Precursors of mnemonic strategies in very young children's memory

In 4 studies with 18-24-month-old children, evidence was obtained of strategy-like behaviors in a memory-for-location task in which the child had to remember in what natural location a toy had been hidden. The children exhibited behaviors that resemble the mature strategies of rehearsal and monitoring, including talking about the toy or its hiding place and looking or pointing at it during the delay interval. In Experiments 1 and 2, these strategy-like behaviors were engaged in differentially as a function of familiarity, both of the setting in which the task was embedded and of the task itself. Significantly more target behaviors occurred in an unfamiliar than in a familiar setting, and more target behaviors occurred on the first than on the second day of observation. In Experiment 3, when the basic memory task was modified to remove the memory demands from the child, very few of the strategy-like behaviors occurred, indicating that they were indeed memory specific. In the fourth experiment, the rehearsal-like behaviors were shown to be related to subsequent retrieval. We interpret these results as evidence of an early natural propensity to keep alive what must be remembered, a rudimentary and imperfect version of what will later become more elaborate and planful mnemonic strategies.     

Maternal Regulation of Children''s Problem-solving Behavior and Its Impact on Children''s Performance

This study focused on a social interaction theory of the development of cognitive self-regulation. Specifically, the effect of mother-child interaction on the child's ability to problem solve was investigated. The general predictions were (1) children who interacted with their mothers throughout a problem-solving task would subsequently exhibit improved independent performance over practice-control children, who received corrective feedback from a female experimenter at the end of the task; (2) mothers would be more responsible for task activities, would more often regulate their child's task behaviors, and offer more specific verbal content when task demands on child competence increased than when they decreased. 60 3- and 5-year-olds either worked with their mothers or practiced alone and were given corrective feedback on a sorting task in which miniature pieces of furniture were placed in a doll house. As predicted, children who interacted with their mothers subsequently created more correct, adult-like groupings independently than children who received corrective feedback. Mothers displayed more task responsibility and regulation with younger children and when task demands on children of both age groups increased. Maternal verbal content became less specific when task demands decreased. Child performance was related to (1) variation in maternal regulation of the child; and (2) degree of specificity of maternal verbal content.     

A Shift in the Direction of the Production Effect in Children Aged 2–6 Years

Research has found mixed evidence for the production effect in childhood. Some studies have found a positive effect of production on word recognition and recall, while others have found the reverse. This paper takes a developmental approach to investigate the production effect. Children aged 2–6 years (n = 150) from a predominantly white population in Ottawa, Canada were trained on familiar words which were either seen, heard or produced, followed by a recall task. Results showed a developmental shift: younger participants showed a reverse production effect, recalling more words that were heard during training, while older children showed the typical production effect, recalling more produced words. The effect of production on recall is not unidirectional and varies by age.     

Using a Standardized Task to Assess the Quality of Teacher–Child Dyadic Interactions in Preschool

Research Findings: This study explored the quality of teacher-child interactions within the context of a newly developed standardized task, Teacher-Child Structured Play Task (TC-SPT). A sample of 146 teachers and 345 children participated. Children who displayed the highest disruptive behaviors within each classroom were selected to participate. Teacher-child dyads (n=345) participated in a play session that included free play and clean-up tasks. We adapted two coding schemes to assess the quality of both teachers’ and children’s interactive behaviors during these two tasks. The coding schemes exhibited internal and inter-rater reliability. Significant associations with classroom-level teacher-child interactions and children’s observed classroom engagement provide support for the measure’s validity. Differences in teacher and child-interactive behaviors across the two tasks (free play versus clean-up) suggest that task features may affect the quality of teacher-child interactive behaviors. Practice and Policy: Examining the interactions of different teacher-child dyads within the same standardized context will allow researchers to better understand the child and teacher factors that contribute to the quality of those interactions. Thus, use of this task in future field-based research may help to assess the impact of early interventions and professional development efforts that target improvement in the quality of teacher-child interactions.     

