To compare children's socialized behavior to parents and nonparental agents, this study examined self-regulated compliance to mothers and caregivers--an early form of internalization--in 90 toddlers, half of whom were also observed with fathers. Adults were observed in play, teaching, and discipline sessions with the child and were interviewed on child-rearing philosophies. Child cognition and emotion regulation were assessed, and naturalistic observations were conducted at child-care locations. Mean-level and rank-order stability were found in child compliance to the 3 adults. Child emotion regulation and adult warm control in a discipline situation were related to self-regulated compliance to the mother, caregiver, and father. Compliance to parents correlated with parental sensitivity and philosophies, and compliance to the caregiver correlated with child cognition and social involvement when child-care quality was controlled. Maternal sensitivity and warm control discipline predicted compliance to the caregiver but not vice versa. Results are consistent with theoretical positions on the generalization of socialization from the mother to nonmaternal agents.

The researchers addressed two questions: (1) Does maternal reading mediation and family home literacy environment (HLE) relate to childrenÕs emergent literacy (EL) level? and (2) Do the relationships among these variables differ as a function of socioeconomic strata (SES) level. A total of 94 5-6-year-old children, 47 from low SES (LSES) and 47 from high (HSES) families, and their mothers participated. Mother-child interactions while reading an unfamiliar book were videotaped and their verbal expressions were coded for extracting maternal mediation level. ChildrenÕs independent EL level was assessed prior to the interaction. Compared with the LSES group, HSES children showed higher EL levels and their homes had a richer literacy environment. Maternal mediation level differed by SES: LSES mothers paraphrased text more often; HSES mothersÕ higher mediation level included a discussion of the written system and making connections beyond the text. In the HSES group, maternal mediation level and HLE related to childrenÕs EL; no such relationships appeared in the LSES group. Results are discussed in terms of childrenÕs socio-economic background and their reading experiences. Implications for researchers and educational practices about the relationships between childrenÕs literacy development, SES, HLE, and parental mediation are discussed.

Objective To evaluate if mediational intervention for sensitizing caregivers (MISC) MISC biweekly caregiver training significantly enhanced child development, compared with biweekly training on health and nutrition (active control) and to evaluate whether MISC training improved the emotional well-being of the caregivers compared with controls. Study design Sixty of 120 rural Ugandan preschool child/caregiver dyads with HIV were assigned by randomized clusters to biweekly MISC training alternating between home and clinic for one year. Control dyads received a health and nutrition curriculum. Children were evaluated at baseline, 6 months, and 1 year with the Mullen Early Learning Scales and the Color-Object Association Test (COAT) for memory. Caldwell HOME and videotaped child/caregiver MISC interactions also were evaluated. Caregivers were evaluated for depression and anxiety with the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist. Results Between-group repeated-measures ANCOVA comparisons were made with age, sex, CD4 levels, viral load, material SES, physical development, and HAART treatment status as covariates. The children given MISC had significantly greater gains compared with controls on the Mullen Visual Reception scale (visual-spatial memory) and on COAT memory. MISC caregivers significantly improved on HOME scale and total frequency of MISC videotaped interactions. MISC caregivers also were less depressed. Mortality was less for children given MISC compared with controls during the training year. Conclusions MISC was effective in teaching Ugandan caregivers to enhance their children’s cognitive development through practical and sustainable techniques applied during daily interactions in the home.

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The effects of electronic book (e-book) and printed book reading on children's emergent reading with and without adult instruction were investigated. One hundred twenty-eight 5-to 6-year-old kindergarten children from low SES families were randomly assigned to one of four groups (32 children each):(1) independently reading the e-book (EB); (2) reading the e-book with adult instruction (EBI); (3) reading the printed book with adult instruction (PBI); and (4) receiving the regular kindergarten program (control). The three intervention groups included four book-reading sessions each. Pre-and post-intervention emergent reading measures included concept about print (CAP), word reading, and phonological awareness. The results showed that the EBI group achieved greater progress in word reading and CAP than all other groups. The EBI group also achieved greater progress in phonological awareness than the EB and the control groups. Implications for future research and for educators are discussed.

Objective Mediational intervention for sensitizing caregivers (MISC) is a structured program enabling caregivers to enhance their child’s cognitive and emotional development through daily interactions. The principal aim was to evaluate if a year-long MISC caregiver training program produced greater improvement in child cognitive and emotional development compared with a control program. Methods 119 uninfected HIV-exposed preschool children and their caregivers were randomly assigned to one of two treatment arms: biweekly MISC training alternating between home and clinic for one year or a health and nutrition curriculum. All children were evaluated at baseline, 6 months, and 1 year with the Mullen Early Learning Scales, Color-Object Association Test (COAT) for memory, and Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) for psychiatric symptoms. Caregivers were evaluated on the same schedule with the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL-25) for depression and anxiety. Results The treatment arms were compared using repeated-measures ANCOVA with child age, gender, weight, SES, caregiving quality, caregiver anxiety, and caregiver education as covariates. The MISC children had significantly greater gains compared to controls on the Mullen Receptive and Expressive Language development, and on the Mullen composite score of cognitive ability. COAT total memory for MISC children was marginally better than controls. No CBCL differences between the groups were noted. Caldwell HOME scores and observed mediational interaction scores from videotapes measuring caregiving quality also improved significantly more for the MISC group. Conclusion MISC enhanced cognitive performance, especially in language development. These benefits were possibly mediated by improved caregiving and positive emotional benefit to the caregiver.

The objectives of the current study were (a) to develop a measure of children's analogical thinking modifiability (CATM) based on the Feuerstein, Rand, and Hoffman (1979) theory of dynamic assessment of cognitive modifiability, (b) to compare the performance of groups assumed to be differentially modified by intervention, (c) to compare CATM performance with performance on a conventional test, and (d) to study qualitative changes after a learning process. Subjects were disadvantaged, regular, and special education kindergarten children (N = 140), and mentally retarded children (N = 20). The CATM was administered together with the Ravens Colored Progressive Matrices (RCPM) in a balanced order. Disadvantaged and regular children achieved higher gain scores than other groups in both none-or-all and partial credit methods (p less than .01). The MR and the special education groups showed small gains according to the none-or-all credit method; however, according to the partial credit method, the MR group showed high gains and the special education group a performance decrease. Performance scores on the CATM were higher than on the RCPM, especially in comparison to the B8-B12 items--differences reach a peak of 61% and 67% for the disadvantaged and regular groups, respectively. Qualitative analysis indicated that form mistakes were most resistant to change, whereas color mistakes were most easy to modify. Results were explained within Feuerstein's theoretical framework of cognitive modifiability. Impaired cognitive functions as well as analytic versus synthetic processes were suggested to explain group differences.

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