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During a school day, children make several transitions between activities, which can take away from instructional time and result in challenging behaviors. This study investigates the impact positive engagement and behavioral supports have on children's behavior while transitioning. Participants (N = 40; 77.5% Male; 92.5% Hispanic) were enrolled in the Summer Treatment Program for Pre-Kindergarteners, a school readiness program for children with externalizing behavior problems. Using a between-group, cross-over design, classrooms were randomly assigned to three conditions: (a) silent monitoring (i.e., children and counselors transitioned silently or quietly), (b) positive monitoring (i.e., counselors provided praise and children were allowed to talk), and (c) positive monitoring and engagement (i.e., counselors provided entertainment and praise). Results demonstrated significant differences in rule violations based on the transition condition, where groups receiving positive monitoring or engagement displayed fewer violations than those receiving silent monitoring. Implications for educator practices and school policies are discussed.

Digitalization can potentially benefit the creative and cognitive development of children. This study aims to analyze this impact on a sample of preschool children. A total of 80 preschoolers were divided into four groups based on their age and program variables: there were two groups (control and training) of children aged 3 to 4 years and two groups (control and training) of children aged 5 to 6 years. The study uses the following data collection tools: the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) Figural Form A and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-IV). The digital intervention involved participating in a specially designed digitally-enhanced learning course entitled "Preschoolers: Digital Adventures". Both training groups exhibited a statistically higher level of creative thinking compared to baseline, as evidenced by TTCT-A scores. The younger training group also had significantly higher scores on all WPPSI-IV subscales, while their peers in the control group failed to show such a result. Older controls significantly improved on all except one WPPSI-IV subscale, i.e., Fluid Reasoning Index subscale, while their peers in the training group scored higher on all WPPSI-IV subscales without exception. The present findings suggest that digital enhancement of the learning process in preschool education can help improve certain aspects of creative and cognitive development. The results can be used by educators and parents to integrate digital tools, applications and activities into preschool curricula.

In this study, we aimed to determine the role of parental praise and child affect in the neural processes underlying parent-child interactions, utilizing functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning. We characterized the dynamic changes in interpersonal neural synchrony (INS) between parents and children (4-6 years old, n = 40 dyads) during a cognitively challenging task. We then examined how changes in parent-child INS are influenced by parental feedback and child affect. Parent-child INS showed a quadratic change over time, indicating a decelerated decline during the interaction period. The relationship of parental praise, in the form of positive feedback, to change in INS was contingent upon the child's positive affect during the task. The highest levels of INS were observed when praise was present and child affect was positive. The left temporo-parietal regions of the child and the right dorsolateral prefrontal and right temporo-parietal regions of the parent demonstrated the strongest INS. The dynamic change in INS during the interaction was associated with children's independent performance on a standardized test of visuospatial processing. This research, leveraging fNIRS hyperscanning, elucidates the neural dynamics underlying the interaction between parent praise and child positive affect, thereby contributing to our broader understanding of parent-child dynamics.

Background/purpose: Awareness of the mathematical skills and knowledge children possess in their early years is widely accepted. This includes various common positive aspects, not only for educators but also for researchers and policymakers. This study presents a systematic review conducted to meticulously identify empirical studies published in the Scopus-Index Journal database about the mathematical skills children aged 3 to 8 years old have mastered. Materials/methods: This review followed the PRISMA guidelines and the research database comprised of Scopus-indexed journals. The technique followed used "keywords" and Boolean operators. The screening processes included reviewing abstracts, scanning complete texts of published articles, and rejecting those not meeting preset inclusion criteria. Moreover, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and papers not written in English were also excluded. Of the 801 studies initially identified, a total of 15 empirical studies were included in the systematic review. Results: Children master various math skills from a very young age, mainly in "numbers and operations", but face difficulties in skills related to "algebra" as well as "geometry and measurement". Additionally, several preschoolers' characteristics help to explain the acquisition of these skills, with "age" being the primary factor. Researchers use various research instruments and mainly conduct individual semi-structured interviews. Children's geometry skills and knowledge appear to have been studied to a small extent. The areas of "measurement" and "data analysis and probability" were found to be under active investigation. Conclusion: It is worth noting that not only does a noticeable research gap exist for the math domains of "measurement," "geometry," and "data analysis and probability". Factors that seem to affect young children's math skills, such as "gender", "parents' educational level", and "attendance to a preparatory preschool" need further investigation. The implications of the current study's results extend beyond academia, providing valuable insights that educators and policymakers can leverage to enhance the quality of mathematics education during the early years period.

Maternal substance use and unpredictable maternal sensory signals may affect child development, but no studies have examined them together. We explored the unpredictability, frequency and duration of maternal sensory signals in 52 Caucasian mother-child dyads, 27 with and 25 without maternal substance use. We also examined the association between unpredictable maternal signals and children's cognitive development. Maternal sensory signals were evaluated with video-recorded dyadic free-play interactions at child age of 24 months. Children's cognitive development was evaluated with Bayley-III at 24 months and with WPPSI-III at 48 months. We found similar unpredictability, frequency and duration of sensory signals between substance-using and non-using mothers. Higher unpredictability of maternal sensory signals was robustly linked with poorer child cognitive development at 24 months. The link persisted, although weakened to 48 months. Unpredictability of maternal sensory signals may be a vital parenting aspect shaping children's development, but more research is needed in high-risk groups.

