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This article explores inclusive and exclusive perceptions within early years practice settings in England. Inclusion is understood to involve the acknowledgement and celebration of difference, rather than its problematization. A deficit-based discourse regarding diversity is challenged and the concept of diversity gain is explored. A study was undertaken involving seven early years practice settings. The study involved the use of a critical communicative methodological approach due to its focus on exploration and listening with a view to understanding. The results and data analysis supplied three key findings. Firstly, practitioners are able to articulate their understanding of diversity gain and a desire for inclusion to a far greater extent than parents involved in the settings. Secondly, parental involvement within the settings is fundamental to authentic inclusion. Finally, practitioners felt that there was a distinct lack of resources, including funding, time and expertise, to support inclusive practice appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/aim: The aim of this study was to determine the face validity and the reliability of a pictorial scale to assess preschool children's perceived movement skills. Methods: The pictorial scale examines the perceptions of the 12 fundamental movement skills presented in the Test of Gross Motor Development‐2 (six locomotor and six object control skills) and six active play skills (e.g. cycling). A total of 91 Australian children aged four to five years from 14 preschools completed the scale on two occasions to determine test–retest reliability. Internal consistency was determined for all 18 items and for each subscale. After the second test, participants were asked open‐ended questions to gain insight into their understanding of what was happening in the pictures to determine the face validity. Results: Overall, children demonstrated a better understanding of object control and play skills compared to locomotor skills. Test–retest reliability values were good for object control (intra‐class correlation, ICC = 0.75), locomotor (ICC = 0.78), active play skills (ICC = 0.80) and all 18 skills combined (ICC = 0.77). Internal consistency was acceptable for locomotor (Test 1 0.64, Test 2 0.75), object control (0.71, 0.76), active play skills (0.76, 0.74) and for all 18 skills combined (0.88, 0.90). Conclusions: Overall, this instrument demonstrated an acceptable reliability in preschool children and has provided preliminary information for examining the perceptions of movement skills. This age group presents a key target area for occupational therapists, who can assist preschool children to further develop fundamental movement skills, integrate these skills in their roles and occupations and increase engagement in meaningful physical activity in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the relationship between children's perceptions of mastery and performance oriented climates and their beliefs about the causes of success, feelings of satisfaction and boredom, perceived ability, and attitude toward physical education. What students who perceived a climate oriented toward high mastery/moderate performance reported; Suggestions from the pattern and strength of the findings.

Little published research exists to guide self-regulators in their evaluation of advertising directed to children. Academic researchers have principally studied the effects of advertising upon children, rather than children's perceptions of specific commercials and ads. Research on such questions as fantasy, using famous presenters, scale disclosures and disclaimers would undoubtedly show age related differences of perception. This might call into question the advertisers' responsibilities to the pre-school, pre-literate child. The situation is more complex when the advertiser seeks to address older children at times when younger children are also watching. Research will never satisfy the critics, but industry and self-regulators should pursue the question of how children perceive advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of children's abilities to recognize consumption symbolism has been examined using adults' products, but not using children's products. The present study examines children's perceptions of the users of children's products and tests hypotheses concerning the effects of age, sex, social class, and sibling influence. As expected, the greatest differences are found among children of different ages. Results are interpreted as due to product-related experience and positive biases toward higher-status brand names and personally owned products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies children's levels of understanding of television commercials and the associated effects upon attitudes and purchase request tendencies. Attribution theory, with its focus on perception of intent, is the research framework. The results suggest that when a child attributes persuasive intent to commercials, he believes them less, likes them less, and is less likely to want the products advertised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent ERP research with adults has shown that the online processing of subject-verb (S-V) agreement violations is mediated by the relative perceptual salience of the violation (Dube et al. 2016). These findings corroborate infant perception research, which has also shown that perceptual salience influences infants' sensitivity to grammatical violations (Sundara, Demuth & Kuhl 2011). This raises the possibility that similar effects may manifest in school-aged children. To investigate this possibility, we recorded ERPs while 9-11-year-old English-speaking children (n = 24) listened to sentences with grammatical versus ungrammatical subject-verb agreement (i.e., third-person singular). Ungrammatical verbs differed in their relative perceptual salience due to the overtness of the error—errors of commission (i.e., superfluous -s) versus errors of omission (i.e., absent -s), and the position of the violation—utterance-medial versus utterance-final. Overall, the violations elicited an N400 effect, indicating that children were sensitive to the grammaticality differences. However, this effect was only significant for errors of commission, and utterance-position did not play a role. These results differ from those of adults, where both errors of omission and commission elicited a P600 effect, which was larger in utterance final position. These findings suggest that the relative perceptual salience of the grammatical violation influences the processing of S-V agreement in both children and adults, but the processing strategies differ, with children relying more on local, shallow processing rather than global, deep processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to test how changes in perception accuracy of affiliative networks (i.e., the ability to