Children’s sensitivity to speaker accuracy and explanatory competence with biological concepts

This thesis investigated children’s selective trust in contexts that extend beyond a direct comparison of a distinctly accurate labeller with a distinctly inaccurate labeller in the domain of artifacts. First, it was examined whether children’s evaluations of informant trustworthiness is similar across the biological domain and the domain of artifacts. Second, it was investigated how children interpret novel labellers when compared to accurate and inaccurate labellers. Finally, children were presented with informants who provided functional or surface information for body parts to determine whether they prefer learning from informants who provided functional explanations. Across five experiments, children aged between 3 and 8 years of age (N = 379) were tested. The main findings were as follows: (a) 4- and 5-year-olds knew more about external body parts than internal organs; (b) 5-year-olds began to appreciate that speakers offering novel information were more trustworthy than those offering inaccurate information; (c) 4- to 8-year-olds had difficulty with distinguishing between informants who provided either functional explanations or obvious descriptions for highly unfamiliar organs; (d) however, when presented with informants who provided either functional or obvious information for highly familiar body parts, 8-year-olds (and to some extent, 5-year-olds) showed better recall of which informant provided a particular type of explanation, but they did not consider either informant to be a more trustworthy source. These findings indicate that children demonstrate selective trust in the biological domain, as well as in contexts that go beyond comparing accurate and inaccurate labellers. It is apparent that children are balanced in their evaluations of informants who provide new information, as well as those provide information that varies in explanatory depth. However, they are yet to fully consider functional explanations to be superior to superficial descriptions

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Opvoeding, diagnostiek en behandeling van kinderen en jeugdigen met (ernstige) ontwikkelings-, opvoedings-, en onderwijsprobleme

A comparison of support for two groups of young adults with mild intellectual disability

Development Psychopathology in context: clinical setting

Autism and attachment: A meta-analytic review

Opvoeding, diagnostiek en behandeling van kinderen en jeugdigen met (ernstige) ontwikkelings-, opvoedings-, en onderwijsprobleme

Vroege interventie bij autismespectrumstoornissen: State of the art

Item does not contain fulltextDe afgelopen decennia is de kennis over de vroege ontwikkeling van autismespectrumstoornissen (ASS) toegenomen, hetgeen geresulteerd heeft in betere mogelijkheden voor vroegsignalering en interventie. Hierdoor zijn de ontwikkelingskansen van kinderen met ASS verbeterd. Waar eerdere interventies voornamelijk gericht waren op de kernsymptomen van ASS en het leren omgaan met de beperkingen van het kind, zijn interventies tegenwoordig meer gericht op de gehele ontwikkeling van het kind en de ondersteuning van het gezin. In de loop der jaren zijn er vanuit verschillende theoretische invalshoeken vele vroege interventies ontwikkeld die van elkaar verschillen in focus, intensiteit en duur. Hoewel interventies steeds vaker wetenschappelijk worden getoetst, is er nog niet altijd sprake van klinische en wetenschappelijk consensus over de effectiviteit van interventies. Inzicht in de werkwijze en doelen van interventies is cruciaal om goed geïnformeerd beslissingen te kunnen nemen ten aanzien van interventies. In dit artikel, dat tot stand is gekomen vanuit een samenwerking tussen professionals uit het Landelijk Netwerk Autisme Jonge Kind (LNAJK), willen we een overzicht geven van de interventies die anno 2018 in Nederland aan jonge kinderen en hun ouders worden geboden. De focus van dit artikel komt te liggen op vroege interventies voor kinderen tot zes jaar met (vermoeden van) ASS.23 p

Can the Children's Communication Checklist differentiate between children with autism, children with ADHD, and normal controls?

Background:  The Children's Communication Checklist (CCC; Bishop, 1998) is a questionnaire that was developed to measure pragmatic language use and may be completed by parents and teachers. Two studies are reported, which were designed to investigate: (1) whether children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) encounter pragmatic language problems in comparison with normal controls (NC), (2) whether children with ADHD and children with High Functioning Autism (HFA) can be differentiated using the CCC, (3) the usefulness of the CCC for parents and teachers in a clinical and in a research setting, and (4) the role of age in pragmatic language use in ADHD and HFA. Method:  In the first study (clinical sample) 50 children with ADHD, 50 children with HFA, and 50 NC were compared to each other using the CCC. In the second study (research sample) CCC data was gathered on 23 children with ADHD (without co-morbid disorders), 42 children with HFA, and 35 NC. Results:  Compared to NC, children with HFA showed pragmatic deficits on all CCC scales. Children with ADHD demonstrated deficits compared to NC as well. Moreover, the ADHD and HFA groups differed from each other on most of the scales. Discriminant analyses showed that CCC scales were relevant for case identification in these samples. Furthermore, profiles of impairment seen in children with HFA and ADHD did not vary with age. Conclusion:  Pragmatic difficulties do occur in both HFA and ADHD. The present studies indicate that the CCC is a useful instrument to obtain information concerning pragmatic language use in both a clinical and a research setting. Although the information of parents is more tightly linked to the diagnosis, combining the information of both parent and teacher slightly improves case identification