The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of PCIT as an alternative to medication in managing symptoms and behavior problems of preschool-aged children with ADHD. Using a multiple baseline single-case design, the study measured the impact of PCIT on four preschool-aged children's problem behaviors and ADHD symptoms, parenting practices, and mothers' attitudes towards therapy. Outcome measures included the Child Behavior Checklist, Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory, Behavior Assessment System for Children, ADHD Symptom Observation form, Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System, Parenting Practices Interview, and Therapy Attitude Inventory. Results from visual analyses, a visual permutation test, and hierarchical linear modeling showed partial treatment effects for mothers' use of labeled praises (b = 10.67, p < 0.0001), commands (b = -26.84, p = 0.000), behavior management skills (b = 91.21, p < 0.0001), children's behavior problems (b = -20.29, p = 0.000), and parent-reported ADHD symptoms (b = -25.76, p = 0.000). Mothers expressed high satisfaction with PCIT and reported their relationships with their children and their children's compliance and behavior problems had improved post-intervention. The consistency with which other caretaking partners (e.g., fathers) practiced the same discipline procedures as the mothers in the study played a significant role in the changes observed in mothers' use of effective discipline practices and children's behavior problems. Findings of this study indicate PCIT may partially be an effective intervention in improving children's behavior problems and ADHD symptoms.

The purpose of this interview study was to describe and explain perceptions, beliefs, and practices about technology among four teachers at a Jamaican infant school, by answering: What are teachers' perceptions and beliefs about the role of technology in young children's learning? What are the practices regarding technology among Jamaican infant school teachers? I used criterion sampling to identify participants for my inquiry. For data collection, I used semi-structured interviews, teachers' lesson plans, and my reflective journal. I applied a socio-cultural approach (Rogoff, 1990) for the data analysis to make sense of the teachers' perceptions and articulated practices. The findings indicated the teachers' appropriation of technology for knowledge building. The teachers also perceived technology as a tool of instruction to replace charts for curriculum content. The teachers believed technology augment children's readiness skills for first grade. The teachers' envisioned affordances of technology indicated their articulated practices for children's appropriation of technology. The findings also indicated the actual and envisioned barriers that challenged teachers' facilitation of the child as agent with technology in the Jamaican early childhood classroom. The findings indicate the importance of understanding the cultural context of teachers' practices with technology and provide implications for technological innovations in Jamaican classrooms. Information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) is a cultural activity to be explored with teachers, students, and their social partners in institutions of practice.

Research suggests that teacher-child interactions in early childhood classrooms are an essential element to high quality programs and child outcomes. With the increase in state funded pre-kindergarten classrooms across the nation and the growing concentration on academic content for young children, careful attention is needed to children’s social-emotional development. Research suggests that it is a strong social emotional foundation that contributes to children’s successful transition into their elementary school years. Therefore, the purpose of this mixed method study was to pilot the use of focal child data as a professional development tool for pre-kindergarten teachers to examine teacher-child interactions. Studying eight teachers across two pre-kindergarten sites, the development of participant’s knowledge of teacher-child interactions was captured using focal-child classroom observations, face-to-face exchanges, teacher reflections, and researcher field notes. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics from quantitative sources, combined with emerging themes through iterative cycles of coding qualitative data. Situated in a conceptual framework that places individual development in context, this study exemplifies the value of using uniquely tailored focal child data as a professional development tool for pre-kindergarten teachers. Findings from this mixed method study reveal how focal child data provided participating teachers with a new lens for examining teacher-child interactions, which led to a heightened awareness of and intentionality in their interactions with children. Additionally, a collaborative community of practice model for professional development contributed to teacher understanding and transformation over the course of this study. Capturing the direct social ecology of a child’s pre-kindergarten experience aided in understanding the relationship between specific children’s experiences and the context in which those experiences take place. Findings from this study enhance participant understanding of the complex nature of teacher-child interactions.

