The study of stress and competence in children: a building block for developmental psychopathology

This article discusses the building blocks for a developmental psychopathology, focusing on studies of risk, competence, and protective factors. The current Project Competence studies of stress and competence are described, with particular attention to the methodology and strategies for data analysis. The authors present a 3-model approach to stress resistance in a multivariate regression framework: the compensatory, challenge, and protective factor models. These models are illustrated by selected data. In the concluding section, an evaluation of the project is offered in terms of future directions for research.     

The domain of developmental psychopathology

It is the "developmental" component of developmental psychopathology that distinguishes this discipline from abnormal psychology, psychiatry, and even clinical child psychology. At the same time, the focus on individual patterns of adaptation and maladaptation distinguishes this field from the larger discipline of developmental psychology. In this essay a developmental perspective is presented, and the implications of this perspective for research in developmental psychopathology are discussed. A primary consideration is the complexity of the adaptational process, with developmental transformation being the rule. Thus, links between earlier adaptation and later pathology generally will not be simple or direct. It will be necessary to understand both individual patterns of adaptation with respect to salient issues of a given developmental period and the transaction between prior adaptation, maturational change, and subsequent environmental challenges. Some examples are discussed, with special attention to the case of depression.     

Interpersonal strategies of unpopular children: Some implications for social skills training

Reciprocity is regarded as an important process in social skills training programs. This paper argues that establishing the purpose of the observed inappropriate social behavior could help in understanding the dynamics of reciprocal relationships. It explores the proposition that inappropriate behavior often can occur because an unpopular child adopts an interpersonal strategy in order to cope with rejection by others. Studies are reviewed that suggest that differential deficiencies in social skills are associated with the type of strategy adopted–avoidant or approach.     

The developmental progression of comprehension‐related skills in children learning EAL

Many children who speak English as an additional language (EAL) underachieve in areas of English literacy, especially in the primary years. These difficulties are often attributed to low levels of English language fluency as they enter the education system. In an effort to provide a greater understanding of this underachievement, the cognitive‐linguistic factors underlying literacy development in monolingual children and children learning EAL were examined in a three‐year longitudinal project. The project, conducted in schools in the north of England, followed the developmental progression of forty‐three children learning EAL and forty‐three monolingual children from school years Two to Four. Children were assessed on measures of reading accuracy, reading and listening comprehension, receptive and expressive vocabulary, and reception of grammar. Analysis revealed similarities between the two groups of children on reading accuracy, but children learning EAL had lower levels of vocabulary and comprehension at each point in time. Data are discussed in terms of the development of underlying language skills and the impact of these skills on both reading and listening comprehension. The implications of the findings for classroom practice are considered.     

Questions,Answers and Wait-time: implications for assessment of young children

While testing children for readiness to enter Kindergarten using the Peabody Individual Achievement Test-R and interview probes, a pattern of responses developed indicating that some of the children were continuing to process answers to questions and to formulate elaborations to statements long after the testing had moved to other questions and lines of inquiry. This development was then examined to determine whether young children should be given extended thinking/processing time in order to properly and completely demonstrate their abilities and knowledge. Consideration of validity and relevance must also be given to answers that may at first appear to be irrelevant to the latest question asked. The implications of the data for planning, developing, and implementing assessment as well as decisions regarding curriculum and instruction are discussed.     

Reading fluency: implications for the assessment of children with reading disabilities

The current investigation explored the diagnostic utility of reading fluency measures in the identification of children with reading disabilities. Participants were 50 children referred to a university-based clinic because of suspected reading problems and/or a prior diagnosis of dyslexia, where children completed a battery of standardized intellectual, reading achievement, and processing measures. Within this clinical sample, a group of children were identified that exhibited specific deficits in their reading fluency skills with concurrent deficits in rapid naming speed and reading comprehension. This group of children would not have been identified as having a reading disability according to assessment of single word reading skills alone, suggesting that it is essential to assess reading fluency in addition to word reading because failure to do so may result in the under-identification of children with reading disabilities.     

The relationship between home literacy practices and developmental trajectories of emergent literacy and conventional literacy skills for Korean children

Previous studies with English-speaking families in the North American context demonstrated that home literacy practices have positive influences on children’s literacy acquisition. The present study expands previous studies by examining how home literacy practices are related to growth trajectories of emergent literacy skills (i.e., vocabulary, letter-name knowledge, and phonological awareness) and conventional literacy skills (i.e., word reading, pseudoword reading, and spelling), and by using data from Korean children and families (N = 192). The study revealed two dimensions of home literacy practices, home reading and parent teaching. Frequent reading at home was positively associated with children’s emergent literacy skills as well as conventional literacy skills in Korean. However, children whose parents reported more frequent teaching tended to have low scores in their phonological awareness, vocabulary, word reading and pseudoword reading after accounting for home reading. These results suggest a bidirectional relationship between home literacy practices, parent teaching in particular, and children’s literacy skills such that parents adjust their teaching in response to their child’s literacy acquisition. Furthermore, cultural variation in views on parent teaching may explain these results.

