Historically, students from ethnically diverse backgrounds in grades K-12 have been over-represented in special education, yet little research on disproportionate representation has been conducted with preschool-aged children. This study examined if 72,525 preschool-aged children with disabilities from ethnically diverse backgrounds were disproportionately represented in special education within and across five southern states. Data were gathered from the 2006 December 1st Child Count reported by each State Department of Education to the U.S. Department of Education. Chosen states offered state-funded pre-kindergarten programs, which should have provided equal opportunities for inclusion across states. Analyses compared children with disabilities for disproportionate representation across state of residence, across special education eligibilities, across educational placements, and amount of inclusion provided. Data were analyzed for child and placement characteristics. Due to data suppression by individual states, analyses were conducted using children from Black and White backgrounds, and children from Hispanic backgrounds were used when reported by individual states. Child characteristics considered included the child’s: (a) type of disability eligibility category, (b) age, and (c) ethnicity. Placement characteristics included: (a) type of educational placement, (b) state in which child resided, and (c) amount of inclusion received. Indices of disproportionate representation were calculated using: (a) composition index, (b) risk index, (c) odds ratio, and (d) relative risk ratio. A 3 x 5 ANOVA was used to calculate placement differences between states. Factorial analysis was used to calculate determinants of placement status for preschool-aged children with disabilities. Results revealed disproportionate representation does occur at the preschool level, although between state variability was great, and patterns differed from the K-12 literature. Children from American Indian backgrounds were over-represented due to high proportions in states of Alabama and North Carolina, while children from Asian and Hispanic backgrounds were under-represented. Children from Black and White backgrounds were represented in special education at expected rates. The most common eligibility categories were speech/language impairments and developmental delay. Placement results revealed over-representation for White preschoolers and males, although type of state-funded pre-k program was a non-significant factor. Inclusion analyses favored Whites and males. Child demographic factors explained the majority of variability in inclusion status.

To explore how children use dialect, and whether the dialectal language develops during growth might be of interest from a speech language pathologist’s point of view as the dialect could influence the child’s speech. Previous research is often based on older material and/or examines the speech of adults.  In the present study, everyday language in groups of south- eastern Swedish speaking children was investigated. The aim of the present study was to examine to what extent typically developed children of the ages of  5, 8 and 11 years use dialectal language. A further purpose was to discover which dialectal characteristics that were present in the different age groups, and how they differed. The children were video- and audiorecorded during group sessions in everyday settings. The collected material was transcribed according to principles of conversation analysis, and key portions were chosen for deeper analysis. The identified dialectal characteristics were diphthongal, distinctly open or closed vowels and regarding consonants retroflex flap [ɭ] and posterior /r/ were encountered. In prosody a final tonal raise in phrases was observed. Dialectal words and phrases and discourse markers were also documented.   The results of the present study showed that the children use dialectal language as early as by the age of 5, but that older children had a more distinguishable dialect. Throughout all age groups, the vowels were dialectally influenced. Most distinctive was a much closed /i/ with a diphthong, and characteristically open <ä> and <ö>. The characteristic final tonal raise in phrases was encountered in all age groups. Furthermore, a variation regarding dialectal use has been observed between children but also within the same child. Discourse markers were found primarily in the school-aged children, assumingly due to the increased desire of belonging to a group. The results of the present study may contribute to the ability to determine whether phonology, lexicon and/or grammar in a child is deviant or in fact reflected by the south-eastern Swedish characteristics. Also from a diagnostic perspective it might be of value to know when to expect hearing dialectal characteristics in the child’s speech.