accurately identify who affiliates with whom) are related to an important structural feature of peer groups- the likelihood of children to affiliate with mutual partners (transitivity). Data from three longitudinal samples (two from elementary school children and one from young adolescents; N = 257, 618 observations) show that children and adolescents in classrooms with a higher proportion of transitive relationships are better at perceiving who affiliates with whom, and that increases in transitivity associate with increases in perception accuracy. This is the first study to show that structural features of peer groups relate with individual perceptions of affiliative relationships, providing further evidence that these features have an important role in promoting individual adaptation and supporting previous suggestions that classroom-variables play a role in fostering accurate perceptions of social relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This meta-analysis, spanning 5 decades of Draw-A-Scientist studies, examined U.S. children's gender-science stereotypes linking science with men. These stereotypes should have weakened over time because women's representation in science has risen substantially in the United States, and mass media increasingly depict female scientists. Based on 78 studies (N = 20,860; grades K-12), children's drawings of scientists depicted female scientists more often in later decades, but less often among older children. Children's depictions of scientists therefore have become more gender diverse over time, but children still associate science with men as they grow older. These results may reflect that children observe more male than female scientists in their environments, even though women's representation in science has increased over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Evidence regarding the impact of premature loss of primary molars on oral health‐related quality of life (OHRQoL) is lacking. Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of premature loss of primary molars in schoolchildren and its impact on OHRQoL. Design: We randomly selected 667 children aged 8‐9 years enrolled in public and private schools from Aracaju (Brazil). The presence of untreated dental caries and early loss of primary molars were recorded, and its impacts on OHRQoL evaluated using Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ8‐10). Influence of some variables on tooth loss and OHRQoL was assessed by multilevel Poisson's regression analysis (P < 0.05). Results: The prevalence for early tooth loss was 65.4% (95% confidence interval 51.1%‐77.3%). Children with untreated dental caries and attending public schools presented higher prevalence of early tooth loss. Moreover, early loss of primary molars provoked negative impact on OHRQoL considering total score of CPQ8‐10 and domains "oral symptoms," "functional limitations" and "emotional well‐being." Children presenting early teeth loss presented significantly higher scores of CPQ8‐10, as well as females and children with dental caries in other teeth. Conclusions: The prevalence of early loss of primary molars is high, and it impacts the OHRQoL of children aged 8‐9 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the responsiveness of the Brazilian versions of Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ11‐14) and Child‐Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (Child‐OIDP). Design: The data were collected from a convenience sample of 209 patients aged 10‐15 years, who visited the adolescent dental clinic of Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil. The subjects answered the CPQ11‐14 and the Child‐OIDP prior to their dental treatment and 1 month after concluding the treatment. The responsiveness of CPQ11‐14 and Child‐OIDP was analysed through (a) the mean change observed in scores before and after treatment, (b) an investigation of the effect size, (c) an assessment of the statistical significance of changes within the groups over time, as per the global transition judgement, and (d) the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results: Positive changes were observed for both questionnaires. According to global transition judgement, 82.30% of the participants reported an improvement following treatment, 16.75% reported no change, and 0.96% reported deterioration. The effect size was 0.8% and 0.5% for the overall CPQ11‐14 and Child‐OIDP, respectively. The area under the curve was 0.38 for CPQ11‐14 and 0.43 for Child‐OIDP. Conclusion: The Brazilian versions of CPQ11‐14 and Child‐OIDP demonstrated limited responsiveness following dental treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infants are selective in their learning from others. However, there is only very limited research on the possible factors that shape this selectivity, especially when it comes to the impact of infants’ familiarity with the informant and the context. The current study investigated whether 14-month-olds preferred to receive and use information provided by an unfamiliar informant (experimenter) compared with a familiar informant (parent) and whether this pattern depended on the context (home vs. laboratory). We tested infants either in the laboratory ( n  = 67) or in their home ( n  = 70). When both informants presented a novel object with positive or negative emotions, we measured infants’ gaze behavior as an indicator for information search. When infants acted on the novel object themselves, we measured their exploratory behavior as an indicator of information use. Results revealed no effect of context on infants’ information search and use. Rather, we found that the familiarity of informant had distinct effects on infant attention and object exploration. Namely, infants looked longer at the unfamiliar informant across contexts, but they explored more when the familiar informant presented the object compared with when the unfamiliar informant did so. Thus, during information search, 14-month-olds paid most attention to an unfamiliar source of information. However, participants explored the objects more when they came from a familiar source than when they came from an unfamiliar one. