Browsing by Subject "Preschool"
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Item A cognitive and behavior modification technique using cognitive plus make-believe training for preschoolers(Texas Tech University, 1983-05) Lessenberry, Leigh AnnNot availableItem Boosting Lunch Is In The Bag(2011-12) Almansour, Fawaz; Briley, Margaret E.Lunch Is In The Bag (LIITB) was a multi-level behavioral intervention with the goal of increasing the amounts of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains that parents pack in their preschoolers' lunches. The purpose of this dissertation project was to: 1) to examine the temperatures of perishable food items packed in preschoolers' sack lunches; 2) to examine parents' psychosocial constructs that relate to packing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains at four periods during the booster study; 3) to assess the servings of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains with the related nutrient content at four periods during the booster study. The four assessment periods are before LIITB, after LIITB, before the one-week booster, and after the one-week booster. Results showed that more than 97 percent of perishable food items in the sack lunches were stored at unacceptable temperatures (40-140°F). Servings of vegetables (-0.15, p=0.05) and whole grains (-0.53, p<0.0001) in preschool lunches decreased significantly before the booster in the intervention group. The booster increased the servings of vegetables (0.10, p=0.09) and whole grains (0.16, p =0.01) compared to booster baseline. The one-week booster increased thiamin, dietary fiber, and vitamin C content of foods in preschoolers' lunches. During the booster study, parents experienced improvement in psychosocial variables after LIITB and before the booster. Knowledge decreased before the booster. Parents' psychosocial variables were linked to packing more vegetables and significantly more whole grains due to the intervention. Education for parents and the public must focus on methods of packing safe, healthy lunches in order to prevent foodborne illness and chronic disease. The results of this study provide data for continued examination of an area of parental behavior related to packing lunches for their children. The booster study demonstrated that a booster was important for maintenance of program outcomes, and to increase the servings of vegetables and whole grains that parents packed in their preschool children's lunches.Item Bringing order out of chaos : an examination of continuity and discontinuity in young children's experiences of household and classroom chaos during early childhood(2013-05) Bobbitt, Kaeley Celeste; Gershoff, Elizabeth T.Early childhood—a period of development that research has established as a critical period for establishing a foundation to support later development and well-being—is increasingly likely to take place in multiple contexts. Continuity and discontinuity in children’s exposure to environmental chaos across two important contexts for their early development: (1) the home and (2) the early learning and care (ELC) setting were examined using data from a large representative sample of low-income preschool children attending Head Start in order to determine how children’s exposure to chaos in each context combine to either promote or interfere with their social-emotional and cognitive development over a year of preschool. A series of multi-level models tested whether children’s experiences of chaos, operationalized in three ways: (1) as individual indicators of crowding, lack of routines, and instability in each setting; (2) as a cumulative index of chaos in each setting; and (3) as a profile that incorporated children’s experiences across setting, influenced children’s social-emotional and cognitive development. Both household and classroom chaos predicted children’s development, but children’s experiences in their home environments were the predominant influence, indicating that children who had non-chaotic home environments gained more over the preschool year than did children who had chaotic homes. These findings provide additional support that effective and high-quality early education and care settings must incorporate children’s home and family experiences.Item Children’s willingness to accept labels in two languages: the role of exposure(2015-12) Rojo, Dolly P.; Echols, Catharine H.; Booth, Amy E; Bannard, ColinDespite the increasing number of bilingual education programs in the US, the topic of children’s willingness to accept and learn new vocabulary from non-native speakers has been understudied. The present study focuses on the role of exposure to a non-English language, by investigating how varying amounts and sources of exposure play a role in children’s openness to accepting labels in Spanish. Ninety-eight 4- to 6-year old participants of varying language backgrounds were presented with novel object labels in Spanish and English, and were asked to endorse either or both labels. Children with large amounts of exposure to, but not fluent in, Spanish were more likely than minimally exposed monolingual children to endorse both the English and Spanish label, and importantly, did not differ from bilingual children. Monolingual children with minimal exposure to Spanish were the least likely of these three groups to endorse non-native labels. Language Awareness is also considered as a factor that may contribute to children’s willingness to endorse native and non-native labels.Item Development and use of an instrument for observing verbal guidance for preschool children(Texas Tech University, 1972-08) Martin, L. PatriciaNot availableItem Dietary quality of preschoolers' sack lunches(2015-08) Romo Palafox, Maria Jose; Briley, Margaret E.; Davis, Jaimie; Forman, Michele; Hoelscher, Deanna; Ranjit, Nalini; Roberts-Gray, CindyThe objective of this study