Exploring parental behavior and child interactive engagement : a study on children with a significant cognitive and motor developmental delay

Background and aims: Parenting factors are one of the most striking gaps in the current scientific literature on the development of young children with significant cognitive and motor disabilities. We aim to explore the characteristics of, and the association between, parental behavior and children's interactive engagement within this target group. Methods and procedures: Twenty-five parent-child dyads (with children aged 6-59 months) were video-taped during a 15-min unstructured play situation. Parents were also asked to complete the Parental Behavior Scale for toddlers. The video-taped observations were scored using the Child and Maternal Behavior Rating Scales. Outcomes and results: Low levels of parental discipline and child initiation were found. Parental responsivity was positively related to child attention and initiation. Conclusions and implications: Compared to children with no or other levels of disabilities, this target group exhibits large differences in frequency levels and, to a lesser extent, the concrete operationalization of parenting domains Further, this study confirms the importance of sensitive responsivity as the primary variable in parenting research

The effect of contextual variables on the developmental trajectories for young children with PIMD

Recently, a longitudinal project on the development of children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) has started in Belgium and the Netherlands. The main aims of this study are to evaluate the cognitive, motor, communicative and social-emotional abilities of young children with PIMD (between 6 and 48 months old), to analyze the developmental trajectories and patterns in these children, to evaluate the effect of contextual variables on the developmental trajectories and to identify subgroups of children with different developmental patterns or trajectories within the group of children with PIMD. Six-monthly assessments of the child’s cognitive, motor, communicative and social-emotional abilities and of contextual variables are realized by means of test protocols, standardized observation procedures, an interview, and questionnaires. Preliminary results on the different domains will be presented

Exploring parental behavior and child interactive engagement: a study on children with a significant cognitive and motor developmental delay

Background & Aims: Parenting factors are one of the most striking gaps in the current scientific literature on the development of young children with significant cognitive and motor disabilities. We aim to explore the characteristics of, and the association between, parental behavior and children’s interactive engagement within this target group. Methods & Procedures: Twenty-five parent-child dyads (with children aged 6-59 months) were video-taped during a 15-minute unstructured play situation. Parents were also asked to complete the Parental Behavior Scale for toddlers. The video-taped observations were scored using the Child and Maternal Behavior Rating Scales. Outcomes & Results: Low levels of parental discipline and child initiation were found. Parental responsivity was positively related to child attention and initiation. Conclusions and implications: Compared to children with no or other levels of disabilities, this target group exhibits large differences in frequency levels and, to a lesser extent, the concrete operationalization of parenting domains. Further, this study confirms the importance of sensitive responsivity as the primary variable in parenting research.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Exploring parental behavior and child interactive engagement: A study on children with a significant cognitive and motor developmental delay journaltitle: Research in Developmental Disabilities articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2017.04.002 content_type: article copyright: © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.status: publishe

OJKO-project: Longitudinal study on the development of young children with a serious cognitive and motor developmental delay

Recently, a longitudinal project on the development of children with a serious cognitive and motor developmental delay has started in Belgium and the Netherlands. The aims of this study are to evaluate the cognitive, motor, communicative and social-emotional abilities of young children with a severe cognitive and motor developmental delay (between 6 months and 4 years old at the first administration moment); to analyze the developmental trajectories and patterns in these children; to evaluate the effect of family and broader contextual variables on the developmental trajectories; and to identify subgroups of children with different developmental patterns or trajectories. Six-monthly assessments of the child’s cognitive, motor, communicative and social-emotional abilities and of contextual variables are realized by means of standardized observations and questionnaires. Preliminary results for motor, communicative and social-emotional abilities will be presented. Methods and results will be discussed with the participants of the workshop. Motor abilities are measured by means of the Portage Program Netherlands- Revised - PIMD questionnaire of motor development (PPN-R-PIMD). Questionnaires of 18 participants were completed by parents. Initial analyses suggest atypical trajectories of motor development for children with PIMD. Global comparison of subgroups of children with similar additional problems suggest specific patterns related to comorbidity. The Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS) is used for the measurement of communicative abilities. The ESCS is a standardized instrument which measures non-verbal communicative abilities. The target behaviours are: (1) joint attention behaviours, (2) behavioural requesting behaviours, and (3) social interaction behaviours. The first explorative results of 14 participants show that these children are able to show joint attention and behavioural requesting behaviours, although with a large variability. Social-emotional abilities are assessed through the Scale for Emotional Development (SEO-R²). The SEO-R² is a structured interview with primary caregivers on the social-emotional development of the child. This interview results in a developmental profile of the child, incorporating thirteen domains (e.g. emotion regulation, relation to adults,…). The results of a subgroup of 18 participants show these children are functioning within the adaptation or first socialization phase of socio-emotional development