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Within the Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) literature the primary research focus has been directed towards children with DCD. Little has been investigated regarding the long term prognosis of these individuals with regards to the impact of the disorder in later life. Also, previous investigations and resulting suggestions of underlying aetiology have been based on behavioural data of poor performance with few studies examining the underlying biological considerations. Thus, the research within this thesis had two key aims. The first being to examine underlying processes associated with adaptive and goal directed movement in a sample of adults with DCD. The second aim was to provide biological evidence for the continued difficulties of adults with DCD. Previous work in the area of cognitive psychology has identified distinct sensory and motor control functions as hallmarks of efficient and adaptive movement. This thesis explores the underlying sensory and motor control abilities of adults with DCD. There were two key aspects of this thesis with the first consisting of an investigation into the manner in which adults with DCD utilize sensory functions as a consequence of movement preparation. The secondary portion of this thesis focused on two key aspects of response modulation, the ability to effectively activate cortical regions underpinning effector response and response inhibition. Both aspects of the thesis drew methodological influences from the field of electroencephalography. This approach provided direct biological measurement of both sensory and response related activity. The data obtained within this thesis provides evidence that adults with DCD do in fact demonstrate both atypical behavioural and biological functions during manual response activity. Chapter 4 highlighted key behavioural findings identifying that the DCD group demonstrates continued difficulty with accurate movement compared to typically developing peers. Chapters 5 and 6 focused on sensory activity as a consequence of movement preparation. The findings from these chapters suggest that adults with DCD present with maladaptive early sensory processing functions required for accurate movement output. Findings from the later chapters investigating response related activity suggest that adults with DCD experience difficulty with both measures of response activation and inhibition. In summary, these findings suggest that adults with DCD experience an array of sensorimotor and response related difficulties vital to adaptive goal directed movement. Importantly, the findings presented within this thesis are the first to present direct biological based evidence for continued difficulties in a sample of adults with DCD. Conclusions are discussed in relation to previous research along with the possible influences these findings have in behaviour. The limitations of the current research and suggestions for future work are also considered.

This study provides evidence showing the ability of ten children under three years of age to solve problems in managing their worlds. It analyses a series of observations made over a ten-month period of these children 'at work' in their nurseries. The analysis is set against current research and takes account of the support provided to the children by their key person - the adult who acts as their main carer in the nursery setting. The study details the rationale for using nurseries as a research location; it proposes a working definition of 'problem solving'; it describes the ethical framework used in governing the conduct and use of the observations, and the analytical framework to which the observations are subjected. The study shows that the use and development of the children's problem solving capability in their nurseries is influenced by organisational factors and that adult support is emotional as well as practical. It also raises several issues: practitioners' perceptions of constraints placed by the current Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum, over-reliance on some support methods to the exclusion of others, attitudes to risk taking, acknowledging children's ownership of their problems and the use of failure as well as success to support their learning. The study highlights several areas worthy of further research, including the use of treasure baskets to develop problem solving skills, recognition of children's preferred patterns of thinking and an examination of what some practitioners involved in the study termed 'intuitive support'. Arising from this study is the question 'so, what happens next?' I suggest that more discussion is required in early years settings about the use of problem solving as a vehicle for very young's children's learning. Furthermore, practitioners' roles in developing children's cognitive skills and supporting their emotional needs must be part of this discussion.

There is emerging evidence to support the use of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) to treat children with mental health difficulties. However, the efficacy of CBT for children aged seven years and younger remains unclear. Research has focused on understanding if younger children are able to engage in cognitive tasks associated with CBT. The current study aimed to develop current research findings by investigating the relationship between theory of mind development, age, IQ and mental health status on young children's ability to successfully complete tasks related to CBT. A community sample of 98 children aged 54 to 84 months participated in the study. Children were tested on four tasks. The first task measured the ability to discriminate between thoughts, feelings and behaviours. The second task measured their ability to identify their owm thoughts and feelings and establish links between them. The third task was a shortened form of a standardised intelligence test (WPPS-III ). The fourth task measured theory of mind ability.

Face stimuli challenge the infant's immature visual processing system's capacity to differentiate stimuli that differ in subtle ways. Experiments I to 4 investigated infants' preference for the human face between birth and 3 months of age when contrasted with four control stimuli. A visual preference technique was used because it does not call upon the participant's ability to speak. A spontaneous preference for a photographic representation of the human face was observed at birth for three out of four conditions. At 3 months of age, a preference for the human face was observed in two conditions. However, at I month of age, no preferences were observed. Findings did not support the view that the selectivity of the infant's responses to faces increases with exposure to faces and narrowing of the perceptual window (Nelson, 2001). Experiment 5 examined infants' ability to discriminate specific exemplars of the human face category, namely the mother's face, between I and 9 months of age. A preference for the mother's face was observed at I month. A tendency to prefer the stranger's face was observed at 3 months. No preference was observed at 6 and 9 months, thus suggesting that the visual preference procedure is not suitable for measuring recognition at these ages. Premature birth is associated with brain injury, which can lead to visual and intellectual deficits. Experiment 6 investigated general intelligence as well as face processing in school-aged children born prematurely and at term. Results indicated that premature children displayed levels within the normal range of intelligence. Furthermore, no long-term visual deficits were observed as performance levels for the discrimination of facial emotions were comparable between groups. Only premature children displayed an inversion effect, thereby demonstrating an adult-like face processing system.