was to analyze the dietary quality of preschoolers' content and intake of sack lunches from the Lunch is in the Bag (LIITB) Efficacy Trial. The main hypothesis was that the nutrient composition of the lunches packed by parents and the portion consumed by their preschool children were not adequate and that the dietary quality of the lunches was associated with beverage choice. For this cross-sectional study, dietary data were obtained from 30 Early Care and Education (ECE) centers in Central Texas. Foods and beverages present in lunches that parents (n=607) from the LIITB Efficacy Trial packed for their preschool child were recorded on two non-consecutive days. The average meal included 6.5 individual food items and a mean of 602.5 kcals. The macronutrient energy distribution was adequate; however, lunches contained high amounts of sugars (29% of energy) and saturated fat (11% of energy). Preschoolers consistently consumed between 61% and 79% of the food packed by their parents (p<0.01). Parents included less than the recommended amounts of dietary fiber, calcium, vitamin A, and potassium. Mean HEI total scores of lunches packed (58/100) differed from scores of lunches consumed (52/100) (p<0.01). Meals scored low for the greens and beans, total vegetables, seafood and plant proteins and whole grain HEI components. Most parents packed a beverage as part of their preschoolers' lunch; sugar sweetened beverages being the most popular choice. Beverage choice was significantly associated with the presence of vegetables, refined grains and chips in preschoolers' lunches as well as the dietary quality (p<0.05). The nutrient content of preschoolers' sack lunches were inadequate and a cause for concern. The HEI-2010 was a useful tool to measure the dietary quality of children's meals and provided statistical advantages over nutrient analysis. Specific food choices such as beverages were associated with the dietary quality the meals, beverage choice could be a viable intervention target. These findings suggest that parents of preschool children need more guidance in order to provide better foods and beverages to promote the development of healthy food preferences and eating habits.Item Early predictors of attention and engaged leaning in elementary school(2006-08) Dowsett, Chantelle Jean; Huston, Aletha C.Cognitive self-regulation, or the ability to direct one’s attention and actively participate in learning, is a valuable asset because it promotes successful adjustment across the lifespan. Although cross-sectional studies have provided some information about the stability and change in cognitive self-regulation from early childhood through the elementary school years (ages 3-12), less is known about the other child characteristics that influence its development. This study is designed to examine multiple dimensions of preschool skills in relation to children’s attention and engaged learning across the elementary school years. Rich longitudinal data are used from a sample of 1,364 typically developing children from across the U.S. who participated in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Variation in preschool attentional skills, social behavior, and early academic skills was used to predict average level and rate of change in attention, planning, work habits, and classroom engagement from first through sixth grades. Results indicate that high levels of teacher-rated attention problems in the fall of kindergarten are consistently related to lower levels of attention and engaged learning in elementary school. High scores on kindergarten teacher-rated internalizing problems and social skills are linked with high attention and classroom work habits according to elementary school teachers. Finally, early academic skills (particularly oral language skills) are associated with high performance on the Tower of Hanoi planning task and high observed classroom engagement. These results suggest that programs designed to promote school readiness would be remiss in emphasizing early academic skills to the detriment of addressing children’s attention problems and social behavior.Item Evidence based practice brief : teaching emergent literacy skills to preschool children with specific language impairment(2011-05) Miller, Mari Graceann; Bedore, Lisa M.; Sheng, LiPreschool children with Specific Language Impairment are at an increased risk for later reading difficulties (Watson, Layton, & Pierce, 1994; Catts et al., 1999; Johnston et al., 1999; Boudreau & Hedberg, 1999). Current emergent literacy intervention approaches have been discussed regarding typically developing children and children from lower incomes, but they lack efficacy data for preschoolers with SLI. The purpose of this article is to describe the current literature regarding emergent literacy intervention in preschoolers with SLI and reach an evidence-base decision as to the most effective intervention techniques to utilize in order to prevent later reading difficulties.Item How children in a science-centered preschool use science process skills while engaged in play activities(2011-05) McFarlin, Lillian Marie; Reifel, Robert Stuart; Barufaldi, James; Brown, Christopher; Bryant, Diane; Marshall, JillSelf-motivated activities, or play, that children choose to engage in are manifestations of a variety of science process skills being used to construct knowledge about their environment. While many people agree that science skills should be fostered at an early age, due to the possible positive influence of a wider base of experiential knowledge and the development of a love of science, there is a lack of research available to support the development of early childhood science curriculum (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997, Brenneman, Stevenson-Boyd & Frede, 2009). This study follows the daily activities of four- and five-year-old children attending a