Objective: Growing evidence suggests digital interventions may provide neurocognitive benefits for children with ADHD. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of a digital attention intervention in children with ADHD. Method: In this double-blind randomized controlled trial 55 children with ADHD (5-9 years) were allocated to the intervention (N=28) or control program (N=27). Both programs were delivered via touchscreen tablets at home 5 days a week for 5 weeks. The primary outcome was change in the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA) Attention Comparison Score (ACS) from pre- to post-intervention. Results: Participants who received the intervention had significantly greater improvements in the TOVA ACS from pre- to post-intervention than those in the control (p<0.044). No intervention effects were observed on secondary outcomes assessing executive functioning, ADHD symptoms, or functional impairment. Conclusion: Collectively these findings provide insufficient evidence for the implementation of digital attention interventions for children with ADHD.

This study aimed to create a game as scaffolding in 3D virtual worlds to enhance linguistic communication skills (LCS) in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Two ADHD children participated in the 17-week study. In 8 of the 17 weeks of the study, they logged in 3D virtual worlds to learn LCS through play twice a week, one hour every time. Before, after, and five weeks after the 8-week treatment, both children took the receptive and expressive vocabulary test (REVT). The REVT scores and their learning processes were recorded and analyzed. Both children's opinions on the learning activities in the VR environment were obtained through interviews after the treatment. The results showed that both ADHD children made a great improvement in LCS and learning behavior. They enjoyed the learning activities with high motivation. Limitations and suggestions for future research are also provided.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of auditory processing (AP) in preschool children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using the speech auditory brainstem response (speech-ABR), which provides insights into the AP of speech signals in the central auditory nervous system (CANS). Method: A total of 84 preschool children diagnosed with ADHD, aged 4-6 years, were matched with 84 typically developing (TD) children based on gender and age. All children underwent speech-ABR testing, cognitive assessment using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence--Fourth Edition or the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Fourth Edition, and a continuous performance test. Results: Children with ADHD exhibited significantly longer latencies of speech-ABR waveforms V, A, and D compared to TD children. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the latencies of speech-ABR waves V, A, and D were affected by the presence of ADHD, but not by the full-scale intelligence quotient. Conclusions: This study revealed that preschool children with ADHD exhibited abnormal AP of speech signals in their CANS. The findings suggest that speech-ABR can be utilized as a reliable measure to evaluate AP ability in this population, as it remains unaffected by cognitive or attentional factors. The transient response (V, A) of speech-ABR was found to be a significant predictor of ADHD in a clinical setting. Early assessment of AP abnormalities via speech-ABR is recommended in preschool-age children to develop targeted interventions for ADHD.

Limited research has explored mothers' perceptions of teachers' pedagogical practices that may or may not support the learning and development of their child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Mothers of children with ASD were asked to describe their perspective regarding three questions: (1) How do teachers structure the classroom environment to accommodate their students with ASD? (2) How do teachers engage and interact with the child in the classroom? (3) How do teachers facilitate classroom peer interactions? Twenty-nine primary parents (97% mothers) of children with ASD, ages 4-7, were interviewed. Findings revealed structural differences in the students' classroom environments. Some classrooms were described as chaotic and unsafe while others were described as welcoming and accommodating for the child. Teacher interactions with the target child were frequently characterised as competent and encouraging, marked by clear discipline practices and expectations. Peer interactions with the target child were varied, with some mothers reporting that the teacher isolated the child from peers and others reporting that the teacher encouraged explicit peer interaction. Study findings have implications for strengthening the home-school connection, including identifying pedagogical practices for building inclusive classroom communities for young children with ASD and how mothers might utilise similar practices at home.

Multidimensional theory of mind assessments should include items assessing both explicit theory of mind (theory of mind knowledge) and applied theory of mind (application of theory of mind knowledge in real-life contexts). However, the two theory of mind scores cannot be interpreted collectively to identify children having mismatched explicit and applied theory of mind due to the lack of links between the two scores. To map the information between two theory of mind scores, data of 221 autistic children aged 3-12 years were extracted. Items of the Theory of Mind Task Battery and Theory of Mind Inventory-2 were used to respectively assess the explicit and applied theory of mind. Rasch analysis and correlation coefficients were used to examine the model fits/dimensionality and relationships. After the removal of misfit items, the remaining 45 items showed satisfactory model fits (infit and outfit mean squares < 1.35). Large correlation (r = 0.63) was found between the Rasch scores of the two theory of mind constructs. The scatter plots highlighted that each applied theory of mind score could reflect multiple explicit ToM scores. Accordingly, the information from each theory of mind measure is unique and irreplaceable. Moreover, cutoff scores for identifying children with mismatched explicit and applied theory of mind were proposed to determine the priority of interventions.

