This dissertation of an interdisciplinary character involves music education, music psychology, linguistics and special education. In the theoretical part of the thesis the author explains the term timbre from the musicological and linguistic perspective; characterizes timbre hearing as a musical hearing ability; introduces and compares timbre and phonemic hearing tests; describes the development of musicality and speech of pre-school children from an ontogenetic perspective, and emphasizes hearing atten- tion as a prerequisite for their advancement. The author also characterizes disruption of these abilities and describes reeducation therapies that involve elements of music education and mu- sic therapy. A field study described in the practical part of the thesis has a form of fundamental research and experiment. Research participants were 180 pre-school children. A field study is addressing the relationship between speech and musical manifestations of pre-school children with atypi- cal speech development. The aim of the experiment was to search for the most effective com- bination of music and language education with positive influence on both musicality and speech. Chapters of the thesis introduce a unique diagnostic material, experimental methodol- ogy and research outcomes. A field study...

The goal of this paper is to describe the relationship between a non-governmental organisation and the government. The paper is a case study of the non-governmental organization Meta o.p.s. which works in the field of integrating foreigners and focuses on the issue of educating pupils who speak various mother tongues. The paper deals with the development of relationships, the roles within these relationships the organization fulfils with regards to the government, and the influence these relationships with the government have on the organization's goals and development. Furthermore, the paper focuses on the persisting barriers which prevent these relationships from being created and developed. The relationships between Meta o.p.s. and the government are observed on individual levels of the public administration (national, regional, municipal). The paper consists of 4 parts. The theoretical part introduces basic theoretical starting points, namely models of relationships between the government and non-governmental organizations, and the roles fulfilled by non-governmental organizations in the society. The next part presents the methodology and chosen strategy of the research, i.e. case study. The empirical part monitors the development and nature of the relationships on individual levels of the public...

This thesis deals with the diagnostics and development level of partial functions of preschool children, due to the necessity of the skills for acquiring basic school skills, ie. reading, writing and counting. Children with hearing disabilities are a specific group in this area due to the possible difficulties in obtaining information from the majority auditory society, and thus acquiring the necessary knowledge. One of the goals of the thesis presented here is to find out what diagnostic materials are suitable and evaluating for children with hearing disabilities in preschool age. Whether tests are primarily focused for this group of children or tests designed for hearing children can be used effectively. The second goal of this thesis is to determine if and to what extent there will be an improvement in test results in case of controlled activities took place with children in comparison with the period when similar activities were not carried out with them. A six-month research was conducted with selected children with hearing disabilities, during which they were repeatedly tested using two different diagnostic materials. In the second part of the research, intentional activities took place with selected children, which was contributing to the development of their partial functions. From the...

This research study focused on the factors that influence the disciplining of pre-school children during the divorce process. Divorce is an escalating phenomenon and more pre-school children are being exposed to divorce. A pre-school child’s development limits his abstract thinking processes which keep him to fully comprehending concepts like divorce. The verbal capacity of pre-school children is still limited and therefore they are not always able to communicate what they experience and observe. They are also not always able to express their emotions. The pre-school child communicates through behaviour and play. Divorce is not only the legal termination of the marriage for adults, but in fact entails more responsibilities, challenges, losses and adaptations. More pressure is placed on the parents and they tend to be emotional overwhelmed, physical exhausted and emotionally drained. This causes that the parents to not see their way open to care for and especially discipline their pre-school child. Discipline in general is left aside and is not followed through consistently. The purpose of this study is of ‘n explorative nature. It aims to explore the factors that have an impact on the disciplining of the pre-school child, prior to, during and after the divorce process. A quantitative research approach has been followed with this study and a questionnaire has been used for gathering information. A non-probability sampling method was used and the respondents were selected through a purposive sample. The respondents were selected from the Pretoria East region. The organisations that assisted the researcher in selecting the respondents were the Counselling centre of the Dutch Reformed Church of Moreletapark and the Child Trauma Clinic. For this study 19 respondents were selected. The questionnaires was given out by hand and collected by hand. The children of the respondents who participated in the study were all pre-school children when going through the divorce. It has been concluded from this study that the factors impacting the discipline of pre-school children during the divorce process, is of an emotional nature. A factor that played an important role in the disciplining of pre-school children is the guilt feelings that the respondents experienced for exposing their children to a divorce. Physical tiredness, emotional exhaustion, conflict between parents during and after the divorce and the number of times that one of the parents leaved the house, are factors that according to the respondents, influenced the disciplining of their pre-school children. / Dissertation (MSD (Play Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Social Work and Criminology / MSD / unrestricted

