Search results for: 8-9 year old school children

Authors: Kaori Mori Want

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American society is a racially diverse society and there are children books that tell the importance of respecting racial differences. Through reading books, children understand the world around them little by little along with their direct interaction with the world in reality. They find role models in books, strive to be like role models, and grow confidence in who they are. Books thus nurture the mind of children. On the other hand, because of their small presence, children books for multiracial Asian American children are scarce. Multiracial Asian American population is increasing but they are still minority in number. The lack of children’s books for these children may deprive the opportunities of them to embrace their multiraciality positively because they cannot find someone like them in any books. Children books for multiracial Asian American are still not that many, but a few have been being published recently. This paper introduces children books for multiracial Asian American children, and examines how they address issues pertaining to these children, and how they could nurture their self-esteem. Many states of the US used to ban interracial marriages and interracial families and their children once were discriminated against in American society. There was even a theory called the hybrid degeneracy theory which claimed that mixed race children were inferior mentally and physically. In this negative social environment, some multiracial Asian American people report that they had trouble embracing their multiracial identity positively. Yet, children books for these children are full of positive messages. This paper will argue the importance of children books for the mental growth of multiracial Asian American children, and how these books can contribute to the development of multiculturalism in the US in general.

Keywords: critical mixed race studies in the US, hapa children literature, interracial marriage, multiraciality

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Authors: Pui I. Chao, Shanju Lin

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Purpose: Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have persistent language difficulties and often face great challenges when demands are high. The aim of this study was to investigate whether verb frequency would trade-off with syntactic complexity when they talk. Method: Forty-five children with DLD, 45 chronological age matches with TD (AGE), and 45 MLU-matches with TD (MLU) who were Mandarin speakers were selected from the previous study. Language samples were collected under three contexts: conversation about children’s family and school, story retelling, and free play. MLU, verb density, utterance length difference, verb density difference, and average verb frequency were calculated and further analyzed by ANOVAs. Results: Children with DLD and their MLU matches produced shorter utterances and used fewer verbs in expressions than the AGE matches. Compared to their AGE matches, the DLD group used more verbs and verbs with lower frequency in shorter utterances but used fewer verbs and verbs with higher frequency in longer utterances. Conclusion: Mandarin-speaking children with DLD showed difficulties in verb usage and were more vulnerable to trade-offs than their age-matched peers in utterances with high demand. As a result, task demand should be taken into account as speech-language pathologists assess whether children with DLD have adequate abilities in verb usage.

Keywords: developmental language disorder, syntactic complexity, trade-offs, verb frequency

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Authors: Brigita Mieziene, Arunas Emeljanovas, Vida Cesnaitiene, Ingunn Fjortoft, Lise Kjonniksen

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Background. Health-related physical fitness refers to the favorable health status, i.e. ability to perform daily activities with vigor, as well as capacities that are associated with a low risk for development of chronic diseases and premature death. However, in school-aged children it is constantly declining, while some aspects of fitness declined as much as 50 percent during the last two decades, which prognosticates increasingly earlier onset of health problems, decreasing the quality of life of the population and financial burden for the society. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to indicate nationally representative age- and gender-specific reference values of anthropometric measures, musculoskeletal, motor and cardiorespiratory fitness in Lithuanian primary school children from 6 to 10 years. Methods. The study included 3556 students in total, from 73 randomly selected schools. Ethics approval for research by the Kaunas Regional Ethics Committee (No. BE-2-42) was obtained. Physical fitness was measured by the 9-item test battery, developed by Fjørtoft and colleagues. Height and weight were measured and body mass index calculated. Smoothed centile charts were derived using the LMS method. Results. The numerical age- and gender-specific percentile values (3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 97th percentile) for anthropometric measures, musculoskeletal, motor and cardiorespiratory fitness were provided. The equivalent smoothed LMS curves were performed. The study indicated 12.5 percent of overweight and 5 percent of obese children in accordance with international gender and age specific norms of body mass index. This data could be used in clinical and educational settings in order to identify the level of individual physical fitness within its different components.

Keywords: fitness, overweight, primary school children, reference values, smoothed percentile curves

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Authors: Maria Kjellgren, Sara Lilliehorn, Urban Markström

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Critical components that influence the role and performance of school social workers in Swedish elementary schools will be described and analysed, such as formal regulations, professional self-understanding, and the SSWs’ role in the interplay between professional domains involved in elementary school. The data collection was conducted through four semi-structured focus group interviews with a total of 22 SSWs in four different regions in Sweden. The result reveals three main challenges for the School Social Worker (SSW): (1) To navigate in a pedagogic and medical arena within a multidisciplinary team, (2) To manage ambiguity without any formal regulations and unclear settings and leadership and finally, (3) To negotiate tasks at different levels, with a health promotional and preventive focus, where the SSW ends up, mainly in remedial work with individual children. The results also disclosed that SSWs hold a vague professional self-understanding position with a little formal mandate to perform their work.

Keywords: school social worker, multidisciplinary team, counselling, professional self-understanding, formal regulations

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Authors: Megan Chaney

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In the United States, research continues to show school administrators do not view themselves as adequately prepared in the area of special education. Often, special education is an omitted topic of study for school administrator preparation programs. The majority of special education teachers do not view their principals as well-prepared to support them in the educational context. Administrator preparation in the area of special education may begin at the foundational levels of understanding but is fundamentally an equity issue when serving individuals from marginalized populations with an urgent need to increase inclusionary practices. Special education and building-level administrators have a direct impact on teacher quality, instructional practices, inclusion, and equity with the opportunity to shape positive school culture. The current study was situated within an innovative IHE/LEA partnership pathway implemented with current K-12 administrators earning a Mild/Moderate Education Specialist Credential or coursework equivalent. Specifically, the study examined administrator’s perception of the Special Education Laws and Ethics’ course value and impact on the capacity to serve children with exceptionalities within the comprehensive school site context.