Most studies of how parents of children with autism view the parent-child relationship used self-report questionnaires and focused on challenges. This study broadened the lens by interviewing parents using open-ended questions that provide an opportunity to raise challenging but also positive experiences. Seventy-five mother-father dyads were interviewed individually about their own and their spouses' relationships with their preschooler, and content analyses of their responses revealed nine relationship themes. In descending order, the themes mentioned most frequently by mothers were "Security and Closeness," "Love," and "Tenderness and Sensitivity," and by fathers were "Pleasure in Joint Activities," "Security and Closeness," and "Guidance." Positive themes were more common than challenging themes. Finally, more mothers mentioned the themes "Love," "Tenderness and Sensitivity," "High Involvement and Care," and "Difficulties" than did fathers, whereas more fathers mentioned the themes "Guidance," "Pleasure in Joint Activities," and "Limited Time with Child" than did mothers. The findings portray a nuanced view of the parenting experience of mothers and fathers of preschoolers with autism.

Multi-sensory environments are widely used with autistic children. However, there are no data on how autistic children choose to spend time in the room and how this relates to their sensory, behavioural and intellectual profiles. We observed the frequency and duration of visits to multi-sensory environment equipment of 41 autistic children during 5 min of free play. At a group level, the bubble tube and touch, sound and light board were both highly popular, with the fibre optics and tactile board receiving less attention. Sensory seeking behaviours were more commonly observed in the multi-sensory environment than sensory-defensive behaviours. We found that observed sensory seeking behaviours, along with parent-reported sensory behaviours and non-verbal intelligence quotient, were associated with specific patterns of multi-sensory environment equipment use, but broader autistic behaviours were not. These data suggest that the multi-sensory environment equipment preferences of autistic children are related to individual differences in sensory behaviour and non-verbal intelligence quotient. This information has the potential to inform the development of best-practice multi-sensory environment guidelines that focus on individual needs.

The mathematical abilities of children with autism spectrum condition have been understudied. Magnitude representation is a fundamental numerical ability that emerges early in development and is linked to children's learning of formal mathematics. It remains unclear about whether children with autism spectrum condition differ from their peers without autism spectrum condition in the precision of magnitude representations. This study recruited preschool-aged children with autism spectrum condition (N = 70; 64 boys, M[subscript age] = 5.20 years) and without autism spectrum condition (N = 117; 63 boys, M[subscript age] = 5.11 years), and tested their precision of magnitude representation with an approximate number comparison task (dot comparison). Children with autism spectrum condition exhibited the lower numerical comparison accuracy (i.e. the weaker magnitude representation) than their peers without autism spectrum condition, regardless of the congruency between numerosity and surface area of dots. Moreover, the lower numerical comparison accuracy was observed even controlling for multiple general cognitive abilities (working memory, inhibitory control, and nonverbal intelligence) and language abilities. In addition, the variability of the comparison accuracy was larger in children with autism spectrum condition than without autism spectrum condition. These findings suggest that children with autism spectrum condition are at risk of weaker magnitude representation from an early age, emphasizing the need for specialized mathematics education or interventions to support their learning.

"The Transporters" intervention contains 15 animated episodes that autistic children watch daily for a month and learn emotion recognition through stories depicting social interactions between vehicle characters with grafted human faces, expressing emotions. Its automated, home-based format is cost-effective. This study included four groups of young Chinese children in Hong Kong: two intervention groups (an autism intervention group and an autism + attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) intervention group), an autism control group and a non-autistic group. The autism + ADHD intervention group was one that had not been separately examined before. In this study, "The Transporters" episodes were delivered via an App instead of the dated DVD technology. Following "The Transporters" intervention, both autism and autism + ADHD intervention groups improved significantly and similarly on emotion recognition and were more like the non-autistic group, while the autism control group did not. Learning was generalizable to novel situations/characters. There was no dosage effect, with the standard recommended number of episodes viewed as sufficient for significant improvement. Besides confirming the effectiveness of "The Transporters" for young Chinese autistic children, this study contributes to the literature/practice by expanding the range of applicability of "The Transporters" to autistic children with ADHD, which is important given the high co-occurrence rate between autism and ADHD.

Early elementary students on the autism spectrum are at risk for poor quality student-teacher relationships (STRs), a key contributor to student outcomes. However, these students' own appraisals of their STRs are nearly absent from the literature. This study examined children's perspectives of STRs and agreement with teacher-reported STRs for a sample of young autistic students (N = 136; 5-9 years). Although a majority of students responded affirmatively to items reflecting positive perceptions of STRs (e.g., 80.7% reported liking their teacher, 75.0% reported being liked by their teacher), results also revealed that some students perceived negative STR experiences (e.g., 14.7% reported that they get angry with their teacher, 17.6% reported that they get in trouble a lot). Student and teachers' scores were not significantly correlated, suggesting that students and teachers may have unique perspectives on specific aspects of their relationship.

This study investigated the contribution of fine and gross motor skills to academic and attentional performance at school entry among 832 boys and girls. Children were tested on their fine and gross motor skills (locomotor, object control) and their academic performance in receptive vocabulary, number knowledge, and attentional skills at 6 to 7 years old. Results from ordinary least square models adjusted for family income, maternal education attainment, and early cognitive skills at 41 to 48 months revealed that fine motor skills significantly predicted receptive vocabulary, number knowledge, and attention skills. The associations between fine motor skills with receptive vocabulary and attention were stronger for girls than boys. Better performance in locomotor also significantly predicted higher levels of receptive vocabulary while object control was positively associated with attentional skills among girls only. Children with better motor abilities, especially fine motor skills, are more likely to be successful in the areas requiring language, numeracy, and attentional skills. Thus, motor skills should be a focus of interest for increasing academic and attentional skills level at school entry, particularly in girls.

