This two-part dissertation investigated the home language experiences and language development of 35 toddler-aged children from low-income Mexican immigrant families. These children represent a rapidly growing demographic in the United States. Because early language abilities are closely linked to later academic success, understanding the characteristics of the early language learning experiences provided in the homes of Mexican immigrant children is a foundational step to supporting their strengths and needs prior to formal school entry. In the first study of this dissertation, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the children’s mothers regarding the everyday activity settings of their young children. Degree of maternal acculturation was also assessed. Commonalities and variations in mothers’ values, beliefs, and practices regarding language teaching and learning were revealed. The commonalities included attention towards children’s early behavior and social skills, collective child-rearing practices, emphasis on the family unit and Mexican identity, and support for Spanish-English language learning and educational success, among others. A limited number of variations were also found to be associated with mothers’ affiliation with Anglo-American culture. In the second study, naturalistic recordings of the toddlers' language input in the home were analyzed in-depth to describe features of the quantity and quality of the input to which children were exposed. A wide range of variability in children’s quantity and quality was found. In addition, the relative amount of Spanish and English spoken to children was determined. Spanish was the primary language used with children, although English was also used in most homes. Children’s productive vocabulary in both languages was further measured contemporaneously; total vocabulary size ranged widely across children. There were no associations revealed between the characteristics of children’s language input quantity and quality and their productive vocabulary, although quantity and quality were related to one another. Implications of both studies to early childhood researchers and practitioners focused on early language development, including speech-language pathologists, are discussed. / Communication Sciences

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-10-19T12:01:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Mônica Andrigo Moreira de Ulhoa Coelho.pdf: 2869552 bytes, checksum: e62b5c2bb3ae86f54aac6a298dd0f093 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-19T12:01:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mônica Andrigo Moreira de Ulhoa Coelho.pdf: 2869552 bytes, checksum: e62b5c2bb3ae86f54aac6a298dd0f093 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-29 / Fundação São Paulo - FUNDASP / The subject of this master´s dissertation is related to early childhood and resilience in infants (four weeks to 18 months old) and toddlers (18 to 36 months old). The study aimed at translating into Portuguese and transculturally adapting the early childhood assessment for infants and toddlers named ―Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for Infants and Toddlers‖ (DECA I/T), developed by Gregg Powell, Mary Mackrain and Paul LeBuffe, owned by The Devereux Foundation, edited and published by Kaplan Early Learning Corporation in 2007. DECA I/T assessment measures the social and emotional protective factors (attachment/relationship, initiative and self-regulation) to evaluate and indicate the strength of such factors in infants and toddlers. For the translation and transcultural adaptation of the assessment, the guidelines of Hambleton and Patsula (1998) and Souza and Rojjanasrirat (2010) were generally used. The procedure consisted of the following steps: (a) translation of the original instrument in English into Portuguese by two Brazilian, bilingual, independent translators, being one of them a sworn-translator, both of them familiarized with the Brazilian and American cultures, and without knowledge in Psychology; (b) comparison and consolidation of both translated versions by the researcher, who acted as a third translator, and review of the synthetized version; (c) back-translation of the consolidated version in Portuguese into English by another American, bilingual, independent translator, fluent in Portuguese, familiarized with the Brazilian and American cultures and not working in the Psychology area, followed by review and approval of the final version of the assessment in Portuguese by an Expert Committee; (d) application of the Portuguese final version in a pilot project. The translated DECA I was applied to and responded by 13 evaluators (six mothers, one grandmother, one father and five nursery caregivers of infants). A total of 12 infants were evaluated (one of them was evaluated by the father and the nursery caregiver). The translated DECA T was applied to and responded by 13 evaluators (six mothers, one grandmother, two room assistants, two educators e two teachers of toddlers). A total of 19 toddlers were evaluated (two room assistants evaluated two toddlers each, two educators evaluated three toddlers each, and two teachers evaluated three toddlers each). After application of the pilot project, the translation into Portuguese of DECA I/T was considered culturally adapted and apt for future validation / O tema da dissertação de mestrado é ligado à primeira infância e à resiliência em bebês (de quatro semanas a 18 meses de idade) e crianças (de 