Preschool Children and iPads: Observations of Social Interactions During Digital Play

Research Findings: Digital play is now commonplace in many young children’s lives, but not in preschool settings. This situation is likely due to the fact that the existent literature seldom highlights what digital play looks like, the various ways it can be situated, and what young children do when they play together with digital devices in the preschool setting. The present study addresses this limitation by providing a close examination of the social interactions of young children as they engage with different types of iPad apps and each other. Observational data of 20 dyads of children during digital play analyzed qualitatively revealed that children exhibited a range of social behaviors from competitive to collaborative as they engaged in 4 types of digital play: practice/task, exploratory, construction, and pretense. Forms of play and exhibited behaviors were shaped by interrelated factors of children’s individual characteristics and relationships, classroom culture and routines, adult views and actions, as well as aspects of the digital device itself. Practice or Policy: Selecting open-design apps, attending to digital play structures, and monitoring peer play more closely may lessen competition, enhance collaboration, and lead to more complex digital play.     

Web-based parenting skills to reduce behavior problems following abusive head trauma: A pilot study

Pediatric abusive head trauma causes significant cognitive and behavioral morbidity, yet very few post-acute interventions exist to facilitate long-term recovery. To meet the needs of this vulnerable population, we piloted a web-based intervention with live coaching designed to improve positive parenting and child behavior. The efficacy of this parenting skills intervention was compared with access to Internet resources on brain injury. Participants included seven families (four randomized to the parenting intervention and three randomized to receive Internet resources). Parenting skills were observed and child behavior was rated at baseline and intervention completion. At completion, parents who received the parenting skills intervention showed significantly more positive parenting behaviors and fewer undesirable behaviors during play than parents who received access to Internet resources. Additionally, during play, children in the parenting skills intervention group were more compliant following parent commands than children in the Internet resources group. Lastly, parents who received the parenting intervention reported less intense oppositional and conduct behavior problems in their children post-intervention than did parents in the Internet resources group. These findings provide preliminary evidence for the use of this web-based positive parenting skills intervention to improve parenting skills and child behavior following abusive head trauma.     

Behavior of young children with Down syndrome before the mirror: exploration

Exploratory behaviors of Down Syndrome (DS) and Nondelayed (ND) young children between the mental ages of 16 and 32 months were examined in 4 situations involving finding things seen in a large standing mirror: free play, marked face, finding the reflected mother, and finding a reflected toy. Behaviors coded from videotape included observing the self making faces, kissing the mirror, patting the mirror, comparing a person or object with the mirror image, looking behind the mirror, touching own body, and staring at another's image. Both ND and DS children used these behaviors and were able to adapt their choice of behaviors to demands of particular tasks. However, DS and ND children differed in number, type, and frequency of exploratory behaviors. DS children used a greater variety of behaviors and used them more frequently than ND children. DS children used a less focused selection of behaviors, and behaviors involving switching attention were performed only by ND children. For most behavior examined, mental and chronological age were not related to amount of exploration. Results are interpreted in terms of the role of different behaviors in exploration of the mirror.     

On the Relation between Social Information Processing and Socially Competent Behavior in Early School-Aged Children

This article tested the hypotheses that (1) children's behavioral competence is a function of patterns of social information processing; (2) processing correlates of behavior occur at each of 5 steps of processing within each of 3 social situations; (3) measures at each step uniquely increment each other in predicting behavior; (4) the relation between processing and behavior is stronger within than across domains; and (5) processing patterns are more sophisticated among older than younger children and the processing-behavior relation is stronger among older than younger children. Videorecorded stimuli were used to assess processing patterns (encoding, interpretational errors and bias, response generation, response evaluation, and enactment skill) in 3 domains (peer group entry, response to provocation, and response to authority directive) in 259 first-, second-, and third-grade boys and girls (ages 6–9 years). Ratings of behavioral competence in each domain were made by peers and teachers. Findings generally supported hypotheses, with the magnitude of relations being modest.     

