The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of two different school language programs at the end of third grade, Follow Through (FT) and Non Follow Through (NFT), on the development of children's oral and written language on measures of complexity of structure and diversity of meaning. Linguistic complexity was studied by use of the T-unit and percentage of complex T-unit measures, while linguistic complexity was examined through use of the type-token ratio. The two language programs studied were FT, the Tucson Early Education Model (TEEM), an innovative language experience program, and NFT, a traditional approach. Subjects used for the study were 70 children continuously enrolled in FT (n = 34) and NFT (n = 36) classrooms since kindergarten or first grade, allowing for examination of program effects at the end of the third grade. One oral and two written language samples were obtained for each of the 70 subjects. Collection of the language took place within the classroom context, emphasizing sampling of children's natural language abilities. Instruments used for the collection, coding, and scoring of oral and written variables were the Children's Language Assessment-Situation Tasks (CLA-ST), developed by TEEM at the University of Arizona, and the Productive Language Assessment Tasks (PLAT), developed at the High Scope Education Research Foundation in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Using a posttest only control group design, two separate analysis procedures were performed. A two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures were used to determine the program impact on the linguistic complexity and diversity measures in the oral and written language of FT and NFT children. A correlational analysis was also performed to determine the relationship between the oral and written language patterns for both the control and experimental groups. Study results indicated no significant differences between the two groups, FT and NFT, on the measures of linguistic complexity, T-units, and percentage of T-units. On the type-token ratio measure, the differences between the FT and NFT groups were not significant, but greater differences were shown than between the two groups on the complexity measures. When examining the mean scores for the type-token ratio, the FT children consistently scored higher. These differences indicate a trend toward higher scores on this measure for the FT group even though the differences were not significant. Significant differences were found, however, between oral and written language for the subjects of both groups. Correlational procedures used to examine the relationship between oral and written language resulted in low to insignificant relationships. This is consistent with the analysis of variance finding of significant differences between oral and written language. Linguistic measures in oral language were found to be relatively independent of the same measures in written language. Competencies in oral language did not predict competence in use of written language for this age and group of children. Results indicate that children at this age are aware of the different functions and use of oral and written language. Trends found favoring the FT group indicate possible program effects. Further longitudinal investigations of the complexities and interrelationships of children's developing productive language abilities within the context of different classroom language programs are recommended.

Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD's) represent some of the most common developmental disorders amongst children today (Rapin, 1994), yet knowledge and interventions for these disorders remain minimal. Access to resources for diagnosis and intervention for children with ASD's in South Africa appears to be limited to a few families. For this select population, many difficulties and much dissatisfaction with diagnostic processes remain. This study aimed to capture the experiences of parents whose children had received ASD diagnoses. This study was qualitative in nature and took the form of semi structured interviews with a total of eight parents of ASD children (7 mothers and 1 father). These interviews highlighted key issues in the area of ASD's in South Africa, including: a lack of knowledge amongst professionals, an unwillingness to diagnose, and lack of available support and facilities. Data collected from this sample revealed that the average age of diagnosis of children was 6 years old, and the average number of years taken to reach diagnosis was 3 years 3 months. Although these figures correlate with international research, participants of this study revealed that it had taken on average 7.2 medical practitioners to diagnose their children with ASD's. This number is significantly higher in South Africa than research from other countries indicates. These findings are discussed in this research study, with emphasis being placed on implications for early intervention in South Africa. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

The purpose of the present study was to assess whether girls with LD were at a greater risk for self-reported depressive symptomatology compared to both boys with LD and girls without LD. Differences in the pattern of responses of girls with LD and boys with LD on the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) were also evaluated. In order to identify a learning disability, the short-form of the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children and the Wide Range Achievement Test were administered to 204 subjects. Results revealed that girls with LD demonstrated an increased risk for depressive symptomatology as compared to girls without LD. Boys, on the other hand, regardless of a learning disability, manifested a comparable rate of depressive symptomatology. It appears that having a learning disability increases girls' propensity towards depression. Finally, differences in the pattern of responses were found for girls and boys with and without LD.

