Children's Strategies Research Articles

'I fell off and landed badly': Children's experiences of forearm fracture and injury prevention.

Forearm fractures are one of the most common injuries sustained by children. Our descriptive study addressed, from the perspective of a child, the following research objectives: (1) to describe their fracture experience and (2) to describe how fractures might be prevented. Photovoice is a unique research strategy by which people create and discuss photographs. This technique has been used to elicit the perspectives of those whose voices are often 'not heard' in research, like children. Participants were recruited from a larger three-year prospective trial and included 10 boys (12.3 ± 1.6 years) and 7 girls (11.3 ± 1.6 years). We asked participants to take pictures to explain where their injury occurred (place), what they were doing at the time (context) and how the fracture had happened (mechanism). We also used semi-structured interview techniques. The following key themes emerged from our interviews: (1) the built environment as a key factor that 'caused' their fracture, (2) the fracture experienced as a journey not an event and (3) strategies to prevent fractures. A simple clinical step to potentially reduce subsequent fractures will be for clinicians to have a brief conversation with their young patients and to listen to the child's personal preventive strategies.

Retrieval Practice as an Effective Memory Strategy in Children and Adolescents With Traumatic Brain Injury

ObjectiveTo investigate whether retrieval practice (RP) is a more effective memory strategy than restudy in children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury (TBI). DesignThree × two within-subjects experiment: 3 (learning condition: massed restudy [MR], spaced restudy [SR], retrieval practice [RP]) × 2 (stimulus type: verbal paired associates [VPAs] and face-name pairs [FNPs]). The dependent measure was delayed recall of VPAs and FNPs. SettingSubacute pediatric neurorehabilitation center. ParticipantsPediatric survivors of TBI (N=15) aged 8 to 16 years with below-average memory. InterventionDuring RP, participants were quizzed on to-be-learned information (VPAs and FNPs) shortly after it was presented, such that they practiced retrieval during the learning phase. MR consisted of repeated restudy (tantamount to cramming). SR consisted of restudy trials separated in time (ie, distributed learning). Main Outcome MeasuresDelayed recall of 24 VPAs and 24 FNPs after a 25-minute delay. VPAs and FNPs were equally divided across 3 learning conditions (16 per condition). ResultsThere was a large main effect of learning condition on delayed recall (P<.001; ηp2=.84), with better mean recall of VPAs and FNPs studied through RP (6.23±1.39) relative to MR (3.60±1.53; P<.001) and SR (4.77±1.39; P<.001). Moreover, RP was the single best learning strategy for every participant. ConclusionsMemory problems and related academic learning difficulties are common after pediatric TBI. Herein, we identify RP as a promising and simple strategy to support learning and improve memory in children and adolescents with TBI. Our experimental findings were quite robust and set the stage for subsequent randomized controlled trials of RP in pediatric TBI.

Model-based assessment of dosing strategies in children for monoclonal antibodies exhibiting target-mediated drug disposition.

Body weight/body surface area–based and/or tiered fixed dosing strategies are widely utilized for monoclonal antibodies with linear clearance to scale adult clinical doses to children. However, there is limited knowledge on whether or not body weight–based dosing strategies also yield comparable dose-concentration-response relationships in adults and children for monoclonal antibodies that exhibit target-mediated drug disposition. Our findings indicate that it is important to interpret pharmacokinetics information in a pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics context as similar systemic drug exposure in adults and children may not be reflective of the corresponding target occupancy. They further indicate that BW-based dosing is superior to fixed dosing for the same target concentration, whereas the opposite holds true for the same target amount in adults and children. Michaelis-Menten approximations yielded similar profiles compared to the full target-mediated drug disposition model for all simulation scenarios and may be used to guide the selection of appropriate dosing regimens in children.

Facial expression training optimises viewing strategy in children and adults.