Keywords: special education laws and ethics, school adminstrator perspectives, school administrator training, inclusive practices

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Authors: Bhavneet Bharti, Prahbhjot Malhi, Vandana Thakur

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Introduction: Children of the urban migrant laborers have great difficulty in accessing government programs which are otherwise routinely available in rural settings. These include programs for child care, nutrition, health and education. There are major communicative fault-lines preventing advocacy for these marginalized children. The overarching aim of this study was to investigate the role of an innovative strategy of children’s drawings in supporting communication between children, social workers, pediatricians and other child advocates to fulfil their fundamental child rights. Materials and Methods: The data was collected over a period of one-year April 2015 to April 2016 during the routine visits by the members of the Social Pediatrics team including a social worker, pediatricians and an artist to the makeshift colony of migrant laborers. Once a week a drawing session was organized where the children including adolescents were asked to any drawing and provide a narrative thereafter. 5-30 children attended these weekly sessions for one year. All these drawings were then classified into various themes and exhibited on 16th April 2016 in the Govt. College of Art Museum. The forum was used for advocacy of Child Rights of these underprivileged children to Secretary social welfare. Results: Mean (SD) age of children in present observational study was 8.5 (2.5) years, with 60% of the boys. Majority of children demonstrated themes which were local and contextualized to their daily needs, threats and festivals which clearly underscored their fundamental right to basic services and equality of opportunities to achieve their full development Drawings of tap with flowing water, queues of people collecting water from hand pumps reflect the local problem of water availability for these children. Young children talking about fear of rape and murder following their drawings indicate the looming threat of potential abuse and neglect. Besides reality driven drawing, children also echoed supernatural beliefs, dangers and festivities in their drawings. Anyone who watched these children at work with art materials was able to see the intense level of absorption, clearly indicating the enjoyment they received, making it a meaningful activity. Indeed, this self-advocacy through art exhibition led to the successful establishment of mobile Anganwadi (A social safety net programme of the government) in their area of stay. Conclusions: This observational study is an example of how children were able to do self-advocacy to protect their rights. Of particular importance, these drawings address how psychologists and other child advocates can ensure in a child-centered manner that the voice of children is heard and represented in all assessments of their well-being and future care options.

Keywords: child advocacy, children drawings, child rights, marginalized children

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Authors: Caroline Denaes

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The ability to read is crucial for a successful path in school and in a social and professional context. Children with mild intellectual disability are confronted to serious difficulties in literacy. A lot of them do not read or are illiterate. Only one child out of five is able to acquire basic reading skills, which increases the likelihood to misfit in society, especially when these children grow up and cannot manage themselves in situations requiring higher reading levels. One way to help these children acquiring basic reading skills is to use analogical reasoning, as some researchers demonstrated that this mechanism is fundamental for any reading process. For this purpose, we developed computerized analogies displayed on a touch screen tablet. Analogies are comparisons that give children a framework they can use to understand new information. They work by comparing one thing to another in order to emphasize some mutual quality. If one of the items is unfamiliar, that mutual quality can help make it understandable, or it can cause the children to consider something familiar in some new way, such as transferring what they know about familiar words to help them identify unfamiliar words. In addition, using touch screen tablets represents several advantages: the ease of use, the relevance to this specific population and the appeal of a self-directed activity gives individuals and practitioners a modern tool that differs from the traditional paper-and-pencil material. In addition, the touch screen dimension is especially appropriate for children as assistive technology has been found to be more motivating that any other types of devices and improves the children’ attention span.

Keywords: literacy, intellectual disabilities, touch screen techonology, literacy skill

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Authors: Jolanta Jonak

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Emotional wellbeing is crucial for healthy development of children, youth, and adolescence. Lack of healthy emotional development and functioning can lead to many challenges in academic, social, and physical domains. Unfortunately, mental health problems are steadily increasing over the past several years and significantly intensified during and after the Covid 19 pandemic. Some experts warn that globally, we are entering a mental health crisis pandemic. Prior to the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020, a considerable number of youth aged 6-17 experienced a mental health disorder each year, with half of all mental health conditions beginning by age 14. The most common mental health disorders in children are Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), behavior problems, anxiety, and depression. In U.S. schools, youth with these diagnoses tend to be classified under the umbrella of Emotional Disability. Several concerning trends have been emerging about the mental health of U.S. high school students. These trends have been steadily increasing for the past decade, particularly having increasing numbers of high school students who experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, seriously considered attempting suicide, made a suicide plan, and attempted suicide. The number of students who felt persistently sad or hopeless increased across every racial and ethnic group. Parents, educators, and mental health providers are key stakeholders that are responsible for actively and effectively supporting struggling youth. A commonly faced challenge is that mental wellbeing is not supported as effectively as it should be. When effective prevention is paired with enhanced treatment developed on a multidisciplinary approach, mental health and emotional wellbeing in young people can be positively enhanced. Major health organizations including the Center for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health encourage health professionals and other stakeholders to focus on addressing emotional wellbeing and mental health of young people.

