Thesis--PlanA (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Phil.(Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 247-285).

Thesis (MSD (Play Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 271-290).

The last oral health survey conducted by the government of Hong Kong in 2001 found that dental caries was common among the kindergarten children and that most of their dental caries was untreated. The overall aims of this research project were to find out the oral health status of the kindergarten children in Hong Kong and the outcomes of providing a private practice based dental service programme to these children. To achieve the first aim, an oral health survey was conducted in 2007. Through stratified simple random sampling, 12 kindergartens in Hong Kong Island were selected. All children attending grades 1 to 2, aged 3 to 5 years, in the kindergartens were invited to participate. Children with parental consent were clinically examined by one of two calibrated examiners. A questionnaire on the child’s demographic background and oral health related behaviours was completed by the parents. Response rate of the survey was 89% and 1,343 children were examined. Their mean age was 52 months (SD=7) and 51.5% were boys. Around one third (35.3%) of the children had experienced dental caries. The mean dmft score was 1.5, increasing from 1.2 at age 3 to 2.0 at age 5 (ANOVA, p=0.016). Soft, cavitated caries (dt) accounted for 90% of the dmft score. The prevalence and severity of dental caries in the children were associated with the children’s socio-demographic background, and their dietary and tooth-brushing habits. To find out the feasibility of implementing a private clinic based dental service program for the preschool children a total of 245 children attending grade 1 in 9 kindergartens were invited to participate. Baseline information of the children was collected through a clinical examination and a parental questionnaire at April 2007. After baseline data collection, the study children were randomly allocated into the test or the control group. Children in the test group were offered free dental services at regular intervals in 3 private dental clinics. Evaluation took place in July 2009 after the completion of the 24-month intervention programme through conducting clinical examinations and a parental questionnaire. After 24 months, 88% of the control and test group students remained in the study. The mean dental appointment attendance rate of the test group children was 53%. Individualized instructions on oral hygiene were provided to 82% of the children and 52% of the children had received topical fluoride application. Treatments were provided to more than 30% of the children and the mean number of dental fillings placed is 1.1. The mean total running cost per child was around HK$100 a year. The kindergarten children who were covered by the study dental service programme had better oral health than that of the children who were not. The study programme was effective in preventing development of new dental caries and in reducing the amount of untreated caries among the test group children. However, it was not effective in improving the oral health related behaviours and oral hygiene status of the children. The study programme was acceptable to the kindergartens, the parents and the children by the satisfaction study. Consumer satisfaction was reasonable high. / published_or_final_version / Dentistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Overweight and obesity in children is an extensive and accelerating problem in the western world. The risk factors for overweight are well- known and well-documented. Focus should lie in the prophylactic work in order to prevent overweight and obesity in preschool children. The aim of our study has been to highlight the role of the district nurse in her/his work to prevent overweight and obesity in preschool children. The study was carried out through studies as a literature review. In order to support the parents and taking their circumstances and conditions into consideration, it was considered very important that the district nurse paid attention to the view of the parents on the weight of their child. Parents were considered to have an important role in giving their children healthy eating habits. The attitude of the district nurse was relevant as to how she/he treated the overweight and how she/he tackled the preventive work. Professional practice and training within the field were important factors in making the district nurse succeed in her/his work to prevent overweight and obesity in children. Lack of time and lack of parental commitment and attitude were the main reasons for limiting the district nurse in her work to prevent overweight and obesity in children. Personnel within the primary care should supervise and coordinate health promoting measures in order to prevent overweight and obesity in children. The district nurse plays a unique part in influencing the parents very early on in their children’s life by arranging regular and repeated visits to the child welfare center. The basis for a successful work by the district nurse is training and the fact that she is made aware of her own attitudes towards overweight. More research is imperative to support and develop guidelines for preventing overweight and obesity in children.

Preschool children grow up in a media-saturated environment, easily accessing a variety of technologies, including television. This study investigated the environmental content in both the television programming for preschool children and in the personal narratives of this viewing audience. Cultivation studies suggest the lack of environmental content on television, coupled with heavy viewing patterns, reduces individual concerns for the environment. This study explored the possible cultivation effect that television viewing enacts on preschool children’s conceptions of the environment. A content analysis coded environmental actions and environmental literacy benchmarks on preschool television. Interviews with preschoolers explored their conceptions of the environment through a play-based narrative. Findings include: environmental content exists on television but lacks frequency and context to enhance audience understanding; and preschool children utilize experiences from their daily lives and from television to explain “nature.”