This study investigated whether training-related improvements in facial expression categorization are facilitated by spontaneous changes in gaze behaviour in adults and nine-year old children. Four sessions of a self-paced, free-viewing training task required participants to categorize happy, sad and fear expressions with varying intensities. No instructions about eye movements were given. Eye-movements were recorded in the first and fourth training session. New faces were introduced in session four to establish transfer-effects of learning. Adults focused most on the eyes in all sessions and increased expression categorization accuracy after training coincided with a strengthening of this eye-bias in gaze allocation. In children, training-related behavioural improvements coincided with an overall shift in gaze-focus towards the eyes (resulting in more adult-like gaze-distributions) and towards the mouth for happy faces in the second fixation. Gaze-distributions were not influenced by the expression intensity or by the introduction of new faces. It was proposed that training enhanced the use of a uniform, predominantly eyes-biased, gaze strategy in children in order to optimise extraction of relevant cues for discrimination between subtle facial expressions.

Arithmetic strategy development and its domain-specific and domain-general cognitive correlates: a longitudinal study in children with persistent mathematical learning difficulties.

Deficits in arithmetic fact retrieval constitute the hallmark of children with mathematical learning difficulties (MLD). It remains, however, unclear which cognitive deficits underpin these difficulties in arithmetic fact retrieval. Many prior studies defined MLD by considering low achievement criteria and not by additionally taking the persistence of the MLD into account. Therefore, the present longitudinal study contrasted children with persistent MLD (MLD-p; mean age: 9 years 2 months) and typically developing (TD) children (mean age: 9 years 6 months) at three time points, to explore whether differences in arithmetic strategy development were associated with differences in numerical magnitude processing, working memory and phonological processing. Our longitudinal data revealed that children with MLD-p had persistent arithmetic fact retrieval deficits at each time point. Children with MLD-p showed persistent impairments in symbolic, but not in nonsymbolic, magnitude processing at each time point. The two groups differed in phonological processing, but not in working memory. Our data indicate that both domain-specific and domain-general cognitive abilities contribute to individual differences in children's arithmetic strategy development, and that the symbolic processing of numerical magnitudes might be a particular risk factor for children with MLD-p.

Children composing and their visual-spatial approach to the keyboard

This study aims to contribute to the already existing findings of children's compositional strategies and products. Despite the abundance of research provided regarding the manner in which children approach composing, little has been found about how children deal, specifically, with the structure of the keyboard. Therefore, from a context in which children individually compose at the piano, the present study sets out to look at the thought processes and strategies that children elicit from the structure of the keyboard. Using examples collected from actual teaching practice, this article shows how children approach the keyboard in order to work out their own game rules, transpose dance patterns, derive musical phrases, form chiasmi and apply geometrical-mathematical principles, as well as how they break free from certain conventions and stereotypical models. The examples given show how musical thinking can be interwoven with non-musical ways of thinking, and how a visual-spatial approach of the keyboard can be influential.

Income, ethnicity, and sleep: coping as a moderator.

Toward identifying variables that may protect children against sleep problems otherwise associated with ethnic minority status and economic adversity, support coping was examined as a moderator. Participants were 235 children (113 boys, 122 girls; M age = 11.33 years, SD = 8.03 months), 64% European American and 36% African American. Children's sleep duration (minutes) and continuity (efficiency) were assessed through actigraphs worn for 1 week. Mothers reported on the family's monetary resources (income-to-needs ratio) and children reported on their support coping strategies. For children from lower income homes and African Americans, a higher level of support coping was a protective factor against fewer sleep minutes and reduced sleep efficiency, otherwise associated with economic adversity. Children from more economically advantaged homes had good sleep parameters regardless of their coping. The results build on the existing small body of work by demonstrating that children's support coping strategies have a protective role against sleep problems otherwise associated with ethnic minority status and economic adversity and present potential targets for intervention that may help reduce health disparities in an important health domain.

Sibling Abuse Trauma: Assessment and Intervention Strategies for Children, Families, and Adults, 2nd ed

(2014). Sibling Abuse Trauma: Assessment and Intervention Strategies for Children, Families, and Adults, 2nd ed. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy: Vol. 64, No. 3, pp. 417-420.