Keywords: social emotional wellbeing, disability, learning, prevention

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Authors: Amanda Madden

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The purpose of this research was to identify students understanding of well-being and perceptions of the effective components of school-based well-being programs they have participated in during their time in secondary school. With one in four adolescents suffering from some form of mental health disorder, which has the potential to directly impact their academic ability, schools have moved towards a more holistic approach to education, resulting in the growth of school-based well-being programs. There is limited research on the effectiveness of school-based well-being programs, with fewer studies examining students’ perspectives on their well-being. A mixed-method design was utilized, framed by a social constructivist methodology. Quantitative data was collected through a researcher-developed self-report survey, and qualitative data were collected through one-on-one interviews and a semi-structured focus group undertaken with Year 12 students from three independent co-educational schools in Western Australia. Preliminary findings indicate that participants have experienced a minimal impact, either positively or negatively, on their well-being from school-based well-being programs. The data detailed that adolescents consider happiness, positive attitude, good physical health, balance, emotional fulfillment and confidence components of well-being. The findings also highlighted sports, positive family relationships, positive friendships, and pets positively enhanced well-being. This research suggests that researchers and educational leaders should consider students’ understanding of well-being in the development of school-based well-being assessments and interventions. Students are the recipients of school-based well-being programs and are best placed to inform what they will and will not respond to in the determination of appropriate well-being content.

Keywords: wellbeing, school based wellbeing, adolescents, wellbeing interventions

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Authors: Therese Scali

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Couple separations and divorces seem to be commonplace events. However, their frequency does not reduce their impact. Indeed, the adverse effects of parental divorce on children have been well documented. Thus, supporting the children from divorced families is a key concern. Several preventive interventions have been developed for children of divorced parents, such as Children’s Support Group. The present paper aims at presenting the program that has been created in Liege (Belgium). The setting and the tools will be presented. This Children’s Support Group is based on psychoeducational and systemic principles, art-therapy, and aims at acquiring coping skills and seeking social support. Also, the effectiveness of the program will be discussed. Results show that after parental divorce, a group intervention for children can be efficacious in promoting children’s well-being and parent-child communication. This paper contributes to enrich the understanding of children’s needs and to highlight the existence and efficacy of a program that helps them overcome the difficulties of divorce.

Keywords: art-therapy, children’s support group, divorce, efficacy, separation

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Authors: Maryam Razmjoee

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Physical aggression is one of the most common behavioural problems among children with intellectual disabilities. Behaviours such as hitting, kicking, and threatening with the intent to harm others are examples of physical aggression. Identified language delays are related to physically aggressive behaviours, as children with poor language skills are often frustrated by socially interactions with their peers, leaving them at risk engaging in acts of physical aggression. As a result of this concern, physical aggression and language skills of children with mild intellectual disabilities was investigated. In the current study, 102 students, from years 1-3, with mild intellectual disabilities (51 girls and 51 boys) have been recruited from five educational centres which cater for children with mild intellectual disabilities in the city of Shiraz (a major city in Iran). The Test of Language Development-Primary: 3rd Edition (TOLD-3) and Overt and Relational Aggression Questionnaire were used to assess these children. Results showed that physical aggression had a significant negative association with expressive (p = 0.008), and receptive (p = 0.019) language skills. In addition, boys demonstrated more physically aggressive behaviours than girls (p = 0.014). No difference was found in expressive and receptive language skills between girls and boys with mild intellectual disabilities. The overall findings suggest that improving the language skills of children with intellectual disabilities experiencing language delays will help them to avoid exhibiting antisocial behaviours in social interactions.

Keywords: behaviour, language skills, mild intellectual disabilities, physical aggression, primary school students

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Authors: Yunos Zahri, Ab Hamid R. Susanty, Ahmad Mustaffa

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This paper explores the need for a national baseline study on understanding the level of cyber security situational awareness among primary and secondary school students in Malaysia. The online survey method was deployed to administer the data collection exercise. The target groups were divided into three categories: Group 1 (primary school aged 7-9 years old), Group 2 (primary school aged 10-12 years old), and Group 3 (secondary school aged 13-17 years old). A different questionnaire set was designed for each group. The survey topics/areas included Internet and digital citizenship knowledge. Respondents were randomly selected from rural and urban areas throughout all 14 states in Malaysia. A total of 9,158 respondents participated in the survey, with most states meeting the minimum sample size requirement to represent the country’s demographics. The findings and recommendations from this baseline study are fundamental to develop teaching modules required for children to understand the security risks and threats associated with the Internet throughout their years in school. Early exposure and education will help ensure healthy cyber habits among millennials in Malaysia.

Keywords: cyber security awareness, cyber security education, cyber security, school students

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Authors: Shireen Simon

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This study explores the interactions between primary school parents-teachers in Malaysia. Schools in the country are organized to promote participation between parents and teachers. Exchanges of dialogue are most valued between parents and teachers because teachers are in daily contact with pupils’ and the first line of communication with parents. Teachers are considered by parents as the most important connection to improve children learning and well-being. Without a good communication, interaction or involvement between parent-teacher might tarnish a pupils’ performance in school. This study tries to find out multiple emotions among primary school parents-teachers, either estranged or cordial, when they communicate in a multi-cultured society in Malaysia. Important issues related to parent-teacher interactions are discussed further. Parents’ involvement in an effort to boost better education in school is significantly more effective with parents’ involvement. Lastly, this article proposes some suggestions for parents and teachers to build a positive relationship with effective communication and establish more democratic open door policy.