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research focusing on disparities in academic achievement among Black, African American, and other youth has largely examined differences in quantitative risk and protective factors associated with levels of achievement. Few interpretive studies of academic achievement by race or ethnicity have considered how the context of young people’s lives impact their perceptions of academic performance. Furthermore, the lived experiences of Black and African American youth have rarely been considered. This study examined perceptions of academic achievement among a sample of Black and African American elementary and middle school students living in four public housing neighborhoods in a Western US city. Twenty-five Black and African American youth participated in the study. Fourteen youth were in grades 4 and 5, and 11 youth were in grades 6, 7, or 8. Sixty-four percent of participants (n = 16) were male and 36% (n = 9) were female. Four themes emerged regarding participants’ perceptions of academic achievement: (1) (in)equity and the internalization of messages; (2) teachers as gatekeepers; (3) family and community factors promoting and inhibiting academic success; and (4) cultural considerations—language, stereotypes, and difference. Implications for improving academic outcomes and reducing the achievement gap among Black, African American, and other students are noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable research documents that even young children possess stigma about mental illness, which may affect how they evaluate peers with mental health conditions. This study examined children’s pre-existing perceptions of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) behaviors as predictors of their subsequent sociometric judgments of classmates with ADHD in a 2-week summer day camp. Participants were previously unacquainted children ages 6.8-9.8 years (113 typically-developing and 24 with ADHD; 48.2% boys; 81% White). Children initially more inclined to interact with a hypothetical classmate with ADHD gave fewer “dislike” nominations to real-life classmates with ADHD at camp. Children who initially believed that ADHD symptoms were uncontrollable gave more “dislike” nominations and lower liking ratings to classmates with ADHD when those classmates displayed severe ADHD symptoms. For children who had ADHD, their attribution of uncontrollability for ADHD symptoms predicted fewer “like” nominations and more “dislike” nominations given to classmates with ADHD. Lastly, children who initially reported they would help a hypothetical classmate with ADHD gave higher liking ratings to classmates with ADHD. These results were found after statistical control of the actual level of ADHD behaviors displayed by the classmates with ADHD. In summary, other children’s pre-existing or stigmatizing perceptions of ADHD behaviors may contribute, in part, to the substantial peer rejection typically experienced by ADHD populations. Findings have implications for understanding peer problems in children with this common mental health condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's family structures are increasingly diverse and changing, and family structure and stability have implications for child developmental outcomes. These increasing distinct structures include households where children reside with grandparents or foster parents. Gaps exist in the knowledge base regarding whether these children report differing degrees of family connectedness and life satisfaction (LS) compared with children residing with one or both parents. This study examines family structures and children's perceptions regarding family connectedness and perceived LS using a nationally representative U.S. sample of 926 students in grades 7–10. Univariate analysis of variance and hierarchical multiple regression tests were conducted. The findings indicate children residing with both parents have significantly higher LS than children in foster care and children raised by grandparents (CRBG). The findings also reveal that the stronger the feelings of family connectedness, the higher the perceived LS. Perhaps the single most noteworthy finding of this research is that when family connectedness is strong, children with 1 parent have significantly higher perceptions of LS than children living in foster care and CRBG. Thus, this research suggests many children of single parents experience robust psychological well-being. Children in foster care and CRBG may benefit from focused prevention and intervention to enhance family connectedness and LS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hearing loss results from a deviation in the perception of sounds in one's environment. A child may have hearing loss at a hearing threshold of ≥16 dB. Hearing loss is among the frequent disorders and affects lots of people globally. Hearing loss negatively affects many areas needed for classroom learning, language development, academic performance, and social development. These consequences can be reduced by early detection with appropriate audiological and speech therapy interventions. In developing countries like Ghana, there is no such laid down formal hearing screening programs for early detection of any signs of impairments. The present study was aimed at identifying the prevalence and causes of hearing loss among basic school children aged between 5 and 17 years at Freetown Basic School, Ho. The study sought to determine the causes and prevalence of hearing loss. Out of the 210 participants, 44 (21%) failed the audiometric screening test. Out of the 44 students who failed the audiometric screening test, 25 (11.9%) had hearing loss across all the test frequencies. Prevalence of hearing loss among basic school children was found to be 11.9%. This shows that hearing loss is not uncommon among school going children in the Ho Municipality. It was determined from the study that the prevailing causes of the hearing impairments may be attributable to abused use of ototoxic drugs and ear-aches and infections with majority of participants recording mild hearing loss. It can be concluded that hearing loss among school going children is preventable if appropriate measures are put in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its initial development, the embedded figures test (EFT) has been used extensively to measure local-global perceptual style. However, little is known about the perceptual factors that influence target detection. The current study aimed to investigate disembedding in children with and without ASD, aged 8-15 years, using the newly developed, stimulus-controlled L-EFT, M-EFT and D-EFT. Firstly, results revealed superior disembedding for children with ASD, irrespective of the type of target or embedding context, although the ASD group took more time in both the M-EFT and D-EFT. Secondly, the number of target lines continuing into the context proved more of a hindrance for the controls. Taken together, these findings provide strong evidence to support the notion of superior disembedding in ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Autism spectrum is a lifelong neural growth disorder, manifested as problems in social interaction, communication, and imagination along with limited and repetitive behaviors and interests. Furthermore, autistic children show clear defects in imitation skill. Acquiring imitation skill plays a vital role in the growth of social communication such as language, common attention, and play. Given the increasing prevalence of autism in advanced societies and lack of speech therapies for language enhancement and the role of imitation in the development of language, the purpose of this study is to evaluate recent