It has been reported that childhood-onset fluency disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects 5-11％ of preschool-age children; however, approximately 80％ of children recover several years ...after onset. A great deal of research has been carried out over the past few decades to identify factors that are related to the prognosis of stuttering. These include a family history of stuttering; gender; age of onset; the severity of stuttering; the child's abilities in articulation and phonology; concomitant disorders; and the child's temperament. The present article gives an overview of three recent studies examining which factors predict the persistence and recovery of stuttering in preschoolers. These are a research review, a meta-analysis study, and research on building statistical models. The results of these studies suggest the prognosis of stuttering to be influenced by powerful and crucial genetic and biological factors, such as a family history of stuttering and gender, and with additional factors such as the severity of stuttering and speech-language vulnerabilities. Based on these conclusions, we discuss which clinical characteristics should be assessed and in what form support should be provided to allow the most appropriate and effective treatment decisions to be made. The duration of follow-up the children and the criteria for recovery of stuttering are also suggested as potential areas of future research.
Child obesity is a growing global issue. Preventing early development of overweight and obesity requires identifying reliable risk factors for high body mass index (BMI) in children. Child eating ...behavior might be an important and malleable risk factor that can be reliably assessed with the parent-report Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ). Using a hierarchical dataset (children nested within child care centers) from a representative cohort of Swiss preschool children, we tested whether eating behavior, assessed with a 7-factor solution of the CEBQ, and BMI at baseline predicted the outcome BMI after 1 year, controlling for socioeconomic status (
= 555; 47% female; mean age = 3.9 years, range: 2.2-6.6; mean BMI = 16 kg/m
, range: 11.2-23; mean age- and sex-corrected
-transformed BMI, zBMI = 0.4, range -4 to +4.7). The statistical model explained 65.2% of zBMI at follow-up. Baseline zBMI was a strong positive predictor, uniquely explaining 48.8% of outcome variance. A linear combination of all CEBQ scales, taken together, explained 10.7% of outcome variance. Due to their intercorrelations, uniquely explained variance by any individual scale was of negligible clinical relevance. Only food responsiveness was a significant predictor, when accounting for all other predictors and covariates in the model, and uniquely explained only 0.4% of outcome variance. Altogether, our results confirm, extend, and refine previous research on eating behavior and zBMI in preschool children, by adjusting for covariates, accounting for intercorrelations between predictors, partitioning explained outcome variance, and providing standardized beta estimates. Our findings show the importance of carefully examining the contribution of predictors in multiple regression models for clinically relevant outcomes.
Children’s persistence can predict later academic achievement. However, few studies have examined the factors related to individual differences in persistence. In this study, we investigated the ...relationship between executive function (EF) and persistence in 5-year-olds (N = 72). The scores of the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task and gift delay task were positively associated with persistence. We conducted a mediation analysis to examine the cognitive mechanisms underlying the associations between EF and persistence. This analysis revealed that children with high scores on the DCCS task, used multiple strategies for the persistence task, and this contributed to their persistence. We also found that children with high scores on the gift delay task concentrated on the task without getting distracted, and this approach contributed to their persistence. Thus, our findings reveal the factors related to individual differences in persistence and cognitive mechanisms underlying these associations between EF and persistence.
•We investigated individual differences in preschoolers’ persistence.•Cognitive flexibility was positively related to children’s persistence.•Gift delay task was positively related to children’s persistence.•We revealed the cognitive mechanisms between executive function and persistence.•Our findings have implications for interventions to develop children’s persistence.
•Longitudinal analysis revealed increased new food acceptance across early childhood.•Sensory exploratory behaviors (spitting, licking) decreased across early childhood.•Declines in sensory behaviors ...were associated with increased food acceptance.
Prompted engagement with a new food's sensory properties (smell, texture) has been associated with young children's acceptance of new foods. However, little is known about the prevalence and stability of children's sensory exploratory behaviors exhibited spontaneously when trying new foods. The aim of this analysis was to examine developmental trajectories of sensory exploratory behaviors (i.e., smelling, licking, spitting) in response to new foods.
