The impact of brief teacher training on classroom management and child behavior in at-risk preschool settings: Mediators and treatment utility

Teachers from fourteen classrooms were randomly assigned to an adaptation of Incredible Years (IY) teacher training or to teacher training-as-usual. Observations were made of the behavior of 136 target preschool boys and girls nominated by teachers as having many or few conduct problems. Peer and teacher behavior were observed at baseline and post training. IY training resulted in increases in teachers' positive and reductions in teachers' negative behavior relative to training as usual, in decreased peer negative behavior toward target children, and in decreased negative behavior of target children high on conduct problems. The impact of IY training on the behavior of target children was mediated by changes in peers' behavior with no direct effects of teacher behavior and differential effects for high and low conduct problem children. Teacher training focused on altering the whole classroom environment may be an effective strategy, even for children with significant conduct problems.     

Theory-based screening for prevention: Focusing on mediating processes in children of divorce

Prevention programs in mental health theoretically can benefit from selecting participants who have a greater likelihood of developing psychological problems because of their exposure to the putative mediators targeted for change in an intervention. Screening on mediators may increase statistical power to detect program effects, enhance the cost-effectiveness of intervention trials, and decrease the possibility of iatrogenic effects. The circumstances that optimize the strategy of screening on the basis of mediating variables are discussed, and data are presented to illustrate the development of a mediational selection strategy to identify families who might best benefit from a preventive intervention for children of divorce. In addition, we present evidence that adjustment problems for children experiencing a divorce, as with most mental health problems, are not the result of one specific factor, but are jointly determined by several mediating processes that occur subsequent to the divorce. The mediational selection strategy developed illustrates the utility of measuring a set of mediational processes central to conferring risk for mental health problems to children of divorce.     

Development of strategic skills in impulsive and reflective children: a longitudinal study of metacognition

This study examined the relationships between metamemory and strategic behavior in impulsive and reflective children. One hundred thirty children from the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades participated. Seventy-seven of these children had been tested 3 years earlier on metamemory and cognitive tempo tasks. At pretraining, children were assessed on metamemory, cognitive tempo, summarization skills, and teacher ratings of impulsive behavior in the classroom. Next, children in three experimental groups received prose summarization instructions, summarization instructions in conjunction with metacognitive training about the importance of a reflective approach to learning, or no instructions. Following training, children were again measured on tempo, summarization skills, and teacher ratings of impulsivity. Analyses of strategy maintenance data indicated superior performance for children who had received both summarization and metacognitive training. Causal modeling analyses showed that early metamemory was an antecedent of later strategy acquisition. The dual role of metacognition as a precursor of later strategy acquisition and controller of lower level strategies was highlighted.     

Facilitating referential communication among children: The listener as teacher

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that systematic variations in listener behavior can have an important influence on both speaker behavior and communicative success among children. In particular, we investigated the idea that systematic variations in listener behavior might have not only within-trial effects on the adequacy of speakers' messages and the accuracy of communication among children, but also cumulative effects on speakers' initial messages across trials. Effects of stimulus complexity were also examined. Pairs of 7- and 9-year-old children participated in a referential communication game, with the younger child serving as speaker and the older one as listener. Half of the listeners were given a plan for effective listening which emphasized the importance of asking questions if the speakers' messages were ambiguous. Replicating earlier findings, the plan manipulation was successful in encouraging listeners to ask questions when necessary. The major result was that listener questions not only had the expected trial-by-trial effect on message adequacy and communicative accuracy, but also showed a cumulative effect on speaker performance. When exposed to systematic listener feedback, speakers improved their initial messages over trials. Stimulus complexity was not a major determinant of performances. These findings suggest that provision of systematic listener feedback may be an effective method for teaching speaker skills to young children.     

Showing-off and aggression in young children

Showing off or display behavior of children has gained little attention in child psychology research, while in the ethological literature the same behavior is a well known phenomenon. To see what role display behavior plays in peer-peer interaction compared to threat and physical aggression, the behavior of 18 children between 3 and 6 years of age was recorded over an entire school year. The frequencies of display behavior, threat and physical aggression were examined and related to the amount of attention a child received from his peers. The attention-rank had proved to be highly related to leadership abilities as well as dominance in children. The results show interesting similarities between the frequency and temporal patterns of display and threat behavior and the attention children pay to each other. Furthermore, older children with more kindergarten experience as well as high status children show a different temporal pattern (high frequencies after holidays and low frequencies before) as well as a higher frequency of display and threat behavior than younger and low status children. Physical aggression is related to attention-rank but shows quite a different temporal pattern. It seems that display or showing off behavior serves as a strategy for children to get high regard in the group.     