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:44:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4306.pdf: 1162248 bytes, checksum: 83bb6612e573291134755d22485fc9d9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-16 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Fine motor coordination is essential to the intellectual and psychomotor development of a child. The use fine motor skills to manipulate objects and perform functional needs plays a vital role in child development and participation in activities of daily living. Therefore, difficulties in fine motor skills affect school performance and undermine the child s self-esteem and the sense of competence. The objective of this study was to describe how is configured the scientific field of fine motor skills in children national and international databases. In addition, aimed at specifics to analyze the scientific parameters in bibliometric, mapping scientific production within the fine motor components related to body function, participation in activities and environmental factors. The methodology used was bibliometric analysis of the studies recovered on the databases national and international, Banco de teses da CAPES, BVS, ScienceDirect and Scopus. The methodological procedures of the study were divided into the following steps: Step 1 - Review of the literature on Human development, Child Development Motor, Occupational Therapy and Information Science, Step 2 - Data collection and systematization of data; Step 3 - Bibliometric analysis: organization and processing of bibliometric studies collected using the Vantage Point software for bibliometric analysis and MS Excel for graphing and tables for data presentation; Step 4 - Description and analysis of results, recovering the concepts exposed in the theoretical framework on which to base analysis and interpretation of data obtained. At the end of the tudy produced the following bibliometric indicators: the Banco de Teses da Capes the year of greatest production was 2002; the gender of the authors and supervisors who emphasize was the female; the formation of the majority of authors in the field of Physical Education and Physiotherapy; most studies are at Master's level; The University has more studies in the area is UDESC, in the program graduate of Human Movement Science; the funding agency that funds most work is the CAPES; majority of studies are descriptive; the scale is the most used is EDM (Rosa Neto, 2002), the theme more approached is Motor Development; and the studies perspectives have focused functions and structures of the body. Regarding the databases BVS, ScienceDirect and Scopus, the publications have grown over the years, especially 2010; with most records are of collective authorship; the formation of the authors is in Occupational Therapy (33%), Physiotherapy ( 19%) and Physical Education (15%); the predominant language is English; in BVS in the country that indexes articles is Brazil; ScienceDirect and Scopus is in the U.S.; Periodicals that stood out in the BVS was Journal Themes About the Developing; ScienceDirect was Human Movement Science, and the Scopus were Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology (8%), American Journal of OccupationalTherapy (7%) and Physical and Occupational Therapy Pediatrics (5%); and the perspectives of studies have recovered the subject of fine motor anchored in the concepts of structure and functions of the body in three bases (56% - BVS, 69% - ScienceDirect, 71% Scopus); most studies are crosssectional nature (94%) and descriptive (81%); the topics most discussed were: fine motor skills (75%), motor development (35%) children (28%), preschool (27 %) and rating scales (21%); the data collection instruments more used in the articles were tests of fine motor skills not standardized (22%), followed by Scale Peabody (12%), test of motor proficiency of Bruininks-Oseretsky (7%) and M-ABC (7 %); identifies the subject of fine motor related especially with motor development (7%), autism (5%), prematurity (5%) and school context (5%). / A coordenação motora fina é essencial para o desenvolvimento neuropsicomotor e intelectual da criança. Usar a motricidade fina para manipular objetos e realizar necessidades funcionais desempenha papel vital no desenvolvimento infantil e na participação das atividades de vida diária, assim dificuldades na motricidade fina afetam o desempenho escolar, influenciando negativamente a auto-estima e o senso de competência da criança. O objetivo geral deste estudo foi descrever como se configura o campo científico da Motricidade Fina em crianças nas bases de dados nacionais e internacionais. Além disso, teve como objetivos específicos analisar a produção científica sob parâmetros bibliométricos, mapeando a produção científica da motricidade fina dentro dos componentes relacionados à função do corpo, a participação em atividades e aos fatores ambientais. A metodologia utilizada foi a análise bibliométrica dos trabalhos recuperados nas bases de dados nacionais e internacionais, Banco de Teses da CAPES, BVS, ScienceDirect e Scopus. Os procedimentos metodológicos da pesquisa foram divididos nas seguintes em etapas: Etapa 1 Revisão de literatura sobre Desenvolvimento Humano, Desenvolvimento Motor Infantil, Terapia Ocupacional e Ciência da Informação; Etapa 2 Coleta de dados e sistematização dos dados; Etapa 3 - Análise bibliométrica: organização e tratamento bibliométrico dos registros coletados utilizando os softwares Vantage Point para