Who is the odd man out: men in early childhood settings?

Australia has, on the whole, been slow to react to many of the more innovative or welfare-oriented programs for young children and their families in the past two or three decades. We can speculate about this in terms of geographic isolation, natural caution or a population which is not appropriately tuned to the needs of parents with young children. Whatever the reason, Australia appears to be slow to respond to changes in attitude. One of the major potential areas for change in attitude is the employment of males in early childhood settings.

The history of the United States, which thirty years ago appeared to totally reject the notion of men working with young children, now records a substantial move towards encouraging males and females to assume androgynous roles in children's services.

It is interesting to note that this contemporary view has flourished in spite of the lack of empirical evidence to support previous notions relating to the role of male teachers and caregivers in terms of providing male models for fatherless children, offering more appropriate teaching strategies to young boys and providing examples of more tolerant caregivers for exhuberant boys.

While evidence suggests that prejudice still exists in U.S.A. about male teachers in early childhood settings, the androgynous philosophy appears to point the way in which early childhood services in Australia must go in order to provide a more balanced program for all young children.     

Components of successful integration in child care centres: An Ontario study

Teachers are central in the process of including children with special needs into early childhood programs. Much research and training has focused on the skills needed by teachers to make this process a success for all involved. In Ontario, Canada, the integration of children with special needs has been in practice for quite some time. This qualitative research looks at what experienced teachers in child care programs think and do in their practise of inclusion. Twenty-four teachers in seven municipal child care centres were interviewed as they watched videotapes made in their programs of children with special needs in their care. What emerged from these discussions is a model for the integration of children with special needs and the strategies the teachers used to make this process a success.     

Early language learning in a multilingual environment*

There are more people in the world who are bilingual than are monolingual. In India where there are sixteen official languages, linguistic diversity is common.

This study was conducted with the objective of investigating the early speech patterns of children and adults in 30 multilingual families residing in New Delhi. The children in these families ranged between 18 and 36 months of age. The method used included the recording of spontaneous speech between family members and children's speech in a structured situation to obtain uniformity of context.

The analysis of the data revealed that at this age, the first, second and third languages do not develop as separate linguistic systems. The subjects follow the same general pattern of speech development as monolingual children. The pattern of usage of the first, second and third languages was related to the context, the particular situation of the family. There were some differences between children from nuclear and extended families. Children from single-unit families were found to have better developed speech. Other factors like employment of mother and education of mother, gender of the child were not important influences in this study.     

Professional and Parent Views of Early Childhood Programs: A Cross-Cultural Study

Interrelationships between the macro-, mesoand microsystems can affect the partnerships which parents and professionals form to effectively support the growth of young children. These “systems” were explored through a cross cultural study.

To study the mesosystem where family and early childhood progam meet, a fivesection survey was sent to a random sampling of ten per cent of parents and professionals involved in early childhood programs in Kronobergs Lan, Smaland, Sweden and St. Louis County, Minnesota, United States. In general, parents and professionals in Sweden agreed with each other that open-ended, creative, childcentered materials and activities were important. In the United States, however, there were many significant differences between parent and professional views. More parents than professionals favored academic tasks and conformity to rules, while more professionals than parents supported children's creative exploration of the environment. The views of the respondents were affected in diverse ways by the macro-system political and economic societal contexts.

This study suggests that parents and professionals, particularly those who have significantly different ideas, may need to discuss a common purpose and philosophy about what is important for young children in early childhood programs. This purpose needs to take seriously the societal context in which children live. Building on a common base, various formats for involvement can be created to maximize the support network among parents, professionals and young children.     

“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'     

Building concepts, curriculum and confidence — an interactive preservice motor program

The preschool years are a time of increasing experimentation with a variety of motor tasks, and a period of gradual and progressive motordevelopment and learning. The development of proficiency in fundamental motor skills is one of the basic tasks of the preschool years.

(Malina, 1982:215.)

Parents and teachers should recognise the central role of movement experiences in the overall development of the young child and the many factors that can affect proficiency in motor activities .... different kinds of opportunities for movement exploration, discovery and practice should be provided.

(Seefeldt, 1980).     

Data on gross motor development of the infant

The author presents a study of motor development in the Institute under her direction. Under the conditions created in the Institute, the children's motor activity is continually ensured throughout the period of motor development. The most recent research tends to show that it is precisely the motor and other kinesthetic activities carried out by the child himself on his own initiative which are most important for the development of the mental functions. It is on the basis of these facts- by comparing the usual, typical motor development, directly influenced by adults, with that not under direct influence but in contact with environmental factors (material and people), that we can consider the most physiological side of this development.

Due to the fact that the children are more independent and therefore less in need of adult help, the course of motor development exercises a positive influence on calm, well-balanced child-adult relationships, which are most important in institutions, and of considerable interest at home as well.