Keywords: multi-cultured society, parental involvement, parent-teacher relationships, parents’ interaction

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Authors: Mitra Abtahi, Esmat Nasseri, Morteza Abodllahi

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Introduction: Adequate hydration is necessary for proper physical and mental function. The aim of this study is to determine the consumption of water and all other beverages in children (8-13 years) and adolescents (14-17 years) in Tehran metropolitan city of Iran. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 455 children (8-13 years) and 334 adolescents (14-17 years) were retrieved from north, center, and south of Tehran (18 schools). Instrument for data collection consisted of a “demographic and general health” questionnaire and a “7-day fluid record”. Data analyses were performed with SPSS 16 software. Results: The mean total consumption of fluids in school children was 1302 ± 500.6 ml/day. The highest mean intakes were observed for water (666 ± 398 ml/day), followed by milk (239 ± 183 ml/day), regular soft beverages (RSB) (188 ± 148 ml/day), and juices (60 ± 74 ml/day). Water, hot drinks (mainly tea) and soft drinks intake was significantly more in boys than girls. A significantly lower intake of milk and a higher intake of RSB and hot beverages (mainly tea) have been seen among adolescents compared to children. Conclusion: The most important finding is that mean fluid intake of children and adolescents does not meet international adequate intake references for water and fluids. This finding may suggest the necessity of development of the local references. To improve fluid intake habits of children and adolescents, relevant policy making and actions are warranted.

Keywords: adolescents, beverages, children, water

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Authors: Nitin Bhagat

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Drought is a global phenomenon. It has a huge impact on agriculture and allied sector activities. Agriculture plays a substantial role in the economy of developing countries, which mainly depends on rainfall. The present study illustrates the drought conditions in Masurdi village of Latur district in the Marathwada region, Maharashtra. This paper is based on both primary as well as secondary data sources. The multistage sample method was used for primary data collection. The 100 households sample survey data has been collected from the village through a semi-structured questionnaire. The crop production data is collected from the Department of Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra. The rainfall data is obtained from the Department of Revenue, Office of Divisional Commissioner, Aurangabad for the period from 1988 to 2018. This paper examines the severity of drought consequences of the 2015 drought on domestic water supply, crop production, and the effect on children's schooling, livestock assets, bank credit, and migration. The study also analyzed climate variables' impact on the Latur district's total food grain production for 19 years from 2000 to 2018. This study applied multiple regression analysis to check the relationship between climatic variables and the Latur district's total food grain production. The climate variables are annual rainfall, maximum temperature and minimum temperature. The study considered that climatic variables are independent variables and total food grain as the dependent variable. It shows there is a significant relationship between rainfall and maximum temperature. The study also calculated rainfall deviations to find out the drought and normal years. According to drought manual 2016, the rainfall deviation calculated using the following formula. RF dev = {(RFi – RFn) / RFn}*100.Approximately 27.43 % of the workforce migrated from rural to urban areas for searching jobs, and crop production decreased tremendously due to inadequate rainfall in the drought year 2015. Many farm and non-farm labor, some marginal and small cultivators, migrated from rural to urban areas (like Pune, Mumbai, and Western Maharashtra).About 48 % of the households' children faced education difficulties; in the drought period, children were not going to school. They left their school and joined to bring water with their mother and fathers, sometimes they fetched water on their head or using a bicycle, near about 2 km from the village. In their school-going days, drinking water was not available in their schools, so the government declared holidays early in the academic education year 2015-16 compared to another academic year. Some college and 10th class students left their education due to financial problems. Many households benefited from state government schemes, like drought subsidies, crop insurance, and bank loans. Out of 100 households, about 50 (50 %) have obtained financial support from the state government’s subsidy scheme, 58 ( 58 %) have got crop insurance, and 41(41 %) irrigated households have got bank loans from national banks; besides that, only two families have obtained loans from their relatives and moneylenders.

Keywords: agriculture, drought, household, rainfall

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Authors: Ifeanyi Adigwe, Thomas Van der Walt

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Digital media has been integrated into the social and entertainment life of young children, and as such, the impact of digital media appears to affect young people of all ages and it is believed that this will continue to shape the world of young children. Since, technological advancement of digital media presents adolescents with diverse contexts, platforms and avenues to engage with digital media outside the home environment and from parents' supervision, a wide range of new challenges has further complicated the already difficult tasks for parents and altered the landscape of parenting. Despite the fact that adolescents now have access to a wide range of digital media technologies both at home and in the learning environment, parenting practices such as active, restrictive, co-use, participatory and technical mediations are important in mitigating of online risks adolescents may encounter as a result of digital media use. However, these mediation practices only focus on the home environment including digital media present in the home and may not necessarily transcend outside the home and other learning environments where adolescents use digital media for school work and other activities. This poses the question of who mediates adolescent's digital media use outside the home environment. The learning environment could be a ''loose platform'' where an adolescent can maximise digital media use considering the fact that there is no restriction in terms of content and time allotted to using digital media during school hours. That is to say that an adolescent can play the ''bad boy'' online in school because there is little or no restriction of digital media use and be exposed to online risks and play the ''good boy'' at home because of ''heavy'' parental mediation. This is the reason why parent mediation practices have been ineffective because a parent may not be able to track adolescents digital media use considering the diversity of contexts, platforms and avenues adolescents use digital media. This study argues that due to the diverse nature of digital media technology, parents may not be able to monitor the 'whereabouts' of their children in the digital space. This is because adolescent digital media usage may not only be confined to the home environment but other learning environments like schools. This calls for urgent attention on the part of teachers to understand the intricacies of how digital media continue to shape the world in which young children are developing and learning. It is, therefore, imperative for parents to liaise with the schools of their children to mediate digital media use during school hours. The implication of parents- teachers mediation practices are discussed. The article concludes by suggesting that third party mediation by teachers in schools and other learning environments should be encouraged and future research needs to consider the emergent strategy of teacher-children mediation approach and the implication for policy for both the home and learning environments.