Researchers have found that children with behaviour disorders inflate their self-perceptions (e.g., Hughes, Cavell, & Grossman, 1997). This study investigated the self-perceptions of depressed and nondepressed children with behavioural difficulties relative to significant others' perceptions (i.e., parents, teachers, and behaviour aides) with reference to Cole's (1990; 1991a, 1991b) interpersonal feedback theory. Cole's theory argues that what children believe about themselves results from their perception and internalization of others' judgments. This study involved a quantitative phase and a qualitative phase of data collection conducted one year apart. The quantitative phase consisted of evaluating the congruence in children's (mean age = 10.9 years) and others' (parents, teachers, and behaviour aides) perceptions in depressed and nondepressed children with behavioural difficulties. Perceptions were of the children's general behavioural conduct, problem behaviour, mood, and the raters' general satisfaction with the children. The following measures were used: the Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1992), a modified Self Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985), and the Child Behaviour Interview (Grinberg, 1997). Parallel forms were used with the parents, teachers, and behaviour aides. In addition, the Direct Observation Form-Revised Edition (Achenbach, 1986) was used to assess actual behaviour. Results suggest that children with behavioural difficulties inflate their competencies. Further, the other raters' perceptions did not differ for the depressed and nondepressed groups. The depressed children rated their competence in behavioural conduct to be significantly lower than the nondepressed children with behavioural difficulties. Also, differences across raters' perceptions were found for the nondepressed group but not the depressed group. Five children from the original sample and their behaviour aides were interviewed for the qualitative study. Qu

Self-concept in social and academic domains, as well as global self-worth (GSW) were assessed among 4th, 5th, and 6 th graders, in children with learning disabilities (LD, n = 49) and a matched sample of children without LD (NLD, n = 49). Mean differences between LD and NLD groups and the relative importance of social versus academic self-concept in the prediction of GSW were examined. Children with LD evidenced significantly lower self-concept in academic and social domains; however, the two groups did not differ in terms of global self-worth. In addition, academic and social self-concepts were significant predictors of GSW in children with LD, although there was a high degree of overlap between the two variables in their predictive ability. In the NLD group, social and academic self-concept areas were significant predictors of global self-worth yet there was minimal overlap between the two self-concept areas. Implications are discussed.

The perspective on the social construction of childhood has dominated research on children and childhood in recent years. The aim of this study was to contribute to these debates and gain an understanding of the vulnerabilities and resiliency factors in the lives of children from a working class schooling context in KwaZulu-Natal. Twenty seven children, twelve boys and fifteen girls were interviewed using interviews, questionnaires and focus groups. Participatory research techniques including children's drawings and mind mapping were used. The children's perspectives revealed that there are various risk factors that they are exposed to which include crime, violence, bullying, racism from teachers, gender stereotyping, child abuse, pollution, HIV/Aids, alcohol and drug abuse. Concerns that children have about their future include possible unemployment of their parents, the rising cost of schooling and contracting HIV/ Aids. Despite this, the children identified various resiliency factors in their lives such as grand parents, good neighbours, caring teachers and a comprehensive school programme that includes sport. A common theme across participants in this study was religion as an identifying and resiliency factor in their lives. The findings stress the need for schools to address exclusionary pressures that impact on the well-being of children in this schooling context. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu- Natal, 2005.

