Nondisabled children's attitudes toward orthopedic and sensory disabilities were examined in relation to chronological and mental age. Knowledge of these disabilities was also studied in relation to the visual perceptibility of disability. Sixty-four Caucasian children, ages 38 to 82 months, participated in the study. Subjects were individually administered the Test of Early Attitudes toward Disability (TEAD) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. The TEAD, developed by this investigator, consists of four parts which measure knowledge of, evaluative beliefs about, and expressed preferences toward orthopedic and sensory disabilities. Stimulus materials for the TEAD are puppets with and without visual cues to disability. Children's expressed preferences revealed bias against orthopedic and sensory disabilities increases with age but is not present among 3 year olds. Knowledge of disability was also found to increase with age; knowledge of orthopedic disability is acquired earlier than knowledge of sensory disability. Most of the children (64%) had mixed evaluative beliefs about disability. Finally, mental age was not found to be a better predictor of early attitude toward disability than chronological age. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-03, Section: A, page: 0997. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of center sponsorship, center size, director training, and director salary on the tasks performed by a day care center director. In addition, director training was examined in relation to center sponsorship and center size while director salary was investigated in relation to director training, center sponsorship and center size. Finally, the task performance of day care center directors was compared with the task performance of preschool directors. / The study consisted of 67 directors administering day care centers and preschools in Leon County, Florida. Instruments used in the study were: a questionnaire designed by the researcher and a task analysis developed in 1977 as part of a needs assessment of Texas child care administrators. / One-way analysis of variance, the Pearson product moment correlation, and the student t test were used to analyze the data at the .05 level of significance. / Ten hypotheses were tested. Hypotheses 1 through 4 examined the variable of tasks with the variables of center sponsorship and size, and director training and salary. None of the results from the analyses of variance achieved the .05 level of significance. Hypotheses 5 and 6 referred to the relationship between the variable of director training and the variables of center sponsorship and size. The relationship between director training and center size was significant. Hypotheses 7, 8, and 9 examined the relationship between the variable of director salary and the variables of director training, center sponsorship, and size. The relationship between director salary and training and between director salary and center sponsorship was significant at the .05 level using the Pearson product moment correlation. The final hypothesis, Hypothesis 10, sought to differentiate between task performance of directors of day care centers and directors of preschools. Based on director perception, which was analyzed using the student t test, there was no significant difference. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2483. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: A, page: 4882. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

The purposes of this study were to determine whether there is: (1) a difference between the intellectual and social competence of young children and the levels of communicative behavior of their mothers with caregivers, (2) a relationship between the intellectual and social competence of young children and the attitudes of their mothers toward communication with caregivers, and (3) a relationship between the attitude scores of mothers toward communication with caregivers and the mothers' communicative behavior with caregivers. The subjects were 47 full-time day care children who were 2 years 8 months to 4 years 0 months and their mothers. The children had been enrolled for less than six weeks in day care. / To test the hypotheses, four instruments were used. The Parent Attitude Toward Caregiver Communication was completed by the parents to measure attitudes toward communication with the caregiver. The Parent Participatory Communication Checklist was completed by the caregivers to measure frequency of communication of mothers with the caregiver. The McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities was administered to test intellectual competence. The Harvard Preschool Project's Social Competence Checklist was given to measure social competence. / Findings indicate a significant difference between the intellectual and social competence scores of young children and the levels of communicative behavior of their mothers with caregivers. There was a significant relationship between the: (1) communicative attitude scores of the mothers and the intellectual and social competence scores of their children, and (2) communicative attitude scores of the mothers and the communicative behavior of the mothers. / For this sample, it was found that as children scored higher on intellectual and social tests, their mothers made increased efforts to become knowledgeable consumers of day care service for their children. The results suggest that the mother-caregiver interaction is highly attitudinal. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-11, Section: A, page: 4712. