Preschool attendance is widely recognized as a key ingredient for later socioeconomic success, mothers' labor market participation, and leveling the playing field for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, the empirical evidence for these claims is still relatively scarce, particularly in Europe. Using data from the 2011 Austrian European Union Statistics of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), we contribute to this literature in all mentioned dimensions. In particular, we investigate the effect of preschool attendance on an individual's later educational attainment, the probability that they work full time and their hourly wages, the likelihood of the mother working when the child is 14 years old, and on the overall distribution of wages. We find strong and positive effects of preschool attendance on educational attainment, the probability of working full time, hourly wages, and the probability that the mother is in the labor market. Full time workers at the bottom and the top of the distribution tend to benefit less than those in the middle. Women in particular benefit more in terms of years of schooling and the probability of working full time. Other disadvantaged groups (second migration migrants; people with less educated parents) also often benefit more in terms of education and work. (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

A qualitative approach was used to explore the perspectives of seven parents of preschool age children with disabilities in Virginia regarding occupational therapy and the transition from early intervention (EI) to early childhood special education (ECSE). Open-ended interviews were used to collect data from each family participant and were presented as individual case reports. A cross-case analysis revealed six common categories and four overarching themes. Results indicated that the transition was viewed positively when parents saw benefits of the change and when they were oriented toward the future. Parents viewed the EI and ECSE systems as not sharing their same perspective on the transition. The role of the occupational therapist was viewed as dynamic and shifting in response to the needs of the child, the family and the system. Lastly, communication, involvement and relationships with the occupational therapist were intimately related. Implications for the field of occupational therapy are given.

Preschool attendance is widely recognized as a key ingredient for later socioeconomic success, mothers' labor market participation, and leveling the playing field for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, the empirical evidence for these claims is still relatively scarce, particularly in Europe. Using data from the 2011 Austrian European Union Statistics of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), we contribute to this literature by studying the effects of having attended preschool for the adult Austrian population. We find strong and positive effects of preschool attendance on later educational attainment, the probability of working full time, hourly wages, and the probability that the mother is in the labor market. Full time workers at the bottom and the top of the distribution benefit less than those in the middle. Women in particular benefit more in terms of years of schooling and the probability of working full time. Other disadvantaged groups (second generation migrants; people with less educated parents) also often benefit more in terms of education and work.

With the assumptions that we are all for social justice and that early childhood teacher education programmes need to take a stand on social justice and provide prospective teachers with the practical tools to work with children in early childhood settings, the author of this thesis conducted an instrumental case study aimed to illuminate a process of critical thinking towards conceptualising professional knowledge in teaching for social justice in pre-service early childhood teacher education in Colombia. The purpose of the research was to bring insights into how teacher educators’ views and understandings of social justice influence their pedagogical and practical knowledge with regard to preparing prospective teachers to work with children in Colombian early childhood settings. The inquiry was developed in three stages (an internet-based survey, focus groups and written accounts) and thirty teacher educators working in a university based pre-service early childhood teacher education programme, participated in the study. The findings showed that teacher educators’ views and understandings of social justice in early childhood teacher education were associated with global discourses of inclusion, child rights, equity and equal opportunities for All. These understandings were identified in explicit actions regarding equality, diversity and respect in early childhood education. The findings also showed that other views of social justice appeared to be embedded in local and particular understandings of equity and equality that revealed a dual perception of social justice manifested through implicit and silenced actions with regard to preparing prospective early childhood educators. These particular views which exposed intentions and sensitivity towards teaching for social justice revealed generative forces and synergies in the early childhood teacher education programme. Implications of this study suggest the influence of teacher educators’ views and understanding of social justice in their political, pedagogical and practical professional knowledge with regard to preparing early childhood educators to live on co-existence as ‘vivencialistas’ committed to be citizens in social justice working with children in early childhood settings.

Over the past two decades reported rates of autism have steadily risen. The current incidence is 1 in 68 children. While autism can be reliably diagnosed at 18 months in most children with the condition, specialized autism treatment rarely begins before a child's third or fourth birthday. As screening and diagnosis procedures improve so does the need for effective early interventions for autism. Researchers and professionals have expressed a growing concern over the need for effective early interventions for infants and toddlers with autism. At the same time, there is a dearth of qualitative research exploring the needs and experiences of parents with a very young child with autism. Employing a phenomenological framework, the purpose of this study was to investigate the lived experiences of parents of a young child with autism receiving early special education services. Unstructured interviews and photo elicitation were used to generate rich, detailed descriptions of the phenomenon. Data analysis from photographic images and narrative dialogues illuminated six essential themes across participants: (a) parents as pioneers: forging the way for future families; (b) making the journey as a family; (c) navigating uncharted service systems; (d) overcoming challenges and obstacles; (e) resilience, ingenuity and hope; and (f) reflecting on the first three years and looking forward. Participants expressed that they felt this study gave them a "voice" in the research literature. This study is one of the first to investigate the lived experiences of parents as they seek and secure autism services for their child under five with autism.