The transition to school marks an important developmental step for children and families. Coping and competence during such a transition begin long before the child enters the classroom and effects last for many years. Although children are born with the capacity to learn, it is the quality of relationships, particularly the relationship with the primary caregiver that shapes early learning experiences. This study examined the links between the attachment relationship between mother and child on the developing teacher-child relationship, the effects of the adult-child relationships on child outcomes and on children’s perspectives of their kindergarten experience. Contextual factors were considered in relation to adult-child relationships and child outcomes. Despite a robust literature on mother-child relationships and teacher-child relationships, no empirical studies have examined these relationships with parallel instruments and few studies include the children’s voices. For this study, participants included mothers and their kindergarten children (N= 74) and kindergarten teachers (N=7) from five schools that differed in linguistic and socio-economic profiles. Mothers and teachers completed a Q-Sort measure of child attachment security and dependency, and children participated in three early literacy tasks and a child interview. The lack of significant association between mother-child attachment quality and dependency and direct child literacy outcomes was a surprising finding. Nevertheless, child interviews revealed that children who were less secure and more dependent with their mothers expressed difficulties with the academic aspects of school. The quality of teacher-child relationships was positively related to children’s early literacy outcomes. These findings were interpreted in light of contextual factors as suggested by Bronfenbrenner’s social-ecological theory. Adult reports of children’s attachment security and dependency were related to children’s participation in childcare or in a preschool program for more than 10 hours a week and to attendance in a private school that offered a full day preschool and kindergarten program. The implications of these findings point to the important role of high quality early childhood experiences that support attachment relationships with caregivers as children make the transition to school.

The transition to school marks an important developmental step for children and families. Coping and competence during such a transition begin long before the child enters the classroom and effects last for many years. Although children are born with the capacity to learn, it is the quality of relationships, particularly the relationship with the primary caregiver that shapes early learning experiences. This study examined the links between the attachment relationship between mother and child on the developing teacher-child relationship, the effects of the adult-child relationships on child outcomes and on children’s perspectives of their kindergarten experience. Contextual factors were considered in relation to adult-child relationships and child outcomes. Despite a robust literature on mother-child relationships and teacher-child relationships, no empirical studies have examined these relationships with parallel instruments and few studies include the children’s voices. For this study, participants included mothers and their kindergarten children (N= 74) and kindergarten teachers (N=7) from five schools that differed in linguistic and socio-economic profiles. Mothers and teachers completed a Q-Sort measure of child attachment security and dependency, and children participated in three early literacy tasks and a child interview. The lack of significant association between mother-child attachment quality and dependency and direct child literacy outcomes was a surprising finding. Nevertheless, child interviews revealed that children who were less secure and more dependent with their mothers expressed difficulties with the academic aspects of school. The quality of teacher-child relationships was positively related to children’s early literacy outcomes. These findings were interpreted in light of contextual factors as suggested by Bronfenbrenner’s social-ecological theory. Adult reports of children’s attachment security and dependency were related to children’s participation in childcare or in a preschool program for more than 10 hours a week and to attendance in a private school that offered a full day preschool and kindergarten program. The implications of these findings point to the important role of high quality early childhood experiences that support attachment relationships with caregivers as children make the transition to school.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987.

Research on mathematics achievement has become increasingly important with today's technological advances and demand for specialized knowledge. Though there is much literature regarding mathematics achievement in monolingual speakers, little is known regarding the mathematical abilities of Dual Language Learner (DLL) Latino children. This study examined the early numeracy skills in English and Spanish of 132 DLL Latino children attending Head Start programs in five counties across Florida. Relationships and differences among their performance in both languages were examined, along with the contribution of specific parent demographic variables to math achievement. Findings indicated that DLL Latino Head Start children's performance on early numeracy tasks in both English and Spanish ranged from average to low average when compared to national normative samples of monolingual peers. Child participants' performance on early numeracy tasks in English and Spanish was related to some extent. In addition, multiple regression analyses revealed that combined demographic variables predicted math performance in English and Spanish, but only mothers' level of education uniquely predicted the child participants' math performance in Spanish. This study is an important contribution to the literature, as it provides data regarding the early numeracy skills of DLL Latino Head Start children, as well as implications for the field of school psychology. Future directions for research are also discussed.

