Young children's affective responses to another's distress: dynamic and physiological features.

Two descriptive studies set out a new approach for exploring the dynamic features of children's affective responses (sadness and interest-worry) to another's distress. In two samples (N(study1) = 75; N(study2) = 114), Kindergarten children were shown a video-vignette depicting another child in distress and the temporal pattern of spontaneous expressions were examined across the unfolding vignette. Results showed, in both study 1 and 2, that sadness and interest-worry had distinct patterns of elicitation across the events of the vignette narrative and there was little co-occurrence of these affects within a given child. Temporal heart rate changes (study 2) were closely aligned to the events of the vignette and, furthermore, affective responses corresponded to distinctive physiological response profiles. The implications of distinct temporal patterns of elicitation for the meaning of sadness and interest-worry are discussed within the framework of emotion regulation and empathy

Comparing regulatory and non-regulatory indices of early childhood education and care (ECEC) quality in the Australian early childhood sector

This study examines associations between Australia’s regulatory ratings of quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC)—the National Quality Standard (NQS)—and two research-based quality rating scales. The analytic sample consisted of 257 ECEC services across three Australian states. Results indicated (1) modest positive associations between NQS ratings and scale scores; (2) some specificity between NQS quality areas (educational programs and practice; relationships with children) and one research scale—the Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing (SSTEW) scale; (3) variability in quality scales scores within each NQS designation; and (4) mitigation of these associations when the time-gap between ratings exceeded 24 months. Findings suggest NQS and research scales tap some common core of quality, yet capture different aspects of quality, suggesting both could be used to raise standards of quality in Australian preschools, where the research scales potentiate raising quality to even higher levels than NQS

Supporting service integration through early childhood education: challenges and opportunities in regional contexts

IntroductionChildren and families residing in regional Australia experience higher rates of vulnerabilities coupled with inadequate access to the early childhood health and early intervention services which pose increased risk to their health, development and wellbeing. The current study was designed to respond to the inherent complexity of supporting effective integrated service provision in regional communities, with a view to develop a model of effective service integration that leverages the capacity and opportunity of universal early childhood education (ECE) provision.MethodThe study adopted a qualitative multiple case study design to explore the perceptions of ECE professionals across six regional ECE services and two early intervention professionals operating from a regional early childhood intervention (ECI) organization. Data included an initial audit of the service system landscape coupled with facilitated discussions (focus groups and interviews) to identify facilitators and challenges to service integration and current patterns of service usage and engagement.ResultsFindings highlighted the foundational importance of relationships for establishing trust, engagement and service sustainability, as well as the need for embedding structural supports, including the professionalization of educators, the utilization of a key worker model, and staff retention. Systemic constraints, including limitations and inconsistencies in community infrastructure, program atrophy, and the complexity of referral systems, were seen to undermine effective service integration.DiscussionFindings speak to the potentiality of the ECE context as a hub for effective service integration within a functional practice framework for ECE. We conclude by offering a suggested model to ensure service connections, and enhance professional capacity and sustainability

Fostering effective early learning (FEEL) study

The 2018 Fostering Effective Early Learning (FEEL) study focuses on the importance of quality, and how to strengthen it in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Extensive research demonstrates that the benefits of ECEC for children are increased when the service provider and educators are highly skilled and participate in professional development (PD), and the service is of high quality. Upskilling the workforce, including in-service professional development, is considered to be a key to improving quality, and can produce substantial and practical improvements for staff and children alike. Building on the existing body of international research, the findings of the Fostering Effective Early Learning (FEEL) study, address the need for quality improvement in ECEC by showing how a particular form of evidence-based in-service PD can produce substantial and practically meaningful improvements in both staff practices and child outcomes. The FEEL study was conducted by the research team from Early Start, University of Wollongong, on behalf on the NSW Department of Education

Measuring interactional quality in pre-school settings: Introduction and validation of the Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing (SSTEW) scale

Research increasingly acknowledges the importance of high quality interactions that support and extend children’s thinking. Few measurement tools currently exist, however, to capture this specific aspect of process quality. The Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing (SSTEW) scale was developed to assess interactional quality in early childhood education and care, and it includes dimensions of process quality based on developmental theories and practice in effective settings. This study compared ratings on the SSTEW and Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale – Extension (ECERS-E) to consider the impact of varying levels of curricular and interactional quality on child development in 45 Australian pre-school centres; namely the language, numeracy and socio-behavioural development of 669 children at the end of their pre-school year. Results indicated a level of predictive validity for interactional quality ratings as measured by SSTEW which, while related to curricular quality ratings on ECERS-E, differed in associations across domains of child development

Formation of the Regional Economic Areas in Japan：Economic Base of a System of RegionalAdministrative Units composed of Several Prefectures