Text in Afrikaans / This study is about the provision of a prototype court preparation programme for the primary school child that had been sexually assaulted. The programme is developed from a Gestalt approach. Literature regarding several existing court preparation programmes was studied and compared in order to identify certain themes for the child's preparation. Knowledge regarding the court, procedures and the functions of the various role players was conveyed to the child with emphasis on the child's role as witness. The research strategy utilised in the study was that of the intervention research and specifically the D&D-model that comprises six phases. The study incorporates the first three phases plus the first step of the fourth phase. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were utilised to establish which themes could be addressed to support the child towards being a credible witness. These themes are summarised in the court preparation programme and are addressed from the Gestalt approach. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Spelterapie)

This explorative case study was undertaken to uncover how transformative self-discoveries were facilitated through Gestalt playtherapy, enabling agency of a single pre-school participant. Data were captured around the participant's baseline agentic status; emerging agency, facilitated trough the intervention and post-intervention agentic status. A content analysis aided thematic coding. Theme 1 identified inherent agency trends and the agency blocks "what is that". Theme 2 dealt with patterns of active resistance "I don't want to feel / I don't want to know". Theme 3 captured enhanced agentic behaviour "I can and I understand". Through the intervention the participant's entrapped agency was unleashed, leading to an awareness of her `being', enabling her `doing' and thereby allowing her to `become'. Enabled agency increased the participant's active involvement in her life and her engagement in developmental tasks was increased. Implications of the findings support further investigation and application of this intervention. / Educational Studies / M. Diac (Play Therapy)

In Gestalplaytherapy there is a need for guidelines with a pastoral perspective for the child that is experiencing loss. This research is undertaken to set Gestaltplaytherapeutic guidelines with a pastoral perspective for the therapeutic intervention of the primary school child who is experiencing loss due to the death of a loved one. The study consulted relevant literature and compared the literature study with experience acquired in practice. The impact of the loss that the child is experiencing has an influence on the child as a whole. The researcher has found that the Christian child's experience of loss due to the death of a loved one is influenced greatly by the child's spiritual experience. For this reason it is necessary that Gestaltplaytherapy includes a pastoral approach within the therapeutic setting when working with a child experiencing loss due to the death of a loved one. / In Gestaltspelterapie is daar 'n leemte aan riglyne vanuit 'n pastorale perspektief wat die kind wat verlies ervaar kan begelei. Hierdie navorsing het ten doel om Gestalspelterapeutiese riglyne met 'n pastorale perspektief daar te stel vir die hantering van die laerskoolkind wat verlies ervaar as gevolg van die dood van 'n geliefde. Die studie ondersoek die kind se geestelike belewing van verlies deur middel van navorsing in relevante literatuur en vergelyk dit met praktiese ervaring wat opgedoen is in die praktyk. Die impak van die verlies wat die laerskoolkind ervaar as gevolg van die dood van 'n geliefde raak sy totale menswees. Die navorser het waargeneem dat die Christenkind se ervaring en verwerking van die dood van 'n geliefde ook deur sy geestelike belewing beinvloed word. Daarom is dit nodig dat die kind wat verlies ervaar ook op die pastorale vlak binne die Gestaltspelterapeutiese opset hanteer word. / Social work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