studies in the field of mimicking effects on the different aspects of language in autistic children and determining the most effective and appropriate way of teaching imitation to improve the language and communication skills in these children. Materials and Methods: This research is a review study aimed at collecting the relevant data from 2000 to 2017 in the field of imitation and its impact on language and communication in children with autism by searching the Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, SID, and IranMedex databases. Results: In this article, 13 related studies were found from 2000 to 2017. Out of these studies, two studies were carried out in Iran, and 11 other studies in other countries. Two research studies compared imitation ability of autistic children with other disorders, and other studies examined the effect of imitation on different aspects of language acquisition. Conclusion: All studies have shown that imitation influences on different aspects of language acquisition and enhances pre-lingual communication, such as the infant's gaze at mother's eyes, development of perception and expression language, improvement of understanding language application skills and syntax, including the number of verbs and the increase of the verbal production of vocabulary and the phrase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developmental theory has long emphasized the importance of linking perception, cognition, and action. Techniques designed to record the spatial and temporal characteristics of hand movements (i.e., manual dynamics) present new opportunities to study the nature of these links across development by providing a window into how perceptual, cognitive, and motoric processes interact and unfold over time. Although manual dynamics are commonly used to explore a range of topics with adults, including language processing, numerical cognition, social perception, and cognitive control, comparatively little research has used hand-tracking techniques to explore these topics with children. The current article aims to bring attention to this methodological gap and discuss how and why developmental researchers might want to address it. The article introduces two hand-tracking techniques, contrasts how the techniques have been used with adults relative to children, and explores how manual dynamics might fit into the broader landscape of research in child development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over time, children shift from using less optimal strategies for solving mathematics problems to using better ones. But why do children generate new strategies? We argue that they do so when they begin to encode problems more accurately; therefore, we hypothesized that perceptual support for correct encoding would foster strategy generation. Fourth-grade students solved mathematical equivalence problems (e.g., 3 + 4 + 5 = 3 + _) in a pre-test. They were then randomly assigned to one of three perceptual support conditions or to a Control condition. Participants in all conditions completed three mathematical equivalence problems with feedback about correctness. Participants in the experimental conditions received perceptual support (i.e., highlighting in red ink) for accurately encoding the equal sign, the right side of the equation, or the numbers that could be added to obtain the correct solution. Following this intervention, participants completed a problem-solving post-test. Among participants who solved the problems incorrectly at pre-test, those who received perceptual support for correctly encoding the equal sign were more likely to generate new, correct strategies for solving the problems than were those who received feedback only. Thus, perceptual support for accurate encoding of a key problem feature promoted generation of new, correct strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We examine the structure of implicit theories of creativity among Polish high schools teachers and the role those theories play for the accuracy of teachers' assessment of their students' creativity. Latent class analysis revealed the existence of four classes of teachers, whose perception of a creative student differed: two of these classes defined a creative student incoherently with the existing theories of creativity, and the other two classes did that in accordance with Kirton's (1976) theory of creativity styles, that is, as adaptors or innovators. Teachers who perceived a creative student as an adaptor tended to more accurately assess the creativity of females, whereas teachers perceiving a creative student as an innovator more accurately assessed the creativity of males. We discuss the theoretical and practical consequences of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of widespread media coverage of economic problems, un- and under-employment, and overwhelming student loan debt, youth are making sense of the prospects of getting a job and value of education. Further, they are assessing the implications of the job market in curtailing or enhancing their future success. School-based and familial relationships may support students in making sense of the job market. The current study focuses on how youth view the economy, its association with academic engagement, and how parental and school-based relationships shape views of the job market and their impact on academic engagement. With an ethnically diverse sample of high school students (N = 624; 54% female), perceptions of the job market were tested as mediators and moderators of the relations between school-based relationships and parenting on academic engagement. Using structural equation modeling, job market pessimism mediated the relation between school-based relationships and engagement. School-based relationships and parenting practices moderated the relation between job market pessimism and academic engagement. At high levels of parental and school support, interpreted as increased centrality and salience of academic success, there was a stronger negative association between job market pessimism and academic engagement. This set of findings indicates that high school students are thinking about the job market in ways that impact their engagement in school. These findings extend theories that have focused on the job market and the likelihood of dropping out of school or enrolling in post-secondary education. These findings are significant because just staying in school is not enough to succeed. With increased emphasis on college and career readiness, students are required to be more planful and purposeful during high school in order to succeed in the job market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differential experience leads infants to have perceptual processing advantages for own- over other-race faces, but whether this experience has downstream consequences is unknown. Three experiments examined whether 7-month-olds (range = 5.9-8.5 months; N = 96) use gaze