Teaching the Immigrant Child: Application of Child Development Theories

Immigrant children are an under-researched yet a steadily growing group. It is therefore compelling for practitioners to understand challenges these children are likely to encounter in the classroom so as to effectively meet their needs. In this article various theoretical perspectives of prominent child development theories are analyzed in an attempt to understand immigrant children in the classroom. Theories of Maslow, Freud, Erikson, Piaget, Vygotsky, and Bronfenbrenner are explicitly discussed. Some suggestions for practice are also provided.     

Suspected Child Maltreatment: Preschool Staff in a Conflict of Loyalty

Objective To investigate the actions of Swedish preschool staff when suspecting the maltreatment of children in their domestic environment, and the staff’s further experiences and relations to the family members. Methods A questionnaire in 2005 to the staff of 189 child groups in community preschools, including 3,100 children. Results A report to Child Protective Agency (CPA) was submitted in 30% of the cases where maltreatment was suspected. The staff’s decisions as well as their working situation, and how they estimated the parents’ benefits from CPA support were deeply affected by their different relations to the families. The staff had their best contact with the children and their most insecure and vulnerable contact with the fathers. Conclusions In situations with suspected child maltreatment the staff face conflicts of loyalty, mostly based on insecure relations, which could become an impediment to supporting and educating the children.     

Traversing the Challenges of Conducting Research with Young, Immigrant Children: The Case of Korean Children

Based on a qualitative study on young Korean immigrant children’s interpretation of American popular culture, this paper reflects on the researchers’ role by examining the research challenges faced. Prior to discussing the research obstacles in conducting the study, we begin with briefly describing its methodology and design. Next, we discuss the various obstacles we encountered when conducting our study and howwe attempted to overcome these dilemmas by discussing two major struggles during the research process: a) the relationships between the researchers and our young participants, and b) the cultural sensitivity that was needed in initially gaining permission from and working with the parents of our informants. It then illuminates how the researchers attempted to cope with such difficulties by rethinking a researchers’s role emphasizing the importance of cultural context in research. Finally, the paper provides some discussions and implications based on our research experiences.     

Maternal Attitudes and Parent Education: How Immigrant Mothers Support Their Child’s Education Despite Their Own Low Levels of Education

A study of Mexican immigrant mothers of young children in the AVANCE-Dallas early childhood intervention program demonstrates that low-educational parents often exhibit ambitious attitudes about educational achievement for their children. Though they lack an extensive academic background, which places their children at risk for low education, their positive attitude manifested in daily pro-educational behaviors overcomes their low education level because they both motivate their children to pursue academic success and participate in their children’s learning. The best way to capitalize on immigrant parents’ educational drive for their children is to partner with them—either through an intervention program or through early childhood educators’ interaction with parents—by showing them how their participation in their children’s learning through concrete activities (such as regular mother–child conversation, daily reading, and playtime activities that teach developmental skills) may increase their chances of achieving academic success.     

Child maltreatment as a function of cumulative family risk: Findings from the intensive family preservation program

This study examined child maltreatment as a function of cumulative family risk in a sample of at-risk families (N = 837) who were referred to an intensive family preservation program because of child behavior problems or suspected child abuse and neglect. The goal of this intensive family preservation program is to improve parenting skills and reduce immediate family stressors that may lead to an increased risk of child abuse and neglect. The findings indicate that the most prominent family risks comprising the cumulative risk scale in our sample were socio-economic disadvantage (e.g., income, unemployment, housing instability) and parental characteristics (e.g., mental/physical health, parental use of alcohol, domestic violence). Further, the results demonstrated a strong quadratic trend in the relationship between cumulative family risk and child maltreatment, and identified a risk threshold effect at three cumulative family risks after which the child risk for maltreatment increased exponentially. These findings are interpreted in the light of the current research on differentiative interventions, supporting differentiated services to the families with low vs. higher risk for child maltreatment.     

