Education Commons^™

Prevalence Of Autism/Asd Among Preschool And School-Age Children In Norway, Kamil Özerk, Donald N. Cardinal

Education Faculty Articles and Research

In recent years, there has been a considerable rise in prevalence rates for autism/autism spectrum disorders (ASD) around the globe. Understanding the patterns of prevalence is essential for policy development at national and local levels that effectively plans for medical, psychological, behavior analytical, and educational interventions. This study presents new data on the prevalence of ASD among preschool and school-age children (ages 1–16 years) in Norway. Based on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) criteria for diagnosis, the rate of ASD increased from 2014 to 2016. The study found a much higher increase in prevalence rate among preschool-age (1–5 years) …

A Qualitative Study On Adequate Sleep In Preschool Children – Can We Sleep On It?, Seema Zainulabdin Lasi, Noreen Afzal, Somal Kayani

Human Development Programme

Sleep is a significant marker of physical and psychological health. The present research was undertaken to explore perceptions of parents, teachers and pediatricians about preschool children’s sleep patterns, habits, and problems from urban Karachi, Pakistan. A qualitative research approach was employed; data collection methods were Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs). The themes identified were children’s sleep patterns, sleep environment, sleep rituals, distractions, sleep problems, the impact of inadequate sleep, and recommendations to improve. Emergent themes were inconsistency of rules from parents, lack of opportunities for outdoor physical activity, different kinds of stresses, social and cultural events …

Quality-Focused Interventions In Early Childhood Education And Care (Ecec) In Economically Developing Countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz

Monitoring Learning

Quality-focused early childhood education and care (ECEC) interventions are aimed at improving the quality of an existing intervention, service or program. These studies are of particular interest in the current global ECEC context as the emphasis on early childhood services shifts from access and participation to quality. Quality encompasses many aspects of an ECEC program, including structural dimensions and process dimensions. Structural dimensions cover infrastructure and resources, training for personnel and adult-child ratios. Process dimensions cover adult-child interactions, and opportunities for play and exploration. The 20 quality-focused interventions in ECEC identified for this review (of a total of 109 studies; …

Learning Practice Guide, Jen Jackson, Kate Noble, Jeanne Marie Iorio, Dan Cloney, Pru Mitchell

Early Childhood Education

The first section of this Learning Practice Guide reminds early childhood professionals of the theory and pedagogy that underpins day-to-day practice, and helps them find ways to recognise children’s confidence and involvement in learning as a key component of their professional practice. The second section describes eight scenarios to prompt professional reflection, and illustrate ways in which early childhood professionals can improve their practice in relation to the VEYLDF Learning and Development Outcome: Children are confident and involved learners.

Assessment Of Children As Confident And Involved Learners In Early Childhood Education And Care: Literature Review, Dan Cloney, Jen Jackson, Pru Mitchell

Early Childhood Education

This literature review is one of a series of reviews to support Victorian early childhood professionals to assess children’s learning and development in relation to the five Learning and Development Outcomes in the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF). This literature review documents the research that underpins and defines learning for children from birth to eight years, and outlines children’s trajectory as confident and involved learners. The resource aims to equip early childhood professionals with the knowledge to identify and assess children’s progress towards the VEYLDF Outcome: 'Children are confident and involved learners'.

Effective Child-Focused Education And Nurturing Care Interventions, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz

Monitoring Learning

Child-focused education and nurturing care interventions provide learning support directly to the child. In line with the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED Level 0), the support is typically provided by either centre- or home-based Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services outside the child’s family and includes an educative and caring component with an active child development element. The 35 child-focused interventions in this review (of a total of 109 studies; see further details under background) occurred in 29 countries in five regions – the widest geographical spread of all intervention types under consideration. The most frequently represented countries …

Fostering Understanding Of Early Numeracy Development, Kate Reid, Nicola Andrews

Monitoring Learning

In 2012, the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) began the Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Study: Transitions from Preschool to School (LLANS:TPS). The study is part of a program of longitudinal literacy and numeracy research at ACER that started with a seven-year longitudinal study of children’s developing literacy and numeracy throughout primary school, which began in 1999 with a cohort of 1000 children from 100 schools around Australia (Meiers et al., 2006). The original Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Study (LLANS) developed new instruments for assessing children’s literacy and numeracy understanding in the first three years of primary school and described …

