As medical advances are made in the area of neonatology, more and more premature babies are surviving at younger gestational ages and lower birth weights. Growth in the survival rates of preterm infants leads to questions regarding the long term developmental trajectory of these children. The current study sought to expand on research regarding dimensions of childhood functioning and to apply it to the problem of prematurity by (a) utilizing a new instrument: the Merrill Palmer Revised edition, (b) including children of preterm and full term birth statuses from as young as 2 months of age, and (c) collecting data from parental and clinician reports. In addition to attempts to clarify the relationship between birth status and childhood dysfunction, this study also sought to augment existing literature by exploring the correlation between parental report and clinician observation of childhood dysfunction. The results of this study did not support the hypothesis that children of preterm birth will demonstrate more problems in functioning when compared to full term peers. Although there were more significant differences between preterm and full term children in the older cohort group, those differences did not consistently reflect dysfunction by the preterm children. Additionally, this study considered dimensions of dysfunction as measured by parental report and clinician observations. Notably, a lack of agreement between parent and clinician observations emerged for the young age cohort group. However, the high level of agreement for the older children suggests that parental and clinician perspectives converge with older children. Contrary to the hypothesis, birth status, gender, ethnicity, and SES did not collectively form a specific risk index for dysfunction. However, these factors did interact with each other to predict functioning on several scales. In fact, there were no significant main effects. Instead, predictors of dysfunction were interactions of variables such as birth status, age, gender, and ethnicity. This general finding illustrates the importance of taking into consideration all aspects of the childs situation when making an assessment of functioning.

Den kunskap som ett barns föräldrar och förskolepersonal besitter om dess språk är värdefull att tillvarata, särskilt då formaliserade språkbedömningar kan vara svåradministrerade med små barn. Detta kan exempelvis göras via föräldraenkäter. Studiens syfte var att undersöka vilka likheter och skillnader som förelåg mellan bedömningar av språklig förmåga hos barn, gjorda dels av föräldrar och förskolepersonal via en enkät, dels av logopedstudenter via en logopedisk bedömning. Studiedeltagarna utgjordes av 20 barn i åldrarna 2 ½ - 3 år, 20 föräldrar och 14 förskolepersonal. Föräldrar och förskolepersonal besvarade 18 frågor ur föräldraenkäten Receptive Expressive Emergent Language Test - 2 (REEL-2) och barnen testades av logopedstudenterna på uppgifter motsvarande dessa frågor. Resultatet visade bland annat att de genomsnittliga procentuella överensstämmelserna mellan bedömargrupperna var goda. Ingen kombination av bedömargrupper var signifikant mer överens än någon annan. Vissa tendenser till skillnader framkom när materialet analyserades med avseende på språkliga domäner och enskilda frågor. Slutsatsen var att bedömargrupperna föreföll kunna ge likvärdig, men inte identisk, information om barnens språkliga förmåga. Av den anledningen anses inhämtande av information från olika källor vara betydelsefull. Föräldraenkäter kan vara ett värdefullt verktyg i kontakten mellan logopeder, föräldrar och förskolepersonal och ökad användning av föräldraenkäter tros kunna förbättra samarbetet mellan dessa parter. / Parents’ knowledge about their children’s language is valuable to consider, particularly when formal tests can be difficult to administer with young children. The aim of this study was to examine similarities and differences between parents and preschool teacher’s reports on a questionnaire concerning children’s linguistic development and direct assessment by speech language pathology students. In the study 20 children aged 2 ½ - 3 years, 20 parents and 14 preschool teachers participated. The parents and preschool teachers answered 18 questions from the questionnaire Receptive Expressive Emergent Language Test - 2 (REEL-2) and the children were tested on items based on these questions. The results showed that the interjudge agreement between the groups was high. Some tendencies emerged when the material was analyzed with reference to language domains and individual questions. In conclusion, parents and preschool teachers seemed to be able to give similar information about the children’s linguistic abilities as provided by the direct assessment. The results also indicate that it is important to obtain information about a child’s language from different sources and that parental reports might be beneficial in the collaboration between speech language pathologists, parents and preschool teachers. Increased use of parental reports can facilitate the cooperation between these groups.

