Research on word learning has focused on childrens ability to identify a target object when given the word form after a minimal number of exposures to novel word-object pairings. However, relatively little research has focused on childrens ability to retrieve the word form when given the target object. The exceptions involve asking children to recall and produce forms, and children typically perform near floor on these measures. In the current study, 3- to 5-year-old children were administered a novel test of word form that allowed for recognition memory and manual responses. Specifically, when asked to label a previously trained object, children were given three forms to choose from: the target, a minimally different form, and a maximally different form. Children demonstrated memory for word forms at three post-training delays: 10 mins (short-term), 23 days (long-term), and 6 months to 1 year (very long-term). However, children performed worse at the very long-term delay than the other time points, and the length of the very long-term delay was negatively related to performance. When in error, children were no more likely to select the minimally different form than the maximally different form at all time points. Overall, these results suggest that children remember word forms that are linked to objects over extended post-training intervals, but that their memory for the forms gradually decreases over time without further exposures. Furthermore, memory traces for word forms do not become less phonologically specific over time; rather children either identify the correct form, or they perform at chance.

The purpose of this study is to determine toy preference of pre-school-age children as a guide for parents and for homemaking students in the selection of toys.

The problem of this research is to determine the similarities and differences related to the psycholinguistic abilities of Anglo-American, Negro, and Latin-American preschool children.

Fifteen three-, four-, and five-year olds were assessed for the amount of time they spent on, off, under, and touching play equipment in an environment with play events and one without (i.e. the platform condition), An ABAB experimental design was used. Treatments lasted 3 days a week for 4 consecutive weeks, with each age group being videotaped 20 minutes each day, Data collected from the videotapes was applied to a 3 x 4 (age x treatments) ANOVA and revealed at the . 05 level (a) significantly more on and touching in the play event conditions; (b) significantly greater off and under in the platform (non play event) conditions; (c) a significant increase in off behavior from the first to second play event condition; (d) three-year-olds spent more time under and touching, and significantly less time on; and (e) significant interactions for on and under which seemed to be caused by the three-year-olds showing an inordinate amount of under behavior in the second platform condition, These results supported the assumption that play events would cause a significant increase inactive child-equipment interaction.

This study examined the effectiveness of two universally designed methods of instruction, teacher-mediated small group reading and individual use of an electronic book with limited teacher interaction, for preschool children who have been identified as having poor behavioral self-regulation. The sample consisted of 18 preschool children enrolled in an urban Head Start program. The children ranged in age from 43 months to 65 months. Children's measures included the Child Temperament and Personality Questionnaire-Short Form (CTPQ-SF), Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT),Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening for Preschoolers (PALS-PreK) - the Print and Word Awareness subtest, an expressive vocabulary posttest, and a story retelling posttest. Both universally designed methods were effective in developing an internalization of the story vocabulary, as well as overall comprehension of the story.

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF SPEECH PATHOLOGY AND AUDIOLOGY, FACULTY OF ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN SPEECH PATHOLOGY / Aspects of communicative competence encompassing syntactic, pragmatic and social skill dimensions were examined in preschool children. Subjects comprised five language-impaired children who had been declared remediated after a period of language therapy (Age 5.0-6.5) and five children of the same age considered to be linguistically normal. unstructured mother/child interactions yielded language samples which were analysed according to the Language Assessment Remediation and Screening procedure. Structured child/unfamiliar interlocutor dyadic interactions were analysed in terms of the Behavioural Inventory of Speech Act Performances and according to a devised pragmatic addendum. Social skill profiles were obtained by means of the Devereaux Elementary school Behaviour Rating Scale. No statistical differences occurred between groups on linguistic, pragmatic and social skill dimensions. Individual profiles of certain presumably remediated subjects revealed ineffective communicative modes in a structured dyadic context as well as communicative deficits and behavioural problems in the classroom situation. Significant correlations emerged among various linguistic pragmatic and social skill parameters. Theoretical and clinical implications of these correlations and of deficits uncovered by particular measures in different contexts, are discussed. / Andrew Chakane 2018