análise bibliométrica e MS Excel para elaboração de gráficos e tabelas para apresentação dos dados; Etapa 4 - Descrição e analise dos resultados, recuperando-se os conceitos expostos no referencial teórico para fundamentar as análises e interpretações dos dados obtidos. Ao final da pesquisa produziram-se os seguintes indicadores bibliométricos: no Banco de Teses da Capes o ano de maior produção foi 2002; o gênero dos autores e orientadores que se destacou foi o feminino; a formação da maioria dos autores é na área de Educação Física e Fisioterapia; a maioria dos trabalhos são de nível de mestrado; a Universidade que mais tem trabalhos na área é a UDESC, no programa de pós-graduação de Ciência do Movimento Humano; a agência de fomento que mais financia os trabalhos é a CAPES; grande parte dos trabalhos são descritivos; a escala mais utilizada é a EDM (Rosa Neto, 2002); a temática mais abordada é sobre Desenvolvimento Motor e os trabalhos apresentam perspectivas direcionadas as funções e estruturas do corpo. Com relação as bases de dados da BVS, ScienceDirect e Scopus, as publicações cresceram ao longo dos anos, com destaque para 2010; a maioria dos registros são de autoria coletiva; a formação dos autores é em Terapia Ocupacional (33%), Fisioterapia (19%) e Educação Física (15%); o idioma predominante é o inglês; na BVS o país que mais indexa artigos é o Brasil; na ScienceDirect e Scopus é os EUA; os periódicos que mais se destacaram na BVS foi a Revista Temas Sobre desenvolvimento; na ScienceDirect foi a Human Movement Science; e na Scopus foram os periódicos Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology (8%), American Journal of Occupational Therapy (7%) e o Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics (5%); as perspectivas dos estudos recuperados apresentam o tema da motricidade fina ancorado nas concepções de estrutura e funções do corpo nas três bases (56% - BVS; 69% - ScienceDirect; 71% - Scopus); a maioria dos estudos são de caráter transversal (94%), e descritivo (81%); as temáticas mais abordadas foram: coordenação motora fina (75%), desenvolvimento motor (35%), crianças (28%), pré-escolares (27%) e escalas de avaliação (21%); os instrumentos de coleta de dados mais utilizados nos artigos recuperados foram testes de habilidade motoras finas não padronizados (22%), seguido da Escala Peabody (12%), teste de Proficiência Motora de Bruininks-Oseretsky (7%) e a M-ABC (7%); identifica-se o tema da motricidade fina relacionado principalmente com o desenvolvimento motor (7%), autismo (5%), prematuridade (5%) e contexto escolar (5%).

[pt] O entendimento de que o desenvolvimento infantil acontece de maneira dinâmica entre fatores biológicos e ambientais sugere que essa fase constitui um período flexível, que pode ser aprimorado através de intervenções. Desta maneira, crianças em idade pré-escolar são simultaneamente vulneráveis às influências do meio e capazes de se beneficiar com intervenções precoces, apontando para a importância do estudo do desenvolvimento cognitivo nesta etapa da vida. Na literatura, as funções executivas são apresentadas como habilidades cognitivas flexíveis, necessárias para a adaptação do ser humano frente às novas situações, articuladas àquelas ações necessárias para alcançar determinado objetivo. Desta forma, o objetivo deste trabalho foi realizar uma revisão bibliográfica referente aos estudos que investigam os estágios iniciais do desenvolvimento destas funções e, a partir disto, elaborar uma proposta para medir as funções executivas de crianças em idade pré-escolar, apontando os benefícios dessas investigações para a área do desenvolvimento infantil. A partir da revisão de literatura, verificou-se a necessidade de publicações nacionais visando à adaptação e validação de instrumentos de avaliação neuropsicológica direcionados às etapas iniciais do desenvolvimento no ciclo vital. O presente estudo apresenta uma ferramenta alternativa que sirva de instrumento para a investigação destas funções ainda na primeira infância. / [en] The understanding that child development occurs through a dynamicinteraction between biological and environmental factors suggests that this phase is a flexible and amenable to improvements through interventions. In this context, pre-school children are simultaneously vulnerable to environmental influences and able to benefit from early interventions, pointing to the importance of understanding cognitive development at this stage of life. In the literature, executive functions are presented as flexible cognitive skills, necessary for the adaptation of the human being to the new situations, articulated to those actions necessary to reach a certain goal. Thus, the goal of this study was to carry out a bibliographic review of studies that investigate the initial stages executive function development and, from this, elaborate a proposal aiming to measure executive functions in pre-school children, pointing out the benefits of these studies in the area of child development. Results indicated the need for national publications aiming at the adaptation and validation of neuropsychological assessment instruments targeting the initial stages of human development.