<p>Den kunskap som ett barns föräldrar och förskolepersonal besitter om dess språk är värdefull att tillvarata, särskilt då formaliserade språkbedömningar kan vara svåradministrerade med små barn. Detta kan exempelvis göras via föräldraenkäter. Studiens syfte var att undersöka vilka likheter och skillnader som förelåg mellan bedömningar av språklig förmåga hos barn, gjorda dels av föräldrar och förskolepersonal via en enkät, dels av logopedstudenter via en logopedisk bedömning. Studiedeltagarna utgjordes av 20 barn i åldrarna 2 ½ - 3 år, 20 föräldrar och 14 förskolepersonal. Föräldrar och förskolepersonal besvarade 18 frågor ur föräldraenkäten Receptive Expressive Emergent Language Test - 2 (REEL-2) och barnen testades av logopedstudenterna på uppgifter motsvarande dessa frågor.</p><p>Resultatet visade bland annat att de genomsnittliga procentuella överensstämmelserna mellan bedömargrupperna var goda. Ingen kombination av bedömargrupper var signifikant mer överens än någon annan. Vissa tendenser till skillnader framkom när materialet analyserades med avseende på språkliga domäner och enskilda frågor. Slutsatsen var att bedömargrupperna föreföll kunna ge likvärdig, men inte identisk, information om barnens språkliga förmåga. Av den anledningen anses inhämtande av information från olika källor vara betydelsefull. Föräldraenkäter kan vara ett värdefullt verktyg i kontakten mellan logopeder, föräldrar och förskolepersonal och ökad användning av föräldraenkäter tros kunna förbättra samarbetet mellan dessa parter.</p> / <p>Parents’ knowledge about their children’s language is valuable to consider, particularly when formal tests can be difficult to administer with young children. The aim of this study was to examine similarities and differences between parents and preschool teacher’s reports on a questionnaire concerning children’s linguistic development and direct assessment by speech language pathology students. In the study 20 children aged 2 ½ - 3 years, 20 parents and 14 preschool teachers participated. The parents and preschool teachers answered 18 questions from the questionnaire Receptive Expressive Emergent Language Test - 2 (REEL-2) and the children were tested on items based on these questions. </p><p>The results showed that the interjudge agreement between the groups was high. Some tendencies emerged when the material was analyzed with reference to language domains and individual questions. In conclusion, parents and preschool teachers seemed to be able to give similar information about the children’s linguistic abilities as provided by the direct assessment. The results also indicate that it is important to obtain information about a child’s language from different sources and that parental reports might be beneficial in the collaboration between speech language pathologists, parents and preschool teachers. Increased use of parental reports can facilitate the cooperation between these groups.</p>

A great degree of interindividual variability has been established in measures of psychophysical olfactory performance and odor awareness in both children and adults. Previous studies have suggested the possibility that one of the factors that might contribute to this variability might be the degree of odor exposure in everyday contexts. In the present study, we hypothesized that children exposed to a greater variety of odors on a more frequent basis would exhibit higher odor identification and odor awareness scores. We have found an effect of odor exposure on the children's olfactory knowledge as reflected in their reports of olfactory behavior, but not olfactory abilities. In so doing, we replicated some of the previous findings in the literature of female over male advantage in the olfactory domain. Namely, we report that girls showed a more profound understanding of their olfactory environment and a greater degree of olfaction-oriented behavior, which was not accounted for by a gender difference in verbal fluency. Nevertheless, girls did not outperform boys on either of the measures of olfactory performance. Semi-longitudinal and longitudinal studies in verbally proficient children, employing both self- and parental reports of children's odor exposure and repeated olfactory testing, might...