Child guidance,dynamic psychology and the psychopathologisation of child-rearing culture (c. 1920-1940): a transnational perspective

ABSTRACT

The historiography of child guidance has focused primarily on the United States, where it first developed before travelling across the English-speaking world. The rapid expansion of child guidance in the interwar years was enabled by private philanthropy, which provided fellowships to foreign professionals to study in the United States. This article focuses upon the transnational transfer of child guidance, the dynamic psychology on which it was based, and the accompanying psychopathologisation of child-rearing culture to a non-English speaking country, the Netherlands. First, it discusses the development of child guidance and the reception of dynamic psychology in the United States and Britain. Next, it analyses the transfer to the Netherlands. It turns out that the Dutch did not copy the American model, but adapted it to fit their conditions and created a more diverse child guidance landscape, in which educational psychology played a less important role than child psychiatry.     

Power Struggle,Submission and Partnership: Agency Constructions of Mothers of Children with ADHD Diagnosis in Their Narrated School Involvement

The contemporary education paradigm highlights the interdependency of home and school expertise. This discourse analysis study examines the narrated agentive possibilities of 18 Finnish mothers of children diagnosed with ADHD to influence and be involved in their child's schooling. Mothers' strong involvement endeavor is premised on their expertise concerning ADHD, distrust of teachers' adequate knowledge of and attitude towards their child, and anxiety for their child's wellbeing. However, our analysis reveals a gap between the mothers' narrated potential agency to fight for her child's well-being and their actual capability to be involved as intended, due to unequal institutional power relations between home and school. Educational responsibility, and the promise of recognition the diagnosis holds in educational social practices are discussed.     

Researching into Some Primary School Children's Views About School: Using Personal Construct Psychology in Practice with Children on the Special Needs Register

This article describes a research project, which collected the views of 13 junior aged children on the special educational needs register of one school about their education. The techniques used for eliciting their views were a series of personal construct psychology (PCP) conversations based on drawings produced by the children of themselves in school. A case study approach was taken within the naturalistic paradigm of 'constructivist inquiry'. The findings indicated that social activities were of greater importance for the pupils than formal learning experiences. Peer relationships were paramount and these defined the positive or negative experiences the pupils had of school in general. The pupils were able to describe a range of problem solving strategies for resolving peer group difficulties. The implications of the study are also discussed.     

德国预防幼儿成瘾项目——没有玩具的幼儿园

研究证明,预防成瘾是从幼儿时期开始的一个终身学习过程,幼儿的情感要求如果满足不当,容易引起幼儿对特定物品或行为方式的过度依赖而成瘾。为了预防幼儿成瘾,德国从1992年开始进行预防幼儿成瘾的“没有玩具的幼儿园”项目试验,目前已经在全德国推广。幼儿园与政府教育部门、幼儿园教师培养机构、咨询中心、家长合作,通过为期三个月的没有玩具的活动,在保持快乐的前提下给予幼儿充分的自由时间和空间去发展关系能力、自我信任感、语言能力、创造性解决问题能力等关键生活能力,得到教师和家长的一致认可。     

Child maltreatment in the “Children of the Nineties:” deprivation, class, and social networks in a UK sample

Aim: To determine risk factors for child maltreatment within the socio-economic environment of a contemporary UK child population.Methods: The research is based on a large cohort study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Out of 14,256 children participating in the study, 115 have been identified as having been placed on local child protection registers prior to their 6th birthday. Data on the socio-economic environment of the families have been obtained from a series of questionnaires administered during pregnancy and the first 3 years of life. Risk factors have been analyzed using logistic regression analysis.Results: Four indicators of deprivation all showed significant relationships with registration. Adjusted odds ratios were 2.33 for paternal unemployment; 7.65 for council housing; 2.16 for overcrowding; and 2.33 for car ownership. There was a strong relationship between the number of indicators of deprivation and the risk of maltreatment. In a second model, maternal unemployment, high mobility (> 3 house moves in the previous 5 years) and a poor social network were also significant with odds ratios of 2.82, 2.81, and 3.09, respectively.Conclusions: This study confirms the importance of social factors in the etiology of child maltreatment. Social deprivation is an important determinant of child maltreatment, and encompasses a number of different aspects, including financial security, housing situation and material benefits; in addition, the job situation of the parents and the stability and richness of their social networks all have a significant impact on risk of maltreatment. Interventions at both an individual and a community level are important to support families and reduce the risk of maltreatment.     

