Children's Linguistic Difficulties in a Pitch Directionality Task Involving Cross‐modal Stimuli

Many children perform poorly on traditional tests of pitch discrimination which require them to identify the higher or lower of successive notes. It is proposed that linguistic ambiguity, inherent in the application of spatial terms to auditory domains, contributes to these difficulties. An experiment is reported which compares children's (aged 6 to 11 years) and adults’ recognition of pitch directions in conditions where consonant or dissonant visual cues are presented, with a condition in which only the sounds are presented. Younger children perform best when visual and auditory directions are consonant. Older children show evidence of superior performance in both visual conditions in comparison with peers tested in the audio‐only condition, suggesting that materials making the linguistic ambiguity salient may help promote their awareness of the auditory dimension. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for interventions to facilitate early musical education.     

Making connections and making friends: social interactions between two children labelled with special educational needs and their peers in a nursery setting

This paper reports on a pilot study of the social interactions between two children labelled with special educational needs and their peers in an early years setting. Data from play observations and staff interviews are used to examine the dynamics of friendship groups that the two children have developed and the way that they attempt to make new connections with other children. Comparisons between the two children’s interactions with their recurrent playmates and less familiar peers are drawn and the significance of their agency in making decisions about developing relationships is highlighted. A theme that also emerges is that staff facilitating rather than directing interactions between the two children and their peers has the most positive impact. Areas for further investigation are suggested including the range of relationships that children identified with special educational needs establish with their peers and the nature of adult support that most effectively supports friendships between all children.     

Computational skills, working memory, and conceptual knowledge in older children with mathematics learning disabilities

Knowledge and skill in multiplication were investigated for late elementary-grade students with mathematics learning disabilities (MLD), typically achieving age-matched peers, low-achieving age-matched peers, and ability-matched peers by examining multiple measures of computational skill, working memory, and conceptual knowledge. Poor multiplication fact mastery and calculation fluency and general working memory discriminated children with MLD from typically achieving age-matched peers. Furthermore, children with MLD were slower in executing backup procedures than typically achieving age-matched peers. The performance of children with MLD on multiple measures of multiplication skill and knowledge was most similar to that of ability-matched younger children. MLD may be due to difficulties in computational skills and working memory. Implications for the diagnosis and remediation of MLD are discussed.     

Play for young handicapped children in an integral setting,part 2

Conclusions Play is an important part of the life of the young child, both at home and in school. In designing a play environment for handicapped children who are attending a preschool along with their nonhandicapped peers, the teacher needs to be aware of the needs and limitations resulting from the child's particular disability. This knowledge can be put to use in making the environment as productive as possible and providing play opportunities that are fun, educational, and practical for each child. While it is important that we consider the particular handicapping condition, teachers should never lose sight of the fact that a handicapped child is first and foremost a child, whose basic needs are not too different from those of all children. These basic needs should be the primary concern of the teacher who is interested in guiding the child toward productive educational experiences and helping that child become an integral part of the school group.     

Deaf Children on the Causes of Emotions

Recent findings have shown that deaf children have a different rationale for the emergence of emotions than their hearing peers. It was hypothesised that deaf children--in case of negative outcomes--are more concentrated on the loss of the desired state (which evokes sadness predictions), whereas their hearing peers focus more on the conditions that lead to the negative outcome (which brings about anger predictions, especially when the situation does not seem totally hopeless yet). The results in this research, obtained from nine- and 11-year-old deaf and hearing children, confirmed this pattern and showed that deaf children tend to concentrate primarily on the fulfilment of desires in their emotion predictions and explanations, whereas they neglected the factors that had led to the negative outcome. Also in contrast with hearing children, they ignored the controllability of the situation. Possibly, deaf children keep their messages short and simple to minimise a potential misinterpretation and they might hold on to this out of routine. Another explanation is that deaf children lack more advanced theory of mind capacities, due to the limited means of communication they are faced with in a hearing environment. Consequently, they have restricted opportunities to learn from their own and others' experiences in this respect.     

Why Siblings Are Important Agents of Cognitive Development: A Comparison of Siblings and Peers

This study explored older siblings' and peers' influence on young children's cognitive development. Although we anticipated many similarities in siblings' and peers' influence, our principal goal was to test the hypothesis that siblings are unique agents of cognitive development. Young children, their older siblings, and an older, familiar peer first participated in an unstructured building session where each built their own construction. Then, one of the older children taught the younger child how to copy a model windmill. Finally, the younger child was given an individual posttest in which he or she copied the windmill. Although there were many similarities in older siblings' and peers' guidance, the results highlighted the uniqueness of the sibling relationship. In the unstructured building session, young children were more likely to observe, imitate, and consult their older siblings than their older peers, and older siblings were more likely than older peers to provide them with guidance spontaneously. In the teaching session, older siblings provided more explanations and positive feedback and gave learners more control of the task than older peers. However, older siblings' behavior was not independent from the learners', as young children often prompted the siblings' explanations and pressured them into giving them more control of the task. These differences in teaching and learning strategies affected young children's task mastery; Children taught by siblings obtained higher posttest scores than children taught by peers. The discussion interprets these findings within the context of shared and unique functions of siblings and peers in cognitive development and highlights the role of the learner in promoting his or her own development.     