Play can be seen as a very important component in the learning programme of pre-school children. The question arises whether the Gr R teacher has adequate play incorporated into the daily schedule? The research question was answered as follows. Although it was revealed in the study that the teachers who had pre-primary and Bed qualifications, possessed more (play) knowledge of all the teachers, the rest of the Gr R teachers indicated that they did have a need to gather more knowledge in childrens’ play, as well as implementing it into the day programme. The third part of the research question was also answered namely; that too much formal education were taking place in the Gr R classes in primary schools. The answer to the question; whether there is enough play in the Gr R class in a primary school is; “no”, 10 and whether there is enough play in the Gr R class in the pre-primary school is; “yes”. It was concluded that the Gr R education methods in the primary school is far more formal than that of the pre-primary school. The research question is thus fully answered and the study was completed successfully. / Spel kan gesien word as ’n baie belangrike komponent van die leerprogram vir voorskoolse kinders. Die vraag ontstaan of Gr R onderwyseresse genoegsame spel in die dagprogram implementeer? Die navorsingsvraag is as volg beantwoord. Alhoewel dit in die studie na vore gekom het, dat die onderwyseresse wat preprimêr en BEd gekwalifiseer is oor die meeste speelkennis beskik, het die meeste Gr R onderwyseresse aangedui dat hul wel ’n behoefte het om meer kennis rakende kinderspel en die implementering daarvan in die dagprogram te bekom. Die laaste vraag voortvloeiend uit die navorsing of daar genoegsame spel in die Gr R klasse plaasvind was die gevolgtrekking “nee” by primêre skole en “ja” by preprimêre skole. Daar is tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat Gr R onderwys by primêre skole se onderrigmetodes baie meer formeel is as Gr R by preprimêre skole. Die navorsings-vraag is dus in geheel beantwoord en die studie is suksesvol voltooi. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Sielkundige Opvoedkunde)

The research was undertaken to analyse and evaluate the nature and quality of interactions in multicultural primary school classrooms. Special attention was focused on the influence 25 independent variables had on the dependent variable, namely group membership. Literature indicates that warm and nurturant relationships within the family help the child to achieve independence and promote social adjustment outside the home. Literature also reveals that self-acceptance and acceptance of others are dependent on the self-concept, and that acceptability in peer groups is enhanced by characteristics such as friendliness, cooperation, emotional stability and intellectual ability. It is essential to mention that some researchers claim that within multicultural classrooms, pupils often interact in racially and culturally segregated patterns. Others maintain that no racial and cultural discrimination is evident in the choice of friends in multicultural classrooms. The empirical research was undertal<.en by administering four measuring instruments, namely own designed questionnaire, the sociogram, the self-concept scale for primary school pupils and the children's personality questionnaire to 121 standard five pupils in multicultural primary schools. The administering of these instruments was aimed at determining the influence of the independent variables on the dependent variable. The stepwise discriminant analysis method revealed that of the 25 independent variables, only six, namely family background, friendship skills, gender, scholastic achievement and personality factors E (submissive versus dominant) and Q3 (undisciplined versus controlled) contributed to the variance in group membership. The multiple discriminant function was used to determine how close the individual scores of children were, in a given friendship group. The general pattern obtained, indicated that children choose each other on the basis of similar characteristics. A point that clearly came to light, is that race and language/culture do not contribute to the variance in group membership. Children formed various friendship groups across racial and cultural lines. In view of the aforementioned findings, the researcher made recommendations on ways in which parents and teachers can create suitable teaching and learning environments for children from diverse cultural milieus. / Psychology of Education / D.Ed. (Psychology of Education)

There are currently increasingly debated issues of entering the schooling, especially in the terms of levels of preparedness to enter the first grade and the school's requirements on the first- graders. This is due to a large number of often complex changes which the entrance into the first grade means for the children and their families. It is the best for the first-graders do all these changes without undue frustration, it is necessary that their physical, mental and neural development and readiness were on sufficient level. Because of extensiveness of this topic, only the part of it was selected for this thesis, as its name says: The level of graphomotor skills of preschool children before entering elementary school. The area of graphomotor skills is presented in the context of writing skills throughout this thesis. The legislative definition of compulsory school attendance and the issue of writing as an essential part of literacy is covered within the theoretical part. The topic of entry into the first grade and the school preparedness of children are explained. The area of graphomotor skills in the terms of the development, in the terms of relation to the coarse and fine motor skills, laterality and external conditions which affect graphomotor skills is covered in detail. The significance...