Behavioral Telehealth Consultation with Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

In this study, desktop video teleconferencing was used to facilitate behavioral consultation at a distance with three parents of school‐age children with autism spectrum disorders. Parents were supported via desktop video teleconferencing as they conducted functional analyses and learned to implement an antecedent manipulation strategy, functional communication training, and a consequence‐based strategy. Parents then conducted a brief multi‐element treatment comparison to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of each intervention strategy on their child's challenging behavior. The results of this study provide additional support to previous research suggesting that a telehealth model of behavioral consultation may be an effective way to assist parents of children with autism spectrum disorders address challenging behavior that disrupts family routines. Suggestions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Age differences in the capacity demands of a strategy among spontaneously strategic children.

This study examined whether spontaneously strategic children from two age groups differed in the capacity required to execute a strategy. The strategic behavior of younger (grades K and 1) and older (grades 4 and 5) children (N = 104) was assessed on a selective memory task. Children selected objects to view from a larger pool of objects. The most mature strategy (i.e., selectivity) involves opening doors that reveal objects to be remembered and not opening those that do not. In a dual-task procedure in a second session, children performed a finger tapping task simultaneously with the selective strategy. The reduction of rate of finger tapping from the finger tapping baseline to the dual-task trials provided an assessment of the capacity required to execute the strategy. A control group followed the same procedure, but with a simpler door opening selective strategy. A significant age difference in the capacity required for the strategy, even among spontaneously strategic children, suggested that there is further development of strategies even after children spontaneously produce them. Results were discussed in terms of increased strategy effectiveness during development.     

The development of organizational strategies in children: evidence from a microgenetic longitudinal study

The authors examined memory on a sort-recall task in children 8 to 12 years of age. Children were first classified as either strategic or nonstrategic on a sort-recall pretest and then participated in an 11-week microgenetic study involving nine sessions. Strategy use was assessed on each trial. Consistent with past longitudinal research, changes from nonstrategic to strategic behavior occurred suddenly rather than gradually. Once children began using organizational strategies, their recall performance improved immediately. Deliberate strategy use was clearly reflected by sorting behavior during encoding but not in clustering during recall. Conclusions about whether there are children with utilization deficiencies are thus affected by how the concept is defined and whether sorting or clustering is taken as the indicator of spontaneous strategy use.     

COMBINING NONCONTINGENT REINFORCEMENT AND DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES AS TREATMENT FOR ABERRANT BEHAVIOR

Research has shown that noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) can be an effective behavior-reduction procedure when based on a functional analysis. The effects of NCR may be a result of elimination of the contingency between aberrant behavior and reinforcing consequences (extinction) or frequent and free access to reinforcers that may reduce the participant's motivation to engage in aberrant behaviors or mands. If motivation is momentarily reduced, behavior such as mands may not be sensitive to positive reinforcement. In this study, for 3 children with aberrant behavior maintained by tangible positive reinforcement, differential-reinforcement-of-alternative-behavior schedules were superimposed on NCR schedules to determine if mands could be strengthened. Results for the participants indicated that NCR did not preclude reinforcement of mands.     

儿童经济现象认知的研究进展

经济现象广泛存在于社会生活,对经济现象的认知是儿童社会认知的重要组成部分。儿童对经济现象的认知包括对基本经济概念、经济原则、经济规律和经济行为的认知等。研究表明,儿童对基本经济概念的理解随着年龄的增长而不断发展,但是受环境和经验因素的影响,存在跨文化的差异。儿童对不同经济概念理解的发展是不同步的。儿童可能很早就出现对基本经济概念内隐性的理解。儿童对经济原则和经济规律的理解也是随着年龄的增长而不断发展的,并且和他们对基本经济概念的理解息息相关。储蓄行为是一种重要的经济行为。12岁的儿童能够理解储蓄的多重目的,并仍处于发展之中。     

Independent contributions of the central executive, intelligence, and in-class attentive behavior to developmental change in the strategies used to solve addition problems

