Playing with others: Head Start children's peer play and relations with kindergarten school competence

Abstract

Time-sampled observations of Head Start preschoolers' (N = 264; 51.5% boys; 76% Mexican American; M = 53.11 and SD = 6.15 months of age) peer play in the classroom were gathered during fall and spring semesters. One year later, kindergarten teachers rated these children's school competence. Latent growth models indicated that, on average, children's peer play was moderately frequent and increased over time during preschool. Children with higher initial levels or with higher slopes of peer play in Head Start had higher levels of kindergarten school competence. Results suggest that Head Start children's engagement with peers may foster development of skills that help their transition into formal schooling. These findings highlight the importance of peer play, and suggest that peer play in Head Start classrooms contributes to children's adaptation to the demands of formal schooling.

Localized Parent-Child Play Therapy Interaction and Decreasing Clinical Symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Affected Preschool Children

“…In this play therapy program, using Gurney approach (a combination of family therapy and child-centered play therapy), the researcher was not only able to enjoy the results of action research, but also study the effects of indigenous games in the form of Gurney approach (the customized play therapy training package), on the parents of ADHD preschoolers. The findings of the present study were in line with those of various related studies, including Pearson (2008), Nair, Yusof, and Arumugam (2014), Yang, Tai, Yang, and Gau (2013), Halperin, and Healey (2011), Barkley (2013), Vural, Akkaya, Küçükparlak, Ercan, and Eracar (2014), Eggum-Wilkens et al (2014). These studies showed that play therapy increases the family's positive performance and decreases clinical symptoms of ADHD.…”

“…The developmental abilities and compatibility of children who had participated in the head start program and played with their peers had increased (Eggum-Wilkens et al, 2014). Using the intervention program of behavior therapy of parents of preschool children with ADHD (Huang et al, 2009) reduces parents' internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in the posttest step.…”

Learning areas for holistic education: kindergarten teachers’ curriculum priorities, professional development needs, and beliefs

“…According to compelling ECE research studies (e.g., Eggum-Wilkens et al 2014;Gmitrová and Gmitrov 2003), the framework argued that children learn best in supportive environments that encourage exploration and discovery through play and interaction. This perspective was in stark contrast with the tradition of many kindergartens in Singapore, whose main goal was to prepare students for the Primary One curriculum (Khoo 2010).…”

Pedagogic conditions of health saving functioning organization of comprehensive educational estableshment’s headmaster

“…Iermakova [6,7], О.М. Ionova [8][9][10][11][12][13], М. Knyazieva [14], L. Melnichuk [16], Eggum-Wilkens N.D. [23], Halle T.G. [25] concerning role of administrator in increasing of educational-teaching process's effectiveness.…”