science-based preschool in the southwestern United States. The play activities of the children were observed for their use of the science process skills of observing, comparing, classifying, measuring, communicating, inferring, predicting and experimenting. A wide range of play activities centered around the foundational skills of observing, comparing, measuring, communicating and inferring. The teachers and students combine to create a unique environment promoting excitement and exploration.Item I have a father who reads to me : implications for early language and literacy development(2014-12) Joyner, Stacey Lynette; Brown, Christopher P., Ph. D.; Roser, NancyReading aloud to very young children has been described as one of the “most important activities for developing the knowledge required for eventual success in reading” (Bus, van IJzendoorn, & Pelligrini, 1995, p. 19), and it is equally as strong as phonemic awareness as a predictor of reading achievement (Bus et al.). In the dialogue around reading aloud to children, mothers are routinely envisioned as the actors. Indeed, much of the research on families and reading aloud centers on the mother’s role in this process (e.g., Ninio & Bruner, 1978; Phillips & McNaughton, 1990; Reese, Cox, Harte, & McAnally, 2003). Despite a gap in research around fathers’ roles in influencing their children’s general development (Cabrera, Shannon, & Tamis-LeMonda, 2007), some theorists indicate that fathers can play an important role in their linguistic, cognitive, and emotional development (Gadsden, Brooks, & Jackson, 1997; Nord, Brimhall, & West, 1997). An understanding of what fathers contribute to read alouds with texts written in English in general and an examination of how those contributions vary from father to father may enable teachers to recognize and address differences that exist in children’s pre-school experiences and how those differences may be manifested in classrooms. This, then, may prove beneficial to educators who work with families encompassing a variety of demographic and structural characteristics in their efforts to support literacy acquisition. The input provided by fathers in this study varies over a wide spectrum in terms of frequency and style; similarly, the invitations to think abstractly vary across multiple levels. In addition, the familiarity of the book being shared, both in terms of language and content, appears to exert a strong influence on the number of interactions and the invitations to think abstractly during read alouds. The implications of these findings suggest that we should challenge our assumptions regarding the economic and situational factors that result in the labeling of children as academically “at risk.” I outline actions for consideration by parents, educators, and stakeholders who are working with young children and their families to promote language and literacy development.Item The influence of stuttering awareness on the child who stutters' friendship preference(2010-05) Jolly, Angela Marie; Byrd, Courtney T.; Hampton, ElizabethStuttering has been defined as an atypical disruption in the forward flow of speech (Conture, 2001). The onset of stuttering is reported to be 2 to 3 years of age; the age at which the child is first learning to communicate more frequently with words rather than nonverbal behaviors. Interestingly, this is also the time at which children seek interactions with others rather than the former tendency to play independently. Because of the overt nature of this disorder, the timing of the onset and its co-occurrence with significant social developmental shifts, stuttering has the potential to impact the child’s ability to make and maintain friendships. The purpose of this report is to investigate the impact of stuttering awareness on the friendship preferences of preschool children who stutter.Item Questioning beyond the Book in Teacher-Child Reading: The Effect of High Cognitively Demanding Questions on Children?s Vocabulary Growth(2015-01-21) Bravo Paniagua, Tamara AndreaShared book reading (SBR) is considered the standard in fostering preschool children?s oral language skills. However, research has emphasized that extratextual conversation around book reading (i.e., questions, comments, and statements outside the actual reading), in particular, is related to effective book reading because it provides children with the opportunity to interact with word and word meanings beyond the text. The present dissertation examines how teacher questioning around SBR, and particularly high cognitive demand questions, impact children?s vocabulary growth. No reviews of the research have been conducted on the effect of cognitive complexity of questions around SBR on preschoolers? vocabulary knowledge. Therefore, the second chapter of this dissertation presents a systematic literature review that summarizes and identifies the similarities and differences among studies of questions shared book reading conducted in recent years. The review revealed that the effect of cognitive complexity of questions around SBR on preschoolers? vocabulary knowledge is limited, and the findings are not conclusive. The third chapter consists of an observational study that examined how the cognitive complexity of teacher-generated questions around SBR was associated with preschoolers? receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge. The sample consisted of 100 children nested under 13 teachers who were part of a larger vocabulary intervention study in which small groups of children participated in 18 weeks of 5-day instructional shared reading cycles of approximately 20-minutes. The teachers followed a well-scripted curriculum, but for purposes of the present study only spontaneous, unscripted teacher questions around SBR were considered. The reading sessions were video recorded, and teachers? questions were coded according a rubric that