Children's (N=275) use of retrieval, decomposition (e.g., 7=4+3 and thus 6+7=6+4+3), and counting to solve additional problems was longitudinally assessed from first grade to fourth grade, and intelligence, working memory, and in-class attentive behavior was assessed in one or several grades. The goal was to assess the relation between capacity of the central executive component of working memory, controlling for intelligence and in-class attentive behavior, and grade-related changes in children's use of these strategies. The predictor on intercept effects from multilevel models revealed that children with higher central executive capacity correctly retrieved more facts and used the most sophisticated counting procedure more frequently and accurately than their lower capacity peers at the beginning of first grade, but the predictor on slope effects indicated that this advantage disappeared (retrieval) or declined in importance (counting) from first grade to fourth grade. The predictor on slope effects also revealed that from first grade to fourth grade, children with higher capacity adopted the decomposition strategy more quickly than other children. The results remained robust with controls for children's sex, race, school site, speed of encoding Arabic numerals and articulating number words, and mathematics achievement in kindergarten. The results also revealed that intelligence and in-class attentive behavior independently contributed to children's strategy development.     

Making decisions with the future in mind: Developmental and comparative identification of mental time travel

Mechanisms that produce behavior which increase future survival chances provide an adaptive advantage. The flexibility of human behavior is at least partly the result of one such mechanism, our ability to travel mentally in time and entertain potential future scenarios. We can study mental time travel in children using language. Current results suggest that key developments occur between the ages of three to five. However, linguistic performance can be misleading as language itself is developing. We therefore advocate the use of methodologies that focus on future-oriented action. Mental time travel required profound changes in humans’ motivational system, so that current behavior could be directed to secure not just present, but individually anticipated future needs. Such behavior should be distinguishable from behavior based on current drives, or on other mechanisms. We propose an experimental paradigm that provides subjects with an opportunity to act now to satisfy a need not currently experienced. This approach may be used to assess mental time travel in nonhuman animals. We conclude by describing a preliminary study employing an adaptation of this paradigm for children.     

What Are the Effects of a Parent-Implemented Verbal Responsive Intervention on Preschoolers With Externalizing Behavior Problems?

This research was conducted to assess the impact of a parent-based verbal responsive intervention, aiming to enhance parents’ responsiveness and communication strategies, by way of a sample of parents and their preschool-aged children with a clinical level of externalizing behavior problems. Twenty-one parents received the intervention, consisting of eight 1.5-hour sessions. The study tested the hypothesis that the intervention led to an improvement in parenting variables and a decrease in children’s behavior problems, assessed by a multimethod procedure. The results partially confirmed the prediction, as they showed an enhancement of parents’ responsiveness and parent self-efficacy belief, which are promising findings, but no modifications of negative practices. These effects persisted for 4 months after the intervention. Moreover, a decrease in children’s externalizing behavior problems was reported by parents in a questionnaire, but this was not confirmed by an observational paradigm. This last result seems to show that a parent-implemented verbal responsive intervention is necessary for some children with externalizing behavior difficulties but often insufficient, and has to be part of a multidisciplinary treatment approach.     

Child Discipline and Conservative Protestantism: Why the Relationship Between Corporal Punishment and Child Behavior Problems May Vary by Religious Context

Using data on 1,214 families from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this study explored why and under what conditions parental conservative Protestant affiliation moderates the relationship between corporal punishment and children??s problem behavior. Previous scholars suggest that children raised by conservative Protestants may be less likely to experience negative outcomes associated with corporal punishment due to (1) adherence to guidelines that may minimize the risk of harm from corporal punishment, and (2) corporal punishment being used as part of a consistent parenting strategy. This study extended previous research by testing these hypotheses. Overall, corporal punishment was associated with increased externalizing and internalizing problem behavior among children. However, there was some support for our hypotheses. Specifically, children raised by conservative Protestant parents were less likely to display problem behavior if only the father spanked and if the father spanked infrequently, and were less likely to display externalizing behavior only if both parents were conservative Protestant.     

Phonological decoding or direct access? Regularity effects in lexical decisions of Grade 3 and 4 children

Learning to read fluently involves moving from an effortful phonological decoding strategy to automatic recognition of familiar words. However, little is known about the timing of this transition, or the extent to which children continue to be influenced by phonological factors when recognizing words even as they progress in reading. We explored this question by examining regularity effects in a lexical decision task, as opposed to the more traditionally used reading-aloud task. Children in Grades 3 and 4 made go/no-go lexical decisions on high- and low-frequency regular and irregular words that had been matched for consistency. The children showed regularity effects in their accuracy for low-frequency words, indicating that they were using phonological decoding strategies to recognize unfamiliar words. The size of this effect was correlated with measures of reading ability. However, we found no regularity effects on accuracy for high-frequency words or on response times for either word type, suggesting that even 8-year-old children are already relying predominantly on a direct lexical strategy in their silent reading of familiar words.     