Factor Analysis Of The Preschool Behavioral And Emotional Rating Scale For Children In Head Start Programs, Cynthia J. Cress, Matthew C. Lambert, Michael Epstein

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Strength-based assessment of behaviors in preschool children provides evidence of emotional and behavioral skills in children, rather than focusing primarily on weaknesses identified by deficit-based assessments. The Preschool Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scales (PreBERS) is a normative assessment of emotional and behavioral strengths in preschool children. The PreBERS has well-established reliability and validity for typically developing children as well as children with identified special education needs, but this has not yet been established for children in Head Start programs, who tend to be at high risk for development of emotional and behavioral concerns. This study explores the factorial validity of …

Counting On It : Early Numeracy Development And The Preschool Child, Kate Reid

Student learning processes

Children think mathematically long before they start school. Before children start learning mathematics at school, they show informal understanding of many numeracy concepts. This is informal numeracy knowledge, that is, skills that children develop before starting school that do not depend on written mathematical notation (Purpura & Napoli, 2015). For example, children’s numeracy knowledge is evident in their developing counting skills. It is also evident in their capacity to compare, share, order, estimate and calculate different quantities. Fundamental skills in recognising and responding to numerical cues are apparent in infancy, and, at a very basic level, may be innate. Early …

The Power Of Interactive Read Alouds, Gwen R. Marra

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Today’s classrooms are bombarded with demands of all kinds. Teachers work to find balance to provide time to play and time to assess, time to rest and time to run, time for technology and time to teach about health and wellness. In the midst of this balancing act, teachers seek time to interact with children in meaningful ways. Positive interactions between caregivers and children are important for language development. These interactions provide opportunities to use words and engage in conversations.

A Grounded Theory Study Exploring The Technology Decisions Mothers Make For Their Preschool Age Children In The Home Environment, Carolyn Wicks

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this systematic grounded theory study was to explore the technology decision process mothers use when making technology decisions for their preschool age (3-5 years) children in the home environment. I used snowball and maximum variation sampling procedures to purposefully select 18 mothers of preschool age children living in urban, suburban, and rural areas located in and around a college town in central Virginia. Data gathered from questionnaires, participant interviews, and focus groups were analyzed and findings revealed mothers’ technology decisions are a multi-dimensional process whereby they situationally reflect to form technology preferences which promote intentionality and individuality …

A Grounded Theory Study Exploring The Technology Decisions Mothers Make For Their Preschool Age Children In The Home Environment, Carolyn Jeanne-Marie Wicks

Faculty Dissertations

The purpose of this systematic grounded theory study was to explore the technology decision process mothers use when making technology decisions for their preschool age (3-5 years) children in the home environment. I used snowball and maximum variation sampling procedures to purposefully select 18 mothers of preschool age children living in urban, suburban, and rural areas located in and around a college town in central Virginia. Data gathered from questionnaires, participant interviews, and focus groups were analyzed and findings revealed mothers’ technology decisions are a multi-dimensional process whereby they situationally reflect to form technology preferences which promote intentionality and individuality …

Korean Home Learning Environment And Parent Characteristics Influencing Children's Expressive And Receptive Language Abilities, Guang Lea Lee, Eun Jin Hwang, Louis H. Janda, Soonohk Hong

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This study analyzed data derived from ‘The Panel Study on Korean Children’ implemented by the Korea Institute of Child Care & Education (KICCE). Two scales, EC-HOME and REVT were used to investigate specific types of home environments and parent characteristics beneficial in the facilitation of children’s receptive and expressive language development. The Step-wise Multiple Regression Analysis identified four variables (Responsively, Physical Environment, Father Education, and Mother Habitation) that made a significant contribution to children’s receptive language development, and six different variables (Mother Education, Academic Stimulation, and Physical Environment, Acceptance, Mother’s Current Job Status, and Communicative Stimulation) for expressive language development. …

A Mixed Methods Approach To Examining The Getting Ready Intervention For Supporting Young Children With Challenging Behaviors, Miriam E. Kuhn

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Families and preschool teachers of children with persistent challenging behaviors are taxed daily by difficulties presented in care and management of such children in their homes and early education settings. This study utilized a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach in three phases to better understand a collaborative partnership model of intervention, Getting Ready (Sheridan, Marvin, Knoche, & Edwards, 2008), for supporting preschoolers with challenging behaviors attending Head Start or state-funded pre-kindergarten programs. Preschool teachers received professional development and individual coaching to help them improve partnerships and collaboratively plan with parents to promote children’s growth, and enhance parent-child interactions.