18 a 36 meses de idade). O objetivo do trabalho foi traduzir para o português e realizar a adaptação transcultural da escala de avaliação da primeira infância para bebês e crianças denominada Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for Infants and Toddlers (DECA I/T), criada e desenvolvida por Gregg Powell, Mary Mackrain e Paul LeBuffe, detida pela The Devereux Foundation, editada e publicada por Kaplan Early Learning Corporation em 2007. A escala DECA I/T mede os fatores de proteção sociais e emocionais (apego/relacionamento, iniciativa e autorregulação) para avaliar e indicar a força desses fatores em bebês e crianças. Para realização da tradução e adaptação transcultural foram utilizadas, em linhas gerais, as diretrizes e orientações de Hambleton e Patsula (1998) e Souza e Rojjanasrirat (2010). O procedimento consistiu das seguintes etapas: (a) tradução do instrumento original em inglês para o português por duas tradutoras brasileiras independentes e bilíngues, sendo uma delas juramentada, ambas familiarizadas com a cultura brasileira e americana e sem conhecimento em psicologia; (b) comparação e unificação das duas versões traduzidas pela pesquisadora, que atuou como terceira tradutora, e revisão da versão unificada; (c) retrotradução da versão unificada para o inglês por outro tradutor independente bilíngue, estadunidense, fluente em português, familiarizado com a cultura brasileira e a americana e não atuante na área de psicologia, seguida de revisão e aprovação da versão final da escala em português por Comitê de Especialistas; (d) aplicação da versão final em português em um projeto piloto. A DECA I traduzida foi aplicada e respondida por 13 avaliadores (seis mães, uma avó, um pai e cinco berçaristas de bebês). No total foram avaliados 12 bebês, sendo um deles avaliado pelo pai e pela berçarista. A DECA T foi aplicada e respondida por 13 avaliadores (seis mães, uma avó, duas assistentes de sala, duas educadoras e duas professoras de crianças). No total foram avaliadas 19 crianças, pois duas assistentes de sala avaliaram duas crianças cada, duas educadoras avaliaram, cada uma, três crianças, e duas professoras avaliaram, cada uma, três crianças. Após a aplicação do projeto piloto, a tradução para o português da DECA I/T foi considerada culturalmente adaptada e apta para futura validação

This diploma thesis deals with bathing children, especially infants and toddlers, in indoor swimming pools. It focuses primarily on the potential health and hygiene risks of this activity. It is divided into theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part provides a deeper insight into the field of artificial swimming pools, is dedicated to current as well as first ever legislation, in more detail is dedicated to the hygienic requirements for swimming pools according to Decree no. 238/2011, as amended; describes the process of pool water treatment, provides an overview of possible types of disinfecting pool water treatment and comparison within the advantages and disadvantages, describes indicators of water quality and their importance, and mostly focuses on hygienic and health risks in connection with the visit of indoor pools. Gives examples from practice (epidemic), mentions the most common sources of pollution including the most common violations of visitors. The theme of hygienic and health risks is then divided according to the origin of risk to the microbiological part (dedicated to infectious agents), to chemical part (disinfection by products) and to the part of accident risks and risks associated with the water temperature. The thesis is also keenly interested in the views of experts for bathing children, especially infants and toddlers, in indoor artificial pools. Research in the practical part was made by a qualitative method using secondary data analysis (operational and guest regulations, operational logbooks for 2015, the results of laboratory analysis of pool water for the 2015, laws and decrees), participant observation and interviews. The research was conducted in indoor swimming pools in towns Jihlava and Prachatice, which run swimming courses for infants and toddlers as well as for older children. For research, I set the following goals: C1: To monitor the microbiological and the physical-chemical indicators of the pool water quality in relation to Decree no. 238/2011 Coll., as amended, in pre-selected artificial indoor pools during annual operation. C2: To focus on the health status of children (infants and toddlers) in swimming classes. C3: To find out the knowledge and attitudes of visitors (parents) and trainers in the field of hygiene principles for swimming in artificial pools and risks arising from them. Based on the targets I have set the following research questions: V1: Are the monitored microbiological and physico-chemical water quality limits exceeded, and if so, which and under what circumstances? V2: What health problems, if they occured, did infants and toddlers after regular visits of indoor pools have ? V3: Are these children suffering from allergic diseases, and if so, from what type? V4: What knowledge and attitudes do visitors (parents) and lecturers in the field of hygienic principles for swimming in artificial pools and potential risks have? This thesis may serve the general public to extend the knowledge in the field of bathing (not only the children) in artificial pools and to give a view on this subject from different perspectives, as well as operators of swimming pools as an information material.