The study examined the typical development of early literacy in a group of typically developing preschool Sepedi first language children residing in Atteridgeville, by determining their performance on a protocol of early literacy tasks. The following aspects were included: written language awareness, narrative abilities, phonological awareness, letter name knowledge, grapheme-phoneme correspondence and literacy motivation. The performance of the participants on the various tasks was used to describe the early literacy development of the target population and to identify relevant risk criteria that may indicate delayed early literacy development in the target population. The performance of participants on these tasks differed from those of other participants in local and international studies, which underscores the necessity of culturally sensitive procedures for identifying delays in the early literacy development of children. The influence of factors such as the mother’s level of education, gender, participants’ level of engagement in literacy activities and participants' current academic performance on the development of early literacy skills were also investigated. Based on the results as well as other indications from the literature, possible risk factors for delayed early literacy development for this group are listed. / Dissertation (M (Communication Pathology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / unrestricted

Thesis (M.A.(Clinical Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / The aim of the study was to explore the notions of childhood mental illness by Sepedi-speaking elderly people in the Mankweng community of Limpopo Province (South Africa). Using the phenomenological method, the researcher sought to understand these elderly people’s notions with a view to: i) describing their conceptualizations of childhood mental illness; ii) determining their notions of the types and causes of mental illness; and iii) describing their views regarding the management of childhood mental illnesses. A total of 8 participants who were selected through snowball sampling were interviewed using unstructured interviews. The results of this study suggest that; i) childhood mental illness is better understood if described than defined, ii) childhood mental illness is manifested through behavioural and physical features, iii) there are many causal factors attributed to childhood mental illness, and iv) both Western and African traditional methods are recognized in the treatment of childhood mental illness in this rural community. The results are discussed in the context of the psychological literature on multicultural counseling and psychotherapy. / Department of Health and Social Development