Discrete trial teaching (DTT) is a common teaching methodology used within intervention for autistics/individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Practice recommendations related to using DTT for receptive language instruction includes the desired size of the array of stimuli to be presented. Some recommendations include ensuring the size of the comparison array presented is three target stimuli. The purpose of this study was to compare the relative effectiveness of using DTT to teach three children diagnosed with ASD receptive labels with a field size of two (Fo2) or a field size of three (Fo3). The results of an adapted alternating treatments design indicated that both field sizes were effective for participants to reach the mastery criterion. The results are discussed in terms of efficiency, limitations, and possible future avenues of research.

Intellectual impairments in preschoolers have been widely studied. A regularity that emerges is that children's intellectual impairments have an important impact on later adjustments in life. However, few studies have looked at the intellectual profiles of young psychiatric outpatients. This study aimed to describe the intelligence profile of preschoolers referred to psychiatry for various cognitive and behavioral problems in terms of verbal, nonverbal, and full-scale IQ and to examine their association with diagnoses. Three hundred four clinical records from young children aged under 7 years and 3 months who consulted at an outpatient psychiatric clinic and who had one intellectual assessment with a Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence were reviewed. Verbal IQ (VIQ), Nonverbal IQ (NVIQ), and Full-scale IQ (FSIQ) were extracted. Hierarchical cluster analysis using Ward's method was employed to organize data into groups. The children had, on average, a FSIQ of 81, which is significantly lower than that expected in the general population. Four clusters were identified by the hierarchical clusters analysis. Three were characterized by low, average, and high intellectual ability. The last cluster was characterized by a verbal deficit. Findings also revealed that children's diagnoses were not related to any specific cluster, except for children with an intellectual disability with, as expected, low abilities. Children referred to an intellectual assessment in an early childhood mental health clinic showed an altered intellectual development, more specifically in the verbal domain.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the current status of cognitive development and central auditory processing development of preschool children with minimal and mild hearing loss (MMHL) in Nanjing, China. Method: We recruited 34 children with MMHL and 45 children with normal hearing (NH). They completed a series of tests, including cognitive tests (i.e., Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence and Continuous Performance Test), behavioral auditory tests (speech-in-noise [SIN] test and frequency pattern test), and objective electrophysiological audiometry (speech-evoked auditory brainstem response and cortical auditory evoked potential). In addition, teacher evaluations and demographic information and questionnaires completed by parents were collected. Results: Regarding cognitive ability, statistical differences in the verbal comprehensive index, full-scale intelligence quotient, and abnormal rate of attention test score were found between the MMHL group and the NH group. The children with MMHL performed poorer on the SIN test than the children with NH. As for the auditory electrophysiology of the two groups, the latency and amplitude of some waves of the speech-evoked auditory brainstem response and cortical auditory evoked potential were statistically different between the two groups. We attempted to explore the relationship between some key indicators of auditory processing and some key indicators of cognitive development. Conclusions: Children with MMHL are already at increased developmental risk as early as preschool. They are more likely to have problems with attention and verbal comprehension than children with NH. This condition is not compensated with increasing age during the preschool years. The results suggest a possible relationship between the risk of cognitive deficit and divergence of auditory processing.

Background: The Early Learning Outcomes Measure (ELOM) assesses early learning programme outcomes in children aged 50-69 months. ELOM assesses gross motor development (GMD), fine motor coordination and visual motor integration (FMC & VMI), emergent numeracy and mathematics (ENM), cognition and executive functioning (CEF), and emergent literacy and language (ELL). Content and construct validity, reliability and cross-cultural fairness have been established. Aim: To establish the test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of the ELOM. Setting: Low income preschool and Grade R children. Methods: In study one, Test-retest reliability was investigated in a convenience sample of 49 English and isiXhosa speaking preschool children (Mean age = 60.77 months, SD = 3.70) tested and retested one week apart. In study two, concurrent validity was investigated in a convenience sample of 62 children (Mean age = 75.05 months, SD = 0.75). ELOM performance was compared with that on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV). Results: Test-retest reliability was established for ELOM Total score (r = 0.90, p < 0.001). The concurrent validity of ELOM Total and the WPPSI-IV Full Scale Composite scores was established (r = 0.64, p < 0.001). FMC & VMI, CEF, and ELL domains correlated significantly with their corresponding WPPSI-IV indices: visual spatial, fluid reasoning, processing speed, working memory, and verbal comprehension. Conclusion: The findings of both psychometric studies contribute further to the reliability and validity of the ELOM.