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to systematically review the evidence of motor skill intervention programs on typically developing children's fine motor development aged birth to 6 years. METHODS: Six electronic databases were searched with no date restrictions. Inclusion criteria were any school-, community-, or home-based intervention targeting the development of fine motor skills of children aged birth to 6 years; randomized controlled trials using quasiexperimental, experimental, or single group prepost designs with a minimum sample size of 15 participants per group; and statistical analyses of fine motor skill development at both preintervention and postintervention or addressing the intervention effects on fine motor skill development. Data were extracted on design, participants, intervention components, methodological quality, and efficacy. RESULTS: Twenty-five of the total 31 studies reported positive intervention effects on fine motor skills. The meta-analyses included 19 studies and revealed moderate effect sizes of motor skill programs on fine motor, visual motor, and manual dexterity outcomes. There were substantial differences between intervention settings, facilitators, length, and content with most studies implemented in school settings and facilitated by teachers. CONCLUSION: Fine motor skill development in the early years is an extensive upcoming field of interest for many international researchers. This review study presents evidence on the positive effects of intervention programs that aim to enhance fine motor skills for young children. The findings are promising but need to be interpreted with caution because of the high risk of bias in many of the studies

Adherence to 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years and associations with social-cognitive development among Australian preschool children

Background: The new Australian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years recommend that, for preschoolers, a healthy 24-h includes: i) ≥180 min of physical activity, including ≥60 min of energetic play, ii) ≤1 h of sedentary screen time, and iii) 10–13 h of good quality sleep. Using an Australian sample, this study reports the proportion of preschool children meeting these guidelines and investigates associations with social-cognitive development. Methods: Data from 248 preschool children (mean age = 4.2 ± 0.6 years, 57% boys) participating in the PATH-ABC study were analyzed. Children completed direct assessments of physical activity (accelerometry) and social cognition (the Test of Emotional Comprehension (TEC) and Theory of Mind (ToM)). Parents reported on children’s screen time and sleep. Children were categorised as meeting/not meeting: i) individual guidelines, ii) combinations of two guidelines, or iii) all three guidelines. Associations were examined using linear regression adjusting for child age, sex, vocabulary, area level socio-economic status and childcare level clustering. Results: High proportions of children met the physical activity (93.1%) and sleep (88.7%) guidelines, whereas fewer met the screen time guideline (17.3%). Overall, 14.9% of children met all three guidelines. Children meeting the sleep guideline performed better on TEC than those who did not (mean difference [MD] = 1.41; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.36, 2.47). Children meeting the sleep and physical activity or sleep and screen time guidelines also performed better on TEC (MD = 1.36; 95% CI = 0.31, 2.41) and ToM (MD = 0.25; 95% CI = −0.002, 0.50; p = 0.05), respectively, than those who did not. Meeting all three guidelines was associated with better ToM performance (MD = 0.28; 95% CI = −0.002, 0.48, p = 0.05), while meeting a larger number of guidelines was associated with better TEC (3 or 2 vs. 1/none, p < 0.02) and ToM performance (3 vs. 2, p = 0.03). Conclusions: Strategies to promote adherence to the 24-Hour Movement Behaviour Guidelines for the Early Years among preschool children are warranted. Supporting preschool children to meet all guidelines or more guidelines, particularly the sleep and screen time guidelines, may be beneficial for their social-cognitive development

Time #1: what\u27s wrong with this picture?

Breastfeeding generally falls under the jurisdiction of mothers, so I decided to ask a group of mothers I see regularly on Saturday morning what they thought of the recent Time magazine cover portraying an attractive young woman, hand on hip, staring down the camera while her passive three-year-old dressed in cargo pants stands on a chair and suckles from her exposed left breast. What they told me was deeply reassuring

Milestones: what is the \u27right\u27 age for kids to travel alone, surf the web, learn about war?

Being a parent presents some problems. Irrespective of what you want, your children are going to take actions or be exposed to things that you may not relish. There is the ever-present possibility that they will experience things that you want to actively protect them from. The web provides some salient examples, like pornography. I really don\u27t want my eight-year-old seeing pornography. However, when my eight-year-old asks me an important Dungeons & Dragons question like, Dad, can a paladin do magic and wear armour? or he wants to know how solar panels operate, I always encourage him to look on the web. I\u27ve taught him to search on Google, to follow his curiosity, and I sometimes do it with him. Ultimately, I want him to be able to seek answers to the questions that are interesting to him independently. He is guaranteed to run into something dodgy on the web and my wife and I can take ordinary precautions. To our way of thinking, however, more extreme precautions - prohibiting unsupervised internet use and high level parental control - start to present their own risks. One might ask, at what age should I allow my child to use the web unsupervised