evaluated cognitive demand level (four levels, from labeling to associating words and concepts) using The Observer XT (Noldus Information Technology, 2013). It was hypothesized that teachers who asked more spontaneous questions than required by the curriculum (i.e., unscripted questions) would be more effective at increasing children?s vocabulary learning. It was also hypothesized that cognitively demanding questions would be associated with higher word learning among children. Contrary to the expectations, the frequency and duration of all unscripted questions did not predict expressive nor receptive children?s vocabulary knowledge on standardized or researcher-developed measured. However, the duration of questions that placed high cognitive demands on the children predicted their scores on a standardized test of expressive vocabulary.Item The antecedents and outcomes of preschool programs for children in America(2016-05) Ansari, Arya; Gershoff, Elizabeth T.; Crosnoe, Robert; Benner, Aprile; Kim, Su Yeong; Callahan, RebeccaThere has been an increased interest in the early childhood years as a point of intervention and, specifically, on preschool programs, which hold great promise in preparing children for school. Despite the extensive body of literature on preschool education, there remain a number of key issues that need to be addressed to move the early childhood field forward. This dissertation addresses three of these areas that require continued attention. First, we need to know why Latino children from U.S.- and foreign-born households are under-enrolled in preschool education (Aim 1). The second area that we need to know more about is the potential long-term benefits of large-scale preschool programs (Aim 2). Finally, the third area where more information is needed is on the different sources of heterogeneity in the benefits of preschool for children (Aim 3). Thus, the aims of this dissertation were to address these gaps in the knowledge-base by using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Birth (ECLS-B) and Kindergarten (ECLS-K 1998) Cohorts. The first set of findings reveals that there are important differences that exist within the Latino population (culture, household resources, parents’ beliefs about school readiness, and child elicitation) with respect to preschool selection. These differences indicate that, in order to boost the preschool enrollment of Latino children from U.S.- and foreign-born households, policymakers may need to focus on targeting a specific set of barriers. Findings from Aim 2 underscore the potential long-term benefits of preschool education. Specifically, despite evidence for partial convergence of test scores, children who attended preschool at age four consistently outperformed their classmates who attended informal care in areas of academic achievement through the end of middle school. Although all children benefited from preschool participation, analyses from Aim 3 of this dissertation revealed that there was evidence for systematic heterogeneity, with findings supporting developmental theories on cumulative advantage and diverging destinies. Taken together, the results from this dissertation add to the existing evidence base on preschool education by highlighting new means of engaging families in the preschool market and underscoring both how and why preschool programs have long-term benefits for children.Item The effect of early childhood education on cognitive development(Texas Tech University, 1973-05) Steele, Ella Mae Hartford,Not availableItem The effect of pretraining on discrimination and reversal learning with preschool children(Texas Tech University, 1966-08) Weichert, Charles EdwardNot availableItem Understanding the excluder : why young children exclude their peers(2012-12) Fanger, Suzanne Marie; Hazen, Nancy Lynn; Jacobvitz, Deborah; Reifel, Stuart; Keating, Elizabeth; Kim, Su YeongThe present study attempts to further our understanding of peer exclusion in young children’s social interactions by answering the question, “What are the motivating factors behind children’s usage of exclusion.” Exclusion is very common amongst young children (Corsaro, 1985; Fanger, Frankel & Hazen, 2012), but can also cause harm to the victims (Juvonen & Gross, 2005; MacDonald, Kingsbury & Shaw, 2005). This study used modified grounded theory to examine data collected on the exclusionary behavior of 43 children (mean age 61 months). Extensive data on all incidents of peer exclusion occurring amongst the children, including audio recordings, as well as interviews on children’s relationships and social status were used. Results indicated that some exclusion is perpetrated by a particular child if they want be in control of a social situation or to help them be powerful or high status. An entirely different type of exclusion is the exclusionary behavior that occurs for social reasons; either to help a friendship or to support a group identity. Exclusion is sometimes simply the result of the particular context surrounding the interaction: either some aspect of the children’s school environment leads to exclusion, the exclusion has become an ongoing pattern for the children or the exclusion is perpetrated to protect the children’s play. Exclusion is also sometimes the result of the excludee’s behavior—either something they did immediately prior to the incident caused them to be excluded or the way they behave, in general, contributes to them being a target of exclusion. Finally, it appears that the overall social culture of a particular classroom or specific peer group can, itself, contribute to the frequency with which children use exclusion. Typically, exclusion occurs for a combination of these reasons and only rarely does an incident of exclusion have only one cause. Implications of these findings for future research as well as practical applications and interventions are discussed.