How can we create high-quality learning environments for children from socially, politically, and economically marginalized groups? How do early childhood programs help to overcome the challenges ...created by poverty? Seeking to answer these questions, The Starting Line delves into the ups and downs of early education programs serving Latinas/os in Texas, using the state as a window into broader debates about academic opportunity and the changing demographics of the United States. Immersing readers in the day-to-day activities of Texas's early childhood education programs, Robert Crosnoe illuminates how significant obstacles can stymie the best intentions. Crosnoe pays particular attention to the complex connections among classrooms, schools, families, and communities, as well as the frequently unfolding interplay of educational philosophies. The result is a story highlighting the promises of early childhood education, the perils faced in attempting to fulfill them, and the degree to which Texas stands at the forefront of some larger movements and lags behind in others. Giving voice to bilingual educators and low-income Latina/o families, this book is a timely exploration of the strengths and needs of what will soon be the largest share of the US child population.
In this study, we examined the longitudinal relations between frequency and features of reading experiences within the preschool classroom to children's language and literacy outcomes in kindergarten ...and 1st grade. "Frequency" refers to the number of shared reading sessions conducted each week as measured by teachers' written reading logs recorded across the academic year. "Features" refers to teachers' extratextual talk about literal, inferential, or print or phonological topics as assessed by analysis of 6 videotaped readings of narrative and informational texts collected across the preschool year. Participants were 28 preschool teachers and 178 children. The children were largely at risk and randomly selected from among those in each classroom to complete longitudinal assessments. In preschool, results showed that the frequency of classroom shared reading was positively and significantly related to children's receptive vocabulary growth, as was the inclusion of extratextual conversations around the text; only extratextual conversations related to children's preschool literacy growth. There was no evidence of differential influences of these experiences for children; that is, the relationship between frequency or features and children's language and literacy development was not moderated by children's initial skill level. Longitudinally, extratextual talk during preschool shared reading remained associated with children's vocabulary skills through kindergarten, with trends toward significance extending to 1st grade literacy skills. The frequency of preschool shared reading was not a significant predictor of longitudinal outcomes.
Paley tells in this book a story of her own farewell from teaching, as well as a story of the self-discovery of Reeny, a little girl with a fondness for the color brown. Led by Reeny, Paley and the ...children develop a passion for the books of Italian author Leo Lionni, exploring the essential human need to create and to belong.
The availability of digital tablets in preschools has increased significantly in recent years. Literature suggests that these tools can enhance students’ literacy and collaborative skills. As society ...becomes increasingly digitized, preschool curriculum reform also emphasises the subjects of technology and science as priority areas of learning. Teachers’ knowledge and experiences are of utmost importance in carrying out this mandate. Few studies have explored the use of digital tablets to teach preschool technology and science in Sweden, and there is an urgent need to ascertain the role of digital aids as teaching tools. This survey study seeks to determine how digital tablets are used to support preschool children’s learning in general, and with respect to technology education. Preschool educators (n = 327) across Sweden responded to an online survey consisting of 20 closed and 6 open items that probed the use of digital tablets. Survey results revealed a high degree of engagement with digital tablets in preschools, with activities directed toward various subject-related, social and generic skills. Programming, invention, construction and creation, problem-solving, and design emerged saliently as tablet activities in technology subject areas. Opportunities for providing meaningful learning tasks and digital adaptability were seen as pedagogical benefits of using tablets, but increasing expectations to integrate tablet activities with an accompanying lack of digital skills were expressed as limitations. Teachers’ recommendations for future tablet use included defining clearer curriculum guidelines for tablet implementation and adequate training for acquiring digital competence.
This study describes the language environment of preschool programs serving children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and examines relationships between child characteristics and an automated ...measure of adult and child language in the classroom. The Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system was used with 40 children with ASD to collect data on adult and child language. Standardized assessments were administered to obtain language, cognitive, and autism severity scores for participants. With a mean of over 5 hours of recording across two days several months apart, there was a mean of 3.6 child vocalizations per minute, 1.0 conversational turns (in which either the adult or child respond to the other within 5 seconds) per minute, and 29.2 adult words per minute. Two of the three LENA variables were significantly correlated with language age-equivalents. Cognitive age-equivalents were also significantly correlated with two LENA variables. Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule severity scores and LENA variables were not significantly correlated. Implications for using the LENA system with children with ASD in the school environment are discussed.