abstract: Preschool children with language delays often struggle to learn new concepts. Proven strategies such as modeling, prompting, reinforcing responses, direct teaching, and hands-on experience matter to young children with language delays. Also important are social interactions and shared experiences with more knowledgeable persons. Within a cultural context Funds of Knowledge, that is the talents, traditions, and abilities families possess and pass down to their children may be a context for these. However, despite their importance the value Funds of Knowledge have has not been explored with parents of children with special needs. This action research study used a mixed-methods design to understand if Funds of Knowledge could be used as context to improve communication between parents and their children and build trust between parents and a teacher. Seven families participated in the study. Quantitative data were gathered with surveys and were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Qualitative data consisted of transcripts from home-visit interviews, parent presentations, and a focus group, and were analyzed with a grounded theory approach. Results indicate parents entered the study with trust in the teacher especially in terms of having competence in her abilities. Data also show that parents used the language strategies provided to improve communication with their children. Data also indicate that the use of a Funds of Knowledge activity allowed parents to share their knowledge and interests with their children and children in the classroom, feel empowered, and express emotions. From these findings, implication for practice and further research are provided. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2014

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:39:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Talita de Cassia Batista Pazeto.pdf: 856113 bytes, checksum: a7e02a052e4383f11f13c44f626339ff (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The cognitive assessment of children at preschool age is important because it helps to see how they are developing skills related to learning and school experience. It also contributes to the early detection of potential problems and assist in planning interventions and public policy. In this context, this study addressed three skills directly related to school learning: executive functions, verbal language and written language. Executive functions related to the implementation of long-term goals, with a selection of information, planning and execution of actions. Oral language refers to the use and understanding of speech and enables communication. Reading and writing include several skills, from knowledge of letters and sounds to the reading and writing of complex items. The aim of this study was to evaluate these three skills in preschool children to see if they increase with the progression of grade and are correlated. 90 children participated, of both sexes, aged between 4 and 6 years, the Kindergarten series I and II of a private school in São Paulo. The instruments used for the assessment of executive functions were computerized Stroop Test for preschoolers, Test Track for preschoolers and Attention Test for Cancellation. Oral language was assessed using the Phonological Awareness Test for Oral production (PCFO) Test Peabody Picture Vocabulary (PPVT), Naming Test and Test of Infant Figures Repeating words and pseudo words. Written language was assessed by recognition of letters (vowels and consonants) and their sounds, writing the name and test of reading and writing. Student's t test revealed serial effect on at least one measure of all tests, showing better performance Kindergarten II. There were no effects of base or top, suggesting adequacy of instruments for grades assessed. There were several significant correlations, especially between tests of the same ability, but also among the three skills. In oral language tests there were significant correlations between all measures, the same happened in relation to tests of reading and writing. Interestingly, reading and writing had higher correlations with sound recognition than with recognition of letters, reinforcing the importance of this skill for literacy. Regarding executive functions and other skills, no correlations were high, but there were several significant correlations, suggesting that executive functions are related to oral and written language, although modest. In correlation analyzes between oral and written language, it was observed that the phonological awareness score was correlated with very high scores in writing and with high scores in reading and recognition of sounds, suggesting that a good performance in reading and writing has strong regarding the ability to recognize the sounds of letters and phonological awareness. Therefore, this research corroborated the theoretical effect of series on the skills assessed, as revealed correlations between skills. / A avaliação cognitiva de crianças em idade pré-escolar é importante, pois ajuda a verificar como estão se desenvolvendo habilidades relacionadas à aprendizagem e à vivência escolar, além de contribuir para a detecção precoce de possíveis dificuldades e auxiliar no planejamento de intervenções e políticas públicas. Nesse contexto, essa pesquisa abordou três habilidades diretamente relacionadas à aprendizagem escolar: funções executivas, linguagem oral e linguagem escrita. Funções executivas relacionam-se à execução de objetivos de longo-prazo, com seleção de informações, planejamento e execução de ações. Linguagem oral refere-se ao uso e à compreensão da fala e permite a comunicação. Leitura e escrita incluem diversas habilidades, desde conhecimento de letras e sons até a leitura e a escrita de itens complexos. O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi avaliar essas três habilidades em pré-escolares para verificar se elas aumentam com a progressão escolar e se estão correlacionadas entre si. Participaram 90 crianças, de ambos os sexos, com idades entre 4 e 6 anos, das séries Jardim I e Jardim II de uma escola particular de São Paulo. Os instrumentos utilizados para a avaliação das funções executivas foram Teste Stroop Computadorizado para pré-escolares, Teste de Trilhas para pré-escolares e Teste de Atenção por Cancelamento. A linguagem oral foi avaliada por meio de Prova de Consciência Fonológica por produção Oral (PCFO), Teste de Vocabulário por Imagem Peabody (TVIP), Teste de Nomeação de Figuras