Daniela Bulgarelli

Emotion understanding: A cross-cultural comparison between Italian and German preschoolers

Italy and Germany belong to the Latin and the Germanic cultural cluster, respectively, and show, e.g., diverse languages, religious practices, rearing styles, and socialization goals. Given potential cultural differences in the developmental goals of independence and interdependence, the present work sought to explore developmental differences between Italian and German 3–6-year-old childrens understanding of emotion assessed by the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC). On average, Italian (n = 114) compared to German (n = 108) preschoolers mastered more TEC components at the ages 3 and 5. On component level, however, the samples only differed on the component Hiding: more Italian compared to German preschoolers understood that expressed and felt emotion may differ. Cultural differences within the Western industrial world thus likely relate to specific components rather than overall competence. Results will be discussed in relation to cultural belonging, controlling for maternal educational level, presence of siblings, and multilingualism.

Factorial structure of the 'ToM Storybooks': A test evaluating multiple components of Theory of Mind.

This study examined the factorial structure of the Theory of Mind (ToM) Storybooks, a comprehensive 93-item instrument tapping the five components in Wellmans model of ToM (emotion recognition, understanding of desire and beliefs, ability to distinguish between physical and mental entities, and awareness of the link between perception and knowledge). A sample of 681 three- to eight-year-old Italian children was divided into three age groups to assess whether factorial structure varied across different age ranges. Partial credit model analysis was applied to the data, leading to the empirical identification of 23 composite variables aggregating the ToM Storybooks items. Confirmatory factor analysis was then conducted on the composite variables, providing support for the theoretical model. There were partial differences in the specific composite variables making up the dimensions for each of the three age groups. A single test evaluating distinct dimensions of ToM is a valuable resource for clinical practice which may be used to define differential profiles for specific populations.

Mainstream robotic toys and children with physical impairment: what about playfulness?

Although play is recognized as the main drive for the childs physical, cognitive and social development, it is first of all a unique source of pleasure, fun and recreation. Playfulness, the individual intrinsic involvement in play has been described as a measurable characteristic of these aspects of play. Play and playfulness can be limited in children with physical impairment (PI) and robotic toys might offer good options and opportunities for playing. Five robotic toys of the mainstream market were proposed to seven children with PI to verify their playfulness and their usability. Playfulness was coded according to the Test of Playfulness (Bundy & Skard, 1997). Results show that all the robots were playful and interesting to the children; however, the role of the adult expert play companion proved crucial both as assistive agent and as a scaffolding partner, to assure a high level of playfulness to the play activity. A first discussion proposal of the results on the basis of the playfulness construct and of their constituent elements is presented, with the aim of laying the foundations for new reflections and deepening studies in the field of play and children with disabilities.

Role of age and IQ in emotion understanding in Autism Spectrum Disorder: implications for educational interventions

Abstract Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by impairments in social communication and social cognition. Difficulties in emotion understanding, from emotion recognition to emotion regulation are common features that can affect the inclusion process. One outstanding question is the extent to which age and IQ affect such impairments. The effect of IQ and age on emotion understanding was estimated in 55 children with ASD aged between 5 and 10 and with IQ ranging from 70 to 130. Emotion understanding and non-verbal cognitive ability were assessed, respectively, with the Test of Emotion Comprehension and the Leiter-R scale. The majority of participants scored significantly lower on the TEC compared to the normative sample. Performance compared against norms decreased with age and improved with increasing IQ; children with ‘borderline cognitive functioning’ performed significantly worse than children with ‘normative cognitive functioning’. Emotion understanding skills in children with ASD are affected by cognitive level and age. Implications for educational interventions are discussed.

Play Development in Children with Disabilities

The principal objective of this book is to bring the LUDI contribution to the important topic of play in children with disabilities, because today an international consensus on the definition of play and disabilities is still lacking. The process of ensuring equity in the exercise of the right to play for children with disabilites requests three actions: to approach this topic through a “common language”, at least all over Europe; to put play at the centre of the multidisciplinary research and intervention regarding the children with disabilities; to grant this topic the status of a scientific and social theme of full visibility and recognized authority.