This research is based on three case studies, each of which involved a critical examination of how early childhood centres responded to children with disabilities. The first case study involved gathering information at seven full-day workshops undertaken at seven locations in the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The early childhood teachers, other professionals and parents who attended these workshops provided information on centre policies with regard to children with disabilities and on their own views about issues in this area. The second case study involved participant observation and interviews in a kindergarten across ten months. In this setting, I was actively involved in the daily programme, looking at how the kindergarten responded to Craig, a child with severe disabilities, and his family. The third case study involved participant observation and interviews in a childcare centre across ten months. In this setting, I looked at how the centre and its community included Peter, a child with Down Syndrome, and his family. In each of the case studies I was interested in understanding how children with disabilities may be included in early childhood settings and how some children with disabilities may experience exclusion from such centres. The data from the three studies were theorised from a social constructionist position that suggests that our understandings of the world are made evident in the way in which we name and talk about issues. Within this theoretical position, it is through discourse that knowledge and meaning about a phenomenon are formed and produced. Discourses function as a system of rules giving authority to what may be said and thought in relation to a particular subject. In the present case, the focal subject was disability. From the case studies it was evident that two particular discourses had significant and contrasting implications for policy and practice in early childhood education. A medical-model discourse that saw disability as a condition of an individual child in need of "special" education and treatment was related to children with disabilities experiencing discrimination and exclusion. A discourse of inclusion in which disability was viewed as part of a continuum of human experience was related to policy and practice that was focussed on the elimination of barriers, and to full participation in early childhood settings. The thesis suggests that removing barriers to participation is consistent with a social justice approach to disability that acknowledges the need for both redistributive justice through resource allocation, and respect for differences through justice as affirmative cultural recognition.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-108).

Abstract This paper is based on the study of a special education teacher who tutoring a particular child in a kindergarten, evaluating the effects of the case of its social abilities and cognitive abilities learning after a tutoring service. The study object is a heavy degree of retarded child with the age of five years and five months old. This paper is to apply the method of quality case study, starting from the evaluation of the basic ability of the case to involve in a four times of social abilities learning program and tutoring, for one year of period. It is to make an essential record in detail of the social abilities in the process of the cognitive abilities learning and performance, and to re-evaluate the result and its effects of the case situation after the itinerant teaching service. This study found : (A) A good improvement in the social abilities of the case, by means of the tutoring and a four-times social teaching program, especially of the interaction with its peer group , and also with a good progress in the adaptability to the environment, but not showing the eminent result in the interaction with adults. (B) A good improvement in the cognitive abilities learning, with the increasing of the time length in the concentration about the aspects of seeing, listening, and playing, a good progress in the cognition of self-conception, and basic skills of learning in writing, reading. The case has gradually developed a reading habit. As to the numeric conception and memory shows little progress, but not found in the improvement of the logic thinking.

This research study had two primary purposes. The first purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of professional development training sessions with early childhood educators by measuring the emergent literacy skills of their students. The second purpose was to begin to establish concurrent validity for a fairly new skills-based instrument with an established norm-referenced instrument.A pretest-posttest design to assess the children's emergent literacy skills was utilized. After the pretest was conducted with the subjects, ages 3-5 years old, their teachers from the experimental group attended professional development sessions to address emergent literacy strategies for their early childhood classrooms. The teachers in the control group did not participate in the professional development sessions. At the conclusion of the intervention period the children's emergent literacy skills were posttested.The pretest and posttest assessments were conducted following best practice guidelines for early childhood education assessments. The early childhood educators who knew the children well completed the skills-based instrument through an observation process with a rating scale. The primary researcher conducted the norm-referenced instrument with each of the children in a one-on-one situation at the child's early childhood center.The scores of the two instruments were analyzed to evaluate the gains of the children, the significance of independent variables, and to examine the relationship between the two instruments. The data showed that the children in the treatment condition did make significant gains over the control group in the area of Readiness skills, but not in other areas assessed. Additionally, the independent variables of subject's gender and teacher's years of experience were significant for few of the subscales of the assessment tools. This study did begin to establish concurrent validity for the Language Arts Objective Sequence (LOS) with the Test of Early Reading Ability-Third edition (TERA-3). The LOS did possess internal consistency and demonstrated a positive correlation with the TERA-3 at the pretest. Further studies to establish concurrent validity with posttests as well as pretests need to be conducted. / Department of Special Education

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of North Texas, Aug., 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.