The “syndrome of the post‐premature child”: a study of its significance ‐‐ Part I

Prematurity has the greatest influence upon frequency and degree of mechanical disturbances uncovered by the Test of Imitation of Gestures. The authors look for the significance of this syndrome at various levels:

1. Possible organic damage to the central nervous system structures, through the tonic and motor disturbances checked out by the neurological examination.

2. In the disturbances of the early development of posturomotor abilities.

3. Deviant and delayed development of the cognitive factors (spatial and temporal structuring).

4. Emotional and relationship development.

The investigations were carried out on a sample group of prematurely born children and a control group group of children born at term.

After observing certain behavior disorders which occur among normal children ‐‐ mild disorders which become less obvious with age ‐‐ the authors show that frequent and gross disturbances which appear in the first months of life and persist beyond the age of 6 years distinguish the premature child. In this same group, however, delays in mental development noted early in life often disappear entirely by the age of 4 years, even among children who were born very prematurely.

The authors then isolated the most typical disturbances found among the premature children, with stress on factors of pathology, maturation, adjustment, and environment.

The authors study the relationship between the disturbances described above and the various aspects of the neurological examinations which enable them to objectify the dynamic factors of the body adjustment to the external world and to other people. The hypothesis that a fundamental relationship exists between disturbances of adjustment and the genesis of the “post‐premature child syndrome”, develops from the comparison between the psychological and neurological data in their longitudinal evolution.

Commenting on the relevance of these findings for the care of premature children, the authors stress the value of motor training and remedial education for overcoming the disturbances of spatial structuration and body schema.     

Effect of Intervention on the Language Facility of Poor, Black Adolescent Mothers and their Preschool Children

This study investigates the effects of varying degrees of mother-child language stimulation activities on the test performance of poor Black children and their adolescent mothers.

The sample consisted of 60 mothers paired with their three or four year old children who attended full day preschool. The families were randomly assigned to one of three groups for a twelve week period.

The tests used in the study were the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; the Cultural Language Test — Mean Length of Utterance; the Cultural Language Test — Standard English; and the Conversation — Mean Length of Utterance Measure.

Three major findings result from the study:

1. The children of mothers provided with intensive training and practice (Group 1) scored significantly higher on all four tests than did the children whose mothers received minimal help (Group 2) or children whose mothers received no help at all (Group 3).
2. Group 2 children did not score any higher than did Group 3.
3. Group 1 mothers scored significantly higher on all measures.

     

NIGERIAN CHILDREN'S PERSPECTIVE OF URBAN LIFE QUALITY

The Convention on the Rights of the child put in place some set of standards to ensure that in all consenting countries every child is wanted, healthy, educated, safe and loved. Nigeria is one of the countries that has taken some steps to put into practice the accepted rights.

Two hundred children (100 boys and 100 girls) in primary schools in four urban centres were served with questionnaires requesting their views on issues bordering on their well being and quality of life, in such areas as:

1. quality of education
2. space for movement and play
3. food and clean water for drinking and washing
4. play equipment and materials and
5. loving care giver.

The children's responses showed that provision was not made for recreational space for play, the quality of education is poor, there was no provision for play equipment and material and in most cases the adult-child ration was low. Children also complained of polluted environment.

Suggestions were made for the provision of adequate play parks for recreational purposes for the children. Suggestion is also made for government to pay more attention to the well being and health of the children.     

Prosocial Behaviors of Handicapped and Typical Peers In An Integrated Preschool

This Study explores initiations of prosocial actions by mainstreamed handicapped and normal preschoolers to discover:

1. which preschool activity setting was more conducive to prosocial interactions.
2. which specific prosocial bids were more likely to occur in which setting.
3. whether frequency of prosocial behaviors was related to directionality, since typical children are reported to choose interactions with typical rather than atypical peers preferentially.
4. what proportion of prosocial behaviors were child initiated rather than teacher directed.

Six types of prosocial bids were recorded for 10 typical and 5 special (4 autistic, 1 multiply handicapped) children (mean age 4-4 years) in 4 activity settings (80 total minutes per child). Setting had a significant effect. Most of the 210 prosocial bids occurred during free play, many during structured play and gym, and the fewest during teacher-directed structured circle time. Sharing, cooperating and helping were the most frequent prosocial behaviors. Sympathy and praise were rare; no nurturing was observed.