This 3-year longitudinal study included observational data collected from 244 preschoolers. At age 4 years, children were asked to taste four novel foods. An experimenter recorded the child's displays of smelling, licking, spitting, refusals, and acceptance. Assessments were repeated at 4.5, 5.5, and 6.5 years of age. Summary scores were created for each child by totaling the number of foods smelled, licked, spit out, refused, and accepted at each time point. A series of growth models were fit to the summary scores to examine individual sensory behavior trajectories and associations between trajectories of sensory behaviors and acceptance.
Linear growth model parameters indicated that spitting and refusals decreased over time (p-values < 0.01), whereas acceptances increased (p < 0.01). Licking and smelling showed non-significant change (p-values > 0.01) Furthermore, decreases in licking, spitting, and refusals were associated with increases in acceptance across the study period (p-values < 0.01).
The decline in young children's sensory exploratory behaviors in response to new foods was associated with increases in food acceptance. Our findings suggest that sensory exploratory behaviors may promote familiarity and help children learn that new foods are acceptable and safe to consume.
To evaluate sleep duration in a representative sample of preschoolers and examine the relationships between screen time and use of different electronic media devices with sleep duration and social ...jetlag.
2903 preschoolers were included. Parent-completed questionnaire provided information on socioeconomic status, electronic media use of the children and sleep patterns of both parents and children. Preschoolers were divided according to whether they met the international screen time recommendations for their age. Comparisons between the two groups in various sleep measures and effects of different devices on sleep were evaluated.
40% of preschoolers in our cohort did not achieve the recommended sleep duration. Subjects who adhered to the screen time recommendations were from families of higher socioeconomic status, had longer sleep duration and better sleep habits. Each hour increase on portable electronic device use was associated with 11 (95%CI: −15 to −6) and 6 (95%CI: −10 to −2) minutes less of average daily sleep duration in boys and girls, respectively. Every additional hour of non-portable electronic devices use was associated with 3 min shift in social jetlag in boys. Presence of electronic devices in bedroom and their use at bedtime increased risk of social jetlag in boys with an OR of 1.40 (95%CI: 1.01 to 1.92) and 1.39 (95%CI: 1.00 to 1.95) respectively.
A significant proportion of preschoolers does not obtain the recommended amount of sleep. Screen time in preschoolers affects not only sleep duration but also leads to circadian discrepancy.
•Representative description of Hong Kong preschoolers’ sleep reveals that sleep deprivation is common among this population.•Nearly three quarters of preschoolers in Hong Kong have more than one hour of screen time per day.•Screen time in preschoolers may be detrimental not only for sleep duration but also circadian discrepancy.•Portable electronic device use has a stronger independent association with sleep duration than non-portable electronic device use in boys.
Children of nowadays grow in a digital landscape, so education has embraced the advantages brought by the multimedia technology progress. Appropriate interactive learning experiences positively ...influence learners’ performance. However, new challenges occur when the learners are preschoolers, as they are not able to articulate and communicate their experience towards interaction with edutainment applications. In this paper we explore the appropriateness of using Machine Learning-techniques in identifying preschoolers’ emotions while interacting with edutainment applications. The investigated scenarios reveal promising directions for assessing children satisfaction with edutainment applications.
This study explored the predictive relations between executive function and second language vocabulary. Data on receptive and expressive vocabulary in Mandarin and on working memory, inhibitory ...control, and cognitive flexibility were collected in two waves within a year from 186 Uyghur-Mandarin bilingual preschoolers in China. The results indicated that the predictive relations between executive function and second language vocabulary differed between receptive and expressive vocabulary and were mainly found in inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. Specifically, inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility in Wave 1 significantly positively predicted Mandarin receptive vocabulary but not expressive vocabulary in Wave 2, whereas Mandarin expressive but not receptive vocabulary in Wave 1 significantly positively directly predicted inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility in Wave 2. Predictive relations between working memory and Mandarin receptive and expressive vocabulary were insignificant. These findings contribute significantly to understanding second language learning, especially Mandarin learning among Uyghur preschoolers in China.