from own- versus other-race adults to anticipate events. When gaze predicted an event's occurrence with 100% reliability, 7-month-olds followed both adults equally; with 25% (chance) reliability, neither was followed. However, with 50% (uncertain) reliability, infants followed own- over other-race gaze. Differential face race experience may thus affect how infants use social cues from own- versus other-race adults for learning. Such findings suggest that infants integrate online statistical reliability information with prior knowledge of own versus other race to guide social interaction and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental perceptions are associated with the way in which people experience the environment and relate to its psychosocial dimension, encompassing cognition and affect towards the environment. The aim of this study is to ascertain how children aged between eight and 12 from three different settings (urban, coastal and rural) perceive and define nature. Participants were asked to draw a picture and then, on the basis of this drawing, answer the following question: 'What is nature to you?' Content analysis was used to process the data obtained, giving rise to three categories that emerged through the notions and concepts mentioned by the children: elements of nature, human productions and relationship with the environment. One of the salient findings was that children display a similar way of representing nature that does not appear to be significantly linked to their place of residence. Furthermore, the majority of them associate nature with positive affect. However, the results point to the need for further studies conducted from a multi-method perspective in order to improve understanding about children's environmental perceptions of nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does the package have an impact on children's perception of the healthfulness of milk? That's the question we sought to answer as part of a survey given to 185 Canadian children aged 7-12. Children were randomly assigned to complete one of two surveys, in which they indicated the healthfulness of different food items, including milk in four different types of packaging. Milk with the least amount of packaging - milk in a glass - was perceived to be healthier than milk in a plain carton, milk in a carton with a macronutrient claim, or milk in a child-friendly container (p < 0.001). Such knowledge is useful from a public health perspective in terms of positively influencing consumer choice, and sheds important insight into how food packaging communicates to, and is understood by, children. While the food industry often frames declining milk consumption as a promotional problem - and one solved by increasing the fun factor of milk through packaging - more packaging is not the solution to creating a healthy food environment for children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has revealed reduced temporal discounting (i.e., increased capacity to delay reward) and altered interoceptive awareness in anorexia nervosa (AN). In line with the research linking temporal underestimation with a reduced tendency to devalue a reward and reduced interoceptive awareness, we tested the hypothesis that time duration might be underestimated in AN. Our findings revealed that patients with AN displayed lower timing accuracy in the form of timing underestimation compared with controls. These results were not predicted by clinical, demographic factors, attention, and working memory performance of the participants. The evidence of a temporal underestimation bias in AN might be clinically relevant to explain their abnormal motivation in pursuing a long-term restrictive diet, in line with the evidence that increasing the subjective temporal proximity of remote future goals can boost motivation and the actual behavior to reach them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alice in wonderland syndrome (AWS) is a paroxysmal disorder with distorted body image, including altered perceptions of size, mass, or shape. In fact, altered body image is the classic symptom of AWS. However, young children and adolescents younger than 15 years with AWS usually show visual symptoms, including micropsia or teleopsia. The most common visual symptom with AWS is micropsia. There are several theories of the etiology of AWS, the most popular of which is migraine. The second most frequently mentioned etiologic theory of AWS is that it is infection-induced. Finally, abnormal brain electrical activity, such as epilepsy, is another possible cause of AWS. We herein report a case of 9-year-old boy who was admitted with visual disturbances characterized by microteleopsia and pelopsia. He denied headache, but his mother had a history of migraine. His general physical examination was unremarkable. Brain magnetic resonance imaging did not show any abnormal findings, but an electroencephalogram showed abnormal discharges. The patient was prescribed an antiepileptic drug, which improved his symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many studies show that children are able to perform perceptive, thematic and taxonomical characterization, few studies investigate whether adults' patterns -living things mostly associated with taxonomic and perceptive attributes, and nonliving things, with thematic information- resemble those of children. Thus, this paper undertook to study the types of -mainly taxonomic and thematic- attributes used by 6- to- 11-yearold children attending 1st, 3rd and 5th year of basic primary education in Mar del Plata city. This was done through a task that consisted of asking for conceptual attributes of living and nonliving things (ANIMALS, FRUITS, OBJECTS, FURNITURE). We found that thematic relations prevailed in OBJECTS and FURNITURE but not in FRUITS and ANIMALS, which matches with the idea that contextual and functional characteristics are more important for artifacts than living things. Likewise, taxonomic relations prevailed in ANIMALS and FRUITS, and its presence was much lower in OBJECTS and FURNITURE. In conclusion, we found a reverse pattern vis-à-vis that of thematic relations, in accordance with the idea that taxonomic relations are more relevant for living things given their relation to visual processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses children' attitudes towards school and learning soon after entering primary school in Hungary. First and second grade primary school students (N = 33) were interviewed. The interviews explored the following questions: What are the teachers' and the children's roles in the classroom? What is learning? Where do children learn? What kind of learning strategies do students use in arithmetic and reading? How are students evaluated in the school? What do students like best about school? The data suggest that the children quickly adapt to the school environment and, on the whole, have a positive attitude towards school