No directionality preferences were found. Typical children initiated twice as many prosocial bids (X=20) as atypical peers (X=10-2). Taking into account the expected probabilities for interactions given the significantly different prosocial activity levels for each group and the different numbers of children per group, no preferences or “prejudices” were found.

Contact alone with typical children does not build interpersonal skills of atypical children. Teachers and therapists must specifically model and facilitate prosocial skills.     

“Missing Milestones”

Missing milestones are known to be a normal variant of development. The purpose of our study is to find if missing milestones always lead to normal development?

METHODS

This is a prospective case study on seven patients referred for motor developmental problems from July 1997 to February 1998 and then followed over a 2-year period. On each attendance, the multi-disciplinary team assessed children

RESULTS

We present a case series of seven children with “missing motor milestones”. Six of the seven, had tactile defensiveness but absent parachute reflexes on presentation

At the end of the two year period, 3 infants had normal development (Group I). One was discharged after 7 months. The second one had speech problems most likely secondary to her bilateral serous otitis media, with no other developmental problems. The third child acquired age appropriate milestones before the care was transferred to another hospital. Of the four in Group II, three developed global developmental delay and the fourth was diagnosed to have multiple cavernous haemangiomata in the brain. The pre-school alert panel was alerted for two of them possibly needing future help in school

Five of the seven children in our study were still being followed up after two years

CONCLUSIONS

Missing milestones in a subject can be a benign variation of normal motor development. However, they may also be the first sign to appear in children with neuro-developmental disorders

Tactile defensiveness may be the most useful early sign to enable the early diagnosis of non-weight bearing children with 'missing milestones'     

“caught in the middle” exploring children and young people's experience of domestic violence

This document seeks to explore children's experiences of domestic violence and the effects such violence may have on their lives, both in the short term and in the long term. It draws on the conclusions of various studies in this area which have been carried out in America and the United Kingdom. It aims to raise awareness of the complexity of this issue and to highlight the importance of support for both women and children who may be survivors of domestic violence. The document highlights a number of issues, namely

How children and young people may experience domestic violence;

Identification of links between domestic violence and child abuse;

The impact domestic violence may have on mothering;

The effects domestic violence may have on children and young people's lives;

The legitimacy of the cycle of violence theory;

Issues to be considered when assessing the possible impact of domestic violence on children and young people.     

City Hospital Child Development Centre: An Evaluation of Parental Satisfaction

This study is concerned with the satisfaction expressed by parents whose children attend the Child Development Centre at City Hospital in Birmingham. In addition, participants were also asked questions relating to the extent of their involvement in helping plan specific interventions. Whilst parents expressed satisfaction with service provision in general the results clearly showed that parents:

1. Would like to have more of a role in the initial assessment meeting.
2. Welcome the chance to help decide upon service quality.
3. Greatly appreciate more help with issues such as information regarding availability of benefits.


The implications of the results are discussed and suggestions for further research are made.     

Mother-child interaction: Impact on children's intellectual competence

This study of 24 families seeks to investigate verbal interaction between mothers and children in poor homes, in order to analyse the effect that the number, type and content of linguistic interactions may have on language development in preschool children.

The areas of interest in this study are:

1. The number and type of conversations, when they begin, how long they last and the number of different subjects discussed; and
2. The mother's role when communicating with her child. Here we are interested in finding out things like: the mother's attitude towards dialogue, the way she contributes to, or the kinds of demands she makes on her child's knowledge during conversations, the way she responds to her child's questions, as well as others.
     

Quality children's television: the case of “Lift Off”

“Lift off” is a new, innovative children's television series produced by the Australian Children's Television Foundation. It has been well received by critics, parents, educators and most significantly, by its three-to-eight year old target audience.

The program easily satisfies the five criteria for quality programming formulated by the Children's Program Committee of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal. The typical half-hour program is dense, requiring close viewer attention but it is claimed that the viewer is rewarded for her viewing investment with an enriching and pleasurable experience. The doubt is raised that the socially disadvantaged segment of the child audience, who use television for diversion rather than enrichment, may not be prepared to make such an investment of viewing attention.

One final concern is voiced. The Foundation's official spokespeople publicly claim that “Lift Off” will enrich the lives of a whole age cohort. It is argued that such claims overemphasise the supposed direct consequences and impact of media messages on individuals.     