Keywords: digital media, digital age, parent mediation, third party mediation

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Authors: N. Anjana

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Worldwide, the prevalence of mental illnesses is increasing. The issues of persons with mental illness and their caregivers have been well documented in the literature. However, data regarding the factors affecting the caregiving experience of children with parental mental illnesses is sparse. This systematic review aimed to examine the existing literature of the factors affecting the caregiving experience of children of parents with mental illnesses. A comprehensive search of databases such as PubMed, EBSCO, JSTOR, ProQuest Central, Taylor and Francis Online, and Google Scholar were performed to identify peer-reviewed papers examining the factors associated with caregiving experiences of children with parental mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and major depression, for the 10-year period ending November 2019. Two researchers screened studies for eligibility. One researcher extracted data from eligible studies while a second performed verification of results for accuracy and completeness. Quality appraisal was conducted by both reviewers. Data describing major factors associated with caregiving experiences of children with parental mental illnesses were synthesized and reported in narrative form. Five studies were considered eligible and included in this review. Findings are organized under major themes such as the impact of parental mental illness on children’s daily life, how children provide care to their mentally ill parents as primary carers, social and relationship factors associated with their caregiving, positive and negative experiences in caregiving and how children cope with their experiences with parental mental illnesses. Literature relating to the caregiving experiences of children with parental mental illnesses is sparse. More research is required to better understand the children’s caregiving experiences related to parental mental illnesses so as to better inform management for enhancing their mental health, wellbeing, and caregiving practice.

Keywords: caregiving experience, children, parental mental illnesses, wellbeing

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Authors: Prachi Sharma, B. V. Ramkumar

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In current days, autism is a well-known neurodevelopmental disorder that may restrict child development globally. Ignorance or delayed identification or incorrect diagnosis of autism is a major challenge in controlling such an incurable disorder. This may lead to various behavioural complications followed by mental illness in adulthood. Autism is an incurable disorder that is progressive and negatively affects our development globally. This may vary in degree in different skills. However, a deviation from the normal range creates a complex outcome in social and communication areas and restricts or deviates cognitive ability. The primary goal of the present research is to identify and understand the deviations in cognitive, social communication, and behaviour in children during their growing age, with a focus on autism. In this study, five children with mild autism were taken. All the children had achieved normal developmental milestones until the age of one year. The maximum age of observation of children’s development was four years to see the difference in their developmental rates in the areas of cognitive, social communication, and behaviour. The study is based on the parental report about their children from 1 year to 4 years. Videos and pictures of children during their development were also seen as a reference to verify information received by the parents of the children. This research is qualitative, with samples for which were selected using a purposive sampling technique. The data was collected from the OPD, NIEPID RC, NOIDA, India. The data was collected in the form of parental reports based on their observations about their kids. Videos were also seen to verify the information reported by the parents (just shown to verify the facts, not shared). In results, we observed a significant difference in the rate of development in all five children taken for this research. The children having mild autism, at present, showed variations in all three domains (cognitive, social communication, and behaviour). These variations were seen in terms of restricted development in global areas. The result revealed that typical features of ASD had created more cognitive restrictions as compared to the children having ASD features with hyperactivity. Behavioral problems were observed with different levels of severity in the children having ASD with hyperactivity, whereas children with typical ASD are found with some typical problem behaviours like head banging, body rocking, self-biting, etc., with different levels of severity. The social-communication area was observed as equally affected in all children, as no major difference was found in the information received from each parent.

Keywords: autism/ASD, behaviour, cognitive skill, hyperactivity, social-communication skill

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Authors: B. O. Diyaolu, E. A. Okebanjo

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Children in today’s world need attention and care even with their physique as obesity is also at the increased. Several factors can be responsible for obesity in children and adequate attention is paramount in other not to accommodate it into adolescent period. This study investigated perceived determinants of obesity among primary school pupils in Eti Osa Local Government area of Lagos State. Descriptive survey research design was used and population was all obese pupils in Eti Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State. 92 pupils were selected from randomly picked 12 primary schools while purposive sampling technique was used to pick primary 4-6 pupils. With the aid of body mass index (BMI) and age percentile chart the obese pupils were selected. The instrument for the study was a self-developed and structured questionnaire on perceived determinant of obesity. The questionnaire was divided into three sections. The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.74 was obtained. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 significant levels. The completed questionnaire was collated coded and analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentage and inferential statistics of chi-square (X²). Findings of this study revealed that physical activities and parental influences were determinant of obesity. Physical activity is essential in reducing the rate of obesity in Eti Osa Local Government Area both at home and within the school environment. Primary schools need to create more playing ground for pupils to exercise themselves. Parents need to cater for their children diet ensuring not just the quantity but the quality as well.

