Early childhood teachers’ (N=73) level of education, length of employment, number of content areas covered in child development courses taken, and supervised practical experience were examined as factors affecting their knowledge of developmentally appropriate practice. Background information concerning each teacher's education, employment, content areas covered in child development courses taken, and supervised practical experiences was gathered in the Teacher Information Report. Knowledge of developmentally appropriate practice was assessed by having each teacher listen to 12 audiotaped vignettes describing situations typical to teacher-child interactions in preschool classrooms. They were asked to determine if each vignette described appropriate or inappropriate practice. A 3(level of education) x 3(length of employment) factorial analysis of variance revealed a significant level of education effect on developmentally appropriate practice scores F(2,2)=3.23, p < .05. Post-hoc comparisons indicated that those teachers with formal degrees in the area of child development (M=8.68) scored significantly higher than those with other types of training (M=7.62). There was no significant length of employment effect on developmentally appropriate practice scores. A 4(number of content areas covered) x 3(length of employment) factorial analysis of variance yielded a significant effect for number of content areas covered F(3,2)=6.18, p< .001. Post-hoc comparisons indicated that participants who had covered 10 or more content areas (M=8.91) scored significantly higher than those who had covered fewer than 10 content areas (M=7.10, 7.42. 7.75). A 4(number of content areas covered) x 3(supervised practical experience) factorial analysis of variance yielded a significant effect for number of content areas covered F(3,2)=8.921 p < .01. and an effect for supervised practical experience F(3,2)=3.153, E < .05. Tukey Multiple Comparisons Test indicated that of those participants who had both student teaching and fieldwork experience, those who had covered 10 or more content areas in child development scored significantly higher (M=9.00) than those who had covered fewer than 10 content areas. Of those participants who had covered 10 or mere content areas. those with both student teaching and fieldwork experience scored significantly higher on the assessment of developmentally appropriate practice (M=9.00) than did those who had no student teaching or fieldwork experience (M=7.00). Implications for teacher training are discussed in the thesis. / Master of Science

M.S.

The problem involved in this research was a comparative study of the educational philosophy of the 1943 Child Development Workshop at the North Texas State Teachers College, as expressed by consultants and participants, and John Dewey's principles of education.

Play has been found to be an important variable in the friendships of preschool children. Recent research on play styles has provided some evidence that children demonstrate stable individual differences in their play behavior. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between individual differences in play style and the friendship choices of preschool children. The subjects were 31 preschool children ranging in age from 3-9 to 5-4. Based on ratings obtained from head classroom teachers, the children were classified as patterners, dramatists, or mixed players. Children were individually interviewed to ascertain their friendship choices. Pearson product-moment correlations indicated there were no significant relationships between the subjects' play styles and the play styles of their most preferred and least preferred friends. Nonsignificant correlations were also found between the subjects' play styles and the average of the play style ratings of their three most preferred and three least preferred friends. These findings indicate play styles do not influence the friendship choices of preschool children. Problems with the techniques used to assess play style and friendship choices were cited as possible contributors to the nonsignificant findings. It was also suggested that since preschool children have been found to emphasize social comparison and the establishment of areas of similarities when interacting with friends, play styles may not be an important factor in their choice of friends. Two issues related to children's play styles and friendship patterns became evident in this study. One issue deals with the identification of play styles. The results of this study indicated a rating scale can be used to reliably classify children by play style. The second issue deals with the stability of preschool children's friendships. Stability was demonstrated in the children's individual friendship choices over a 6 week period. Examination of the data indicated that frequency of contact and length of interaction are important factors contributing to the stability of preschool children's friendships. Contrary to past research, these findings indicate the friendships of preschool children can be stable if the children are in a setting which permits frequent and consistent interaction over time. / Ph. D.