Linguistic processing in Hebrew-speaking children from low and high SES backgrounds

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of Socio-Economic Status (SES) on Hebrew-speaking children??s developing ability to pluralize nouns and mark adjectives in agreement with them. Participants were 180 gradeschool children from mid-high SES and 180 peers from low SES, in six consecutive grade levels. The task consisted of 32 singular noun-adjective pairs with nouns classified into four categories by suffix type (Regular and Irregular) and by stem type (Nonchanging and Changing). Results showed a consistent advantage to the high SES children in accuracy of noun and adjective plurals, with gaps widening when the morphological requirements were harder, that is, in the irregular categories. Moreover, the fact that low SES children??s reaction times to producing the full plural phrase hardly decreased indicates that, unlike their high SES peers, they also did not gain more processing efficiency with age and schooling.     

声誉对幼儿违规行为的影响初探

本研究采用抵制诱惑情境的实验范式,考察了声誉对大班幼儿违规行为的影响。研究发现,声誉组被试较之无声誉组违规行为发生率显著降低,而来自同伴、现任教师和离任教师的声誉评价对幼儿违规行为的影响程度无显著差异。研究结果表明,声誉显著地影响了大班幼儿的违规行为,幼儿已经开始重视自己的声誉并通过减少或延迟违规行为来维护自己在同伴、教师心目中的良好声誉。     

Exploring the social connections in preschool settings between children labelled with special educational needs and their peers

This paper reports on a small-scale study of the social interactions between six children labelled with special educational needs and their peers in their respective early years settings. Data from play observations, photographs and staff interviews is used to examine the dynamics of the connections that they make with other children. The position of these six children as active agents in making decisions about their peer interactions is highlighted and the ways that this agency is expressed is analysed. By focusing on the personal strategies that the children use to make social connections the findings contribute to the developing understanding of children's relationships within inclusive early years settings. In particular compatible play interests and personalities are identified as significant factors that attract children to one another in this case study. It also emerged that recurrent playmates did not feature consistently in the social exchanges involving this group of children. This factor is considered in the context of it being indicative of the social connections that children labelled with special educational needs pursue. Suggestions for further investigation are proposed and key practice messages offered around developing awareness and facilitation of social connections between children.     

Social Relationships and School Readiness

Definitions of school readiness tend to focus on social and academic competencies that children are presumed to need to start school ready to learn. However, a child-focused definition of school readiness is limited because it neither identifies processes that lead children to acquire these competencies, nor does it recognize children's dependence on opportunities within settings that support development of these competencies. The model of school readiness presented in this article broadly defines school readiness as a function of an organized system of interactions and transactions among people (children, teachers, parents, and other caregivers), settings (home, school, and child care), and institutions (communities, neighborhoods, and governments). We propose that the primary mechanisms through which children acquire readiness-related competencies are social relationships children form with peers, parents, and teachers. This perspective on school readiness, emphasizing the mediating role of relational processes, offers guidance for designing interventions to improve school readiness through strengthening relationships between parents and children, parents and teachers, and teachers and children.     

Race, ethnicity, and culture in child development: contemporary research and future directions

The editors of this special issue reflect on the current status and future directions of research on race, ethnicity, and culture in child development. Research in the special issue disentangles race, ethnicity, culture, and immigrant status, and identifies mediators of sociocultural variables on developmental outcomes. The special issue includes important research on normal development in context for ethnic and racial minority children, addresses racial and ethnic identity development, and considers intergroup processes. The methodological innovations as well as challenges of current research are highlighted. It is recommended that future research adhere to principles of cultural validity described in the text.     

Look out! ‘Looked after’! Look here! Supporting ‘looked after’ and adopted children in the primary classroom

The focus of this article is on children who are ‘looked after’ or adopted. Specifically it explores some of the possible effects of early life traumas and insecure attachments on brain development and subsequent learning in primary school. The article draws on a range of research which helps to outline possible difficulties which these children may encounter, and behaviours which they may display. The article is not intended in any way to label these children within a deficit model, but to help those involved in their education to gain greater insight into the possible causes of their differences. The article examines how brain development may be influenced by early life trauma, how children who have been ‘looked after’ or adopted often have difficulties with forming and sustaining relationships with peers and adults and how issues related to self-esteem and learning behaviours and skills can be supported in the classroom. Furthermore, it identifies the importance of considering the special needs’ framework for these children and how a range of multi-professional support may be essential.     

‘The good child’: Anthropological perspectives on morality and childhood

Currently, there is no clearly delineated field that could be described as ‘the anthropology of morality’. There exists, however, an increasingly visible and vocal interest in issues of morality among anthropologists. Although there has been a lack of explicit study, it has become clear that anthropologists have, in fact, been concerned with issues of moralities all along. The purpose of this special issue is to bring this interest to ethnographic studies of childhood, and explore how and why children or young people act in a particular way and are making certain choices, how these are valued or contested by their families, peers, and communities. The papers in this special issue highlight the contestations that arise as multiple moralities collide, and the effects this may have for the persons involved. Collectively, the papers illustrate a notion of moralities as multiple, contested, and mobile, and the consequences this may have in a globalising world.     