Infantil e Teste de Repetição de Palavras e Pseudopalavras. A linguagem escrita foi avaliada pelo reconhecimento das letras (vogais e consoantes) e seus respectivos sons, escrita do nome e teste de leitura e escrita. Test t de Student revelou efeito de série em pelo menos uma medida de todos os testes aplicados, revelando melhor desempenho do Jardim II. Não foram verificados efeitos de piso ou de teto, sugerindo adequação dos instrumentos para as séries avaliadas. Houve várias correlações significativas, principalmente entre testes de uma mesma habilidade, mas também entre as três habilidades. Nos testes de linguagem oral houve correlações significativas entre todas as medidas, ocorrendo o mesmo em relação aos testes de leitura e escrita. É interessante que leitura e escrita tiveram correlações mais altas com reconhecimento de sons do que com reconhecimento de letras, reforçando a importância dessa habilidade para a alfabetização. Na relação entre funções executivas e as demais habilidades, não foram encontradas correlações altas, mas houve várias correlações significativas, o que sugere que as funções executivas estão relacionadas às linguagens oral e escrita, ainda que de forma modesta. Nas análises de correlação entre linguagem oral e escrita, observou-se que o escore em consciência fonológica teve correlação muito alta com o escore em escrita e alta com escores em leitura e reconhecimentos de sons, sugerindo que um bom desempenho em leitura e escrita tem forte relação a habilidade de reconhecer os sons das letras e com a consciência fonológica. Portanto a presente pesquisa corroborou os pressupostos teóricos de efeito de série sobre as habilidades avaliadas, assim como revelou as correlações entre as habilidades.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:40:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriana Cristina de Morais.pdf: 955386 bytes, checksum: a5c1352f37e20277bf2febf683a6d5dd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-05 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Pre-school children constitute a population group that deserves attention due to the characteristics of biological maturation as well as the impact of this period in the later stages of development. At this stage, many cognitive skills develop at an accelerated rate, among them the memory. The assessment of memory is important to identify potential learning difficulties and intervention activities. In this sense, the evaluation of working memory during the pre-school education is relevant, it has been considered a good predictor of academy success and helps in understanding, organizing and reorganizing the information received. The objective of this project is to assess working memory between typical children 3-6 years of age. For both have been individually assessed 235 children of both sexes in public and private schools, aged between 3 and 6 years(M = 4,5 ; DP= 1,12). Analyzes show no significant differences in relation to gender. Analyzes compared group Private School and Public School showed that private school kids get better performance on tests of TMT, however Box Plot analysis showed that regardless of the type of school working memory has a progression. Analysis of the results indicated significant correlations between all subtests of TMT as well as each of the subtests with the total score. In order to verify the reliability of the instrument analyzes were conducted using internal consistency coefficient alpha, the result was 0.84 showing good suitability of the instrument. Validity evidence for developmental change were found, revealing a trend of increasing TMT performance with increasing age of the children. Therefore, we obtain evidence that the skill assessed by TMT increases with the progression of age. Analyzes showed that children under 3 years of age hit less than all the others. In addition, children 6 years scored higher than all the others. This work may contribute to the provision of an instrument to assess working memory in preschool children. / Pré-escolares constituem uma faixa populacional que merece atenção devido às características da maturação biológica, bem como pelo impacto deste período nas fases posteriores do desenvolvimento. Nesta fase, muitas habilidades cognitivas se desenvolvem de maneira acelerada, entre elas, a memória, sendo esta importante para o desenvolvimento. A avaliação da memória é importante para identificar possíveis dificuldades nessa habilidade, desta forma poderemos propor atividades de intervenção que, se formadas durante o desenvolvimento podem ser reforçadas ou enfraquecidas, assim, tanto o aprendizado quanto o desenvolvimento podem envolver alterações que irá resultar em mudanças nas funções cognitivas. Neste sentido, a avaliação da memória de trabalho durante a fase pré-escolar é relevante, pois tem sido considerada como um bom preditor do sucesso escolar, auxilia na compreensão, organização e reorganização das informações recebidas. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a memória de trabalho entre crianças com desenvolvimento típico de 3 a 6 anos de idade. Para tanto foram avaliadas individualmente 235 crianças de ambos os sexos, de escolas públicas e privadas, com idade entre 3 a 6 anos (M = 4,5; DP= 1,12). Análises mostram que não houve diferenças significativas em relação a gênero. Análises por comparação de grupo escola Particular e escola Pública mostrou que as crianças de escola Particular obtêm melhor desempenho nas provas do TMT, no entanto análise de Box Plot apontou que independentemente do tipo de escola a memória de trabalho tem uma progressão. Análises dos resultados indicam correlações significativas entre todos os subtestes do TMT, bem como de cada um dos subtestes com a pontuação total. A fim de verificar a fidedignidade do instrumento, foram conduzidas análises de consistência interna através do coeficiente Alfa, o resultado foi de 0,84 revelando boa adequação do instrumento. Evidências de validade por mudança desenvolvimental foram constatadas, revelando uma tendência ao aumento do desempenho TMT com o aumento da idade das crianças. Portanto, obtêm-se indícios de que a habilidade avaliada pelo TMT aumenta com a progressão das faixas etárias. Análises apontaram que as crianças com 3 anos de idade acertaram menos do que todas as demais. Além disso, crianças de 6 anos acertaram mais do que todas as demais. Este trabalho pode contribuir para disponibilização de instrumento para avaliar a memória de trabalho em crianças pré-escolares.