The social implications of higher level thinking skills

This paper describes theoretical and empirical research suggesting that individuals who are capable of perceiving others in complex and divergent ways may be able to communicate more effectively, adapting verbal messages to fit the perspectives of listeners. This proposition represents a link between several fields of inquiry that researchers rarely interrelate: higher level thinking skills, social cognition, social competency, and communications. Key concepts within each field are historically defined, and directions for future research are outlined.     

The developmental costs of high self-esteem for antisocial children

Two hypotheses--high self-esteem leads children to act on antisocial cognitions (disposition-activating hypothesis) and high self-esteem leads children to rationalize antisocial conduct (disposition-rationalizing hypothesis)--were investigated in two longitudinal studies. In Study 1 (N= 189; mean age = 11.1 years), antisocial behavior was aggression; in Study 2 (N= 407; mean age = 10.8 years) it was avoidance of the mother. In both studies, there was little evidence for the disposition-activating hypothesis but considerable support for the disposition-rationalizing hypothesis. Over time, aggressive children with high self-esteem increasingly valued the rewards that aggression offers and belittled their victims, and avoidant children with high self-esteem increasingly viewed their mother as harassing and uninvolved. For antisocial children, high self-esteem carries costs.     

Teamwork skills assessment for cooperative learning

Teamwork skills are required at work, but teacher efforts in many countries to track achievement within this context have been hindered by lack of assessment tools and input from students. The Teamwork Skills Inventory relies on peer and self-evaluation to establish accountability, identify competencies, and detect learning needs. Twenty-five items state the criteria students refer to in reporting observations about whether individual members of their cooperative learning group attend to teamwork, seek and share information, communicate with teammates, think critically and creatively, and get along with teammates. Ways to prepare students for authentic assessment and to process anonymous feedback from peers are discussed. A field test of 303 high school students and teachers determined validity and reliability. Students were able to recognize team skills as well as deficits of peers, and gender differences in competencies were acknowledged. A portfolio record of team skills enables teachers across subjects to apply united interventions.     

The construct and predictive validity of a dynamic assessment of young children learning to read: implications for RTI frameworks

The purpose of this study was to examine the construct and predictive validity of a dynamic assessment (DA) of decoding learning. Students (N = 318) were assessed in the fall of first grade on an array of instruments that were given in hopes of forecasting responsiveness to reading instruction. These instruments included DA as well as one-point-in-time (static) measures of early alphabetic knowledge, rapid automatized naming (RAN), phonemic awareness, oral vocabulary, listening comprehension, attentive behavior, and hyperactive or impulsive behavior. An IQ test was administered in spring of second grade. Measures of reading outcomes administered in spring of first grade were accuracy and fluency of word identification skills and reading comprehension. Factor analysis using principal axis factor extraction indicated that DA loaded on a first factor that also included language abilities and IQ, which the authors refer to as the "language, IQ, and DA" factor. It was relatively distinct from two additional factors: (a) "speeded alphabetic knowledge and RAN" and (b) "task-oriented behavior." A three-level (children nested within classroom; classrooms nested within school) random intercept model with fixed effects predictors suggested that DA differed from word attack in predicting future reading skill and that DA was a significant predictor of responsiveness to instruction, contributing unique variance to end-of-first-grade word identification and reading comprehension beyond that explained by other well-established predictors of reading development.     

Multi-method assessment of metacognitive skills in elementary school children: how you test is what you get

Third grade elementary school children solved tests on mathematical reasoning and numerical facility. Metacognitive skillfulness was assessed through think aloud protocols, prospective and retrospective child ratings, teacher questionnaires, calibration measures and EPA2000. In our dataset metacognition has a lot in common with intelligence, but planning measured with teacher ratings plays a role above and beyond IQ. Moreover, we found that skills are generally related, but that it is more appropriate to assess them separately. In addition, results show the value of an experienced teacher as actual measure of metacognitive planning skills. Our dataset suggests convergent validity for prospective and retrospective child ratings, but no significant relationship with the other metacognitive measures. Metacognitive skillfulness combined with intelligence accounts for between 52.9% and 76.5% of the mathematics performances. The choice of diagnostic instruments highly determines the predicted percentage. Consequences for the assessment of metacognitive skills are discussed.     

The effects of using formal assessment on preschool teachers’ beliefs about the importance of various developmental skills and abilities

Two studies examined the effects of using a formal assessment instrument on preschool teachers’ beliefs concerning the importance of various developmental skills and abilities. In Study 1, users of a formal assessment instrument rated skills and abilities assessed by the instrument as more important for preschoolers to develop than non-users. In Study 2, teachers who newly adopted the instrument rated skills and abilities assessed by it as more important after using the instrument for several months than they did prior to use, while non-users showed no change in their ratings of the same skills and abilities over time. The results indicate that using a formal assessment instrument can change teachers’ beliefs concerning which skills and abilities are important for children to learn.