Guiding the social development of young children

It is likely that every early childhood class will include children who have difficulty making positive social adjustments. Although some children's difficulties seem to be associated with shyness or reluctance to make social contact, other children's behavior may be a problem because they bully peers or refuse to respect the space and property of others.This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the Annual Conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Anaheim, CA, November 1988.     

There’s Elly,It Must be Tuesday: Discontinuity in Child Care Programs and Its Impact on the Development of Peer Relationships in Young Children

This study traces patterns of attendance, times of arrival and departure, and policies and practices surrounding enrollment and moving children from classroom to classroom in a child care center. It appears that children’s efforts to acquire competence in developing friendships with their peers not only depends on their own capacities, but is also affected by above-mentioned patterns and policies and practices, over which children have no control. For a period of 6 months, we follow the trajectory of Elly, a young 3-year old girl, who is enrolled mid-year, part-time, in Sunshine Child Development Center. She is placed in a classroom with two-and-a-half to three and-a-half year old children, several of whom also attend part-time. It takes Elly 6 months to develop a meaningful relationship with some of her peers, an important yet tenuous milestone because, according to center policy groups will be reconfigured over the summer. Thus, Elly and her new friends may be placed in different groups in the fall. This study also documents the important role of social pretend play in helping children to initiate and develop friendships, especially in the company of more competent peers. Importantly, the child care center’s policies and practices for transitioning children in and out of classrooms seem to be at odds with current research on attachment, continuity, and the development of peer relationships. Recommendations are made for creating environments where continuity of care and education for young children are a priority.     

Preschoolers' Differential Conflict Behavior with Friends and Acquaintances

This study examined the nature of social conflict occurring spontaneously during children's play. Preschoolers' (mean age = 53.9 months) differential conflict behavior with their friends and acquaintances was analyzed by use of relationship status as a within-subjects factor. Children behaved differently when interacting with their friends than they did with acquaintances. Conciliatory gestures (e.g., compromise, apology) were used more often with friends than with acquaintances. Conciliatory gestures were more likely than yields to lead to peaceful outcomes. However, yields were used most often by the children. Yet, no matter what resolution strategy was used, friends were more likely to remain together after conflict than acquaintances were. Because friendships are important to them, children must learn ways to maintain interaction despite conflict. Conflict resolution strategies among peers begin to emerge in the preschool years, first within friendly relationships. It is suggested that rather than using direct intervention, teachers should indirectly facilitate the development of such strategies.     

Closing the Achievement Gap: Lessons From Illinois' Golden Spike High-Poverty High-Performing Schools

The achievement gap is the single most critical issue in American education. This study illustrates the difference in academic performance between low-income children and their peers, between minority children and their classmates, and between those schools that serve a majority of children from low-income families and those that serve a more advantaged population. Using a research framework, the author identifies and examines Golden Spike schools-Illinois schools that have a sustained record of closing the achievement gap. Quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal that the Golden Spike schools have distinct commonalities in leadership, literacy, teacher qualities, and community engagement, while characteristics such as school size, class size, and alignment with state standards make little, if any, difference in their ability to close the achievement gap. The study concludes with state and local policy recommendations that will enable high-poverty schools to make substantial progress in bridging the gap.     

Power,participation and decision making in the primary classroom: children as action researchers

This article discusses a project focused on children researching their role in decision making in their classrooms and schools, with a view to increasing their involvement. The action research project was carried out by children, their class teachers and university researchers in six Norfolk primary schools from 2004 to 2006. As the project aimed to introduce more participatory approaches to decision making in classrooms, this necessarily had implications for the ways in which adults worked with children as action researchers. The article explores the constraints encountered by both children and teachers in sharing decisions and in carrying out action research, and identifies two dimensions: the teachers’ thinking and action, as well as children’s research and decision making. The teachers struggled with their need to mediate the project aims in the context of the changing nature of their professional role in the current target‐driven school culture.     

Developments in UK early years policy and practice: can they improve outcomes for disadvantaged children?

Despite strenuous attempts made by the New Labour government in the UK to progress towards its goal of eradicating child poverty by 2020, educational outcomes for disadvantaged children remain depressed compared to those of more advantaged children. The fact that children from poorer socio‐economic backgrounds are at much greater risk of language delay, which is a key predictor of poorer educational outcomes, indicates that there is a fundamental need to enhance the language abilities of these children in their early years in order to improve educational progress. This paper discusses the extent to which two new major UK policy initiatives may impact on this situation, namely the introduction of the Early Years Foundation Stage, a new curricular framework for children aged from birth to five, and the development of the Early Years Professional role, seen as key to the implementation of this framework. The discussion concludes that due to insufficiently rigorous conceptual underpinnings, especially in the area of language and communication, these innovations seem unlikely to deliver the type of language‐enriched preschool environments necessary to enhance the linguistic capabilities of the poorest children in UK society.