Research has indicated that school aged (6-16 years) versions of cognitive assessment instruments have varying levels of linguistic demand, which could impact assessment results for placement purposes. However, a significant limitation to this research is the fact that it has not been replicated with cognitive assessment instruments used in preschool populations. As such, the purpose of this study is to address this gap in the research literature by examining linguistic demands of cognitive test batteries used for preschool aged children. The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition (KABC-II), Woodcock Johnson Test of Cognitive Abilities Fourth Edition (WJ Cog-IV), and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Fourth Edition were used for this examination. Overall results demonstrated that the oral directions of preschool assessments have relatively low linguistic demands. However, several subtests on WJ Cog-IV have high Complexity, Verbosity, and Total Demand indices, which can pose difficulty for students with limited word knowledge. Furthermore, the KABC-II was the least demanding assessment from a linguistic standpoint. Implications are discussed in terms of the assessment of early childhood populations.

Children start preschool with large individual differences in their early numerical abilities. Little is known about the importance of heterogeneous patterns that exist within these individual differences. A person-centered analytic approach might be helpful to unravel these patterns and the cognitive and environmental factors that are associated with them. We applied a person-centered approach to a 5-year longitudinal study (N = 410, 213 boys) conducted in Belgium from preschool to grade 3. Preschoolers (M[subscript age] = 58.14 months, SD[subscript age] = 3.51) were selected to represent the full range of socioeconomic backgrounds. We examined via Latent Profile Analysis the heterogeneous patterns that exist in preschoolers' early numerical development using measures of counting, numeral identification, comparison, ordering, and arithmetic abilities. We investigated the association between the derived numerical ability pathways, general cognitive factors (working memory, language, spatial ability) and the home math environment. We also evaluated the relation of these early numerical ability pathways to later mathematics achievement in grade 1 and 3. Four longitudinal pathways emerged: a low (15%), below-average (28%), above-average (44%), and a high numerical ability pathway (13%). Differences between the four pathways were mostly quantitative. Most of the general cognitive factors contributed to pathway membership, whereas the home math environment and socioeconomic status (SES) did not. The pathways differed in mathematics achievement in grade 1 and 3, and most of these differences remained when the covariates were considered. The results highlight the heterogeneity that is already present in preschoolers' numerical abilities and their predictive value for subsequent mathematics achievement.

This article assesses nutritional intake and adequacy in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), subdiagnostic autistic symptoms and children with typical development (TD). In total, 77 children diagnosed with ASD, 40 with subdiagnostic autistic symptoms and 333 children with TD were assessed. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used. Very few nutritional differences were found between ASD and TD groups. Preschool children with ASD and subdiagnostic autistic symptoms had slightly lower intake of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), vitamin D and vitamin B12, and primary school children with ASD and subdiagnostic autistic symptoms had slightly higher intake of protein, cholesterol, thiamine and niacin, and a higher percentage of obesity than children with TD. All samples had an unbalanced energy intake (high in added sugars, fats and saturated fatty acids (SFAs); extremely inadequate intake (80%--100%) of vitamins D and E; high intake (50%-80%) of fibre, b-carotene (except preschool children with TD), calcium (except preschool children) and magnesium). The fact that differences between diagnoses are scarce may be related to the low level of ASD severity in this school sample.

This paper attempts to investigate the repetition of Relative Clauses (RCs) in Mandarin children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) (aged 4; 5 to 6; 0) and their typically developing (TD) peers. The results of a sentence repetition task indicate that Mandarin children with DLD perform significantly worse than both groups of TD children, and they tend to make errors involving the relativizer DE and are more likely to produce Non-RC responses. Furthermore, the gap type of RC or the adjective's position does not affect our participants' recall of the test sentences. We conclude that the symmetric performance of our participants in the subject RC and object RC conditions is because the structural intervention occurs in object RCs, but the linear intervention counts more in subject RCs. The syntactic deficit approach better explained the difficulty experienced by children with DLD in RC repetition. Theoretically, this study demonstrates that the Edge Feature Underspecification Hypothesis captures more characteristics of children with DLD in repeating RCs than previous representational theories.

Viewed through a social justice lens, preschool expulsion is an educational equity issue. This study focused on prior expulsion from preschool and child-care in a longitudinal study of 203 autistic children, ages 4 to 7. By parent report, 16%--one out of six autistic children--had been expelled from a preschool or child-care setting prior to elementary school; average age when expelled was 3.3 years. Expulsion history and reasons for expulsion were determined from parent report. Previously-expelled children went on to experience more conflict and dependency in their current student-teacher relationships. They also experienced greater teacher-reported externalizing symptoms than non-expelled children; these constituted the only child characteristics that distinguished expelled and non-expelled children. Children were more likely to be expelled from private versus public programs, suggesting a particular need for policies and practices supporting inclusion in private settings. Future work that examines contextual factors exacerbating expulsion risk is warranted. [For the corresponding grantee submission, see ED621736.]

Given the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on children's schooling and learning, evidence for interventions implemented by parents is urgently needed. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a parent-mediated LEGO intervention on the social interactions of four children on the autism spectrum in China. The intervention involved four sets of two parents engaging with their child in collaborative LEGO construction, with each person assigned a role as Engineer, Supplier, or Builder. Using a multiple probe design across the four family triads, the intervention effectively increased spontaneous social initiations and responses in all four children, and these behaviors were maintained for 6 weeks following the intervention. The effect on inappropriate interactions was not detected; parental prompts increased in initial intervention sessions but decreased over time. Parents implemented the intervention at home with high fidelity. Efficacy of the intervention and potential benefits of virtual parent training are discussed.