Establishing a Family Literacy Program with a Focus on Interactive Reading: The Role of Research and Accountability

Family literacy programs abound today, and many try to be all things to all participating families. Funding has eroded for programs of long length and shorter length programs need a specific focus to aim for a modicum of success. This article provides an overview of the importance of interactive reading for children’s future success in school, providing clear reasons for having it as a program focus. Specific research-based interactive reading behaviors which act as program objectives and a linked interactive reading assessment for accountability purposes are described. Methods of serving and recruiting diverse families are also explored. An example of a program is provided to demonstrate how to design a family literacy program of manageable length that leads to measurable gains in joint reading behaviors.     

Everyday Laptop Use by Children in a Southern Country: A Mixed-Method Approach

Information and communication technology (ICT) use among children in low-income countries remains understudied. The purpose of this study is to describe laptop usage among children in the context of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project 4 years after the laptops were first introduced in a community in Madagascar. The study was conducted using a mixed-method approach combining analysis of ICT use history, empirical observations, and interviews with children and parents. In class, activities involving laptops—including educational games, information research, and the creation of texts and storyboards—were found to be aligned with existing classroom activities. Outside school, computers were found to be used in individual, group, or family settings to listen to music and watch videos, play games, share content, and do homework. The study also found that computers play a major role in everyday routines, opening up new possibilities in photography and video-making. The findings also indicate that computer usage encourages children to learn new literacies in which image plays a central role and new forms of self-expression if they are accompanied and supported by their family.     

Enhanced agency rights for older Scottish children with additional support needs: a philosophical review

ABSTRACT

This paper considers some possible pitfalls in recent legislation in Scotland that has enhanced agency rights for older children with additional support needs (ASN). It does so with particular reference to philosophical literature on children’s rights. Though the UNCRC increasingly animates education law, policy and practice in Scotland and elsewhere, some philosophers, including O’Neill and MacIntyre, have raised pertinent questions about whether or not a rights-based approach is the best way of ensuring that all children receive the care, support and education they need to flourish. Discussion concentrates on four possible objections to the human rights tradition generally and the new legislation concerning the rights of older children with ASN in Scotland specifically. It is concluded that: (1) future policy, practice, law and research on child well-being should prioritise capabilities over rights and; (2) the concept of capability might be a helpful one through which to analyse the extent to which children with ASN in Scotland really do have enhanced agency rights in practice.     

Making Every Child Matter: A Model for Good Practice in Counselling Children and Young People with Learning Disabilities

This paper is set against the backdrop of new policies and legislation regarding the health, welfare and education of children and young people in England. In response to these policies, the Department for Education and Skills has developed an increasing number of strategies to support the psychological health and well-being of children and young people and thereby signalled greater recognition of the value of improving mental health in relation to children's learning, achievement, attendance and behaviour. Counselling is increasingly seen as an effective strategy for addressing the psychological needs of children and young people with social, emotional, behavioural and academic problems. The aim of this paper is to explore the inclusion of children and young people with learning disabilities (13–19 years) in mainstream counselling services. The nature of learning disabilities is examined in relation to accessing counselling services and a model for inclusive counselling practice is developed from the research findings. Findings are based on data collected from a quantitative survey ( n =396) of 3000 counsellors and analysed using SPSS, along with qualitative data from the survey, which was analysed using a thematic approach.     

“彼得·潘写作”视野下儿童的生活与教育——我们如何创作儿童文学,儿童文学如何塑造我们的儿童

儿童文学在不同历史时期都扮演过教育儿童、为儿童树立榜样的角色.另一方面,通过儿童文学这个平台,我们关于儿童的知识被不断地建构.社会化话语是这个建构过程得以合法化的根据.然而,这一话语中所隐含的独断性却否认和遮蔽了儿童是作为一种异文化的存在."彼得·潘写作"视野对成长、成熟、社会化、教育等既有观念的社会学反思,提醒我们应该重新看待儿童的生活与教育.     

谈师幼互动中教师的权威及其限度--兼作对《升旗手的诞生》一文的回应

教师在与幼儿互动的过程中具有至高无上的权威。教师的权威对于孩子及其成长来说具有合理性与必要性，但是教师在对幼儿行使自身权威作用时必须适度，否则就会对幼儿的和谐发展造成负面影响。在当前师幼互动行为的具体过程中，如《升旗手的诞生》一文所描述的那位教师那样超越自己权威的限度，以自己的意志左右孩子意愿的做法却屡见不鲜。为此，我们需要加快对如何把握教师权威限度的探索。