•Predictive relations between executive function and L2 vocabulary were assessed.•Data on 186 Uyghur-Mandarin preschoolers were evaluated.•Predictive relations differed for receptive and expressive vocabulary.•Inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility were key determinants.
Findings are inconsistent in studies for impacts of outdoor air pollutants on airway health in childhood. In this paper, we collected data regarding airway and allergic symptoms in the past year ...before a survey in 13,335 preschoolers from a cross-sectional study. Daily averaged concentrations of ambient sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤10 μm (PM10) in the past year before the survey were collected in the kindergarten-located district. We investigated associations of 12-month average concentrations of these pollutants with childhood airway and allergic symptoms. In the two-level (district-child) logistic regression analyses, exposure to higher level of NO2 and of PM10 increased odds of wheeze symptoms (adjusted OR, 95%CI: 1.03, 1.01–1.05 for per 3.0 μg/m3 increase in NO2; 1.22, 1.09–1.39 for per 7.6 μg/m3 increase in PM10), wheeze with a cold (1.03, 1.01–1.06; 1.22, 1.08–1.39), dry cough during night (1.05, 1.03–1.08; 1.23, 1.09–1.40), rhinitis symptoms (1.11, 1.08–1.13; 1.32, 1.07–1.63), rhinitis on pet (1.11, 1.05–1.18; 1.37, 0.95–1.98) and pollen (1.12, 1.03–1.21; 1.23, 0.84–1.82) exposure, eczema symptoms (1.09, 1.05–1.12; 1.22, 0.98–1.52), and lack of sleep due to eczema (1.12, 1.07–1.18; 1.58, 1.25–1.98). Exposures to NO2 and PM10 were also significantly and positively associated with the accumulative score of airway symptoms. Similar positive associations were found of NO2 and of PM10 with the individual symptoms and symptom scores among preschoolers from different kindergarten-located district. These results indicate that ambient NO2 and PM10 likely are risk factors for airway and allergic symptoms in childhood in Shanghai, China.
•We surveyed 13,335 preschoolers from five districts of Shanghai, China.•We studied effects of ambient NO2, SO2 and PM10 on airway and allergic diseases.•Periods of pollutant exposures and disease appearances were same in one year.•NO2 and PM10 was associated with increased risks of most studied diseases.
We investigated the effect of growth and development level on polysomnography results in preschool children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
Preschool children (ages 3–6) with symptoms of snoring ...and were diagnosed with OSA by polysomnography in the sleep center were selected as the research object. They were split into three groups based on their growth rates: restricted, normal, and excessive. Sleep structure, respiratory events, and oxygenation index were compared between the three groups.
A total of 183 (111 boys and 72 girls) preschool children were enrolled. There were 26 cases in the growth restricted group, 112 cases in the normal growth group, and 45 cases in the overgrowth group. The weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) of children in the growth restricted and overgrowth groups were significantly different from those in the normal group. In terms of sleep structure, the sleep efficiency of the growth restricted group was poorer than that of the normal group. For sleep breathing events, the growth restricted group showed a greater apnea‐hypopnea index (AHI), obstructive apnea hypopnea index (OAHI), hypoventilation index, and more hypoventilation than the normal group. In terms of oxygenation, the difference in degree of hypoxia between the three groups was statistically significant, and the overgrowth group had lower minimum oxygen saturation during the rapid eye movement phase than the normal group, as well as a quicker mean heart rate.
OSA is more likely in preschool-aged children with stunted or overgrown growth than in children with OSA alone, and the more severe the disorder, especially when accompanied with stunted growth.
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