The current prospective cohort study investigated whether early perceptual abilities, measured at preschool age, could predict later intellectual abilities at school age in a group of 41 autistic (9 girls, 32 boys) and 57 neurotypical children (29 girls, 28 boys). More than 80% of the autistic children were considered minimally verbal. Participants were assessed at three time points between the age of 2 and 8 years using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence--Fourth Edition as a measure of full-scale IQ and the Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices as a measure of fluid reasoning abilities (Gf). The performance on two perceptual tests (Visual Search and Children Embedded Figures Test) and the frequency of early non-verbal behaviors served as predictors of later intellectual abilities. Early performance on perceptual tests measured at preschool age was positively related to later full-scale IQ in both autistic and neurotypical children. Furthermore, both early non-verbal behaviors and performance on perceptual tests measured at preschool age were associated with later Gf in the autistic group. In contrast, only the performance on Children Embedded Figures Test was associated with later Gf in the neurotypical group. Early perceptual abilities\and non-verbal behaviors may be indicators of general intelligence and Gf abilities.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations between social-emotional and language development in a sample of 3-5-year-old children in community-based early childhood education and care (N = 90). Children's theory of mind understanding, affect recognition and language abilities were tested with neuropsychological measurements, and their teachers rated their behavior with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The results showed that language development was linked to the children's social-emotional development and theory of mind ability. Furthermore, the children's observed social-emotional skills and the neuropsychological measurements had associations with their capacity to understand and name emotions in a Teddy Bear test designed for the study. The Teddy Bear test will be developed and validated with a larger sample in a forthcoming study. The present results support the rationale for an intervention study aiming to enhance the children's language development and their social-emotional understanding, to support the children's social-emotional development.

Tests of measurement invariance are essential to determining whether individual scores or group averages are comparable across populations. While international comparisons of mean IQ scores are common, tests of measurement invariance for intelligence test batteries (necessary for comparisons to be empirically supported) are rare. In this study, four archival sets of Wechsler test IQ scores from Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan, and Sudan were tested for measurement invariance when compared to the American norm data for the same tests. Results indicate that two datasets - from Ghana and Kenya - demonstrated strict measurement invariance. However, the other two data sets failed to meet the requirements of scalar or strict measurement invariance, which indicates that global IQ scores from these latter data sets cannot be compared to American IQ scores on the same tests. Tests of measurement invariance should be regularly conducted when making comparisons of scores between industrialized and economically developing nations.

Purpose: The aims of this study were to investigate the occurrence of stuttering behavior across time and to evaluate the relationship between stuttering behavior and language ability in children with Down syndrome. Method: A national age cohort of Norwegian first graders with Down syndrome (N = 75) participated in the study. Speech samples from a story-retelling task and a picture book dialogue as well as standardized measures of vocabulary, grammar, and nonverbal mental ability were collected at two time points approximately 5 months apart. Stuttering behavior was evaluated through counting stuttering-like disfluencies and stuttering severity ratings. The relationship between stuttering behavior and language ability was investigated through hierarchical regression analysis. Results: The participants had stuttering severity ratings ranging from no stuttering behavior to severe and displayed all types of stuttering-like disfluencies. There were significant relationships between stuttering behavior and language ability at the first time point, whereas the relationships were not significant at the second time point. The stuttering severity ratings were significantly predicted by language ability across time, whereas the frequency of stuttering-like disfluencies was not. Conclusions: The occurrence of stuttering behavior was high across the measures and time points; however, the relationship between stuttering behavior and language ability varied across these variables. Thus, the nature of the relationship does not seem to follow a strict pattern that can be generalized to all children across time.

The Vygotskian preschool education program (VPEP) is built around mediation in the context of preschool age-specific activities such as sociodramatic play, constructive play, listening and retelling fairy tales, playing with dollhouses, motor activities, and some others. We used the VPEP as part of the daily curriculum in two pre-K classes at PS 197 in Harlem, New York, to promote the development of children's self-regulation and symbolic thought. Another pre-K class at PS 197 was used as the control group. For pre-and posttests, we administered the Coding and Symbol Search subtests of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-III (WPPSI-III), which target the ability to self-regulate, and the Block Design subtest of the WPPSI-III, which targets the ability to exercise symbolic thought. The results of the study demonstrate that the VPEP promotes the development of preschoolers' self-regulation and is beneficial for the development of their symbolic thought.

This study investigated the effect of the digital Down Syndrome LanguagePlus (DSL+) intervention on vocabulary outcomes through a school-delivered randomized controlled trial. A national sample of first graders with Down syndrome from 91 schools was allocated to an intervention group (n = 50), which received daily intervention for 15 weeks, or a business-as-usual control group (n = 53). The intervention involved picture book sharing and structured tasks and was organized as one-to-one, small-group, and full-class lessons. Children in the intervention group made greater gains than children in the control group in expressive vocabulary breadth (d = 0.429, CI [0.160, 0.699]) and receptive vocabulary breadth (d = 0.447, CI [0.193, 0.700]). The outcomes indicate that the novel DSL+ intervention is an effective intervention to increase trained vocabulary among first graders with Down syndrome, and it takes only 15 minutes of effort 5 days a week.