Keywords: feeding pattern, obese pupils, parental influence, physical activities

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Authors: S. Somerset, D. J. Hoare

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Participation in sport is linked to better mental and physical health in children and adults. Studies have shown children who participate in sports benefit from improved social skills, self-confidence, communication skills and a better quality of life. Children who participate in sports from a young age are also more likely to continue to have active lifestyles during adulthood. This is an important consideration with a nation where physical activity levels are declining and the incidences of obesity are rising. Getting children active and keeping them active can provide long term health benefits to the individual but also a potential reduction in health costs in the future. This systematic review aims to identify the barriers to participation in sport for children aged up to 18 years and encompasses both qualitative and quantitative studies. The bibliographic databases, EMBASE, Medline, CINAHL and SportDiscus were searched. Additional hand searches were carried out on review articles found in the searches to identify any studies that may have been missed. Studies involving children up to 18 years without additional needs focusing on barriers to participation in sport were included. Randomised control trials, policy guidelines, studies with sport as an intervention, studies focusing on the female athlete triad, tobacco abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, pre exercise testing, and cardiovascular disease were excluded. Abstract review, full paper review and quality appraisal were conducted by two researchers. A consensus meeting took place to resolve any differences at the abstract, full text and data extraction / quality appraisal stages. The CASP qualitative studies appraisal tool and the CASP cohort studies tool (excluding question 3 and 4 which refer to interventions) were used for quality appraisal in this review. The review identified several salient barriers to participation in sport for children. These barriers ranged from the uniform worn during school physical education lessons to the weather during participation in sport. The most commonly identified barriers in the review include parental support, time allocation, location of the activity and the cost of the activity. Therefore, it would be beneficial for a greater provision to be made within the school environment for children to participate sport. This can reduce the cost and time commitment required from parents to encourage participation. This would help to increase activity levels of children, which ultimately can only be a good thing.

Keywords: barrier, children, participation, sport

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Authors: Arunas Emeljanovas, Brigita Mieziene, Vida Cesnaitiene, Ingunn Fjortoft, Lise Kjonniksen

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Background: Gender differences in physical fitness were tracked in many studies with lower effect in preschool children and increasing difference among genders across age. In Lithuania, on a population level, secular trends in physical fitness were regularly observed each ten years for the last two decades for 11-18 years old students. However, there is apparently a lack of such epidemiological studies among primary school students. Assessing and monitoring physical fitness from an early age is of particular importance seeking to develop and strengthen physical abilities of youths for future health benefits. The goal of the current study was to indicate age and gender differences in anthropometric measures, musculoskeletal, motor and cardiorespiratory fitness in Lithuanian primary school children. Methods: The study included 3456 1-4th grade students from 6 to 10 years. The data reliably represents the population of primary school children in Lithuania. Among them, 1721 (49.8 percent) were boys. Physical fitness was measured by the 9-item test battery, developed by Fjørtoft and colleagues (2011). Height and weight were measured and body mass index was calculated. Student t test evaluated differences in physical fitness between boys and girls, ANOVA was performed to indicate differences across age. Results: All anthropometric and fitness means that were identified as significantly different were better in boys than in girls and in older than younger students (p < .05). Among anthropometric measures, height was higher in boys aged 7 through 9 years. Weight and BMI differed among boys and girls only at 8 years old. Means of height and weight increased significantly across all ages. Among musculoskeletal fitness tests, means of standing broad jump, throwing a tennis ball and pushing a medicine ball were different between genders within each age group and across all ages. Differences between genders were less likely in motor fitness than in musculoskeletal or cardiorespiratory fitness. Differences in means of shuttle run 10 x 5 test between genders occurred at age 6, 9 and 10 years; running 20 m at age 6 and 9 years, and climbing wall bars at age 9 and 10. Means of Reduced Cooper test representing cardiorespiratory fitness were different between genders within each age group but did not differ among age 6 and 8 as well as 7 and 8 years in boys, and among age 7 and 8 years in girls. Conclusion: In general, the current study confirms gender differences in musculoskeletal, motor and cardiorespiratory fitness found in other studies across the world in primary school and older children. Observed gender differences might be explained by higher physical activity in boys rather than girls. As it is explained by previous literature, older boys and girls had better performances than younger ones, because of the components of fitness change as a function of growth, maturation, development, and interactions among the three processes.

Keywords: primary school children, motor fitness, musculoskeletal fitness, cardiovascular fitness

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Authors: Cristina Domínguez, Steven N. Cuadra

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Aims: The aims of this study are: 1) to describe the occurrence and estimate the risk of suffering injuries of any kind, especially work-related injuries, in rural children working in agricultural activities and in urban children working on the street 2) to explore factors that might be associated with the occurrence of work-related injuries among child workers such as gender, school attendance, and performance of household chore. Method: We performed a crossectional study among working children in agricultural activities (120) and on the street (108) and in non-working referents (140) in 2019. We investigated self-reported injuries during the last 12 months, with focus on work-related injuries. Incidence rate, rate ratios, and 95% CI were calculated by Poisson regression. Results: Agricultural workers have a higher incidence of work-related injuries (2.1 per 1000 person-days) than children working on the street (1.8 per 1000 person-days). However, when considering girl’s unpaid work at home, girls had higher occurrence. Girls had a 30% increase on the risk of suffering work related injuries compared to boys. Performing household chore and attending school were the major predictors of injury occurrence. Discussion: Our data suggest If such partial and full-time girl’s housework is taken into account, there would be little or no variation between the sexes with regard to injuries occurrence, and the incidence rate of work related injuries among girls could even exceed that of boys A greater understanding of the interaction of factors related to how child workers spend their time, and its impact on children’s health, is needed in order to identify feasible and appropriate strategies to reduce the negative effect of work on children when elimination of child labor is not reachable in the short term. Clearly, gender aspects on child labor may allow for more effective targeting of prevention efforts.