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the Dallas Pre-School Screening Test (DPST) in terms of (1) test-retest reliability; (2) concurrent validity with the Metropolitan Readiness Tests (MRT); and (3) group performance differences in age, sex, and conceptual background as measured by performance on the Tests of Basic Experiences (TOBE). / Subjects of the study included 51 kindergarten children attending the Florida State University Developmental Research School in Tallahassee, Florida in the school year 1979-1980. These subjects represent the school-age population of the state of Florida in terms of race, sex, socioeconomic status, and academic ability. / The DPST was individually administered. Following a 2-week interval, it was readministered along with the MRT. For the total DPST score, the test-retest reliability coefficient (r = .81) and the concurrent validity coefficient with the MRT (r = .62) were both statistically significant at the .05 level. / Some group performance differences were found, including a difference in performance by age: 5-year-olds scored significantly higher than 4-year-olds on the DPST. No performance differences related to sex were found. However, performance differences related to conceptual background were shown. Children were divided into three groups according to performance on the TOBE: above-average, average, and below-average. The above-average TOBE group scored significantly higher on the DPST than did the other two TOBE groups. No significant difference was found in the DPST scores between the average and below-average TOBE groups. / The results of the study indicated that the DPST demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity for the preschool population of Florida. However, although the reliability coefficient of .81 was found for the total DPST score, investigation of the subtest scores indicated that various subtests were below the acceptable level. The reasons for the low reliability of some subtest scores can be attributed to the lack of concise directions and scoring criteria. Recommendations for such revisions of the manual were suggested. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: A, page: 0930. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: A, page: 4884. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: A, page: 4884. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-10, Section: A, page: 5309. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the significance of using blocks as an art medium to teach young children, 3 and 4 years of age, selected art concepts through regularly scheduled treatments. It also examined the effect of learning these concepts had on the structures the children built. / The sample consisted of 40 children, ages 42-54 months, who were randomly selected from four pre-schools in Tallahassee, Florida. Two schools, one designated as the experimental with 10 children and one as the control with 10 children, were on the east side of the city. Two schools with the same distribution were on the west side. / The 20 experimental subjects were divided into four groups of five and each group received one identical treatment per week for six weeks. They were introduced to and encouraged to talk about art attributes while observing structures, interacting with the experimentor and manipulating and building with blocks. The controls received no treatment but were free to construct with blocks. / Relevant art attributes for the medium of blocks were selected from CEMREL. With the help of a professor of art education, 42 were chosen and organized into seven simple conceptual statements. These were grouped into six treatments. To test the concepts two instruments were designed, tested for reliability and administered by the investigator for pre- and posttesting. He scored the concept identification test and three raters who were trained by him scored the implementation. The Fisher t-test, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Chi-square test of independence were used to analyze the data for the three hypotheses. / Hypothesis 1 examined the effect the treatment had on children's acquisition of art concepts compared to those who did not have the treatment. The results yielded significance at the .001 level in favor of the treatment. Talking about and using art concepts significantly increased the art concept scores. / Hypothesis 2 examined the effects the treatment had on children's block structures compared to those who did not have the treatment. The results yielded significance at the .001 level in favor of the experimental group. Those children identifying art concepts changed their block structures reflecting their use. / Hypothesis 3 examined the relationship between the children's ability to identify concepts and implement these in their block structure. The results yielded a moderately high association, .67, between the children's concepts on both tests and a significant association at the .05 level between the subject's ability to identify concepts and to implement them in a block building structure. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2483. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

The purpose of the study was to compare day care and home-reared preschoolers on measures of Cooperative Behavior (defined as level of compliance and aggressiveness with adults) and Peer Competence (defined as the ability to initiate and successfully maintain positive interactions with peers). In addition, attachment was measured in the two groups. The day care group had 12 to 23 months of nonmaternal care during the first 2 years of life and the home-reared group had 0 to 7 months of nonmaternal care during the first 2 years. The subjects were middle-class 4-year-olds from two-parent families. / It was hypothesized that the day care group would score lower in the areas of Cooperative Behavior and Peer Competence as measured by Achenbach and Edelbrock's Child Behavior Checklist and on measures of Attachment as measured by a 14-item scale designed by the investigator. It was further hypothesized that day care males would receive lower scores in the areas of Cooperative Behavior, Peer Competence and Attachment than day care females. Hypotheses were tested at the.10 level using Analysis of Variance. / Tests of the hypotheses found no significant differences between day care and home-reared preschoolers on measures of Attachment, Cooperative Behavior and Peer Competence. Males were more securely attached than females yet received higher scores on measures of aggression and noncompliance. These findings suggest that day care and home-rearing situations are equivalent environments for young children. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-12, Section: A, page: 3614. / Major Professor: Virginia P. Green. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.