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Arts (Clinical Psychology). Johannesburg, 1981 / The present study aimed first, at determining whether part-time (nursery-school attendance), and a full-time (day-care attendance) quantitative disruption in motherchild interaction, affects the child’s separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, frustration tolerance and general coping mechanisms. Second, the effect of the quality of mothering (the degree of maternal acceptance and responsiveness) on the child's separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, frustration tolerance and general coping mechanisms was assessed. Thirdly and fourthly, this study aimed at determining whether the age and the sex of the child affect the separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, frustration tolerance and general coping mechanisms exhibited by that child; and finally whether there is a relationship between separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, frustration tolerance and general coping mec hanisms. Fifty-six four-year-olds and their mothers were observed. These included 14 children who stayed home with their mothers; 14 children attending nursery-school; 14 children attending a day-care centre from the age of three; and 14 children attending a day-care centre froc the age of one. A problem-solving task was administered to the children to obtain a measure of their frustration tolerance; a modified version of the Ainsworth-Wittig Strange-Situation Procedure was employed to measure the children's separation anxiety and stranger anxiety;

This study investigated the effectiveness of an emotional intervention programme designed to improve the level of emotional literacy in a sample of preschool children. Thirty-five participants from two different preschools in Alexandra Township participated in the study, where one school operated as the experimental group and one as the control group. All participants completed the pretesting of the DANVA2 that measured salient components of emotional literacy. Two teachers from the experimental group attended a six-week Ububele-Persona Doll training programme at Ububele Psychotherapy Resource Centre and Educational Trust (Ububele). After using the Ububele-Persona Dolls in the classroom once a week for twelve weeks, all the participants completed the post-testing of the DANVA2. The programme was shown to significantly affect the level of emotional literacy of those children exposed to the intervention. At the conclusion of the research project, teachers from the control group were provided with free Ububele-Persona Doll training.

Preparing young children for kindergarten is an important task. There are many skills that need to be learned. Simple everyday school and daily living tasks are kindergarten readiness skills that need to be taught. Many preschool students struggle to learn these skills unless taught directly. There are a sufficient number of interventions that have been used to teach various skills to students, but few have been identified as evidenced-based practices for teaching skills to at-risk preschool students in the classroom. Literacy based behavioral interventions (LBBI) (Bucholz, Brady, Duffy, Scott, & Kontosh, 2008) are a class of intervention that have been found to be effective to teach a variety of skills. This type of intervention consists of a combination of sequenced visuals and words to either teach a new skill and/or increase or decrease a behavior. Several studies have shown that a storybook LBBI is an effective intervention for teaching new skills including daily living skills, but to date only one study has looked at the effects of a storybook LBBI with preschool children who are at-risk (Hall, Brady, & Morris, 2017). This study expanded the storybook LBBI literature by exploring the effect of small group-delivered storybook LBBIs on preschool students who were at-risk and struggling to learn basic kindergarten readiness skills. Using a multiple baseline design across skills, this study examined the effectiveness of using LBBIs delivered in a small group to teach kindergarten readiness skills and the children’s ability to maintain and generalize these skills. Four preschool students were taught three skills including cutting with scissors, using liquid glue, and matching. Data were collected on the steps correct and independent on the task analysis for each skill. The results found an increase in skill acquisition with students learning the new skills and maintaining those skills after the removal of the LBBI. Students were also able to generalize these new skills to novel materials. Implications for research and practice are discussed. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of a teacher-implemented behavioral skills training (BST) procedure for teaching preschool students to exhibit an appropriate safety response in the presence of chemical bottles. Students’ safety responses were evaluated during baseline and teacher lessons (before and after BST) for each classroom. Prior to training, teachers were prompted to give a lesson including three safety steps (don’t touch, walk away, tell a teacher). No additional instructions were provided. Next, teachers received training from a researcher on how to implement BST in a classroom setting. Results indicated that the training procedure utilized was effective for increasing the number of BST components used by teachers. Further, teacher-implemented BST resulted in increases in preschool children’s appropriate responses to chemical bottles for two classrooms; however, the increase for one of the two classrooms was only moderate, and no increase was observed for children in a third classroom. Therefore, in-situ feedback was required for these two classrooms. In addition, the procedures resulted in generalized responding to a novel set of chemical bottles, as well as, a novel category of dangerous item (medicine bottles).