Advances in Developmental and Educational Psychology

Empirical research in early infancy language acquisition: A nonsystematic review of literature

Jing An — 2024-03-13

This paper unsystematically reviewed the journal publications written in English in the period from 2010 to 2020 on the topic of early infancy language acquisition. The review was through two aspects: language comprehension, and language production. Additionally, this paper also reviewed several frequently used and new research methods and tools. For early infancy language comprehension, empirical studies found evidences on infants’ comprehension of words’ meaning through sounds, especially the comprehension of nouns, the latter was proven to have relevance with nouns’ familiarity and cross-word relations in the nouns. Besides, empirical studies found evidences on infants’ distinguishment between concrete words and abstract concepts. An important factor to influence infancy language comprehension is the social environment that the baby was exposed to, mainly the mother’s speech and her daily life routine (for example, her work). For early infancy language production, empirical studies found evidences on infants’ ability to associate similar sounds with different objects, and measurement for infants’ language outputs were brought forward in another empirical study. Empirical studies also found infants’ language outputs match to words and objects from the environment. Lastly, this paper reviewed the most frequently used technical methods: fMRI and fNIRS technology for investigating neural mechanisms of infancy language processing. There are other new research methods, include large-sample database analysis and quantitative modeling, corpus analysis, language inputs sampling, language model for infancy language acquisition.

Disadvantage, educational social mobility and barriers to student engagement: An exploration of the Psychosocial and Academic Trust Alienation theory across educational practice

Caroline Sarah Jones — 2023-04-04

This article explores the original concept of the Psychosocial and Academic Trust Alienation (PATA) theory across the education sector, specifically focusing on barriers to student engagement for disadvantaged students and educational social mobility. It begins with an examination of the terms `disadvantage and educational social mobility' followed by a discussion of the context of the educational experiences of disadvantaged students aged 0-19 years old in the UK. An exploration and definition of the PATA theory and the subsequent links to barriers to student engagement in educational practice is then presented. Subsequently, age-appropriate case vignettes demonstrating how the PATA theory can be identified or experienced in practice are presented. Thereafter, practical teaching and learning strategies based on the concepts of the PATA theory for educators, leadership teams and Governments can be found. These strategies aim to stimulate educational pedagogy when supporting the most disadvantaged students in education. Therefore, the contribution of this article to the field of educational psychology is firstly, the acknowledgement of the presence of the PATA theory across educational age ranges, secondly it provides insights into the educational psychological barriers to engagement for the disadvantaged student demographic, and thirdly it proposes practical strategies for supporting disadvantaged student progression thus contributing to educational social mobility.

Teaching rural educators to ask follow-up questions during open-ended interviews via telehealth

Patrick W. Romani — 2022-06-22

Educators are mandated to complete functional behavior assessment (FBA) prior to the development of a behavior intervention plan for students in need of special education support for emotional or behavioral needs. FBAs lead to hypotheses as to the function(s) of problem behavior (e.g., to gain access to attention). Research shows educators most often use open-ended interviews to complete FBA within school settings. Interviewers ask questions to gain information about topics, like antecedents and consequences to problem behavior, to inform subsequent assessment or treatment. Unfortunately, research documents variability in the quality of school-based FBAs, particularly with regards to interviewing. Given the variability in quality of open-ended interviews, studies teaching core interviewing skills to educators are sorely needed. Thus, the current study delivered telehealth-based training to six educators who regularly completed open-ended interviews as part of FBAs. Following baseline, showing that educators (a) did not ask relevant questions and (b) did not ask follow-up questions when they needed to, training occurred to teach interviewing skills. The current study showed improvements in interviewing skills following a didactic presentation and behavioral skills training delivered via telehealth. Four of the six educators successfully interviewed a parent with high integrity following training. These results will be discussed in terms of strategies to improve interviewing skills for educators using telehealth services.

Detection and first step intervention for child victims of bullying

John S. Saroyan — 2022-03-22

Bullying behavior towards young children and adolescents can occur in schools, neighborhoods and structured group activities, including sports teams or after school programs. While some children manage to avoid harmful negative contacts prompted by their peers, other children suffer repeated verbal abuse, physical assaults, gossip, harassment and/or group rejection. Ultimately this can affect their self esteem and social interactions. Such victims commonly develop symptoms related to depression and anxiety that are not easily observable to teachers and parents or other concerned adults. Family physicians and pediatricians may however carry the role as a child’s trusted and caring support, to help uncover issues related to a child as a victim. They may provide opportunities for a child to open up and share personal problems related to bullying along with other related mental health concerns needing attention. Detecting victimization may be recognized after viewing initial prompts or questionnaires given at intake. The addition of a quantifiable instrument related to bullying may also aid in discerning whether a problem exists. Recognizing symptoms of bullied children provides an opportunity for physicians to further inquire about the emotional impact bullying has on the child. Children and parents should both experience support during this process. The addition of educational resources, group referrals and individual/family counseling should also be recommended with follow ups to review progress.