In Phase …

Arts Enrichment And Emotion Expression And Regulation For Young Children At Risk, Eleanor D. Brown, Kacey L. Sax

Psychology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Eight Simple Rules For Talking With Preschoolers, Rhea Paul

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

The article offers eight simple rules that teachers can use to help preschoolers build their vocabularies. It suggests teachers to talk with children to identify topics that interest them. It also recommends teachers to accompany all the routines and activities of the preschool day to enhance the language experience of children. Moreover, it proposes that open-ended questions invites preschoolers to offer lengthier and more detailed responses, thus stimulating their language growth.

A Cross-Sectional Comparison Of The Effects Of Phonotactic Probability And Neighborhood Density On Word Learning By Preschool Children, Jill R. Hoover, Holly L. Storkel, Tiffany Hogan

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Two experiments examined the effects of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density on word learning by 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children. Nonwords orthogonally varying in probability and density were taught with learning and retention measured via picture naming. Experiment 1 used a within-story probability/across-story density exposure context. Experiment 2 used an across-story probability/within-story density exposure context. Results showed that probability and density interacted to create optimal learning conditions. Specifically, rare/sparse sound sequences appeared to facilitate triggering of word learning. In contrast, the optimal convergence for lexical configuration and engagement was dependent on exposure context. In particular, common sound sequences and dense …

Ec92-440 Learning Is Child's Play, Patricia E. Steffens, Cindy Strasheim

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Play is a natural activity for young children. To the preschool child, play provides many opportunities to learn and grow -- physically, mentally and socially. Play allows children to explore, create, experiment with new ideas, and try out what they have learned. A child can practice communication skills while solving problems.

Following the guildelines and games in this extension circular will provide for more meaningful, effective play interaction between adult and child.

Pronunciation Errors In The Spontaneous Speech Of A Group Of Pre-School Children, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Information Bulletin

Between 20th November and 1st December 1950, a study was made of the spontaneous vocabulary of a group of twenty-four pre-school children in an inner suburb of Melbourne. The main purpose of the study was to examine the quantity and quality of vocabulary used by the children in a variety of situations, together with as many related factors as possible. Through the co-operation of a speech therapist associated with a speech clinic at the Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, a phonetic record was made of samples of the spontaneous speech of each of the twenty-four children. [p.1, ed]

There was no …

Errors In The Use Of English By A Group Of Pre-School Children, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Information Bulletin

Information Bulletin No. 21 reported the pronunciation errors of a group of pre-school children in an inner suburb of Melbourne. This bulletin reports their errors in English Usage.

The group consisted of twelve boys and twelve girls, all of whom in 1951 enrolled for the first time at a state school in Melbourne. They were observed, and their speech recorded, for the ten days November 20-24, and November 27-December 1st while in a special group formed for the purpose at the Lady Gowrie Centre in Melbourne. Their ages ranged from 4 years 10 months to 5 years 8 months. The …

A Speech Vocabulary Of Australian Pre-School Children, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Information Bulletin

Between 20th November and 1st December 1950, the A.C.E.R. brought together a group of twenty-four children at the Lady Gowrie Child Centre in Melbourne for the purpose of studying their vocabulary.

Stenographers recorded as much as possible of the spontaneous speech of the children during play and other activities. Complete records were also obtained of their speech while talking the Terman-Merrill, Rorschach, Buhler and Murray tests, and while talking about a series of twenty-there pictures portraying a wide range of scenes and activities.

From those records (with the exception of the Murray test) a list of all the words used …

The Structure Of The Spontaneous Speech Of A Group Of Pre-School Children, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Information Bulletin

This bulletin reports the results of an analysis into certain categories of about 12,000 spontaneous utterances of a group of pre-school children. It is hoped that it will be found useful in providing suggestions as to the base from which oral expression work in the infant grade might start. [p.1, ed]

The group consisted of twelve boys and twelve girls, all of whom in 1951 enrolled for the first time at a state school in Melbourne. They were observed, and their speech recorded, for the ten days November 20-24, and November 27 -December 1st, 1950, while in a special group …