and learning but-with a few exceptions-their views on the role of schooling in life reflect traditional, school subject centred goals and values and little awareness of the learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MOODLE, a free open source software, is the official Learning Management System (LMS) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The institution's mandate to all academics to integrate Moodle into their respective disciplines for teaching and learning, created a space for the researchers to experiment with the Quiz tool as an alternate assessment method, as part of routine formative and summative assessments. Whilst there are many research studies that endorse e-assessments at tertiary institutions, this is an uncharted area of research within the field of teaching and learning of isiZulu in South Africa. As a result, there is a lack of empirical evidence to assist with curriculum integration and implementation thereof. The purpose of this study was to explore students' perceptions and experiences on such integration and implementation of e-assessments. A questionnaire was administered to sixty first year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) students enrolled for isiZulu. Permission to conduct the research was sought from all relevant gatekeepers. This study is set against the behaviourist, cognitive and constructivist learning frameworks. Findings from this study affirmed the numerous benefits of including e-assessments as part of the assessment method. However, further improvements to the design of the isiZulu quiz e-test were suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relation between children’s theory of mind (ToM) and emerging reading comprehension was investigated in a longitudinal study over 2.5 years. A total of 80 children were tested for ToM, decoding, language skills, and executive function (EF) at Time 1 (mean age = 3; 10 [years; months]). At Time 2 (mean age = 6; 03), children’s word reading efficiency, language skills, and reading comprehension were measured. Mediation analysis showed that ToM at Time 1, when children were around 4 years old, indirectly predicted Time 2 reading comprehension, when children were 6 years old, via language ability after controlling for age, nonverbal ability, decoding, EF, and earlier language ability. Importantly, ToM at 4 years also directly predicted reading comprehension 2.5 years later at 6 years. This is the first longitudinal study to show a direct contribution of ToM to reading comprehension in typical development. Findings are discussed in terms of the simple view of reading (SVR); ToM not only supports reading comprehension indirectly by facilitating language but also contributes to it directly over and above the SVR. The potential role of metacognition is considered when accounting for the direct contribution of early ToM to later reading comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the complexity of children’s involvement in school bullying from the child’s perspective.Design/methodology/approach A Foucauldian perspective provides a more nuanced approach than traditional understandings for examining the fluidity of power which involves “grey” areas; struggles between pupils, and pupils and teachers; and takes into account systemic factors. Data are drawn from observations, focus groups and individual interviews with children aged 10-16.Findings Children explained how pupils, teachers and inequalities inherent in school contributed to their involvement. Children felt coerced into reinforcing societal inequalities whereby the “vulnerable” were susceptible to victimisation and pupils can achieve status through bullying. Several working-class males who had learning difficulties felt “picked on” by their peers and teachers, and subsequently retaliated aggressively.Research limitations/implications Findings from this relatively small sample provide insight into children’s unique experiences and how they are produced within wider systems of knowledge which differ from traditionally accepted discourses.Practical implications Pupils should have an input into the development and implementation of institutional strategies to tackle bullying.Social implications Traditional ways of identifying “bullies” can be used to target those already marginalised whilst more sophisticated bullying is usually accepted and approved.Originality/value The complexity, fluidity and multi-faceted nature of children’s involvement is highlighted. Children discussed the maltreatment they experienced from pupils and teachers but did not realise how they may have subjected them to bullying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this research project is to analyze children's understanding of the concept of friendship by investigating symbolic representation in drawing and metaphoric expression in language. This research project is grounded in the conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), in which metaphor is defined as a conceptual-linguistic mapping between a source and a target domain. It uses qualitative, ethnographic research based on Spradley's (1979) theory stating that meanings are derived from symbolically coded concepts where X is a symbol and Y is a referent. The researchers in this study, one from the USA and one from Poland, asked a group of preschool children to draw pictures of their friends. When the children finished their drawings, the researchers asked them 4 questions: "What did you draw?" "Why are they friends?" and "A friend is like...", "A friendship is like...". The results demonstrate that preschool children have the cognitive ability to understand the concept of friend and even differentiate between friends and playmates. In the study, the children could determine the number of their real friends, and for most children in both countries, it was 1 or 2 friends. In the group of American children, friendship (X) had two basic meanings (Y): helping (YH) and playing (YP). In Poland, friendship meant playing (YP) and being together after school (YBT). The children in both countries associated friends (target domain) with (source domain) certain people (FP), character quality (FCH), activity (FA) and (FO) object/places. A comparison of the results demonstrates a difference in the number of friends the children claimed to have in Poland versus the USA. Additionally, the research showed that the American children drew only their friends without including themselves, while the Polish children included themselves in their pictures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying and understanding predictors of school safety perceptions is important due to its consequences for students. However, it is not clear what school-related factors most contribute to explaining students' perception of school safety, and how they relate to community-related factors such as neighborhood safety. The purpose of this study was to understand the factors