The role of temperament in children's affective and behavioral responses in achievement situations

Although students' affects and behaviors in achievement situations have been shown to be influenced by their previous learning experiences, less is known about how they relate to students' dispositional characteristics, such as temperament. This study examined to what extent children's temperament is related to their affective and behavioral responses in achievement situations. Teachers rated first-graders' (n = 153) temperamental characteristics in the Fall semester. Children's active task avoidance, anxiety, and helplessness were rated in test situations in the Fall and Spring semesters. The results showed that the more easily distracted the children were, the more task avoidance they showed, and the more their task avoidance increased during the first grade. Moreover, children's high level of inhibition was related to high levels of anxiety and helplessness. The findings suggest that characteristics that are related to students' behavioral regulation and inhibition are particularly important for their affective and behavioral responses in achievement situations.     

Teacher attributions for children's attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder behaviors predict experiences with children and with classroom behavioral management in a summer program practicum

Elementary school teachers often implement classroom behavioral management systems to address student misbehavior. Common problems targeted by these systems are the inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive behaviors characteristic of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study examined teachers' attributions for why children display ADHD behaviors, and how such attributions affect their experiences with children in the context of interventions to manage these behaviors. Participants were 32 preservice teachers undertaking a practicum in a summer program for 137 children (Grades 1–3), some of whom had ADHD. Teachers were trained to implement classroom‐wide behavioral management. Teachers' attributions for children's ADHD behaviors were assessed using a vignette measure, before teachers had met their students or begun training on intervention techniques. When controlling for attributions regarding oppositional behavior, teachers' initial attributions for ADHD behaviors as less internal/controllable predicted children reporting more positive relationships with that teacher during the summer program. Teachers' initial attributions for ADHD behaviors as less stable predicted teachers' greater satisfaction with the intervention techniques during the summer program and their greater attunement to children's social networks. Cognitions about the causes of children's ADHD behaviors held by preservice teachers may relate to their subsequent experiences with children in the context of implementing classroom behavioral management.     

Type A behavior in preschool children

Type A behaviors were observed in a group of 48 preschool children in different free-play and competitive situations. Interrater reliability was assessed on the Matthews Youth Test for Health (MYTH), and the children's and their parents' type A scores were compared. Scores on the MYTH were used to classify children as either type A or type B. Comparisons were made between type A and type B children's play in classroom and in laboratory situations. For the laboratory situations, 24 same-sex type A-type B dyads were formed, and the dyads were observed in free play, followed by car racing, by a tower-building contest, and by an interview. Type A children more frequently showed annoyed facial expressions, gross motor activity, interruptions during classroom free play, and gross motor activity and aggressive play with an inflatable Bobo doll during the laboratory free-play situation. Type A children more often won the car race and the tower-building contest, and they answered a greater number of questions and more frequently answered first during the interviews. These data are consistent with other findings on type A behavior in preschool children and suggest that the behavioral dimensions of type A (competitiveness and impatience-aggression) may emerge as early as the preschool years, particularly in competitive situations.     

Goal-Directed Behavior in Children with Down Syndrome: The Role of Joint Play Situations

Children's goal-directed behaviors were examined in independent play sessions before and after a joint-play interaction with their mothers for a group of children with Down syndrome (n = 22) and a control group of mental and language age matched typically developing children (n = 24). While both groups showed comparable amounts of time spent in independent goal-directed play during the pre session and similar play responses with their mothers during the joint play session, only the control children significantly increased their goal-directed behavior from the pre to the post session. Maternal behaviors that provided information about how to use the toy predicted increases from the pre to post sessions in independent goal-directed play but only for the control children. These findings suggest that children with Down syndrome may have more difficulty transferring the goal-directed play behaviors they can use with support from their mothers to an independent play situation. Findings are discussed in relation to early education program design for children with Down syndrome.     