Although research on children's play is abundant and considerable advances have been made in young children's play, the majority of these studies have been based in western developed countries and written from adults' perspectives rather than with children. Additionally, very little research has been done on children's play with active participants from smaller developing countries. The voices of society's youngest members have been lost or are only marginally represented. The purpose of this qualitative research is to explore, understand, and describe young Jamaican children's lived play experiences as related through their eyes. The theoretical frameworks used to guide this study are sociocultural theory and narrative case study. Narrative case study focuses on a particular phenomenon and, through rich description, each participant's story relates the complexities of this phenomenon. Sociocultural theory is related to the social, cultural, and historical theory of a people and is constructed as they participate in culturally pertinent activities. The examined literature, which draws on diverse theoretical frameworks, including Vygotsky and Rogoff's sociocultural theory and Bronfenbrenner's work on socioecological theory, discusses types of play, the relationship between play and children's development, indoor and outdoor play at school, and play as perceived by children. A key theme in this literature is children's beliefs and values observed through a cultural filter. The three 5-year-old children, their teacher, and parents were purposefully selected for this single-bounded case study. The methods of data collection include video-cued interviews (VCI), a researcher's journal, and observation and field-notes. An understanding of the history of Jamaican education and its people is essential to the successful implementation of the play-based curriculum. The importance of knowing how children view their play and its manifestations and meanings is compelling to the Jamaican people and will help inform teachers, teacher education programs, parents, national and international funders, and other stakeholders as they try to fuse Jamaican culture with global elements of young children education.

John Dewey’s Art as Experience (1934) declares art to be the “incomparable organ of instruction” on the third to last page of the book. This dissertation analyzes the place of children within the aesthetic philosophy Dewey expresses in the text and what the implications of Art as Experience could mean if applied to the art-making of children as the foundation for developing kindergarten and elementary curriculum. By exploring Dewey’s earlier writings on education and art, the dissertation develops a view of how art-making could be applied in a Deweyan pedagogy. The main influences on Dewey’s aesthetic development are explored including the frequently overlooked influence of F. Matthias Alexander. Particular emphasis is given to Dewey’s relationship with Albert Barnes and Dewey’s place in the Barnes Foundation as the Director of Education. The writings of Barnes and Dewey’s three associate directors of education are considered for their possible influence on Dewey’s aesthetic development as it applies to establishing a Deweyan philosophy of art-based education. A selection of the initial reviews of Art As Experience from 1934 and 1935 are analyzed to establish the reception of the book. The contentious arguments that Dewey and Benedetto Croce exchanged in print from the late 1940s until both men’s deaths are explored for what they reveal about Dewey’s view of intuition in art-making. A selection of contemporary writers’ views on Dewey’s aesthetics are considered as well as the conclusions of the 1989 University of Illinois Symposium on the influence of Art as Experience. The dissertation concludes by isolating twenty concepts from Art as Experience and considering their meaning as the foundation on which kindergarten and elementary curriculum could be formed. The guidelines are built upon 76 passages from Art as Experience and establish John Dewey as a dominant influence in the formation of Art Education. / text

The purpose of this research study was to examine the effects of Interactive Metronome (IM), a non-academic treatment, when integrated with reading intervention. The intention was to analyze the degree to which IM affected fluency when introduced alongside reading intervention. The research questions that guided this study focused on how internal timekeeping affects reading fluency. This study used a multiple baseline across participant’s single-subject design. Three participants were monitored to determine a baseline using Curriculum Based Measures and Correct Word Per Minute data, and then each received a total of 15 hours of Interactive Metronome treatment. Progress was documented with progress monitoring of fluency using Curriculum Based Measures over a period of 17-22 weeks. Results suggest that students did not benefit from the Interactive Metronome treatment. Data derived from the study does not indicate a causal relationship between Interactive Metronome and improved fluency. Future research should investigate a possible connection between Interactive Metronome and comprehension.