Social Cognition in Preschoolers: Effects of Early Experience and Individual Differences

Social cognition is the way in which people process, remember, and use information in social contexts to explain and predict their own behavior and that of others. Children’s social cognition may be influenced by multiple factors, both external and internal to the child. In the current study, two aspects of social cognition were examined: Theory of Mind and Emotion Understanding. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of type of early care (0–3 years of age), maternal education, parents’ country of birth, and child’s language on the social cognition of 118 Italian preschoolers. To our knowledge, the joint effect of these variables on social cognition has not previously been investigated in the literature. The measures used to collect social cognition and linguistic data were not parent- or teacher-reports, but based on direct assessment of the children through two standardized tests, the Test of Emotion Comprehension and the ToM Storybooks. Relationships among the variables showed a complex pattern. Overall, maternal education and linguistic competence showed a systematic effect on social cognition; the linguistic competence mediated the effect of maternal education. In children who had experienced centre-base care in the first 3 years of life, the effect of maternal education disappeared, supporting the protective role of centre-base care for children with less educated mothers. The children with native and foreign parents did not significantly differ on the social cognition tasks. Limits of the study, possible educational outcomes and future research lines were discussed.

Observation-Projet: A Professional Tool for Caregivers. Two Experiences in Italian Day-Care Settings.

ABSTRACT Ability to reflect on practice is a key element of early childhood professionalism and is positively associated with the quality of educational services. Observation-Projet (Fontaine 2008, 2011b) is a method designed to support practitioners’ reflection through the observational process. The method adapts the required scientific procedures to the concrete demands faced by practitioners in their everyday activities. The article presents the results of two projects developed to teach the practitioners the use of Observation-Projet. The principal aim of Study 1 was to explore how the space was currently used by the children and to intervene on adults’ position to enhance childrens use of space. In Study 2, the caregivers chose to focus on the organisation of afternoon activities, a time of the day identified as difficult to manage, reducing the number of children per play group and better organising the type of activities offered to children. The results confirm both the intervention efficacy and the Observation-Projet effectiveness as an instrument for reflecting and intervening on educational contexts.

Children with Cerebral Palsy playing with mainstream robotic toys: playfulness and environmental supportiveness

Purpose: Play is a right for every child and has a key role in child development. Play can be analyzed according to the construct of playfulness, which is the child’s disposition to play. Children with cerebral palsy (CP) show difficulties in play and can also experience lower playfulness scores when compared to matched typically developing children. This paper analyses play and playfulness in children with CP using mainstream robotic toys with supporting adult play partners. Methodology: Five mainstream robotic toys were selected and used in play situations with six children with CP interacting with two adult partners. The play situations were coded through the Test of Playfulness (ToP) and the Test of Environmental Supportiveness (ToES), to analyze the role of robotic toys, adult partners and environment in supporting play and playfulness in children with CP. Results: The children obtained high ToP scores, showing that they were intrinsically motivated to be engaged in the play situations. The ToP scores weakly correlated with the ToES scores. To discuss this result, different features of each robot, the role of adults as scaffolder, and the space characteristics in supporting play are presented and discussed. Conclusion: This research field is new: to our knowledge, in the literature only one study focused on the use of one type of mainstream robotic toy to support the playfulness of children with CP. The parallel use of the ToP and the ToES was crucial to observe the complexity of the play situations and the role of playmates and toys during the play process. The role of the adult as play scaffolder has been important to mediate between the child with CP and the environment, toys included: the adult should be strongly aware of this role to better support the child in being in charge of the play situation. Further research is needed.

Playfulness. Criticità di un costrutto e della sua misurazione nel caso della disabilità

Lo studio correlazionale riporta alcuni risultati del progetto GioDi (2015-2016), in cui si e esplorato l’uso ludico di cinque giocattoli robotici del mercato comune con sette bambini con disabilita motoria (DM), che possono esperire limitazioni nel gioco. La Playfulness (Skard e Bundy, 2008) permette di distinguere attivita ludiche da attivita “ludiformi” (Visalberghi, 1958) che emergono quando il gioco e usato a fini riabilitativi o educativi, invece che “per il piacere del gioco”. Nello studio, i punteggi di Playfulness sono risultati alti: i robot hanno permesso di esperire attivita ludiche piacevoli e coinvolgenti per i bambini; tuttavia, il ruolo di scaffolding dei partner di gioco, l’accessibilita e l’usabilita dei robot e dei contesti sono risultati aspetti cruciali. Saranno discussi: la capacita dei giocattoli di sollecitare attivita ludiche playful con i bambini in interazione con adulti-scaffolder; il costrutto di Playfulness e il Test of Playfulness, utilizzato per la sua valutazione.