Pretend play has been claimed to be crucial to children's healthy development. Here we examine evidence for this position versus 2 alternatives: Pretend play is 1 of many routes to positive ...developments (equifinality), and pretend play is an epiphenomenon of other factors that drive development. Evidence from several domains is considered. For language, narrative, and emotion regulation, the research conducted to date is consistent with all 3 positions but insufficient to draw conclusions. For executive function and social skills, existing research leans against the crucial causal position but is insufficient to differentiate the other 2. For reasoning, equifinality is definitely supported, ruling out a crucially causal position but still leaving open the possibility that pretend play is epiphenomenal. For problem solving, there is no compelling evidence that pretend play helps or is even a correlate. For creativity, intelligence, conservation, and theory of mind, inconsistent correlational results from sound studies and nonreplication with masked experimenters are problematic for a causal position, and some good studies favor an epiphenomenon position in which child, adult, and environment characteristics that go along with play are the true causal agents. We end by considering epiphenomenalism more deeply and discussing implications for preschool settings and further research in this domain. Our take-away message is that existing evidence does not support strong causal claims about the unique importance of pretend play for development and that much more and better research is essential for clarifying its possible role. (Contains 12 tables and 10 footnotes.)
Objective: The vast majority of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) attend public preschools at some point in their childhood. Community preschool practices often are not evidence based, ...and almost none target the prelinguistic core deficits of ASD. This study investigated the effectiveness of public preschool teachers implementing a validated intervention (the Joint Attention and Symbolic Play/Engagement and Regulation intervention; JASP/ER) on a core deficit of autism, initiating joint attention. Method: Sixteen dyads (preschoolers with ASD and the public school teachers who worked in the child's classroom) were randomly assigned to the 6-week JASP/ER intervention or a control group. Results: At the end of the intervention, JASP/ER teachers used more JASP/ER strategies than the control teachers, and JASP/ER preschoolers used more joint attention in their classroom than control children. Additionally, JASP/ER children spent more time in supported engagement and less time in object engagement than control preschoolers on a taped play interaction. Conclusions: Findings suggest that teachers were able to improve a core deficit of children with ASD in a public preschool context.
Quality of teacher–child interactions is central to prekindergarten children's learning. In the United States, the quality of teacher–child interactions is commonly assessed using the teaching ...through interactions conceptual framework and an associ/ated observational tool, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). This study examined: (a) whether there was evidence supporting three distinctive domains of teacher–child interactions in Chile (construct validity) and (b) whether these domains predicted end-of-prekindergarten language, academic, and executive function skills in Chile (predictive validity). The sample consisted of 91 Chilean prekindergarten classrooms (1,868 four-year-old children). The findings support both construct and predictive validity of the teaching through interactions conceptual framework as assessed by the CLASS in Chile. Implications for cross-country comparison of quality of teacher–child interactions in prekindergarten classrooms are discussed.
Background: Deficits in joint attention (JA) and joint engagement (JE) represent a core problem in young children with autism as these affect language and social development. Studies of ...parent‐mediated and specialist‐mediated JA‐intervention suggest that such intervention may be effective. However, there is little knowledge about the success of the intervention when done in preschools.
Aim: Assess the effects of a preschool‐based JA‐intervention.
Methods: 61 children (48 males) with autistic disorder (29–60 months) were randomized to either 8 weeks of JA‐intervention, in addition to their preschool programs (n = 34), or to preschool programs only (n = 27). The intervention was done by preschool teachers with weekly supervision by trained counselors from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Clinics (CAMHC). Changes in JA and JE were measured by blinded independent testers using Early Social Communication Scale (ESCS) and video taped preschool teacher–child and mother–child play at baseline and post‐intervention.
Clinical trials registration: Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT00378157.
Results: Intention‐to‐treat analysis showed significant difference between the intervention and the control group, with the intervention group yielding more JA initiation during interaction with the preschool teachers. The effect generalized to significantly longer duration of JE with the mothers.
Conclusions: This is the first randomized study to show positive and generalized effects of preschool‐based JA‐intervention.
We review recent research on the presentation, nosology and epidemiology of behavioral and emotional psychiatric disorders in preschool children (children ages 2 through 5 years old), focusing on the ...five most common groups of childhood psychiatric disorders: attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, oppositional defiant and conduct disorders, anxiety disorders, and depressive disorders. We review the various approaches to classifying behavioral and emotional dysregulation in preschoolers and determining the boundaries between normative variation and clinically significant presentations. While highlighting the limitations of the current DSM‐IV diagnostic criteria for identifying preschool psychopathology and reviewing alternative diagnostic approaches, we also present evidence supporting the reliability and validity of developmentally appropriate criteria for diagnosing psychiatric disorders in children as young as two years old. Despite the relative lack of research on preschool psychopathology compared with studies of the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders in older children, the current evidence now shows quite convincingly that the rates of the common child psychiatric disorders and the patterns of comorbidity among them in preschoolers are similar to those seen in later childhood. We review the implications of these conclusions for research on the etiology, nosology, and development of early onset of psychiatric disorders, and for targeted treatment, early intervention and prevention with young children.
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