The present study included two investigations examining social skills in fourth grade elementary school children. The first investigation involved the examination of the use of inhibiting and facilitating self-statements (i.e., self-statements that would make it harder or easier to deliver on effective social response) by groups of withdrawn (n=33), aggressive (n=32), and popular (n=27) children across types of interpersonal situations (conflict, initiation of interactions) and relationships (friend, stranger). Results indicated that popular children showed significantly greater facilitating-inhibiting change scores on a self-report measure devised for the present investigation (Socialization Self-Statement Test), completed following the four behavioral analogue situations (Conflict Friend, Conflict Stranger, Initiate Friend, Initiate stranger). There was no significant difference between aggressive and withdrawn children on this measure. In addition, results indicated a greater tendency for children to endorse facilitative vs. inhibiting self-statements in those situations involving friends (vs. strangers) and the initiating of social behavior (vs. conflict situations). Finally, a Relationship x Situation interaction was found, indicating significantly higher facilitating-inhibiting scores in situations involving initiating interactions with friends. In the second investigation, unpopular aggressive (n=24) and withdrawn (n=24) children were randomly assigned within sociometric categories to a behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, or attention control group and evaluated on a number of measures related to social competence (peer ratings, teacher ratings, direct observations, self-report). Results indicated no significant between-treatment group differences across assessment measures, although several significant within treatment group pre-post differences were found. The lack of between treatment group differences is discussed, along with some findings related to status group differences and correlational findings. Finally, suggestions for future research are introduced. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this ethnographic venture was to explore the social interactions in a Kindergarten classroom with a focus on the rules in the classroom. Participant observations were conducted in a public school Kindergarten classroom for a period of three and a half months. Data were recorded through field notes, audiotape recordings and two semi-structured interviews with the classroom teacher. The presentation of discoveries along this journey includes a detailed description of a typical day in the classroom, a taxonomy of the classroom rules, and an elaboration of the process through which children understand the teacher created rules in the classroom. The importance of planning developmentally appropriate rules and affording children the opportunity to negotiate the meaning of the rules through dialogue has been stressed. These interpretations reinforce the importance of the constructivist approach to child development and learning. Implications for researchers and practitioners revolve around the redefinition of rules as tools for negotiation of individual differences among members of the classroom community. / Ph. D.

This study examines the relationship between whether the level of independence a first-grade age child was permitted at home influenced his social behavior at school.

To evaluate activities that effect better parent-teacher cooperation in relation to child development and welfare is the purpose of this study. The five types of activities about which information was desired included personal conferences, communication, parent-teacher association, visitation, and parental education.

The current research explored the thesis that cognitive self-recognition might have an executive function in 3- and 4-year-olds. Although it is well established that children recognise themselves in mirrors by the end of infancy, the cognitive and behavioural impact of this capacity has yet to be elucidated. Experiments 1 to 6 showed that preschool children could form and maintain a cognitive link between the self and external stimuli, as a result of which, self-referent stimuli were given mnemonic priority. Experiments 4 to 8 indicated that in tasks involving self-recognition, 3- and 4-year-olds’ ability to process other-referent stimuli was compromised by self-focus. Finally, Experiments 9 and 10 demonstrated that mirror self-recognition increased preschoolers’ tendency to self-regulate, leading them to behave in line with socially accepted standards. Together, these experiments provide novel evidence to confirm that cognitive self-recognition has a role in preschoolers’ performance on tasks requiring memory, attention, inhibition, and planning. This implies that when salient, the self may become the ultimate executer of behaviour. By observing 3- and 4-year-olds’ differential processing of self- and other-referent stimuli we infer the existence of a functionally active, self-reflective agent. Moreover, the role of the self is temporally extended, influencing children’s cognition and behaviour in the past (Experiment 1 to 3), present (Experiments 4 to 8) and future (Experiments 9 to 10). This implies that preschool children may have developed the foundations necessary to build the experience of personal identity.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Occupational Therapy. Johannesburg, 2013 / This study determined outcomes for motor developmental delay in infants, 12-14 months, diagnosed with HIE II and III, at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. Twenty nine infants diagnosed with HIE II and nine infants diagnosed with HIE III were assessed using the Peabody Development Motor Scale- 2, at their corrected age. Demographic, antenatal and perinatal factors similar to those in other studies were found for this sample. Infants with HIE III had significantly more developmental delay (p=0.01) than infants with HIE II. Fifty two percent of infants with HIE II had no delay while a 100% of infants with HIE III presented with disability. A greater percentage of infants had delay in fine motor skills. Infants with severe and moderate disabilities were receiving intervention whereas those mild disabilities were often missed in screening clinics. It is vital to ensure these infants are assessed and followed up to remediate difficulties as soon as they arise.