The purpose of this study was to explore the potential connection between emotional awareness and resilience in a young child affected by HIV/AIDS. The study forms part of a broad research project, the Kgolo-Mmogo project, involving a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Pretoria, South Africa and Yale University in the United States of America. The Kgolo-Mmogo project aims to investigate the adaptive functioning of children affected by HIV/AIDS, whilst potentially enhancing resilience. The project involves an assessment of the participating children, which is followed by a structured intervention and post assessment. The conceptual framework for my study was based on existing literature relating to early childhood development, emotional development, as well as children affected by HIV/AIDS and resilience. I followed a qualitative approach, anchored in the interpretivist paradigm. I utilised an instrumental case study research design and conveniently selected the participants, who were involved in the broader Kgolo- Mmogo project at the onset of my study. One five year old girl, her mother and the care workers who facilitated the intervention, participated in my study. I observed eleven intervention sessions, as well as the pre- and post assessment. In addition to observation, documented in the form of field notes, photographs and a research journal, I employed conversational interviews with the care workers, for data collection and member-checking purposes. I also conducted two semi-structured interviews with the mother of the participant. Three main themes emerged subsequent to thematic data analysis. The first theme relates to developmentally appropriate skills that remained constant throughout my study, with the sub-themes associated with the cognitive, emotional and social domain of development. The second theme concerns accelerated emotional functioning in certain areas of development, with the sub-themes being an increased frequency in referring to feelings, and an increased differentiation when referring to feelings and desires. The last theme entails the enhancement of social skills, with the sub-themes relating to the formation of trusting relationships and enhanced communication about experiences. Based on the findings I obtained, I can conclude that the Kgolo-Mmogo intervention seemingly provided some learning opportunities to foster emotional resilience in a young, vulnerable child. Copyright / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This study aims to explore children’s perspectives on conflict resolution within their peer groups. Children’s peer groups and cultures are a crucial setting for social and emotional development and can be reflective of broader peer cultures. This is an area of great importance within child studies and has been influenced by Corsaro’s ideas around children’s social worlds (Corsaro, 2009:321). More specifically, this study is built around the following research questions: 1) What do children perceive as positive ways to solve a conflict? 2) What do children perceive as negative ways to solve a conflict? 3) How do children perceive the role of adults in conflict resolution? Previous literature provides an insight into this topic that comes often through the adult lens (Jones, 2020: 479). This study aimed to include direct child participation in research, allowing agency and voice in the research made about them (Corsaro, 2009:321). To address the research questions, a qualitative study with twelve children in their second year of school, around the ages of seven and eight, was conducted. The children were given an opportunity to talk about their perspectives and viewpoints by engaging in discussions, by using arts-based methods and creating visual materials in the forms of mind-maps and lists as are common within Participation Visual Methods (PVM) research.The written data that was derived from the creative methods was analysed using thematic analysis, with the direct observations and visual drawings used to support our interpretations. The main themes that arose from this study can be explained using verbal, non-verbal and ambiguous strategies for resolving conflicts. Further subthemes such as displaying pro-social behaviours, apologising, compromising, and hostile expressions were identified through our data analysis. This study contributes to sociocultural research in child studies. This study grants insight into child-centred research about navigating conflicts as fundamental components of human relations.

No description available.

No description available.

Research has suggested that emotion regulation may be an important predictor of problematic outcomes for children. In particular, the lack of emotion regulation and the inability to effectively utilize emotion regulation have been investigated within the context of children's problematic behaviors. Thus, identifying variables that may be related to the development of emotion regulation abilities in children may prove important for formulating the psychological interventions that are used with young children. One important protective variable may be the parent-child relationship, as empirical evidence suggests that multiple characteristics associated with parenting and the parent-child relationship are intertwined with the emotional development of children. Therefore, this study examined the relationships among parental self-efficacy, parenting style, parents' perceptions of their children· and perceived emotion regulation abilities in preschool children. Thirty-six parents with children between the ages of 2- and 6-years old who were attending private preschool facilities in the greater Orlando area completed measures regarding their parenting behaviors and characteristics, as well as about their children's emotional and behavioral functioning. Results of this study indicate that parenting self-efficacy predicts significantly parenting style and parents' perceptions of children, but does not predict significantly discipline style, and that the parenting variables examined in this study predict significantly reported levels of children, s emotion regulation. These findings emphasize the importance of research investigating the relationships among parenting behaviors and emotional development in young children for bettering the outcomes of these children.

This study was directed to explore the practicability of play therapy as a support system to primary schools in order to offer the child an optimal learning opportunity. A need exists to support primary schools, to establish therapeutic services which will be available to all children with emotional, behaviour and social problems. Gestalt play therapy can be used as a source of support within the context of the primary school. It is important that the therapist and teacher have sufficient knowledge around the different developmental phases of the child. In this study the focus was on the general characteristics, cognitive, social- and moral development of the primary school child. A qualitative approach and by utilizing semi-structured interviews, were used in order to collect the data concerning the study. Results from the empirical research indicated that there is a definite necessity for therapeutic services, as support systems at primary schools, in order to assist the child to reach his/her maximum potential. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Spelterapie)

The research study was determined by the fact that child development is important and that teachers/caregivers must acknowledge every child's level of development, age, individuality, social and cultural background when planning a program. Children are complex beings and therefore the literature study focused on pre-schooler, three to five years, child development during this stage and domains and principles of development. Semi-structured interviews were based on literature study and used to guide the interviews. After analyzing the data themes and sub-themes was identified and verified with literature. The teachers/caregivers were able to share knowledge, experiences, needs and concerns. To conclude recommendations were made to help teacher/caregivers to plan how to include child development in their daily program. / Social Work / M.Diac (Play Therapy)