences, sense of self, environment, and involvement were studied far less often. The review suggested a positive impact on developmental outcomes for including variables that can mediate the relation between vision status and developmental outcomes and variables that are related to the fPRC factors environment, sense of self, and preferences.

Dual-Task Balance Training for Motor Skill Development among Children with Intelligence Quotient Discrepancy.

The motor skills of people with mental disabilities are reportedly reduced compared with those of their peers. Therefore, any task incorporating both motor and cognitive skills was hypothesized to provide better motor recovery. The aim of this study is to find the effect of dual-task balance training (DTBT) on motor skill development in children of 6–13 years with intelligence quotient discrepancy (IQD) (score: 50–79). Overall, 30 individuals with mental disabilities aged 6–13 years having an IQ score of 50–79 were included. The participants were randomly divided into two groups that received dual-task training and standard balance training, respectively. IQ was measured with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, motor proficiency with the Bruininks–Oseretsky test, reaction time with COGNIBOARD, and balance with Functional Reach Test scores. Intervention was provided twice a week for 12 consecutive weeks. Participants in both groups showed higher test scores in all tests after the training program. Both training programs positively affected the motor performance of the participants. The DTBT was more effective in improving balance performance than the standard balance training. DTBT is a better tool than conventional balance training for improving motor skills and balance in children of 6–13 years with IQD (score: 50–79).

Reference centiles based on year-to-year changes for a longitudinal evaluation of motor performance in children and adolescents.

ObjectivesThe aim was to evaluate the longitudinal course of motor skills development in children with a view to improve the understanding of intra-individual variance. Previous publications have been based on cross-sectional data or analyzed longitudinal studies in a cross-sectional manner.DesignLongitudinal. Year-to-year change.MethodsThe present study is based on motor function data collected in the LIFE Child study (Germany). The participants (6 to 17 years) completed parts of the motor tests according to the standard of the German Motor Performance Test 6–18 (DMT). For a total of 1653 participants, 4616 motor tests with an annual interval in the period 2011 to 2019 were included in the evaluation.ResultsWe were able to produce gender and age-specific change centiles for the test items standing long jump, jumping sideways, push-ups, stand and reach and balancing walking backwards. Each set of centiles revealed a range of variability in motor development in children and adolescents, with distinct progressive patterns in the different test items and different genders. The supplied tables offer an indication of expected year-to-year change for each test item depending on age and gender. Depending on the test item and the mean age, a deterioration in test results after a one-year interval was observed, despite cross-sectional centiles showing an upward trend.ConclusionWe present a user-friendly tool as a way to assess individual dynamic changes in motor development of children and adolescents. In combination with the well-known cross-sectional centiles as baseline, this can be helpful for the scientific evaluation of motor skills tests and can also be used in school settings.

Establishment of Reference Values for Early Auditory Preverbal Skills of Children with Cochlear Implants.

Auditory and verbal abilities of children with early cochlear implant (CI) surgery usually take some time to develop, and a reference index of early development for horizontal comparisons is urgently needed to guide the mapping process and adjust rehabilitation programs. Therefore, the aim of this study was to establish a reference value for early auditory preverbal skills development in children with CI and investigate the developmental curve and influencing factors for these children. The LittlEARS® Auditory Questionnaire (LEAQ) scores of 287 eligible Chinese participants were obtained at 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 28, and 36 months interval after CI activation. The median and standard deviation of the LEAQ score of each hearing stage for these children with different activation ages were calculated to establish the reference values. Quadratic regression was conducted to fit the expected developmental curve of the LEAQ score ( [0 to 20 months]). With a linear mixed-effects model, we found that the receptive auditory behavior increased rapidly after CI activation, while expressive language skills developed at a steady rate. We also found that the following factors all significantly influenced the LEAQ: the duration of CI use, the development quotient, age of implantation and activation, and the presence of large vestibular aqueduct syndrome or auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder. The reference values and the expected developmental curve for the LEAQ in children with CI established by the present study provides guidance to clinicians and parents as well as realistic expectations regarding language and speech outcomes.