A review of clinical records was conducted for children with developmental, emotional, and behavioral difficulties who were assessed with both the Wechsler preschool and primary scale of intelligence-third edition (WPPSI-III[superscript CDN]; Wechsler, 2004) and the Leiter international performance scale--revised (Leiter-R; Roid & Miller, 1997) within the same psychological evaluation. Forty children, ages 3-7, were included in this study. Pearson correlations showed that the IQ scores of the two instruments are strongly related (r > 0.70; p < 0.001). However, paired t-tests showed that overall Leiter-R scores (M = 99.03) were significantly higher than WPPSI-III[superscript CDN] scores (PIQ; M = 82.28, FSIQ; M = 75.24) (p < 0.001). The discrepancies between the instrument's scores were clinically important as the use of only one of the two instruments could result in misclassification of child intellectual ability. These results should prompt professionals working with this clinical population to be cautious when using results from a single instrument in a child's intellectual evaluation.

The present study examined the relationships between the standardized applied behavior analysis (ABA) direct assessment, the PEAK Comprehensive Assessment (PCA), and established assessments commonly used in educational and clinical settings, including the Childhood Autism Rating Scale - Third Edition (CARS-3), the PDD Behavior Inventory (PDDBI), the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale - Second Edition (VABS-2), and intelligence, including the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-IV) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V). Utilizing a sample of 73 children with autism ranging from 3 to 21 years old, the present study found the PCA to be significantly correlated with the established measures. The result suggests evidence of convergent validity of the PCA, and internal consistency among its subtests. Implications of this behavior-analytic standardized assessment were discussed.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of cooperative physical activities on social interactions of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in China. Cooperative physical activities include procedures such as peer selection, peer practice, group task completion, and an interdependent group contingency. The intervention took place during inclusive physical education (PE) classes. Generalization of interactions with peers was evaluated during free play. Three preschool boys (ages 4-5 yrs) with ASD participated in the study, which used a multiple baseline design across the participants. Results indicated that the procedure effectively increased the frequency of appropriate peer interactions for all three children in the PE and free play settings. Although the frequency of inappropriate interactions increased after the intervention in both settings, the proportion of inappropriate interactions relative to appropriate interactions decreased for two children in the PE setting and for all three children in the free play setting.

Both early childhood maternal language input and the quality of classroom instruction in elementary school have been shown to be important environmental supports in predicting children's literacy skill development. However, no studies have simultaneously examined these two environmental supports in relation to children's early language skills and later literacy skills across elementary school. The current study examined how multiple years of early maternal language input from 6 to 36 months and later classroom instructional quality from pre-kindergarten (pre-K) through fifth grade were related to children's early language at 36 months and later literacy trajectories in word recognition and reading comprehension across elementary school. The study included a diverse, population-representative sample of 1,292 children who were born in low-wealth rural communities and followed through fifth grade. Video recordings and subsequent transcripts of mother-child shared picture book tasks in the home at four timepoints during early childhood were used to assess maternal diversity of vocabulary, utterance complexity, and engagement (wh-questions) during book sharing. The quality of instruction in elementary school was assessed using classroom observations from pre-K through fifth grade. Maternal complexity and engagement were indirectly related to children's literacy trajectories across pre-K to fifth grade through effects on early child language at 36 months. Higher-quality classroom instruction was not reliably related to concurrent literacy skills in pre-K through fifth grade. Findings suggested the enduring importance of early maternal language input in predicting children's early language and later literacy skill development during elementary school.

Reading acquisition is based on a set of preliteracy skills that lay the foundation for future reading abilities. Phonological awareness--the ability to identify and manipulate the sound units of oral language--has been reported to play a central role in reading acquisition. However, current evidence is mixed with respect to its universal contribution to reading acquisition across orthographies. This longitudinal study examines the development and contribution of phonological awareness to early reading skills in Spanish, a transparent orthography. The results of a comprehensive battery of phonological awareness skills in a large sample of children (Time 1 n = 616, 296 females, mean age 5.6, from middle to high socioeconomic backgrounds; Time 2 n = 397) with no reading experience at study onset suggest that the development of phonological awareness is delayed in Spanish. Furthermore, our results show that phonological awareness does not contribute to the prediction of reading acquisition above and beyond other preliteracy skills. Letter knowledge indexes children's ability to identify phonemes and thus takes a more central role in the prediction of early reading skills. Therefore, we underscore the need to thoughtfully address the distinctive features of the reading acquisition process across orthographies, which should be taken into account in models of reading and learning to read.

This study compared simultaneous prompting with an error correction procedure for teaching three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder expressive labels. Using a parallel treatment design nested within a multiple probe design, the researchers taught each participant how to expressively label pictures of sports teams or cartoon characters using either simultaneous prompting or an error correction procedure. The goal was to evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency, and acquisition during teaching for each participant across the two conditions. Results indicated that both teaching procedures were effective, with high rates of maintenance, and all participants responded correctly during the majority of teaching trials.

HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) children during the preschool and early school ages may be at-risk for neurodevelopmental challenges due to in utero and perinatal exposure to HIV and/or antiretroviral (ARV) medications. HEU children and HIV-unexposed uninfected (HUU) children from the community were recruited and tested at 3 to 4 and 5 to 6 years of age. Demographic information, HIV/ARV exposure and measures of intelligence, visuomotor skills, and adaptive functioning were obtained. Nonparametric tests assessed group differences and multiple regression analyses adjusted for demographic variables. Additional multiple regression analyses were performed within the HEU group to investigate associations between neurodevelopmental measures and variables of HIV/ARV exposure. At 3 to 4 years, 211 HEU children and 31 HUU children were assessed, and 144 HEU children and 58 HUU children were assessed at 5 to 6 years of age. At 3 to 4 years of age, HEU children scored significantly lower on measures of Full-Scale IQ, Performance IQ, visual motor integration, and adaptive functioning. At 5 to 6 years of age, HEU children scored significantly lower on all neurodevelopmental measures. At both ages, children who were female and those with mothers who were employed achieved higher scores on measures intellectual ability and/or adaptive functioning. Within the HEU group, no consistent associations were found between neurodevelopmental measures and HIV/ARV specific variables. HEU children demonstrated significantly lower scores on neurodevelopmental measures than HUU children during early childhood. Gaps in verbal intellectual abilities were identified with age, highlighting the importance of monitoring neurodevelopment in this population over time.

Twins regularly score nearly a standard deviation below the population mean on standardized measures of cognitive development in infancy but recover to the population mean by early childhood, making rapid gains through the toddler years. To date, only polynomial growth models have been fit to model cognitive recovery across childhood, limiting the applicability of the growth parameters to later developmental periods. We fit a nonlinear asymptotic Gompertz growth model to prospective cognitive scores from 1,153 individual twins from 578 families (47.9% male, 91.5% White, 61.6% monozygotic) measured at 16 time points between 3 months and 15 years. Twins displayed a lower asymptote of 86.47 (0.90 SD below the population mean) and gained on average 17.01 points, achieving an upper asymptote of 103.48. Growth was observed to be most rapid at 3.26 years, highlighting the importance of the toddler years in cognitive development. Biometric analyses revealed that shared environmental factors accounted for the majority of the variance in initial cognitive ability as well as asymptotic growth in cognitive ability. Gestational age and family socioeconomic status (SES) were robust predictors of cognitive growth. Results from the present study provide insight into the growth processes underlying the recovery of cognitive ability to the population mean for children evincing slight delays in their initial cognitive ability. In particular, findings highlight prenatal factors and family economic resources as important aspects of the environment in the recovery of cognitive ability.

If a child asks a friend to play football and the friend replies, 'I have a cough', the requesting child must make a 'relevance inference' to determine the communicative intent. Relevance inferencing is a key component of pragmatics, that is, the ability to integrate social context into language interpretation and use. We tested which cognitive skills relate to relevance inferencing. In addition, we asked whether children's lab-based pragmatic performance relates to children's parent-assessed pragmatic language skills. We tested 3.5- to 4-year-old speakers of British English (Study 1: N = 40, Study 2: N = 32). Children were presented with video-recorded vignettes ending with an utterance requiring a relevance inference, for which children made a forced choice. Study 1 measured children's Theory of Mind, their sentence comprehension and their real-world knowledge and found that only real-world knowledge retained significance in a regression analysis with children's relevance inferencing as the outcome variable. Study 2 then manipulated children's world-knowledge through priming but found this did not improve children's performance on the relevance inferencing task. Study 2 did, however, reveal a significant correlation between children's relevance inferencing and a measure of morpho-syntactic production. In both studies parents rated their children's pragmatic language usage in daily life, which was found to relate to performance in our lab-based relevance inferencing task. This set of studies is the first to empirically demonstrate that lab-based measures of relevance inferencing are reflective of children's pragmatic abilities 'in the wild'. There was no clear association between relevance inferencing and Theory of Mind. There was mixed evidence for the role of formal language, which should be further investigated. Finally, real-world knowledge was indeed associated with relevance inferencing but future experimental work is required to test causal relations.

This study utilized latent profile analyses to identify unique configurations of children's family-based social experiences during the first 3 years of life and examine differences across profiles with respect to developmental outcomes at 36 and 48 months of age. Seven family process variables were used: maternal emotional functioning, maternal sensitivity, negative controlling parenting, cognitive stimulation, corporal punishment, adult-adult aggression, and household disorganization. Data were collected by the Family Life Project (N = 1,087), a longitudinal study of families living in low-wealth, nonurban areas, for whom the biological mother was the child's primary caregiver from 6 to 36 months of age. On average, mothers were 26 years of age at 2 months of child age. Approximately 36% of the families lived below the federal poverty limit, and 41% identified as Black; 49% of children were female. Latent profile analyses identified four groups: (a) positive exposure (b) average exposure, (c) problematic adult functioning, and (d) problematic parenting. Comparisons indicate that children in the positive exposure profile had the highest levels of socioemotional and cognitive outcomes compared to overall profiles. Children in the problematic adult functioning and problematic parenting profiles had the most problematic child outcomes, with children in the problematic parenting profile scoring lowest overall. Results indicate that there is configural heterogeneity in family-based social experiences at the highest levels of risk and that exposures to problematic parenting may be more consequential for later child outcomes than exposures to problematic adult functioning in the absence of compromised caregiving.