Goal-Directed Behavior in Children with Down Syndrome: The Role of Joint Play Situations

Children's goal-directed behaviors were examined in independent play sessions before and after a joint-play interaction with their mothers for a group of children with Down syndrome (n = 22) and a control group of mental and language age matched typically developing children (n = 24). While both groups showed comparable amounts of time spent in independent goal-directed play during the pre session and similar play responses with their mothers during the joint play session, only the control children significantly increased their goal-directed behavior from the pre to the post session. Maternal behaviors that provided information about how to use the toy predicted increases from the pre to post sessions in independent goal-directed play but only for the control children. These findings suggest that children with Down syndrome may have more difficulty transferring the goal-directed play behaviors they can use with support from their mothers to an independent play situation. Findings are discussed in relation to early education program design for children with Down syndrome.     

Maternal Emotions During Mother-Toddler Interaction: Parenting in Affective Context

Objective. This study explored the emotional experiences of mothers in interacting with their 2-year-old children and examined interrelations among maternal emotion, family distress, and observations of parenting sensitivity. Design. Sixty mothers and their 2-year-old children were observed interacting during both enjoyable (free play) and challenging (waiting) interaction tasks, and mothers provided self-report information about their emotional experiences during each task. Mothers also completed self-report measures to assess family distress. Results. Mothers experienced and expressed a range of positive and negative emotions during interactions with their toddlers, however, mothers' expressed (observed) and experienced (self-reported) emotions were generally uncorrelated. Mothers reported experiencing more positive emotion during interactions characterized by less child negativity and less negative emotion during interactions characterized by child expressions of positive emotion. Mothers' self-reported emotional experiences during interactions with their children moderated the associations between family distress (as reported by mothers) and sensitive parenting behaviors (as observed during parent-child interaction). Conclusions. Findings support a conceptualization of parenting as multiply determined by child, parent, and family contextual factors, with emotion serving an integral role. Results are also discussed with regard to parenting emotion as a potential target for intervention in distressed families.     

The Peer Relations of Preschool Children with Communication Disorders

The peer-related social interactions of preschool-age children with communication disorders were compared to those of normally developing chronological age-mates. All children were previously unacquainted with one another and participated in a series of short-term play groups. Differences between the 2 groups emerged primarily in terms of overall social activity, as children with communication disorders engaged in fewer positive social interactions and conversed with peers less often during non-play activities. Children with communication disorders also were less successful in their social bids and appeared to be less directive with their peers. However, both groups of children exhibited similar patterns of socially competent interactions including the ability to sustain play (group play), to minimize conflict, to join others in ongoing activities, and to respond appropriately to the social bids of others. Based on peer sociometric ratings, both groups of children were equally accepted. These general patterns of similarities and differences were found in settings in which play groups consisted of all children with communication disorders (specialized settings) as well as in settings in which the play groups included both children with communication disorders and normally developing children (mainstreamed settings). However, even during the relatively brief acquaintanceship process, an analysis of peer preference patterns revealed that children with communication disorders in mainstreamed settings were less socially integrated in the play groups than normally developing children. The potential for additional difficulties in peer interactions for children with communication disorders when children become more familiar with one another and play becomes more intricate was discussed in light of interaction patterns formed during the shortterm play groups.     

Socialization factors in the cognitive style and play of young children

This study identified preschool children’s social factors based on their cognitive style. Sex and age were also considered. Children’s cognitive style and play were assessed. Two dimensions of social behaviors in the different forms of play for field dependent (FD) and field independent (FI) children were identified through factor analysis. FD children engaged in more social activities and forms of play than did FI children. FD children, more than FI children, have more play behaviors, participate more in all the play areas, select social play areas, and engage more in associative play.     