“Potentially” contaminating behavioural practices in the preparation, feeding and storage of “ogi” — an infant cereal in a rural Nigerian community

Thirty households with children aged 6-18 months from four villages in the Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria were studied. Open-ended unstructured ethnographic interviews were used to collect information on “potentially” contaminating food handling behaviour with particular reference to the preparation, feeding and storage of “ogi” an infant cereal. Focus group studies were conducted for women aged 18-45 years in the four villages to obtain more information.

Improper handwashing, widespread acceptance and use of feeding bottles, long storage and safety of place of storage were some of the “potentially” contaminating behavioural patterns identified.

Intensive health education on the dangers of feeding bottles, improper hand-washing and long storage of cooked “ogi” to the health of infants and young children is strongly recommended.     

Ethical and practical considerations in palliative child care and the support needs of parents and siblings

Death is one of the few certainties in life and yet it is the one event that most people avoid contemplating until forced to do so. When considering death and dying it is assumed by most to occur in old age and in hospital. The death of a child is a devastating loss which can cause the most distressing and long lasting grief (Davey, 1995). According to “Childhood cancer UK” the number of children developing cancer in the United Kingdom has remained constant over the past 30 years (about 1300 new cases each year), with only two-thirds of children with the disease being treated successfully. In Britain 32 per cent of cancer deaths occur at home (Bean, 1994) however only a small proportion of these will be children. Despite the deaths of children at home being a statistically small group it must not be ignored due to the great emotional impact it has on the individual, family, health workers and often local community.

The changing status of children in the UK means that health care professionals must uphold childrens' rights whilst working in partnership with parents. A balance must be found between the traditional protectionist and paternalistic attitude of care and the liberationist approach. This can only be achieved through communication and collaboration between families and members of the multi-disciplinary team allowing the promotion of constructive problem solving

The key aim of palliative care is to give the child as good a quality of life as possible in the time remaining with freedom from distressing symptoms including pain. Every health professional working with a dying child who has pain should give consideration to the complexity of pain, it's unique and diverse effects and engage the entire family and health care team in planning interventions and providing support to the child and to each family member (Graner, 1976).

Siblings, parents and health professionals may be profoundly affected by the experience of the death of the child, therefore, each multi-disciplinary team must develop formal coping strategies to deal with the possible psychological disturbance and to facilitate adjustment after the death of the child.

Martinson, writes of her greatest encouragement which came from the parent of a dying child;

“No matter if it culminates a full life or a life shortened much too soon, does death have to be terrorising? There are many to rejoice and aid in the event of birth, as with the patient that can be helped, but for those going through the frustration of 'not getting better' when science and the masses, sometimes even family and friends who can no longer face them, have deserted, could there be a greater challenge or more considerable need for help?”

(1976, p. 13)

This is a powerful message for health professionals caring for children in the end stages of a terminal illness. It is at this time that the family and dying child are in most need of the consistent, expert and humane relationships provided by the caring professions. The challenges are immense but great reward lies in the privilege of being intimately involved in this final rite of passage through life.     

The efficacy of the parent-teacher “partnership” of the 1990s

The 1990s are times of rapid social and technological change. There are many unknowns that face both adults and children. We all have problems that need resolution. The time when adults “knew” the answers and children learned by “watching” echo faintly in the whirl of scientific change which is impacting on most aspects of our daily life. As early childhood teachers we have to learn to enquire, to listen, to think together with children, their families and society. The concept of negotiation is central to communication while the basic tenet of the process focusses not on the person but the issue. It is in these times of rapid change that we need to deepen our understanding of the family and further our professional insights by “tapping” the wealth of crucial kndowledge that parents have about their children. Hurst asserts that the partnership of parents in issues of their children's education:

“is probably the greatest single opportunity for educational advance open to teachers today”.

Hurst: 1987; 109     

“Early detection of learning difficulties”

All 788 children attending kindergarten in 2 boroughs of Athens were screened for concentration, hyperkinesis, behaviour disorder and language delay with the help of two questionnaires.

The ones with high scores (high risk for presenting learning difficulties (n = 40) were compared with the low (n = 43) and medium (n = 14) risk ones on psychological tests. The above children were reexamined one year later with reading, writing and arithmetic tests. 25% of the high risk groups failed to learn, to read and write while all the low risk group had achieved these abilities. The best predictors were the tests Frostig I and IV and TMS.     

Early Language Stimulation of Down's Syndrome Babies: a study on the optimum age to begin

In this study we began with a concern for the marked delay in language acquisition suffered by Down's syndrome babies and how early treatment affects the subsequent observed development. 36 Down's syndrome babies were incorpored to experiment at different ages: new borns, 90 days and 180 days old babies, until eighteen months of age.