Keywords: injuries, child labor, agricultural work, gender

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Authors: Mahadula I. P. Kumari, Kasturiratne A., De Silva AP

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Doping refers to an athlete's use of banned substances as a method to improve training and performance in sports. It is known that some young athletes use banned substances in Sri Lanka without knowing their side effects and associated health risks. The main objective of this study was to describe the level of knowledge and attitude among junior athletes and coaches on doping in sports. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Four individual sports and six team sports were taken into the study. Schools were selected considering the results of the all-island school sports competitions 2017. Two hundred sixty-two female athletes, 290 male athletes and 30 coaches representing all sports counted into this study. The data collection method was a self-administered questionnaire and SPSS Version 21 was used for the data analysis. According to the result, 79% of athletes have heard of the term "doping," and 21% have never heard of it. This means these children have not been educated on doping. A number of questions were asked to study the level of knowledge of the coaches and players. Those who answered the questions correctly were given a mark. According to the marks, it is evident that the level of knowledge of the players and coaches is very low. All athletes and coaches do not accept the use of banned substances. This shows that athletes and coaches have a good attitude about winning without cheating. It was evident that athletes in athletics, weightlifting, rugby, and badminton had some level of knowledge about banned substances. All coaches stated that school athletes and coaches do not have sufficient knowledge of banned substances. And they should be made aware of it. This study has revealed that school/Junior athletes and coaches have limited knowledge of banned substances. School children and coaches need to be educated about banned substances and their harmful effects.

Keywords: attitude, doping, knowledge, Sri Lanka

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Authors: Nasir Ahmed

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The study was designed to explore the managerial practices of secondary school principals in collaboration with different school stakeholder’s i.e. Teachers, students and school councils. The population of the study comprised 41 principals of government secondary schools, 249 Secondary school teachers (SSTs), 3360 students of 10th class and 300 members of the school councils of government secondary schools (both boys and girls) in Wazirabad, Pakistan. 50 percentage principals, 40 percentage SSTs, 3 percentage students and 15% members of the school councils were taken as a sample of the study. Data was collected through different four-questionnaire design on a five point rating scale. The questionnaires for teachers, students, and school councils were developed to see their involvement in school management. The questionnaire for the secondary school principals was designed to find out to see their perceptions about the involvement of these stakeholders in school’s management. The results of the students indicated that, the remaining stakeholders were not cooperating with the school management. It was recommended that all the stakeholders be provided equal opportunities to take an active part in the school management. This may be based on a formal mechanism for the collaborative efforts of all the stakeholders.

Keywords: collaboration, management, school stakeholders, school councils, managerial practices

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Authors: L. Vujičić, Ž. Ivković, Ž. Boneta

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There is a widespread belief in everyday discourse that science subjects (physics, chemistry and biology) are, along with math, the most difficult school subjects in the education of an individual. This assumption is usually justified by the following facts: low GPA in these subjects, the number of pupils who fail these subjects is high in comparison to other subjects, and the number of pupils interested in continuing their studies in the fields with a focus on science subjects is lower compared to non-science-oriented fields. From that perspective, the project: “Could it be different? How do children explore it?” becomes extremely interesting because it is focused on young children and on the introduction of new methods, with aim of arousing interest in scientific literacy development in 10 kindergartens by applying the methodology of an action research, with an ethnographic approach. We define scientific literacy as a process of encouraging and nurturing the research and explorative spirit in children, as well as their natural potential and abilities that represent an object of scientific research: to learn about exploration by conducting exploration. Upon project completion, an evaluation questionnaire was created for the parents of the children who had participated in the project, as well as for those whose children had not been involved in the project. The purpose of the first questionnaire was to examine the level of satisfaction with the project implementation and its outcomes among those parents whose children had been involved in the project (N=142), while the aim of the second questionnaire was to find out how much the parents of the children not involved (N=154) in this activity were interested in this topic.

Keywords: documenting, early childhood education, evaluation questionnaire for parents, scientific literacy development

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Authors: D. Hilton

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The importance and significance of this research is based upon the fundamental knowledge reported in the scientific literature that physical activity is inversely associated with obesity. In addition, it is recognized there is a global epidemic of sedentariness while at the same time it is known that morbidity and mortality are associated with physical inactivity and as a result of overweight or obesity. Hence this small study in school students is an important area of research in our community. An application submitted in 2005 for the inaugural Public Health Education Research Trust [PHERT] Post Graduate Research Scholarship scheme organized by the Public Health Association of Australia [PHAA] was awarded 3rd place within Australia. The author and title was: D. Hilton, Methods to increase physical activity in school aged children [literature review, a trial using pedometers and a policy paper]. Third place is a good result, however this did not secure funding for the project, as only first place received $5000 funding. Some years later within Australia, a program commenced called the Global Children's Challenge [GCC]. Given details of the 2005 award above were included an application submission prepared for Parkhill Primary School [PPS] which is located in Victoria, Australia was successful. As a result, an excited combined grade 3/ 4 class at the school [27 students] in 2012 became recipients of these free pedometers. Ambassadors for the program were Mrs Catherine Freeman [OAM], Olympic Gold Medalist – Sydney 2000 [400 meters], while another ambassador was Mr Colin Jackson [CBE] who is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete. In terms of PPS and other schools involved in 2012, website details show that the event started on 19th Sep 2012 and students were to wear the pedometer every day for 50 days [at home and at school] aiming for the recommended 15,000 steps/day recording steps taken in a booklet provided. After the finish, an analysis of the average step count for this school showed that the average steps taken / day was 14, 003 [however only a small percentage of students returned the booklets and units] as unfortunately the dates for the program coincided with school holidays so some students either forgot or misplaced the units / booklets. Unfortunately funding for this program ceased in 2013, however the lasting impact of the trial on student’s knowledge and awareness remains and in fact becomes a good grounding for students in how to monitor basic daily physical activity using a method that is easy, fun, low cost and readily accessible.

