The effects of day care: A critical analysis

Maternal employment has increased over the last thirty years in the USA. The result of this increase means more families are in need of day‐care for their children. Examined in this paper are research findings on the effects of day‐care on pre‐school children and their families. The implications of these findings for policy development are critically discussed.

Currently in the USA, over 50% of mothers work outside the home; this figure is expected to rise to 75% by 1990. The fastest growing segment of the working mother population is among those with children under two (Zigler and Gordon, 1982). This increasing rate of maternal employment over the last two decades has created the need for alternative arrangements for infants and young children. There is some concern among child developmental specialists that these alternative arrangements of caremay have detrimental effects on a child's social and psychological development.

Much of the concern about substitute care is based on the theory and research related to the negative effects of institutionalization on young children (Bowlby, 1951; Spitz, 1945). This body of literature, however, tells one little about the typical forms of substitute care experienced by most children. Obviously, children generally do not experience the extreme physical and social deprivation reported on in the institutional literature (Advisory Committee on Child Development, 1976: 117). Consequently, the quality of substitute care received by the majority of children is not comparable to the type of care studied in the institutional literature.

Still, the possibility remains that even with high quality care, differences may be found in the behavior and development of children as a function of the type of substitute care received. The literature reports numerous studies on the impact of various forms of substitute care; however, most of these studies are not well designed (Advisory Committee on Child Development, 1976: 118). The typical form of substitute care focused on in the literature has been high quality, university based day‐care settings, a form of substitute care most children do not have access to (Santrock, 1983: 159). Even though the majority of these studies have weak methodological designs and are based on day‐care settings not experienced by most children, some meaningful findings have emerged in the literature. This paper will focus on those relevant studies reporting on the impact of one very common form of substitute care, day‐care for the pre‐school child. The major emphasis of the review will be on how day‐care impacts the pre‐school child's intellectual development, emotional development, social development, and the child's family system. The authors will draw from these findings several major policy implications.     

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.     

Co-operating to protect children -shifting the thresholds

It is now 30 years since Kempe delivered his watershed address to the American Academy of Paediatricians graphically describing the battered child syndrome. In the 30 years that followed elaborate child protection procedures, supported by strong legal powers, have developed not only in the UK and the USA but also in may countries around the world. In the last 5 years or so, however, there has been another great watershed. Independently in both the USA and in the UK, evidence has accumulated which is questioning the efficacy of our elaborate child protection systems. For social workers in the UK the history is familiar; the child abuse inquiries leading on to the Cleveland Inquiry, on going scandals in residential care and concern about the outcomes for children in the public care system, and, finally, the recent message from the Department of Health in 1995 “Child Protection - Messages from Research”. Less familiar will be the concerns which emerged in the USA. There, following the introduction of mandatory reporting which in some states is mandatory even for civil citizens, there was a huge rise in the number of children reported (3 million reported in 1992 of which less than half were substantiated). This largely incapacitated the child protection agencies and led to large numbers of children being admitted into the public care. In 1990 the US Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect concluded that there was an urgent need to develop new approaches.

The answer put forward in this country and the USA has been the rediscovery of targeted preventive approaches. Central to these approaches is what we call family support and what is called social support in the USA.

Child protection is an important and demanding activity

- research and our own limited local information does pose serious questions about the efficacy of the process;

- this points to the need for reviews by area child protection committees;

- research also tells us important things about the characteristics of families involved especially about their social and economic circumstances. These need to be addressed.

Addressing these needs requires several things

- a good individual assessment and population assessment to plan appropriate services;

- a sound interagency/multiprofessional approach;

- maximising all the resource options and taking a broader view of the task - as well as mainstream services as currently arranged, we need to embrace a community development approach and to view die families involved in terms of their inclusion or exclusion from society and address these shortfalls.

We are only at the threshold of the implementation of the Order and we need to approach it with a broad vision.     

“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'     

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).     

The development of perception and activity

This brief review article by one of the foremost contemporary Soviet educational psychologists presents the work of the author and his associates on the relationships between the development of perception and the character of the purposeful acts of children.

While perception orientates and regulates the purposeful acts of children, its own development is concomitantly dependent upon the specific features of that activity.

During the course of development of the child, qualitatively new features of perception appear due to the influence of substantial changes in the child's activity.     