It was hypothesized that children with physical disabilities would show a deficit in procedural and declarative knowledge of ball catching compared to age-matched non-disabled children. The first group of children consisted of sixteen children with physical disabilities, three girls and thirteen boys, aged from 6 years and 5 months to 12 years and 6 months. Sixteen children, five girls and eleven boys, comprised the second group. Their age range was from 6 years and 4 months to 12 years and 2 months. All children were tested individually. / Procedural knowledge of ball catching was measured by a 15-task ball-catching hierarchy. The difficulty of the tasks ranged from easy, static tasks to more difficult ones which required some expertise. Non-disabled children demonstrated higher scores in procedural knowledge than children with physical disabilities. Higher scores in procedural knowledge of ball catching were also shown by older non-disabled children compared to their younger non-disabled peers, as well as by ambulatory children with physical disabilities compared to their non-ambulatory peers. / Declarative knowledge of ball catching was assessed by a 14-item multiple choice questionnaire. The two groups exhibited very similar declarative knowledge. Moreover, no differences regarding declarative knowledge were found between older and younger non-disabled children or between ambulatory and non-ambulatory children with physical disabilities. Further investigation revealed that the association between procedural and declarative knowledge of ball catching was only moderate. / It was suggested that procedural and declarative knowledge do not develop at the same rate and a deficit in procedural knowledge does not necessarily lead to a deficit in declarative knowledge. The relationship between the two types of knowledge may be more complex than initially hypothesized. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / Department of Educational Psychology

The purpose of the present study was to continue the development of the Children's Life Situation Scale, in an attempt to create a scale which answered some of the methodological and statistical problems with existing scales and to establish psychometric evidence for its use. The participants were 210 fifth, sixth and seventh graders. Respondents were primarily from the middle class with approximately equal numbers of males (n=105) and females (n=106).The following research questions were addressed: 1. How well do individual items relate to a central concept and what is the internal consistency of the scale?2. What is the internal factor structure of the scale? 3. What is the criterion related validity of the scale in relation to the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1992)? 4. Do positive events affect outcome measures in a different way than do negatively stressful events?Results of reliability analysis suggested that the scale was highly internally consistent, and that all items equally related to the central concept of stress. However, Principal Axis Factoring revealed two factors which were conceptualized as "Life Events," and "Daily Hassles." When the total stress score as well as individual factor scores were correlated with the BASC, they were found to correlate significantly with all subscales, with the strongest correlations involving scales of an internalizing nature such as depression. The "Daily Hassles" factor was found to correlate most strongly with students' reports of psychological distress. Not only do the results support the use of the present scale as a reliable and valid measure of stress in children, results support the conceptualization of stress as involving two components, both "Life Events" and "Daily Hassles." / Department of Educational Psychology

Previous empirical studies have been inconsistent in the identification of cognitive differences between LD and EH children on psychoeducational assessment batteries. Furthermore, studies using multivariate procedures such as discriminant analysis have failed to verify the basic underlying assumption of homogeneity of variance-covariance matrices of the groups. Homogeneity of covariance can be assessed by comparing factor structures of the two groups.The purpose of this study was to investigate the cognitive differences between LD and EH children on a psychoeducational assessment battery Including the WISC-R, WRAT, PIAT, PPVT, and DVMI, typically used to identify the two exceptionalities. Differences In factor structures were investigated in an effort to clarify group differences in cognitive functioning, and to investigate the utility of multivariate analyses such as discriminant analysis with these two groups of children.The subjects were 1165 public school children, aged 6 to 16, referred for assessment and subsequently classified and served in special LD and EH programs. Four and five factor solutions were compared using the congruence coefficient to determine statistical similarities. The first three factors of each solution, Verbal Concepts, Verbal Achievement, and Visual Perceptual Reasoning, were found to be statistically similar in construct and interpretation. These results suggest that If the use of multivariate procedures in studying LD and EH group differences is limited to cognitive performance in the areas of verbal concepts, reading and spelling achievement, and visual perceptual reasoning skills, the results can be accepted as valid. The discriminant analysis would not likely be violating the homogeneity assumption.Differences were found in factor structures Involving the order of the factors extracted in terms of importance In explaining variance. Also, statistically significant differences were found between the factors Involving Math, Visual Motor, and Sequential skills, suggesting that multivariate analyses using these factors would likely violate the homogeneity assumption.Results indicate the presence of heterogeneity in the matrices of LD and EH children, and suggest caution in the interpretation of multivariate statistical analyses with these children. Violation of the assumption of homogeneity can invalidate statistical findings and their application to the study of group differences.