The focus of this research was to examine whether the Medieval Kingdom social role topology, as devised by Adcock and Segal (1983), could be applied with kindergarten children, and to assess the association between the social roles children assumed and seven non-behavioral variables. One hundred and seventy-three children from ten kindergarten classes in two schools participated in the study. Hypotheses that the Medieval Kingdom could be distilled from a sample of kindergarten children and that specific non-behavioral variables including cognitive ability, physical attractiveness, self-esteem, and chronological age were related to the assumption of leadership roles within the topology were confirmed. Children's gender, birth order, and number of siblings were not found to influence status within the social hierarchy. The findings suggest that the Medieval Kingdom is a potentially useful heuristic for understanding the peer relationships of kindergarten children.

This thesis explores preschoolers' use of causal-associations (associations between specific instrument and effects) and causal relations incorporating knowledge of transformation from initial to final states. Gelman, Bullock and Meek (1980) claimed that preschoolers use causal relations. However, in their study it was possible to make correct choices using causal-associations. Therefore, in Experiments 1 and 2 tasks were designed to distinguish between use of the two relations. Preschoolers made inferences about instruments which could produce the transformations depicted within event sequences (based on those used by Gelman et al.). Performance on tasks requiring selection of causal relations was significantly worse than performance on tasks where causal-associations could be used. Two methods of reasoning, Relational (causal) and Associative- Causal Matching, were identified. Modified versions of the tasks in Experiment 1 were used in Experiments 3, 4 and 5. Four-year-olds were more proficient at using Relational Methods than 3-year-olds although both ages demonstrated the ability to use this method. In Experiment 6 children had to construct sequences. Three-year-olds preferred associative constructions to causal ones. This preference may have influenced their performance in the previous experiments. Experiments 1, 2, 3 and 5 incorporated sequences with compound end-states (e.g. wet and broken cup). Three-year-olds clearly preferred to focus on just one of these attributes, chosen on the basis of salience. This preference evidently contributed to their lower scores throughout these experiments. However, even when relative salience was controlled (Experiment 7) or when single attributes were used (Experiment 4) 3-year-olds' performance was worse than 4-year-olds' in terms of choices based on causal relations. These experiments indicate that preschoolers use both Associative-Causal and Relational Methods. There is evidence for a shift from a preference for judgements based on associative relations to a preference for causal relations between 3 and 5 years. The ability to deal with compound features also appears to develop over the preschool years.

Purpose: This study examined the effectiveness of two differing interventions to improve the consonant cluster production in six children aged 4-5 years with concomitant speech sound disorder and expressive language difficulty. Method: Participants were selected for the study based on a high incidence of consonant clusters errors in their speech production. All participants had at least 75% of their cluster production attempts in error in their initial speech sample. The participants were randomly assigned to receive 24 hours of either a phonological awareness intervention with integrated speech targets (Gillon & Moriarty, 2005), or a morphosyntax intervention which alternated therapy sessions for language and speech targets (Haskill, Tyler, & Tolbert, 2001) Each intervention was administered in two blocks of 6 weeks separated by a 6-week therapy break. Hour-long small group intervention sessions were attended twice weekly by all participants. Consonant cluster productions were assessed using speech probes and standardised speech assessments. These were administered pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at follow-up 3 months post-intervention. These measures were compared to identify any improvement in (a) word-initial cluster accuracy as a result of /s/ clusters being targeted in the phonological awareness intervention;(b) word-final cluster accuracy as a result of word-final morphemes being targeted in the morphosyntax intervention; and (c) cluster element accuracy as a result of improved production of the phonemes as singletons. Results: The data supported the hypotheses that targeting word-initial clusters in the phonological awareness intervention would lead to improvements in accuracy for target /s/ clusters, non-target /s/ clusters and singleton fricatives. Improvements in production of /s/ clusters, singleton fricatives, and untreated consonant + liquid clusters were significant for all participants in this intervention type. The improvement for word initial /s/ clusters was greater than for the treatment group who received morphosyntax intervention. The data was less convincing for the hypothesis that word-final cluster production would improve following intervention for word-final morphemes in the morphosyntax intervention. Although there was improvement in word-final production for two of the participants in this group, there were similar or greater improvements seen for the children who received phonological awareness intervention in which word-final clusters were not targeted. The data supported the final hypothesis that improved production of singletons following speech intervention for these phonemes would result in improved accuracy for the phonemes when attempted in the context of clusters. All participants had improved accuracy of cluster elements that had been singleton targets during intervention. Conclusion: The data showed that the Phonological Awareness intervention led to significant improvement in production of the target /s/ clusters, and generalised to increased accuracy for production of singleton fricatives, non-target /s/ clusters, and untreated consonant + liquid clusters. The Morphosyntax intervention resulted in less consistent improvement in production for target word-final clusters. In this programme, word-final clusters were implicitly treated through language intervention for word-final morphemes. The data indicates that improvement in consonant cluster production is facilitated when using explicit teaching methods to introduce and practice consonant clusters during intervention with children with speech sound disorder.