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Early Learning (early + learning)
Selected AbstractsII. A CONNECTIONIST MODEL FOR EARLY LEARNING ABOUT ANIMATES AND INANIMATESMONOGRAPHS OF THE SOCIETY FOR RESEARCH IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2008Article first published online: 16 MAR 200 First page of article [source] Applying the Infant-Toddler Social & Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) and Brief-ITSEA in early interventionINFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 6 2007Margaret J. Briggs-Gowan To examine the internal consistency and validity of the Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) and Brief-ITSEA (BITSEA) parent-report questionnaires in an early intervention sample. A sociodemographically diverse sample of 192 parents of 11- to 36-month-old children referred to early intervention programs completed surveys containing the ITSEA, BITSEA, and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Parents were interviewed with the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Evaluators blind to children's status on the ITSEA and BITSEA rated child behavior during developmental assessments. Finally, a subsample of 71 children was administered the Mullen Scales of Early Learning. Findings support the internal consistency of the ITSEA and BITSEA, with the majority of Cronbach's alphas above .70. Supporting validity, ITSEA and BITSEA problem scores correlated significantly with CBCL Internalizing and Externalizing scores (rs=.28 to .78), as well as with observational ratings of problem behaviors on constructs paralleling the ITSEA domains (rs=.21 to .45). In contrast, ITSEA Competence and BITSEA Competence demonstrated moderate negative associations with CBCL scores (rs=,.39 to ,.43). Finally, ITSEA Competence and BITSEA Competence correlated significantly with developmental level on the Mullen, Vineland Socialization, and observational ratings of competence (rs=.25 to .43). Emphasizing the importance of addressing social-emotional issues in early intervention settings, 58.6% of children had high social-emotional/behavioral problems and/or low competence on the ITSEA; 39.8% had high ITSEA Problems and 38.5% had low ITSEA Competence. Results indicate the need to assess social-emotional adjustment in early intervention settings and support the use of the ITSEA and BITSEA for this purpose. [source] Successfully Translating Language and Culture when Adapting Assessment MeasuresJOURNAL OF POLICY AND PRACTICE IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES, Issue 2 2010Juan Bornman Abstract A need exists for culturally valid and reliable developmental assessment tools for children with disabilities that are able to accommodate multiple languages. One way in which this goal can be achieved is through test translations. The purpose of this preliminary study was to examine the use of translations of select developmental assessment instruments from English to Afrikaans and from one cultural context to another (Western to South African). Specifically, we examined children's performance on two measures of development: the Mullen Scales of Early Learning and the Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ). Both measures were completed for 47 typically developing South African preschool children between 3 and 6 years of age. The Mullen was completed by a speech and language therapist and the ASQ by a parent. Both of the measures used yielded similar results, and compared favorably with the existing norms. The procedures provide a framework for expanding such adaptations in other applications. [source] Development in infants with autism spectrum disorders: a prospective studyTHE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 6 2006Rebecca Landa Background:, Autism is rarely diagnosed before three years of age despite evidence suggesting prenatal abnormalities in neurobiological processes. Little is known about when or how development becomes disrupted in the first two years of life in autism. Such information is needed to facilitate early detection and early intervention. Methods:, This prospective study of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) examined development using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) in 87 infants tested at target ages 6, 14, and 24 months. Participants came from infants at high risk (siblings of children with autism) and low risk (no family history of autism) groups. Based on language test scores, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, and clinical judgment at 24 months of age, participants were categorized as: unaffected, ASD, or language delayed (LD). Longitudinal linear regression and ANOVA models were applied to MSEL raw scores, and estimates were compared between the three diagnostic groups. Results:, No statistically significant group differences were detected at 6 months. By 14 months of age, the ASD group performed significantly worse than the unaffected group on all scales except Visual Reception. By 24 months of age, the ASD group performed significantly worse than the unaffected group in all domains, and worse than the language delayed group in Gross Motor, Fine Motor, and Receptive Language. The developmental trajectory of the ASD group was slower than the other groups', and showed a significant decrease in development between the first and second birthdays. Conclusions:, Variations from typical and language delayed development are detectable in many children with ASD using a measure of general development by 24 months of age. Unusual slowing in performance occurred between 14 and 24 months of age in ASD. [source] Fire calorimetry relying on the use of the fire propagation apparatus.FIRE AND MATERIALS, Issue 2 2006Part I: early learning from use in Europe Abstract The fire propagation apparatus (FPA) is the bench scale fire calorimeter that was recently described in its updated version in ASTM E 2058. The apparatus was originally developed in the USA by Tewarson and co-workers from the mid 1970s, under the name ,50 kW lab-scale flammability apparatus', and is therefore still known in Europe as the ,Tewarson apparatus'. The paper focuses on the experience achieved so far with the first modern version of the apparatus implemented in Europe (France). Part I in this series of articles reports on the main results achieved during the commissioning period of the apparatus. In a first step, preliminary experiments were carried out in order to check and calibrate different sub-equipment of the calorimeter. The results are principally presented for the load cell system and the infrared heating system which are essential pieces of sub-equipment. In a second step, a set of fire tests using methane or acetone as fuel was carried out in order to check and calibrate the overall working of the calorimeter in well-fire conditions. The performance of the calorimeter was also checked when it operates in under-ventilated fires. Relevant testing procedures and potential technical problems are discussed. A set of recommendations are derived from the early learning obtained at the INERIS fire laboratory in order to check the consistency of the results obtained from bench-scale fire tests. These recommendations are thought to be applicable to all types of bench scale fire calorimeters. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Rigidity and flexibility of gender stereotypes in childhood: developmental or differential?INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2005Hanns M. Trautner Abstract Previous research has shown that the early learning of male,female categories is characterized by rigid beliefs about stereotypic differences, but that once gender knowledge is well established, the beliefs become more flexible. Because most studies are cross-sectional, it is not known if the early rigidity represents a normative transitional developmental stage that passes, or if early individual differences in rigidity continue into later childhood. To answer that question, analyses were performed on longitudinal data of 64 children who had been questioned about their gender concepts yearly from ages 5 to 10 years. Supporting a cognitive-developmental approach, the findings showed that the period of rigidity was short-lived whether rigidity began early or late or whether the level of peak rigidity was high or low. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The darker side of groupsJOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2007MIKE THOMAS BSc This paper examines the role of group interaction in the workplace and the impact of anxiety on group cohesion. It takes a psychoanalytical perspective and highlights how early learning within a familial setting influences later attitudes and behaviour at work. In particular the article focuses on the signs of negative group anxiety and how the manager can recognise anti-group culture. By recognising the negative signs the leader can also come to understand how the anti-group develops and thereby prevent the resulting disruptive behaviour. In some instances the perception of anti-group feelings and behaviour can also be altered so that the team leader can reach a positive outcome for the group dynamic and resultant team cohesion and collaboration. [source] How welfare reform affects young children: Experimental findings from Connecticut,A research noteJOURNAL OF POLICY ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2003Susanna Loeb As welfare-to-work reforms increase women's labor market attachment, the lives of their young children are likely to change. This note draws on a random-assignment experiment in Connecticut to ask whether mothers' rising employment levels and program participation are associated with changes in young children's early learning and cognitive growth. Children of mothers who entered Connecticut's Jobs First program, an initiative with strict 21-month time limits and work incentives, displayed moderate advantages in their early learning, compared with those in a control group. A number of potential mechanisms for this effect are explored, including maternal employment and income, home environment, and child care. Mothers in the new welfare program are more likely to be employed, have higher income, are less likely to be married, have more children's books in their home, and take their children to libraries and museums more frequently. However, these effects explain little of the observed gain in child outcomes. Other parenting practices and the home's social environment do explain early learning, but these remained unaffected by welfare reform. © 2003 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management [source] The ,good' parent in relation to early childhood literacy: symbolic terrain and lived practiceLITERACY, Issue 2 2009Sue Nichols Abstract In this paper we consider the place of early childhood literacy in the discursive construction of the identity(ies) of ,proper' parents. Our analysis crosses between representations of parenting in texts produced by commercial and government/public institutional interests and the self-representations of individual parents in interviews with the researchers. The argument is made that there are commonalities and disjunctures in represented and lived parenting identities as they relate to early literacy. In commercial texts that advertise educational and other products, parents are largely absent from representations and the parent's position is one of consumer on behalf of the child. In government-sanctioned texts, parents are very much present and are positioned as both learners about and important facilitators of early learning when they ,interact' with their children around language and books. The problem for which both, in their different ways, offer a solution is the "not-yet-ready" child precipitated into the evaluative environment of school without the initial competence seen as necessary to avoid falling behind right from the start. Both kinds of producers promise a smooth induction of children into mainstream literacy and learning practices if the ,good parent' plays her/his part. Finally, we use two parent cases to illustrate how parents' lived practice involves multiple discursive practices and identities as they manage young children's literacy and learning in family contexts in which they also need to negotiate relations with their partners and with paid and domestic work. [source] Memory awareness and schematization: learning in the university contextAPPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2001Debra M. B. Herbert Following the application of the remember/know paradigm to student learning by Conway et al. (1997), this study examined changes in learning and memory awareness of university students in a lecture course and a research methods course. The proposed shift from a dominance of ,remember' awareness in early learning to a dominance of ,know' awareness as learning progresses and schematization occurs was evident for the methods course but not for the lecture course. The patterns of remember and know awareness and proposed associated levels of schematization were supported by a separate measure of the quality of student learning using the SOLO (Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes) Taxonomy. As found by previous research, the remember-to-know shift and schematization of knowledge is dependent upon type of course and level of achievement. Findings are discussed in terms of the utility of the methodology used, the theoretical implications and the applications to educational practice. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Language-Relative Construal of Individuation Constrained by Universal Ontology: Revisiting Language Universals and Linguistic RelativityCOGNITIVE SCIENCE - A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL, Issue 3 2007Mutsumi Imai Abstract Objects and substances bear fundamentally different ontologies. In this article, we examine the relations between language, the ontological distinction with respect to individuation, and the world. Specifically, in cross-linguistic developmental studies that follow Imai and Gentner (1997), we examine the question of whether language influences our thought in different forms, like (1) whether the language-specific construal of entities found in a word extension context (Imai & Gentner, 1997) is also found in a nonlinguistic classification context; (2) whether the presence of labels per se, independent of the count-mass syntax, fosters ontology-based classification; (3) in what way, if at all, the count-mass syntax that accompanies a label changes English speakers' default construal of a given entity? On the basis of the results, we argue that the ontological distinction concerning individuation is universally shared and functions as a constraint on early learning of words. At the same time, language influences one's construal of entities cross-lingistically and developmentally, and causes a temporary change of construal within a single language. We provide a detailed discussion of how each of these three ways language may affect the construal of entities, and discuss how our universally possessed knowledge interacts with language both within a single language and in cross-linguistic context. [source] | |||||||||||||