Mothers and child nurses thus economize time, which they can. put to good use by applying useful and necessary ideas for the education of their children or of the children they have in custody.     

Brain damage and neuropsyochological impairment in female and male alcoholics and implications for their offspring

Matched pairs of 40 male and 40 female alcoholic inpatients living in Stockholm were examined and found to fulfill the alcoholism criteria of DSM-III-R. They comprised 40 matched pairs of men and women consecutively admitted to the Karolinska Alcohol Clinic and staying at least one week for treatment. The examination included a general medical examination, a psychiatric and social history, blood tests, ECG, computed tomography of the brain and neuropsychological testing. The subjects' and their families' possibilities of creating a good upbringing environment and their own and their children's childhood were studied.

The alcoholics and their offspring were followed from the registers of the child welfare committees, temperance boards, social service departments, the Social Insurance Office and the Medical Information System of the Medical Services Board of Stockholm County Council.

The children of the female alcoholics had, during their childhood, more often had contact with an educational welfare officer, a psychologist or a physician for various problems and also had a significantly higher rate of registration in the children's welfare committee registers than children of male alcoholics. The male alcoholics more often came from broken homes. 29% of the female and 32% of the male alcoholics had been fostered by their biological mother alone or by grandparents until 16 years of age. 51% of the women and 39% of the men had an alcohol-abusing mother and father during childhood. Signs of social maladjustment and having been under the care of a child welfare committee were recorded in 32% and 24% respectively of the male alcoholics and 20% and 12% of the females.

62% of the male alcoholics and 30% of the females showed cortical atrophy. Signs of neuropsychological impairment were present in 35% of the females but only 16% of the males.

It is concluded that female and male alcoholics resemble each other and that they both have a disturbed childhood and that female alcoholics more often have an alcohol and drug-abusing parent, nervous problems in the parents, attempted suicide by a parent and serious schisms in the family than male alcoholics.     

Some aspects of mother-child relationships following the birth of twins

In the outline of a research program on the process through which mothers of twins begin to make a differentiation between their children and succeed or do not succeed in individualizing each of them, we have undertaken a preliminary study to get closer to the psychological and social questions mothers have to face in the first weeks after the birth.

We followed up five triads mother-twins at the maternity unit and at home for the first three months. The observations of children's behaviour, babies' material environment, and of mother's behaviour as well as mothers interviews have brought evidence of the complexity and specificity of such a situation.

We have shown that the overloading of the nursing tasks obliges the mother to adopt a precise organization in which she cares not to favour one of the twins to the detriment of the other. Furthermore the mothers feel they will never be able to satisfy each child fully, despite those true “egalitarian strategies”.

To those behaviours which consist of “doing the same thing” with both babies, an individualized representation of each child opposes itself very early in the mother's speech.

This lag between the differentiating maternal representation and the maternal behaviour that tends to cancel such a differentiation allows us to suppose there exists a double process: the necessity of individualizing the twins and the desire to confound them in one unit.     

South Australian Parents want Child Protection Programs to be offered in Schools and PreSchools

It is now widely realized that child sexual abuse is an all too common crime against children, resulting in long term damage to victims and heavy costs to the community. It is also realized that much abuse could have been prevented if children had been given basic information about acceptable and unacceptable touching, secrecy about touching and norms of adult-child behaviour.

Parents representing 250 families, caring for 565 children aged 3-12 were interviewed to find out what parents tell their children to protect them from sexual molestation.

Three quarters of all parents told their children nothing and most of those who thought that they had given information had only given hints. Furthermore, this “information” was passed on only after a traumatic event had already occurred.

Parents revealed an inadequate knowledge of the dangers to children and a desire for school and preschool programs to remedy the deficit.     

The Role and Responsibility of Teachers and Child Care Workers in Identifying and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect

Because of their daily interactions with young children, teachers and child care workers play a central role in the prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect. In most states in the United States, teachers or other school personnel are legally mandated to report any suspected cases of abuse and neglect.

This article provides a brief summary of the role and responsibility of the teacher in the prevention and identification process.     

Aetiologies of Autism: Psychodynamic, Pharmacological and Behavioural, Related to Kuwait

Autism is a severe form of childhood psychopathology which has enormous impact on the child, his/her family, and the wider community. It challenges the expertise of doctors, teachers and therapists.

In Kuwait, recognition of the disorder is still in its infancy. However, the government has established a new Centre for Autism, the first of its kind in the country, to provide up-to-date medical care and education for autistic children.

This article will assess Kuwait's progress in catering for autism, in the light of current international thinking. Discussion of the roles of the main governmental and non-governmental bodies concerned with provision for autistic children in Kuwait, with an account of the only two special schools which are currently known to cater specifically for this disorder, is given.