Forms of knowledge, the curriculum and the young child

Children need to learn many matters, but not all their learning is of the same epistemological kind.There are something like eight fundamental and fundamentally different ways in which human beings encounter the world: Knowledge of Mathematics and Logic, Empiricist Knowledge, Scientific Knowledge, Knowledge of Persons and their Minds, Moral Knowledge, Knowledge and Experience in the Aesthetic Domain, Religion, Philosophy. These Forms structure children's learning, understanding, and experience both formal and informal, at all ages.Moreover they structure not just “scholarly knowledge and experience”, but also, “commonsense knowledge and experience”.

A suitable curriculum will be one which in one way or another provides diverse experiences of these Forms. Because there is no “transfer of training” between Forms as such, children need to be introduced to them all and to be shown how they differ. To say this is not to beg any questions about the best way in which to teach young children: no matter how we decide to organize a curriculum,we are still able to use a range of modern methods.

Although much learning in pre-school and early elementary school ought not to be directly concerned for the deliberate acquisition of the Forms as such, much of the casual learning in schools (and outside them) does indeed involve the Forms-with examples drawn from the child world.

In introducing children to the Forms, those who care for and who teach young children have an enormous responsibility.     

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.     

Maternal Stressors, Maternal Wellbeing and Children's Wellbeing in the Context of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

The purpose of the present study was to examine the level of maternal stressors associated with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) and to explore the relationship between maternal wellbeing and children's wellbeing in the context of JIA.

The sample (n=60) comprised 30 children with JIA and their mothers. Children and mothers completed self-administered questionnaires independently in outpatient clinics.

Mothers had a mean age of 37.73 (SD=5.50), 73% were married, all were White/European. Child participants (20 female and 10 male) had a mean age of 11.46 (SD=2.93), 61% had oligoarticular idiopathic arthritis, 26% had polyarticular juvenile arthritis and 13% systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Compared to normative data, mothers were at risk of anxious and depressed mood, respectively. The highest rated stressors concerned the side effects of medication, the child's future and becoming over-protective of the child. There was a robust association between maternal wellbeing and children's physical functioning that was partially mediated by maternal self-efficacy. In contrast, maternal wellbeing appeared to be independent of children's ratings of pain, anxiety, depression and self-esteem.

Maternal stress regarding JIA warrants further investigation, particularly in terms of mother's concern about children's physical functioning, the side effects of medication, visibility of the child's condition, and becoming over-protective.     

The Future Detection and Prevention of Institutional Abuse: Giving Children a Chance to Participate in Research

The involvement of children in research studies is historically fraught with difficulties. Experiments on children without their consent or knowledge have been carried out in the past and thus the need for stringent ethical control is undoubtedly necessary. However this paper argues that the need to protect children from unethical research has somehow become entwined in the web of secrecy that surrounds the very nature of child abuse. In the name of 'protection' are children in danger of not having their voice heard?

In the foreword to 'Listening to Children' (Alderson, 1995) Roger Singleton writes, 'much research is carried out on and about children, but seldom with children. Children themselves are often strangely silent'. This paper draws on recent literature on the institutional abuse of young people in residential care and the lack of voice that those abused in residential care have traditionally had, suggesting that their silence is not 'strange' but perhaps contrived.

This paper does not repeat the work of Alderson (1995) and make suggestions as to how research with children may best be carried out, but seeks to address the issues in relation to research with children who are in institutions.     

An epidemiological comparison of parasitic infection among preschool children in four areas in Lagos, Nigeria

This study was carried out using four contrasted areas in Lagos, Agege, Mafoluku, Adeniyi-Jones Village and Allen Avenue by incidental sampling method. No other statistical sampling method was viable due to limitation posed by the parents of the subjects.

An estimated 39.3#pc of parasites infection was identified from the low socio economic pre-school children. Out of 20 pre-school children from highly socio economic status,” Allen Avenue” was tested negative of any parasite. The most common parasites were Ascaris lumbricoides followed by Trichuria Trichurias. 32 children from Adeniyi-Jones Village were infected. 27 children within the age of 0-24 months surveyed from Agege and Mafoluku were infected of the same similar parasites.

Socio economic status played a significant role in this study. Children from Allen Avenue with higher environmental sanitation compared with other three areas carried no parasites. A total of 18 #op12.0#pc#cp females were infected while 27.3#pc of the males were infected. A higher percentage rate occured among females than males though no association was made between the sexes.     

Is adoption an option? - setting the context

Presented at the Adoption Forum Conference, Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle, 10-11 February 1998

The aim of the care system and our children's legislation is simply stated: to promote our children's welfare and to work for the child's best interests. The problem arises in deciding how best to promote the welfare of children whose well-being has either been severely compromised or threatened by the inability or failure of their parents to care for them. In an important sense the 'best' is often not attainable for these children: the 'best' being a secure family life with at least one natural parent or within their extended family. It is these children who are the subject of today's seminar. Children whose parents or extended family, on the basis of rigorous assessment, show no real prospect, even with reasonable support, of providing their children with an acceptable standard of care. There are enormous questions in all these areas.     