The aim of the study is to contribute knowledge about the influence of children in preschool through the preschooler's perspective. I chose to use semistructured interviews to visualize preschooler's thoughts, perceptions and experiences regarding the influence of children in preschool. To my help I have three questions: How do preschool teachers view the influence of children? How does preschool teacher support children's influence in preschool? And what challenges does the preschool teacher describe in this work? My result shows that the children get influence in preschool activities to varying degrees depending on the conditions and the situation. Preschool teachers are awere of the obstacles that exist, but my study shows that they try to see opportunities instead and based on the conditions in the preschool practices, the preschool teachers work to give children influence. / Syftet med studien är att bidra md kunskap om barns inflytande i förskolan genom förskollärarens perspekiv. Jag valde att använda mig utav semistrukturerade intervjuer för att synliggöra förskollärarnas tankar, uppfattningar och erfarenheter kring barns inflytande. Till min hjälp har jag tre frågeställningar: hur ser förskollärarna på barns inflytande? Hur stödjer förskolläraren barns inflytande i förskolan? Och vilka utmaningar beskriver förskolläraren i detta arbete? Mitt resultat visar att barnen får inflytande i förskolleverksamheten i olika utsträckningar beroende på förutsättningar och på situationen. Förskollärarna är medvetna om de hinder som finns, men min studie vsar att de försöker se möjligheterna istället och utifrån de förutsättningar som finns i verksamheten arbetar förkollärarna för att ge barnen inflytande.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which faith-based preschools promote spiritual development in preschoolers. The participants in the study were faith-based early childhood teachers and administrators from seven states. Early childhood professionals representing 11 Christian faith traditions completed written surveys or online surveys. A total of 201 faith-based educators completed the survey; 20 respondents participated in semi-structured interviews. The concurrent triangulation mixed-method design provided data on 8 program dimensions which support children's spiritual development: prayer, Bible literacy, worship, building character, service opportunities, assessment, parental involvement and context. I analyzed quantitative data using descriptive and inferential statistics. All items were examined using mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentages. Qualitative data gathered from semi-structured interviews were coded and analyzed using NVivo8® qualitative analysis software (QSR International, Inc., Cambridge, MA, http://www.qsrinternational.com). From this data I identified the extent to which faith-based preschool programs support children's spiritual development through the practices of prayer, Bible literacy, worship, building character, service opportunities, assessment, parental involvement and context. Data analyses revealed statistically significant differences in faith-based teachers' hours of training in children's spiritual development across all program practice dimensions. A key finding of the study was that training in children's spiritual development is important regardless of the education level of the early childhood professional. Qualitative data indicated no standardized spiritual development training in faith-based preschools represented in this study. The mixed-method analysis revealed that the 8 program practice dimensions were not always connected in a framework that supported children's spiritual development. Recommendations for professional practice include a program framework to support children's spiritual development in faith-based preschool programs; training for faith-based early childhood professionals in children's spiritual development; and formulating a definition of children's spiritual development.

What do we do before we eat snack? Which tower has more blocks? Will all of these toy cars fit in my bucket? Children ask questions like this all day long, and they have incredible capacity to answer them when equipped with the right tools. We will discuss how to support all children - including children with special needs - to mathematize their worlds. We will focus on three math topics that are less commonly found in preschool: ordering, comparing, and estimating. Through group discussions, video analysis, and hands-on activities, we will explore: 1) how these skills connect to other domains (e.g., retelling storybook events in order) 2) how they develop in children (e.g., what do children need to know to compare numerals?) 3) effective strategies to bring them to life (e.g., including a referent jar when estimating) Participants will leave with example activities to try in the classroom and inspiration to support children as they talk about, play with, and get excited to use math to understand the world around them.