The results obtained established statistically significant differences in language acquisitions in favour of the new born group.     

Integration: Quality in care and education for the young disabled child

The presentation aims to examine the criteria of quality for care and education programmes for young disabled children in integrated early childhood settings. The conceptual and practical issues which influence quality programmes will be discussed with particular reference to the Integration Programmes operated throughout South Australia in early childhood centres.

The Integration Programmes, developed to enable and support the integrated or normalised development of young children has as its specific 'target' group individual children who are 'too delayed or disabled' to be able to fully participate or participate without direct assistance in community based early childhood programmes. Some of these children are extremely disabled and others' handicapping conditions are exacerbated by severe lack of other available community resources, isolation and other factors.

Integration is more than 'being there'—it is a complex process based upon the recognition of human value and human rights. For greater insight into the Integration Programmes an appraisal of the following aspects will be provided.

• the principles of integration

• the goals of integration

• the dimensions of integration.

The dimensions of integration will be placed in relation to the indicators of quality in early childhood programmes. The juxtaposing of these parameters of quality will lead to the emergence of guidelines for practical goalsetting and evaluation hallmarks of excellence in integration.     

Psychological screening in the course of the health control of four-year-old children

The health control of four-year-old Swedish children will include an examination of possible psychologtcal abnormalities and defects. The methods which have been worked out for this purpose by a committee of the Social Council include two main components. A nurse will carry out an interview with the child's caretaker and then evaluate the child's behavior. In addition, a physician will make an attempt to evaluate the child's development. The “risk children” will then be selected for further psychological investigation.

An attempt has been made to test the efficiency of the screening methods mentioned. The evaluations by the child care centers have been compared to more comprehensive clinical-psychological investigations and the results show good agreement between the two teams.

The Investigation has been carried out at PBU, Stockholm (Chief physician Hans Curman, psychologist Lillian Gottfarb).     

From Togetherness to Equal Partnership in Role Play

In the day care centre, already at the transition stage to role play children show different kinds of participation. They observe each other's play, share goal orientation and directly tutor each other. The play process is materially supported and often initiated by educators. However, children also need to acquire the power to act autonomously in role play.

The different kinds of participation in young children's play, as well as the appearance and development of basic features of joint role play were examined in three games of a two-year-old girl, Katju, in her day care group. The games are examples of ten play sessions she was involved in. These data were collected by means of reactive participant observation and analyzed by using interpretive methods.

It turned out that Katju proceeded from a feeling of togetherness in a shared space, through parallel and successive play actions to reciprocity and equal exchange of play actions. Moreover, the three educators contributed to this process in different ways.

The findings may be of interest in discussions about play in early education practices, in particular with regard to the development of autonomy, social abilities and partnership in sociocultural activities.     

To Develop Young Children's Conception of Numbers

In a group of children, aged 2:7-3:1* years, the teachers have systematically been working with developing the children's conception of numbers. In the group there are eight children who are all fascinated by stars. The teacher takes this fascination as a starting point to develop the children's conception of numbers. She makes cards with 1,2,3, 4, or 5 stars on. The cards are sorted with regard to the numbers of stars and kept in a box with five compartments, one for each number. When the group is gathered the teacher lets the children choose one “star-card” each, which they are asked to put up on a board together with their name.

The teacher works with the children in steps which have partly been developed with regard to the children's comments. The children are invited to take a star-card with a pattern which they think is nice. Furthermore, they are invited to match cards with the same number of stars and to count the stars on their cards. The children are also asked to compare the length of the rows of cards and to work out how many cards there are in the different rows. They are also asked to pick a card with a given number of stars.

This article demonstrates how the work was carried out and how the children think and how they handle the different parts of the content. When the work is finished, another group of children of the same age is interviewed and the two different groups are compared with regard to the children's conception of numbers. The comparison group, called reference group is meant to illustrate an ordinary way of working with numbers in preschool.     

The paradox of “wonderful children”: The case of child abuse

In our society young children are generally considered to be “wonderful”. This dominant concept pervades not only parental thinking, but professional thinking as well. In the case of child abuse, however, profound contradictions can arise as a result. Professionals are primarily focused on children's welfare, while parents' views are much more ambiguous.

In our example of a Family Centre these contradictions are clearly illustrated, and we hope to draw conclusions as to what change in theory and practice could result from an analysis of contradictions.