Early reading: A developmental psycholinguistic approach

Experimental studies of reading in children as young as two or three years of age have indicated several factors: children from various socioeconomic backgrounds with a wide IQ range can learn to read words relatively easily during their first years; early readers tend to read better later on than matched non-early readers; early reading has not been shown to lead to eye injury or to emotional disturbance; young children generally enjoy reading; early readers have not been shown to be confused by differing preschool-school teaching methods nor need they be bored in first grade. Current controversy about teaching reading is discussed as an outgrowth of historical theoretical viewpoints.

Data on early reading, information about early bilingualism, and findings among children without early exposure to spoken language contribute to the viewpoint presented here that learning to read, if prevented until age six, may be similar to learning a second language.

Some parallels between the course of early reading and language development are suggested. Broad outlines are drawn of a psycholinguistic account of reading development in preschool children.

Investigation of this area is significant for both theoretical understanding of the nature of the reading process and practical questions relating to reading achievement and reading disability.     

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.     

Child development: A social learning theory perspective

Child developmental attainments can be observed and measured. In this case study I have assessed a child's development and observed his behaviour in different environments. I discuss these observations from a Social Learning Theory perspective, concentrating on the reciprocal interaction between the child's behaviour and his environment. Psychoanalytical theories, cognitive influences, genetic endowment and other biological variables are also discussed.

Human beings operate on and can manipulate their environments. If a person's behaviour is reinforced it is strengthened and the probability increases that this behaviour will be repeated in similar circumstances in the future. This process is known as operant conditioning. Individuals are therefore exposed to contingencies which result in selection of certain behaviours and extinction of others. The paper concludes that human development is a function of complex and interactive processes between the child and the environment.     

Ethnic preferences of pre-school children

This article describes a projective research tool developed to study children's ethnic preferences and stereotypes. It presents empirical data concerning the effect of ethnic background of pre-school children on their preferences for adult helpers and educational staff.

Findings from the research indicate that four-year olds are ambivalent about their ethnic preferences. However, by age five, children had developed clear ethnic preferences. Specifically, children of Western ethnic origin preferred Western adults, and so did a majority of children of Eastern ethnic background (prefer Western adults). Discussion is presented regarding interpretation of the findings and their implications.     

Building bridges between concrete and abstract conceptualization of number in young children -- A strategy using make-believe signifiers

The transition from concrete to abstract concepts of number is one of the most fundamental foundations of mathematical understanding in the early years.

One strategy to assist children who are experiencing difficulty in this transition is the use of fantasy and imagery to construct a context relevant to the child's experience.     

Who cares?—Supporting parents in the care of children in Hong Kong

The paper addresses the following questions: Why are children placed in residential care? What problems do the parents have in caring for their children at home? What services have been used by the parents in seeking solutions to these problems? Are parents' personal resources so inadequate that the risk of removing a child into care must be taken?

The study involved a sampling of the parents of children who were placed in residential care facilities. The findings indicated that most children were placed in residential care because the parents lacked the tangible resources necessary for them to bring up the children themselves. The findings challenge the simplistic assumption that only children who are orphaned or of irresponsible parents are placed in residential care, and prompt social workers to reflect on the practical means to support parents in the care of children in Hong Kong.     

Research Note: Unmet Needs for Education of Primary School Children in Nigeria

According to the Convention on the rights of the Child, every child is entitled to receive compulsory basic education, and no child should suffer any discrimination irrespective of origin, birth, colour, sex, social beliefs, status or disability.

Bearing in mind these stated objectives of this Convention, three hundred children and three hundred teachers from twenty public schools in Lagos were the subjects of a survey carried out to Identify the unmet needs for education of Nigerian children.

About 90% of the teachers surveyed, admitted that the quality of education was poor and deteriorating on a daily basis. Reasons given were for the poor condition of services, poor teacher morale due to poor condition of service, lack of parental cooperation and general lack of interest among the children.

An observation of the children in the school showed that about 60% of the children had chronic malnutrition with ravages of diseases such as malaria, cough, catarrh, diarrhoea, and skin rashes. Many of the children complained of lack of adequate supply of water and electricity at home for several weeks. A large number (70%) were also found to be unkempt, without decent uniforms and textbooks.

Suggestions were made for proper teacher training, remuneration and more parental concern and involvement for the proper education of their children.