It was found that, in Kuwait, provision is limited and fragmented compared with that of the UK and the USA. Moreover, there is, as yet, relatively little information available to researchers, parents, or the general public. Accordingly, recommendations are made for both action and research, in order to raise the profile of this disorder in Kuwait and extend provision.     

Day Care Quality and Child Development in Singapore

This paper reports the findings of an investigation into the effects of the day care environment on language development in 122 pre-school children in Singapore. This study examined child progress in which pre- and post assessment scores and the interactive relationship between day care and family environments were taken into account.

Characteristics of 16 day care centres were assessed by the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, ECERS (Harms & Clifford, 1980). This rating scale was validated against the views of early childhood experts in Singapore. Observer reliability was also obtained before assessing the centres.

Day care effects were investigated by assessing children at two time points. A pretest was conducted at the beginning of the year and a post-test administered towards the end of the year. The findings of this study indicated that the quality of day care centres as measured by the total score and specific subscales of the ECERS were related to some aspects of language development in children.     

More than just play: The significance of mutually directed adult-child activity

In much current writing on developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs, emphasis is laid on the importance for young children's development and learning of spontaneous, self-initiated exploration and autonomous play (e.g. Bredekamp, 1987; Rogers & Sawyers, 1988. Adults are seen in this literature as setters of the stage for children and as responsive facilitators of children's activities. They are seldom seen as initiators of those activities or even particularly as co-explorers with children. Yet there is evidence that where adults actively engage with children in mutual pursuits -- especially everyday, family-style pursuits -- there is enhancement of children's social, emotional and cognitive development. Some of this evidence, drawn from both past and current studies, is presented.

The paper reviews a number of factors that appear to lie behind the present emphasis, in early childhood programs, on child rather than adult direction of activity, especially play. The proposal is advanced that young children's development and learning in a variety of settings would be better served and a more balanced curriculum achieved if adult roles as initiators and partners -- not only facilitators -- were recognized in a wide variety of activities -- not only play.

At an earlier time, it is suggested, children's developmental needs and individual interests were often largely disregarded as adults attempted to determine, in form and detail, the educational progress of their young tabulae rasae. The pendulum swing in educational theory is now giving central place, in the search for developmental appropriateness, to the autonomy of the child. This paper proposes a position between these two extremes, in order to draw more fully on the range of capacities of both adults and children. In short, it suggests that while retaining the baby and the bathwater, it is important not to throw mother (or caregiver or teacher) out instead.     

The Role of the Play Environment in Young Children's Language Development

This study examined the relationships between children's language ability and the play environments. Sixty homecare and 59 daycare children ages 1 to 3 were measured with respect to language abilities such as vocabulary (PPVT-R), interaction patterns, MLU, complexities of language, and emergent literacy development. Home and daycare play environments were evaluated through observations and interviews in terms of the quality of verbal care and physical environments. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the mother-child interaction pattern was the best predictor of children's language abilities. Home environments such as teaching methods of writing, number of books and writing materials, extent of teaching and writing, mother education were also found to be significant predictors. ECERS was the best predictor among daycare environments, and teacher education and teacher child interaction pattern were also found to be significant. ANCOVAs showed that teachers and daycare mothers engaged in better quality of interaction than homecare mothers.     

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     

The contribution of 'story' to children's development

Story plays an essential part in the growth and development of the mind and all that it contains. It gives insights into human nature, expression to thoughts, ideas and desires and aids in the organisation of experience. It opens up the possibilities of other ways of life, of new and different approaches and views in human relationships. New worlds we didn't know existed are created and familiar worlds are given new structures, put into new frameworks and we are given a deeper understanding of our own, and others', intentions, attitudes and emotions.

Reading the following article in the light of the power of story, we find that narrative in the form of books becomes an important part of learning and ultimately in shaping lives and society. Writers, parents and teachers, therefore, should consider the values presented in books, whether implicit or explicit, and be able to justify what they offer to children in the form of literature.

This article was written with the intention of showing the importance of narrative in the development of young minds. It considers the responses we can make to literature and how this may determine the shape of our thinking. Tracing the history of children's books and the social pressures exerted on them, we see the importance placed on the values that are presented. In the light of the power of story, we see the important part books play in influencing individual lives, and the responsibility of adults in what they offer to children.     

Educating early childhood teachers for the global world

Teachers for the twenty-first century for the global world need to be proficient in technology and skilled as reflective practitioners. They need to be able to reflect on diversity in myriad ways: learning styles, special needs, cultural differences, racial differences, developmentally appropriate differences, teaching styles and personality differences of children, teachers, parents, community members and administrators. The paradigni shift of the twenty-first century is that teachers need to be team players who are skilled at operating in a variety of collaborative partnerships.