Exploring the use of dynamic language assessment with deaf children, who use American Sign Language: Two case studies

We describe a model for assessment of lexical-semantic organization skills in American Sign Language (ASL) within the framework of dynamic vocabulary assessment and discuss the applicability and validity of the use of mediated learning experiences (MLE) with deaf signing children. Two elementary students (ages 7;6 and 8;4) completed a set of four vocabulary tasks and received two 30-minute mediations in ASL. Each session consisted of several scripted activities focusing on the use of categorization. Both had experienced difficulties in providing categorically related responses in one of the vocabulary tasks used previously. Results showed that the two students exhibited notable differences with regards to their learning pace, information uptake, and effort required by the mediator. Furthermore, we observed signs of a shift in strategic behavior by the lower performing student during the second mediation. Results suggest that the use of dynamic assessment procedures in a vocabulary context was helpful in understanding children's strategies as related to learning potential. These results are discussed in terms of deaf children's cognitive modifiability with implications for planning instruction and how MLE can be used with a population that uses ASL.Learning outcomes: The reader will (1) recognize the challenges in appropriate language assessment of deaf signing children; (2) recall the three areas explored to investigate whether a dynamic assessment approach is sensitive to differences in deaf signing children's language learning profiles (3) discuss how dynamic assessment procedures can make deaf signing children's individual language learning differences visible.

Imaginary Companions and Young Children's Coping and Competence

AbstractImaginary companions (ICs) are purported to bolster children's coping and self‐competence, but few studies address this claim. We expected that having/not havingICswould distinguish children's coping strategies and competence less than type of companion (i.e., personified object or invisible friend) or quality of child–ICrelationship (i.e., egalitarian or hierarchical). We interviewed 72 three‐ to six‐year‐olds and their mothers about children's coping strategies and competence; teachers rated competence. Mothers reportedICs.ICpresence and type did not differentiate coping strategies, but children with egalitarian relationships chose more constructive/prosocial coping strategies, and teachers rated them more socially competent than children with hierarchical child–ICrelationships. Mothers relatedICsto cognitive competence. Findings highlight (1) modest relations between imaginary relationships and coping/competence; (2) distinctions between mothers' perceptions andICfunctions; and (3) thatICsparallel real relationships in that different dimensions (presence, type/identity, and relationship quality) might be unique contributors to children's socioemotional development.

Strategies of children and parents during shopping for groceries

Purpose – Only a limited number of studies have examined the behaviour and the strategies of children and parents during shopping. This ethnographical study aims at thoroughly understanding family decision-making when shopping for groceries, especially children's and parents' negotiation strategies. Design/methodology/approach – Using a qualitative ethnographical approach, seven known families were accompanied on 19 grocery shopping trips. Their behaviour, their interactions and their strategies during shopping were observed. Analysis was conducted by coding relevant information, defining categories, comparing data and identifying patterns. Findings – The results show that children constantly influence their parents, directly and indirectly. They do this by displaying various behaviours in the grocery store. Their negotiation tactics are diverse, as are parents' reactions to their children's negotiation strategies. Children aim at fulfilling spontaneous desires while parents want to restrain their children's requests. Research limitations/implications – Limitations of the study can be found in their qualitative methodology. Practical implications – This study has several implications for marketers. By learning about the joint decision-making process, companies as well as public policy makers will be able to address families more successfully and market healthy food more effectively. Originality/value – This study contributes to existing research on family decision-making by presenting different ways of children and parents behaviour during shopping trips. It applied an unusual technique of observing well-known families on their shopping trips.

Planning an Action: A Developmental Progression in Tool Use

How children pick up a tool reveals their ability to plan an action with the end goal in mind. When presented with a spoon whose handle points away from their dominant hand, children between infancy and 8 years of age progress from using an awkward ulnar grip that causes food to spill from the spoon to consistently using a radial grip. At 4 years of age children's grip strategies are highly variable, including the awkward grips of infancy and use of the nondominant hand, but they also employ adultlike grips never seen in infancy. By 8 years of age the infantile ulnar grip has completely disappeared and is replaced by more mature and effective grips that indicate better planning for the end goal.