PEER TUTORING FOR CHILDREN WITH ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER: EFFECTS ON CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

We investigated the effects of classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) on the classroom behavior and academic performance of students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Typical instructional activities were contrasted with CWPT for 18 children with ADHD and 10 peer comparison students attending first- through fifth-grade general education classes. CWPT led to increases in active engagement in academic tasks along with reductions in off-task behavior for most participants. Of students with ADHD, 50% exhibited improvements in academic performance in math or spelling during CWPT conditions, as measured by a treatment success index. Participating teachers and students reported a high level of satisfaction with intervention procedures. Our results suggest that peer tutoring appears to be an effective strategy for addressing the academic and behavioral difficulties associated with ADHD in general education settings.     

EFFECTS OF CAFFEINE ON CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR,SUSTAINED ATTENTION,AND A MEMORY TASK IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

The effects of caffeine on the behavior of young children is an important issue, as children in our society consume considerable amounts of caffeine, primarily in soft drinks. This study investigated the effects of normative amounts of caffeine on the behavior of 6 normal children in a kindergarten setting. Using a reversal design, counterbalanced for order of conditions, children's behavior was examined during a baseline condition, a caffeinated beverage condition, and a noncaffeinated beverage condition. Measures included direct observation of off-task and gross motor activity, actometer readings of movement, a Continuous Performance Test, a Paired Associates Learning Test, and teacher ratings of classroom behavior. Results suggest that caffeine exerts only small and inconsistent effects on the classroom behavior of kindergarten children. These results cast doubt on the importance of caffeine as a variable controlling the classroom behavior of normal kindergartners.     

日常烦恼与农村留守儿童的偏差行为：亲子亲合的作用

以来自河南省农村的207名农村留守儿童为被试,主要探讨流动养育者、留守养育者与儿童间的亲合水平在降低儿童偏差行为上的直接作用及其对日常烦恼与偏差行为之间关系的调节作用。结果表明:(1)儿童经历的日常烦恼越多,其偏差行为越高;流动养育者、留守养育者与儿童的亲合水平越高,农村留守儿童的偏差行为越低。(2)流动养育者-儿童亲合能够显著调节日常烦恼与儿童偏差行为之间的关系,表现出了压力抵抗效应:在低亲合条件下,日常烦恼与偏差行为之间存在显著正相关;在高亲合条件下,二者之间的关联不再显著。(3)留守养育者-儿童亲合能够显著调节日常烦恼与偏差行为之间的关系,在单亲外出儿童群体中表现出了保护稳定性,在双亲外出儿童群体中表现出了保护的扩大化。这表明,养育者与儿童之间的紧密情感联系是降低农村留守儿童偏差行为的重要保护因素。     

Teaching communicative alternatives to socially withdrawn behavior: An investigation in maintaining treatment effects

This study examined the effectiveness of a contextual intervention strategy paired with an existing packaged intervention on the ability to produce increased and durable social involvement among children who displayed socially withdrawn behavior and their peers. Using a multiple baseline design across three socially withdrawn subjects, results indicated that the combination intervention effectively increased social interactions. Results also indicated that the effects of the intervention maintained two months after intervention termination. General implications for the use of the contextual intervention strategy to produce durable treatment outcomes are discussed.     

THE EFFECTS OF SEVERE BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN ON THE TEACHING BEHAVIOR OF ADULTS

Applied behavior analysts have focused on how adults can influence the problem behavior of children using a variety of behavior modification strategies. A related question, virtually unexplored, is how the behavior problems of children influence adults. This child-effects concept was explored empirically in a study involving 12 adults who were asked to teach four pairs of children in which one member of the pair exhibited problem behavior and the other typically did not. Results demonstrated that problem children displayed tantrums, aggression, and self-injury contingent on adult instructional attempts but not at other times, whereas nonproblem children showed little or no problem behavior at any time. Importantly, from a child-effects perspective, adults engaged in teaching activities with nonproblem children more often than with problem children. Also, when an adult worked with a problem child, the breadth of instruction was more limited and typically involved those tasks associated with lower rates of behavior problems. The implications of these results are discussed with respect to theories of escape behavior, current assessment practices, and intervention issues related to maintenance. The existence of child effects suggests that problem behavior may be better understood when it is conceptualized as involving a process of reciprocal influence between adult and child.