Keywords: walking, physical activity, exercise, Australian school

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Authors: Natalia Banasik

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Comprehension of verbal irony is an example of pragmatic competence in understanding figurative language. The knowledge of how it develops may shed new light on the understanding of social and communicative competence that is crucial for one's effective functioning in the society. Researchers agree it is a competence that develops late in a child’s development. One of the abilities that seems crucial for irony comprehension is theory of mind (ToM), that is the ability to understand that others may have beliefs, desires and intentions different from one’s own. Although both theory of mind and irony comprehension require the ability to understand the figurative use of the false description of the reality, the exact relationship between them is still unknown. Also, even though irony comprehension in children has been studied for over thirty years, the results of the studies are inconsistent as to the age when this competence are acquired. The presented study aimed to answer questions about the developmental trajectories of irony comprehension and ascribing function to ironic utterances by preschool children. Specifically, we were interested in how it is related to the development of ToM and how comprehension of the function of irony changes with age. Data was collected from over 150 monolingual, Polish-speaking children and (so far) thirty bilingual children speaking Polish and English who live in the US. Four-, five- and six-year-olds were presented with a story comprehension task in the form of audio and visual stimuli programmed in the E-prime software (pre-recorded narrated stories, some of which included ironic utterances, and pictures accompanying the stories displayed on a touch screen). Following the presentation, the children were then asked to answer a series of questions. The questions checked the children’s understanding of the intended utterance meaning, evaluation of the degree to which it was funny and evaluation of how nice the speaker was. The children responded by touching the screen, which made it possible to measure reaction times. Additionally, the children were asked to explain why the speaker had uttered the ironic statement. Both quantitive and qualitative analyses were applied. The results of our study indicate that for irony recognition there is a significant difference among the three age groups, but what is new is that children as young as four do understand the real meaning behind the ironic statement as long as the utterance is not grammtically or lexically complex also, there is a clear correlation of ToM and irony comprehension. Although four-year olds and six-year olds understand the real meaning of the ironic utterance, it is not earlier than at the age of six when children start to explain the reason of using this marked form of expression. They talk about the speaker's intention to tell a joke, be funny, or to protect the listener's emotions. There are also some metalinguistic references, such as "mommy sometimes says things that don't make sense and this is called a metaphor".

Keywords: child's pragmatics, figurative speech, irony comprehension in children, theory of mind and irony

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Authors: Dalila Lino

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The power of play for learning and development in early childhood education is beyond question. The main goal of this study is to analyse how three contemporary early childhood pedagogical approaches, the High Scope, the Modern School Movement (MEM) and the Pedagogy of Participation integrate play in their curriculum development. From this main goal the following objectives emerged: (i) to characterize how play is integrated in the daily routine of the pedagogical approaches under study; (ii) to analyse the teachers’ role during children’s playing situations; (iii) to identify the types of play that children are more often involved. The methodology used is the qualitative approach and is situated under the interpretative paradigm. Data is collected through semi-structured interviews to 30 preschool teachers and through observations of typical daily routines. The participants are 30 Portuguese preschool classrooms attending children from 3 to 6 years and working with the High Scope curriculum (10 classrooms), the MEM (10 classrooms) and the Pedagogy of Participation (10 classrooms). The qualitative method of content analysis was used to analyse the data. To ensure confidentiality, no information is disclosed without participants' consent, and the interviews were transcribed and sent to the participants for a final revision. The results show that there are differences how play is integrated and promoted in the three pedagogical approaches. The teachers’ role when children are at play varies according the pedagogical approach adopted, and also according to the teachers’ understanding about the meaning of play. The study highlights the key role that early childhood curriculum models have to promote opportunities for children to play, and therefore to be involved in meaningful learning.

Keywords: curriculum models, early childhood education, pedagogy, play

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Authors: Naglaa Baskhroun Thabet Wasef

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Specific education services for students with Autism remains in its early developmental stages in Egypt. In spite of many more children with autism are attending schools since The Egyptian government introduced the Education Provision for Students with Disabilities Act in 2010, the services students with autism and their families receive are generally not enough. This pointed study used Attitude and Reaction to Teach Students with Autism Scale to investigate 50 primary school teachers’ attitude and reaction to teach students with autism in the general education classroom. Statistical analysis of the data found that student behavior was the most noticeable factor in building teachers’ wrong attitudes students with autism. The minority of teachers also indicated that their service education did not prepare them to meet the learning needs of children with autism in special, those who are non-vocal. The study is descriptive and provides direction for increasing teacher awareness for inclusivity in Egypt.

Keywords: attitude, autism, teachers, sports activates, movement skills, motor skills, autism attitude

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Authors: Sunanta Klibthong

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Inclusive education services for students with Autism remains in its early developmental stages in Thailand. Despite many more children with autism are attending schools since the Thai government introduced the Education Provision for People with Disabilities Act in 2008, the services students with autism and their families receive are generally lacking. This quantitative study used Attitude and Preparedness to Teach Students with Autism Scale (APTSAS) to investigate 110 primary school teachers’ attitude and preparedness to teach students with autism in the general education classroom. Descriptive statistical analysis of the data found that student behaviour was the most significant factor in building teachers’ negative attitudes students with autism. The majority of teachers also indicated that their pre-service education did not prepare them to meet the learning needs of children with autism in particular, those who are non-verbal. The study is significant and provides direction for enhancing teacher education for inclusivity in Thailand.

Keywords: attitude, autism, teachers, Thailand

Procedia PDF Downloads 276