The sound of self-regulation: Music program relates to an advantage for children at risk

Promoting self-regulatory development represents a critical concern for all early childhood educational programs, and particularly those serving children at risk via poverty. Stressors related to poverty tax children's physiological stress-response systems and self-regulatory capacities, challenging healthy development. The present study examined an early childhood music intervention designed to promote children's self-regulatory skill development. The participants were 191 children ages 3-5 years old who faced economic hardship. A quasi-experimental, stepped-wedge design that included four preschools and 3 study years facilitated comparing across the school year children who received preschool programming as usual (n = 43) with those who additionally received the music intervention (n =148). Well validated child assessments measured the inhibitory control aspect of self-regulation, as well as receptive vocabulary, and a parent interview measured demographic covariates. Core analyses with hierarchical linear modeling revealed that, compared with peers who received programming as usual, children who received the music intervention showed greater growth in inhibitory control across the preschool year. Implications concern the potential for early childhood music programming to promote self-regulation and support positive development for children facing economic hardship.

Language skill development in children with cochlear implants and the impact of age at switch-on

ABSTRACT Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children with cochlear implants (CwCIs) constitute a heterogeneous population. A multitude of factors influence their spoken language development. There is evidence that CwCIs follow similar trajectories in language development as typically developing (TD) children but there is a lack of research on specific types of skills. This study aimed to (1) map the trajectory of receptive and expressive language skill development of a representative group of CwCIs and (2) evaluate the impact of age at switch-on (ASO) on skill development. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the language outcomes of 44 CwCIs with ASO between 11 and 45 months (M = 26.02 SD = 8.31). These children were tracked for the first two years following implantation. Clustered bar charts were used to compare specific types of skills acquired by CwCIs with ASO ≤2 years versus >2 years. The results suggest that CwCIs generally acquire receptive and expressive language skills along a similar sequence to TD children, but there is individual variability relating to specific skills. However, the language outcomes of CwCIs are ultimately the result of a complex interplay of demographic variables.

Sprawność grafomotoryczna uczniów z niepełnosprawnością intelektualną w stopniu lekkim

The development of graphomotor skills in children in primary school age is a difficult and long process, and its disturbance leads to serious problems not only with the process of writing but also disrupts the purely academical learning. For students with mild intellectual disability, writing is a more difficult challenge due to cognitive and perceptual- -motor limitations.

Formation of skills of a healthy lifestyle in children's public associations

One of the social institutions in which children gain experience and develop healthy lifestyle skills are children's and youth NGOs and associations. Their activities are regulated by the Constitution of Ukraine, the Laws of Ukraine "On Extracurricular Education", "On Associations of Citizens", "On the Basic Principles of Youth Policy". By cooperating on a partnership basis with government agencies and institutions, social movements, children's organizations solve the most important problems of children, helping them in social adaptation, creating conditions for their socialization.
 One of the main tasks of children's public organizations and associations is to develop the skills of a healthy lifestyle as a platform for successful self-realization and self-realization of the child's personality. Physical culture and sports are an integral part of a child's harmonious development. The creation of sports organizations for children is conditioned by the needs of the present and the state policy on the development of physical culture and sports, care for the upbringing of a healthy younger generation. Such associations focus children on health care and promote a healthy lifestyle. Thus, healthy meaningful recreation and leisure becomes one of the most important areas of self-education of children and students.
 Free from strict regulations and obligations, children's public organizations and associations create ample opportunities for personal growth and physical development of the child, forming moral values, hardening the character, developing a responsible attitude to health and safety. Characterizing children's movement by areas of activity, we pay special attention to children's organizations of physical culture and sports. Such associations have the necessary potential for appropriate educational influences and are a space for the development of healthy lifestyle skills in children and students.

Validation of Wearable Sensor Technology to Measure Social Proximity of Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) struggle to develop appropriate social skills, which can lead to later social rejection, isolation, and mental health concerns. Educators play an important role in supporting and monitoring social skills development for children with ASD, but the tools used by educators are often tedious, lack suitable sensitivity, provide limited information to plan interventions, and are time-consuming. Therefore, we conducted a study to evaluate the use of a sensor system to measure social proximity between three children with ASD and their peers in an inclusive preschool setting. We compared video-coded data with sensor data using point-by-point agreement to measure the accuracy of the sensor system. Results suggest that the sensor system can adequately measure social proximity between children with ASD and their peers. The next steps for sensor system validation are discussed along with clinical and educational implications, limitations, and future research directions.