Social skills and problem behaviors as mediators of the relationship between behavioral self-regulation and academic achievement

Early behavioral self-regulation is an important predictor of the skills children need to be successful in school. However, little is known about the mechanism(s) through which self-regulation affects academic achievement. The current study investigates the possibility that two aspects of children's social functioning, social skills and problem behaviors, mediate the relationship between preschool self-regulation and literacy and math achievement. Additionally, we investigated whether the meditational processes differed for boys and girls. We expected that better self-regulation would help children to interact well with others (social skills) and minimize impulsive or aggressive (problem) behaviors. Positive interactions with others and few problem behaviors were expected to relate to gains in achievement as learning takes place within a social context. Preschool-aged children (n = 118) were tested with direct measures of self-regulation, literacy, and math. Teachers reported on children's social skills and problem behaviors. Using a structural equation modeling approach (SEM) for mediation analysis, social skills and problem behaviors were found to mediate the relationship between self-regulation and growth in literacy across the preschool year, but not math. Findings suggest that the mediational process was similar for boys and girls. These findings indicate that a child's social skills and problem behaviors are part of the mechanism through which behavioral self-regulation affects growth in literacy. Self-regulation may be important not just because of the way that it relates directly to academic achievement but also because of the ways in which it promotes or inhibits children's interactions with others.     

Being Alone, Playing Alone, and Acting Alone: Distinguishing among Reticence and Passive and Active Solitude in Young Children

3 forms of solitude were studied in young children—reticence (onlooker and unoccupied behavior), solitary-passive behavior (solitary-constructive and -exploratory play), and solitary-active behavior (solitary-functional and -dramatic play). 48 4-year-old children grouped in quartets of same-sex unfamiliar peers were observed in several situations. Mothers completed the Colorado Temperament Inventory. Results indicated that (1) solitary-passive, solitary-active, and reticent behaviors were nonsignificantly intercorrelated; (2) reticence was stable and associated with the demonstration of anxiety and hovering near others, whereas solitary-passive and solitary-active play were stable yet unrelated to anxiety and hovering; (3) reticence during free play was generally associated with poor performance and displays of wariness in several other social situations, while solitary-passive and -active play were not; (4) reticence was associated with maternal ratings of child shyness, while solitary-active behavior was associated with maternal ratings of impulsivity. Results are discussed in terms of the underlying mechanisms associated with reticence and passive and active withdrawal.     

Stability and social-behavioral consequences of toddlers' inhibited temperament and parenting behaviors

A prospective longitudinal design was employed to ascertain whether different types of behavioral inhibition (i.e., traditional, peer-social) were stable from toddler to preschool age, and whether inhibited temperament and/or parenting style would predict children's subsequent social and behavioral problems. At Time 1, 108 toddlers (54 males, 54 females) and their mothers were observed in the Traditional Inhibition Paradigm and in a toddler-peer session; then at age 4 years, 88 children were observed with unfamiliar peers, and maternal ratings of psychological functioning were obtained. How mothers and their toddlers interacted was also observed. Results revealed meaningful connections between toddler inhibition, maternal intrusive control and derision, and nonsocial behaviors at age 4. Both forms of toddler inhibition predicted socially reticent behavior during free play at 4 years. If mothers demonstrated relatively high frequencies of intrusive control and/or derisive comments, then the association between their toddlers' peer inhibition and 4-year social reticence was significant and positive; whereas if mothers were neither intrusive nor derisive, then toddlers' peer inhibition and 4-year reticence were not significantly associated. Thus, maternal behaviors moderated the relation between toddlers' peer inhibition and preschoolers' social reticence.     

Memory Binding in Early Childhood: Evidence for a Retrieval Deficit

Previous research has suggested that performance for items requiring memory-binding processes improves between ages 4 and 6 ( J. Sluzenski, N. Newcombe, & S. L. Kovacs, 2006 ). The present study suggests that much of this improvement is due to retrieval, as opposed to encoding, deficits for 4-year-olds. Four- and 6-year-old children ( N  = 48 per age) were given objects, backgrounds, and object + background combinations to remember. Younger children performed equivalently to 6-year-olds during a working memory task for all types of memory questions but were impaired during a long-term memory task for the object + background combinations. Furthermore, this deficit was completely due to differences in false alarm rates, suggesting that separate analyses of hits and false alarms may be preferable to corrected recognition scores when studying memory development.