Parents' perceptions of autism and their challenges in China

Wangqian Fu — 2022-01-10

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication deficits and restricted or repetitive behaviors. Parents play a significant role in research, clinical practice and policy development on autism. Parents' perceptions of autism can affect not only their own well-being, but also their children's development. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the parents’ perception of autism in Chinese context. The parents’ perception of autism questionnaire was applied to collect information from 171 families of children with ASD, mainly to investigate the knowledge of autistic children and the difficulties the family facing. The following conclusions were drawn from this study: (1) Mother as the primary caregiver for children with ASD; (2) Parents’ perception of ASD were various parents of autistic children have a good understanding of the symptoms, causes, age of onset and interventions, and their expectations of the prognosis and the future life of their autistic children are high; (3) The difficulties that faced by the parents are mainly composed of low social acceptance, family pressure and concerns about the effectiveness of interventions for their children. In consideration of the future development of children with autism and the mental health development of their parents, it is particularly crucial to support their parents with multifaceted support.

The critical evaluation of educators' struggles in the context of Covid-19: Some theological analysis

Magezi Elijah Baloyi — 2021-11-12

Most countries have realized that education is one of the important keys to transforming their countries, and this responsibility rests hugely on the shoulders of teachers. It is concerning that the plight of teachers who are carriers of both our children’s future and the future of this country seems not to be receiving the attention it deserves. Although teacher unions are many, it is questionable whether the teaching profession is receiving the protection and the encouragement it deserves in this country. The teaching profession faced many challenges in recent years. Just as we thought that the massive resignation trend that started in 2014 was coming to an end and that a period of stability was dawning, Covid-19 and the hard lockdown of 2020 happened and many of the teaching profession’s serious concerns were once again thrust into the limelight. This article is concerned with the struggles of teachers during the corona period; the researcher looked at, for example, the paradox of the reopening of schools while the pandemic was raging towards its peak and how it affected teachers. Teachers were promised that they could work from home till retirement if they had comorbidities and are sixty and above of age, but they were recalled to work.

Reevaluating incarcerated juvenile education in the wake of COVID-19: Why the juvenile system should take advantage of the online learning wave

Catherine Hutwagner — 2021-09-10

Incarcerated juveniles have the greatest need for education and potential for improvement, yet they are one of the most underserved populations in terms of public education. Juveniles in detention centers receive a lower quality education when compared to public education systems–courses exclusively based on worksheets, single-room style teaching methods, a shortage of textbooks, and underqualified teachers. They also struggle to earn and transfer credits. In addition, solitary confinement often denies access to education, adding further disadvantages. Currently, juveniles have a low reenrollment rate in the public education system after their release. This paper presents a solution for the future of juvenile education, using the national response to COVID-19 of moving education online as a blueprint, combined with social science research, to provide small amendments to promote an effective learning environment.

Evaluating fine perceptual-motor skills in children with mild intellectual disability

Vasiliki Koutsobina — 2021-08-17

Over the years, several studies have indicated that delay in perceptual-motor development and impaired motor organization is strongly associated with the level of cognitive functioning and performance in children. The aim of the present research study was to assess the fine perceptual-motor skills of children with mild intellectual disability 7-9-years-old and the comparison of their performance with two groups of typically developing children with the same chronological and a corresponding mental age. Our research sample consisted of 129 children between the ages of four and nine years whilst the experimental group had a total of 43 children (7-9-years-old) with mild intellectual disability. As an assessment tool of fine perceptual-motor skills we used a battery of tasks constructed in accordance with other commonly used standardized tests that measure psychomotor abilities. Furthermore, several comparisons were carried out in order to investigate our experimental hypotheses. Overall, our results revealed that children with mild intellectual disability scored lower in the tasks compared to typically developing children of equal chronological age but significantly higher than the group of typically developing children of the same mental age (preschoolers). The results of the psychometric properties of our designed tasks (reliability, validity) verify the high-quality psychometric characteristics of the designed tool.

Perceptions of kindness in pre-service early childhood teachers

Maria S. Poulou — 2021-07-14

Research evidence on Social and Emotional Learning implementation at schools has long been recognized. Most of the research however, has been focused on cultivating explicit social and emotional skills and relatively scant attention has been given to those positive human qualities or virtues such as kindness. Current study aims to illuminate pre-service early childhood teachers’ conceptualization of kindness. Two hundred and nineteen pre-service students described their perceptions of kindness. Kindness was conceptualized as a range of acts and words indicating respect, understanding and emotional support, which promote personal development and healthy relationships. Teachers’ kindness specifically was perceived important in cultivating students’ personality and teacher-student relationships. The findings of the study contribute to the topic of kindness in education which is a promising but undervalued area of school-based programming.

Developing a supportive peer environment: Engaging students through cooperative skills in the classroom

John S. Saroyan — 2021-04-01

Children with peer acceptance problems struggle to fit in among classmates and often feel rejection and social isolation. Common reasons can stem from a child’s unique personality, individuality or special needs issues. These children often experience emotional problems and symptoms resulting from poor social relationships and difficulty fitting in to their environment. Within the classroom, teachers may provide encouragement and support for these children as well as their better adjusted peers, helping them equally engage through improved understanding and acceptance. In this article, a cooperative classroom approach is discussed to help students develop healthier communication with mutual respect and the freedom to be their natural, core self. A Democratic Student Council is presented as a cooperative classroom activity that encourages peer compassion and openness while supporting individuality and feelings of belonging.