Social Defense: An Evolutionary-Developmental Model of Children's Strategies for Coping with Threat in the Peer Group

Navigating the ubiquitous conflict, competition, and complex group dynamics of the peer group is a pivotal developmental task of childhood. Difficulty negotiating these challenges represents a substantial source of risk for psychopathology. Evolutionary developmental psychology offers a unique perspective with the potential to reorganize the way we think about the role of peer relationships in shaping how children cope with the everyday challenges of establishing a social niche. To address this gap, we utilize the ethological reformulation of the emotional security theory as a guide to developing an evolutionary framework for advancing an understanding of the defense strategies children use to manage antagonistic peer relationships and protect themselves from interpersonal threat (Davies and Sturge-Apple, 2007). In this way, we hope to illustrate the value of an evolutionary developmental lens in generating unique theoretical insight and novel research directions into the role of peer relationships in the development of psychopathology.

Children of prisoners: exploring the impact of families' reappraisal of the role and status of the imprisoned parent on children's coping strategies

Qualitative data from a larger study on the impact of parental imprisonment in four countries found that children of prisoners face fundamentally similar psychological and social challenges. The ways that children cope, however, are influenced by the interpretative frame adopted by the adults around them, and by how issues of parental imprisonment are talked about in their families. This article argues that families have to reappraise their view of the imprisoned parent and then decide on their policy for how to deal with this publicly. Their approach may be based on openness and honesty or may emphasise privacy and secrecy, or a combination of these. Children are likely to be influenced by their parents'/carers' views, although these may cause conflict for them. Where parents/carers retain a positive view of the imprisoned parent, children are likely to benefit; where parents/carers feel issues of shame and stigma acutely, this is likely to be transmitted to their children. This is important for social workers and practitioners involved in supporting prisoners' families and for parenting programmes.

Commentary on Devrieset al. (2014): A roadmap for future research

Commentary on Devries<i>et al</i>. (2014): A roadmap for future research

No Differences in Emotion Recognition Strategies in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from Hybrid Faces

Emotion recognition problems are frequently reported in individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, this research area is characterized by inconsistent findings, with atypical emotion processing strategies possibly contributing to existing contradictions. In addition, an attenuated saliency of the eyes region is often demonstrated in ASD during face identity processing. We wanted to compare reliance on mouth versus eyes information in children with and without ASD, using hybrid facial expressions. A group of six-to-eight-year-old boys with ASD and an age- and intelligence-matched typically developing (TD) group without intellectual disability performed an emotion labelling task with hybrid facial expressions. Five static expressions were used: one neutral expression and four emotional expressions, namely, anger, fear, happiness, and sadness. Hybrid faces were created, consisting of an emotional face half (upper or lower face region) with the other face half showing a neutral expression. Results showed no emotion recognition problem in ASD. Moreover, we provided evidence for the existence of top- and bottom-emotions in children: correct identification of expressions mainly depends on information in the eyes (so-called top-emotions: happiness) or in the mouth region (so-called bottom-emotions: sadness, anger, and fear). No stronger reliance on mouth information was found in children with ASD.

Observed parental responsiveness/warmth and children's coping: cross-sectional and prospective relations in a family depression preventive intervention.

The current study examined concurrent and prospective relations between observed parenting behaviors and children's coping strategies in the context of a preventive intervention designed to change both parenting and children's use of secondary control coping. Questionnaires and direct observations were obtained from parents with a history of depression (N = 180) and their children (ages 9-15 years) at baseline, 6-month (after completion of the intervention), and 18-month follow-up assessments. Cross-sectional analyses indicate that baseline observed parental responsiveness/warmth was significantly associated with composite parent/child reports of children's baseline primary control, secondary control, and disengagement coping. Using a mixed effects model, prospective mediational analyses indicate that intervention-driven improvements in observed parental responsiveness/warmth from baseline to 6 months significantly accounted for increases in children's use of secondary control coping strategies from baseline to the 18-month follow-up assessment. No significant mediation effects emerged for primary control coping or disengagement coping. The present findings suggest that it may be possible to improve children's coping strategies not only through targeted interventions, but also indirectly by improving responsive and warm parenting behaviors. Limitations and strengths are noted and implications for future research are outlined.