associated with Chilean elementary and middle school students' perceptions of school safety. We used a sample of 5,455 students from low socioeconomic status public schools, and analyzed the predictive value of peer physical and verbal victimization; teacher and school staff victimization; teacher's social support; and perception of safety in the students' neighborhoods on perceptions of school safety. Findings showed that although different forms of school violence, particularly peer physical victimization and physical and sexual victimization from teachers and school staff, contribute to students' perception of school safety, the highest contribution came from students perceiving their neighborhoods as unsafe. In contrast, teacher social support contributed to increased levels of perceived school safety. We discuss the need for school-based interventions that address physical victimization and engage teachers in prosocial and less punitive approaches to foster a positive and safe school climate, and in fostering school-community partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, students' views on the process of authentic assessment and implementation of a unit which was designed by using conceptbased interdisciplinary approach were examined. To achieve this, the influence of implementation on teaching-learning process and also students' perceptions about authentic assessment were investigated. The study was conducted as a case study which is one of the qualitative research designs. The sampling group was composed of 14 students. Data collected through interviews, observations and journals were analyzed with the help of content analysis method. Results indicate that students thought that the implemented activities were different from the previous ones. These activities made students' interest into lessons to increase and contributed to developing positive attitude and working collaboratively. Students also thought that authentic assessment activities were different from previous ones in terms of being oriented to learning process, being student-centered, requiring metacognitive strategies and usage of information about various disciplines. Interdisciplinary activities and the process of authentic assessment prepared by teachers consciously provided beneficial contributions for students to take responsibility of their learning and for teachers to make more realistic assessment. For this reason, it is useful for teachers to develop their skills in designing interdisciplinary programs and authentic assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background There is a need for studies on the biopsychosocial factors that influence the use of dental services by preschoolers. Aim To evaluate the influence of the perceptions of parents/caretakers and children regarding oral health-related quality of life ( OHRQo L) as well as the sense of coherence ( SOC) of parents/caretakers on the use of dental services among Brazilian preschoolers. Design A school-based, cross-sectional study was conducted with 768 preschoolers. Parents/caretakers answered a questionnaire addressing socio-demographic characteristics. The OHRQo L of the children was measured using the Scale of Oral Health Outcomes for Five-Year-Old Children. SOC among the parents/caretakers was evaluated using the Sense of Coherence scale. Clinical examinations were performed by examiners who had previously undergone a training exercise. Descriptive analysis was conducted, followed by Poisson's regression analysis ( α = 5%). Results A total of 56.5% of the preschoolers had never used dental services. The following variables exerted a significant influence on the use of services: higher monthly household income ( PR = 1.27; 95% CI: 1.07-1.51), toothache ( PR = 1.59; 95% CI: 1.34-1.89), the absence of traumatic dental injury ( TDI; PR = 1.18; 95% CI: 1.01-1.40), and a strong SOC ( PR = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.01-1.42). Conclusions A higher monthly household income, history of toothache, the absence of TDI, and strong SOC of the parents/caretakers influence the use of dental services by preschoolers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Very little is known about how patients perceive molar-incisor hypomineralization ( MIH). Aim The aim of this study was to identify whether parents and children perceive opacities associated with MIH as an oral health problem. Design A case-control study was designed in which 131 children diagnosed with MIH were matched by age, sex, and school to 131 children without MIH. The Child and Parent Questionnaire about Tooth Appearance was used to assess reports from parents, who were interviewed by telephone, and children, who were interviewed on school premises. The Spearman correlation and Wilcoxon and Fisher's exact tests were used to assess the data. Results For the first part of the questionnaire, children avoided smiling because of the appearance of their teeth, and mothers seemed to be distressed by the appearance of their children's teeth ( P < 0.05). For the second part, children showed dissatisfaction with their 'tooth alignment' and 'tooth discoloration' compared with the controls, while mothers were not satisfied with their children's tooth discoloration in comparison with controls ( P < 0.05). Children and mothers were concerned about tooth discoloration ( P < 0.05). Conclusion Poor agreement was found between the reports of children and their mothers, but both children and mothers in the MIH group perceived MIH opacities negatively in comparison with controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relationships between maternal education (ME) and both behavioral performances and brain activation during the discrimination of phonemic and nonphonemic sounds were examined using fMRI in children with different levels of phoneme categorization proficiency (CP). Significant relationships were found between ME and intellectual functioning and vocabulary, with a trend for phonological awareness. A significant interaction between CP and ME was seen for nonverbal reasoning abilities. In addition, fMRI analyses revealed a significant interaction between CP and ME for phonemic discrimination in left prefrontal cortex. Thus, ME was associated with differential patterns of both neuropsychological performance and brain activation contingent on the level of CP. These results highlight the importance of examining SES effects at different proficiency levels. The pattern of results may suggest the presence of neurobiological differences in the children with low CP that affect the nature of relationships with ME. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk is a fundamental component of well-being and is interconnected with all aspects of child development. The aim of this paper is to explore children’s (N = 50) own perspectives and perceptions of risky situations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and images were used as prompts. Children aged five to six years were asked to identify and discuss five risky activities based on Sandseter’s categorization of risky outdoor play. Responses indicated as risk causes were situational aspects of the contexts, the age of the actor and natural hazards. The presence/absence of others seemed to have an impact on identifying risky vs riskier conditions, and physical harm was recorded as a negative outcome. Such findings reveal that causal strength, probabilistic inference, future reasoning, and linguistic capacity are connected with children’s reasoning of risk; in this direction, pedagogical activities on risk could be implemented from the ‘safe’ early childhood classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aim. The purpose of this study is to examine the Q angle values of female athletes in different branches. Methods.42 female athletes from different branches (Badminton, Rugby, Volleyball, Basketball, Futsal) studying at Ondokuz Mayıs University YaşarDoğu Faculty of Sports Sciences who were actively doing sports participated in the study. The subjects' Q angle, pelvic width and femur length were measured respectively. Care was taken not to include any participants who had any kind of knee injury in the past. SPSS 22.0 package program was used for the statistical analysis of the data. In statistical analysis of the data, One-Way ANOVA and LSD correction test were used in repeated measurements to make comparisons between branches. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the association between variables. Results. When the findings of our study were examined, it was found that volleyball and basketball players had higher averages of height than other branches and volleyball and futsal players had higher Q angle values when compared with other branches (p<0.01). When pelvic widths and femur lengths were examined, it was found that volleyball and futsal players had wider pelvis while volleyball, futsal and basketball players had longer femurs when compared with the players of other branches(p<0.01). Conclusions. As a conclusion, it was found that Q angles of female athletes varied in terms of different branches, while some physical parameters such as sports age, femur length and pelvic width were found to have direct or indirect influences on Q angle. It is thought that as the strength of quadriceps muscle, which is used dynamically during regular training and sports, Q angle may be decreased and thus the risks of injury that can result from high Q angle can be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores triadic intergenerational perceptions of family members’ beliefs and behaviors that often impact an individual’s willingness to engage in advance care planning. Using data from 189 triads of young adults, their parents, and their grandparents, we examined generational relationships among individuals’ openness about death, death anxiety, knowledge of surrogate decision-making, and advance care planning self-efficacy. Results of this study found significant relationships between grandparents and parents, as well as between parents and children for all variables except self-efficacy. Additionally, results of this study found indirect relationships between grandparents and their grandchildren for three variables. These findings underscore the need to treat advance care planning as a family communication issue. Implications for how advance care planning should be approached in conversations with healthcare providers and within the family are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although there is an abundance of literature focusing on social support for children and adults with mental illness, there is a paucity of research examining social support for individuals diagnosed with childhood and adolescent onset schizophrenia. Literature suggests that measuring social support in youth with schizophrenia poses unique challenges, which may be why it is so under-represented in existing research. In an effort to learn more about the availability of social support for children in this population, the current study compared measures of social support for children and adolescents, 5 to 17 years old, diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia to those for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The study surveyed parents of children with schizophrenia and autism using the Family Needs Questionnaire to measure perceived social support, and a subsection of the Ohio Youth Problem, Functioning, and Satisfaction Scales to measure the parent's assessment of children's level of functioning. A Family Questionnaire was also administered to collect demographic information about the children and their families. Results indicated, contrary to the original hypothesis, that parents of children with schizophrenia perceived their offspring as having more social support than children with autism, even though overall parents of children in the schizophrenia group rated their children as having a lower level of functioning. However, the study also found that when assessing the importance of social support needs, parents of children with schizophrenia rated their children's needs as being significantly more important than parents of children with autism. A discussion of the research findings and limitations of the study are offered, in addition to suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicidal ideation is defined as the thoughts about engaging in suicidal-related behaviors. Very few studies have been conducted on children's suicidal ideation as there is a biased perception that suicidal behavior under the age of 12 is scarce. However, suicide is the leading cause of death among young children. Child suicidal ideation is predictive of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in adulthood. Association between certain parenting styles and suicidal ideation have been found in empirical studies. However, little is known about the role of parenting and suicidal ideation in Chinese young children. We examined whether gratitude can reduce the risk of suicide by moderating the association between parenting styles and child suicidal ideation. We recruited 447 Chinese children (53.3% female; mean age = 10.06, SD = 1.76) to participate in a survey. Perceived parenting style (warmth/accepting, dominating, and autonomy granting), gratitude, and suicidal ideation were assessed using self-reported measures. We found that all three perceived parental styles were significantly associated with child suicidal ideation. Further, gratitude was found to have a significant moderating effect on suicidal ideation, across the analysis of the three perceived parenting styles. This suggests that gratitude may be adopted in preventive and clinical interventions so that children at risk can benefit from reducing the negative effects of ineffective parenting styles and suicidal ideation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]