The Early Childhood Program Faculty, at NEIU, with the help of a Teacher Quality Education grant, developed with six universities in Illinois called Illinois Professionals Learning Partnerships (IPLP), set out to adapt the NEIU/ECED program for the twenty-first century in a global world by focusing on four goals: (1) increasing technology and writing skills across the curriculum, (2) developing reflective skills and understanding of diversity (special needs, multicultural/international cultures), (3) developing student experience working in collaborative partnerships and (4) increasing clinical experiences.

The IPLP grant enabled the ECED program to: (1) spend intensive time on changing the curriculum in two retreats a year, (2) develop a faculty cohort including tenure track faculty, visiting lecturers and adjuncts, (3) develop a combined program of research and program development, (4) recruit and hire three new tenure track international faculty, (5) develop professional development schools and intensive field experiences, (6) combine resources for many grants, (7) develop short-term international experiences and faculty exchange programs and (8) increase technology skills of students and faculty through action laboratories on using video technology, digital cameras, reflective email discussions and videography.     

Art development and play

There exists a considerable international body of research and theory into children's art development. Art education is generally considered to proceed through a sequential series of stages beginning with the earliest scribbles. This paper seeks to link alternative sources of knowledge deriving from the theory and research into the studies of the development of perceptual awareness. These are modes by which children take in sensory impressions and come to know the world around them. The content of these sensory impressions is culturally linked and becomes the raw material for the symbols and images that the children know and make.

There is also a significant body of recent research into levels of children's play which should be evaluated in relation to what it can tell teachers and parents about optimal ways to ensure the circumstances that enhance children's long term development. The case for play as we now know it says that it is not valid to believe that any play will do. Qualitatively different levels of play have been shown to have different values for children. “Guided play” or “stretching play” has been shown to be positively associated with play with adults as partners or companions. Play with art materials has also been associated with higher levels of stretching play. The adult partner's role has been found to provide the “scaffolding” to which these higher levels of play are linked.

These findings on play, together with the social patterns whereby more young children are in group play programs raises the curriculum implications for teachers and care givers. These adults moderate the sensory and social experiences and the curriculum materials provided for children during the day. Teachers need to be aware of providing the partnerships in play with art materials, the need to encourage children's interest in sensory experiences and the processes whereby children learn through their hands as well as their eyes. The environment of play program is also important. The quality of the visual environment, the quality of design of play materials and all equipment with which young children have daily contact have their aesthetic influence. Program factors also include the conscious provision of an art curriculum, with regular visits to Art Galleries and Art Museums, as well as opportunities for free play in parks and gardens.     

Do daughters of female alcoholics have more problems during childhood and adolescence than sons?

171 female alcoholic inpatients living in Stockholm were examined and found to fulfil the alcoholism criteria of DSM-III-R. They comprised 171 women consecutively admitted to the Karolinska Alcohol Clinic and staying at least one week for treatment. The examination included a general medical examination, a psychiatric and social history, blood tests and ECG. The subjects' and their families' possibilities of creating a good upbringing environment for their children and their own childhood were studied.

The alcoholics and their offspring were followed from the registers of the child welfare committees, temperance boards, social service departments, the Social Insurance Office and the Medical Information System of the Medical Services Board of Stockholm County Council.

The children of the female alcoholics had, during their childhood, often had contact with an educational welfare officer, a psychologist or a physician for various problems and were also registered in the children's welfare committee registers. 29% of the female alcoholics themselves had been fostered by their biological mother alone or by grandparents until 16 years of age. 51% of the women had an alcohol-abusing mother and father during childhood. Signs of social maladjustment and having been under the care of a child welfare committee were recorded in 20% and 12% of the women.

Among the children, we found that the boys were more vulnerable during their adolescence than the girls and that there were also major similarities in the social situation for these children of alcoholic women. The indications were that there is also a vulnerable group among girls who develop high consumption of alcohol and simultaneous drug abuse during their teens. Forty five per cent of the girls and 60% of the boys among the female alcoholics' children had school problems and were also in contact with an educational welfare officer, psychologist or physician for various problems. Scrutiny of the Children's Welfare Committee Register showed 60% of the sons and 40% of the daughters were registered. Forty five per cent of the boys and 30% of the girls were registered by the Temperance Board. Forty per cent of the boys and 25% of the girls were registered in the Criminal Offenders Register. Forty five per cent of the boys and 30% of the girls had had hospital treatment on at least one occasion for underlying physical illness or injury. The most common reason for establishing contact with children's psychiatric outpatient clinics or counselling clinics was recommendation and investigation necessitated by supportive measures and school adjustment problems.

It is concluded that female alcoholics resemble male alcoholics and that these females have a disturbed childhood and often have an alcohol and drug-abusing parent, nervous problems in the parents, attempted suicide by a parent and serious schisms in the family and that especially the boys from these female alcoholics' families are extremely vulnerable and they have a more traumatic childhood than the girls, but both of them fare ill.