Face it or hide it: parental socialization of reappraisal and response suppression

Mastery of cognitive emotion regulation strategies is an important developmental task. This paper focuses on two strategies that occur from preschool age onwards (Stegge and Meerum Terwogt, 2007): reappraisal and response suppression. Parental socialization of these strategies was investigated in a sample of N = 219 parents and their children. Informed by the tripartite model of family impact on children's emotion regulation, direct relations of emotion socialization components (modeling and reactions to the child's negative emotions) and indirect relations of parental emotion-related beliefs (such as parental emotion regulation self-efficacy) were examined. Data on emotion socialization components and parental beliefs on emotion regulation were collected via self-report. Data on children's emotion regulation strategies were collected via parent report. Findings showed direct effects of parental modeling and parenting practices on children's emotion regulation strategies, with distinct socialization paths for reappraisal and response suppression. An indirect effect of parental emotion regulation self-efficacy on children's reappraisal was found. These associations were not moderated by parent sex. Findings highlight the importance of both socialization components and parental emotion-related beliefs for the socialization of cognitive emotion regulation strategies and suggest a domain-specific approach to the socialization of emotion regulation strategies.

Executive Functions and Academic Achievement: Current Research and Future Directions

Executive Functions and Academic Achievement: Current Research and Future Directions

The Development of Allocation of Study Time on Part-list Cuing Effect of Pictures

When people are asked to recall words they have studied earlier from a list, those given a subset of these words as cues recall fewer words than people who do not receive any cues. This phenomenon is the so called part-list cuing effect. This phenomenon seems to be alien from the general thought that cues can help to prompt memories. The current research examined the part-list cuing effect of participants of different ages in learning pictures, and also explored their memory monitoring and control. Adopting 3 experiments, we explored the development of part-list cuing effect of pictures, and the allocation of study time of different ages. Experiments 1 explored whether retrieval cues would have detrimental effects on participants' recall of the remaining items after learning pictures, and Experiments 2 explored the performance of students in Grade 2 and Grade 5 of a primary school, Grade 2 of a junior high school, Grade 2 of a senior high school and Grade 2 of a university. Experiments 3 studied the development of memory control ofdifferent ages. The results showed that:(1) After participants learned a list of pictures, the presentation of a subset of learned pictures' names as retrieval cues didn't have detrimental effects on their recall of the remaining items significantly;(2) After participants learned a list of pictures, the presentation of a subset of learned pictures as retrieval cues had detrimental effects on their recall of the remaining items, that is to say, part-list cuing effect occurred;(3) The part-list cuing effect occurred in all age selected. And with the increase of age, its amount changed as an inverted U shape;(4) Participants' allocation of study time was affected by the times they had practiced with part-list cueing, which was different among participants of different ages. Grade 2 of primary school students couldn't predict the detrimental effect of part-list cues no matter how many times they had practiced. After practicing twice, Grade 5 of primary school students could realize part-list cues' detrimental effect and effectively allocate their cognitive resources. And only after one practice, Grade 2 of junior high school and senior high school students could realize that the part-list cuing recall was more difficult compared to free recall and allocate their study time appropriately. Moreover, students in Grade 2 of senior high school did even better than those in junior high school. The present findings revealed that in the picture studying, cues presented by way of cross-domain is a boundary condition of part-list cueing effect, while age is not a boundary condition of part-list cueing effect. The development of children's strategy on allocation of study time had a great change from Grade 2 of primary school to Grade 5 of primary school students, while the learning efficiency had a great change from Grade 2 of junior high school to Grade 2 of senior high school students.