Donna Berthelsen

Impact of Music Therapy to Promote Positive Parenting and Child Development

The effectiveness of a 10-week group music therapy program for marginalized parents and their children aged 0—5 years was examined. Musical activities were used to promote positive parent—child relationships and childrens behavioral, communicative and social development. Participants were 358 parents and children from families facing social disadvantage, young parents or parents of a child with a disability. Significant improvements were found for therapist-observed parent and child behaviors, and parent-reported irritable parenting, educational activities in the home, parent mental health and child communication and social play skills. This study provides evidence of the potential effectiveness of music therapy for early intervention.

Socioeconomic inequality profiles in physical and developmental health from 0–7 years: Australian National Study

Background Early and persistent exposure to socioeconomic disadvantage impairs childrens health and wellbeing. However, it is unclear at what age health inequalities emerge or whether these relationships vary across ages and outcomes. We address these issues using cross-sectional Australian population data on the physical and developmental health of children at ages 0–1, 2–3, 4–5 and 6–7 years. Methods 10 physical and developmental health outcomes were assessed in 2004 and 2006 for two cohorts each comprising around 5000 children. Socioeconomic position was measured as a composite of parental education, occupation and household income. Results Lower socioeconomic position was associated with increased odds for poor outcomes. For physical health outcomes and socio-emotional competence, associations were similar across age groups and were consistent with either threshold effects (for poor general health, special healthcare needs and socio-emotional competence) or gradient effects (for illness with wheeze, sleep problems and injury). For socio-emotional difficulties, communication, vocabulary and emergent literacy, stronger socioeconomic associations were observed. The patterns were linear or accelerated and varied across ages. Conclusions From very early childhood, social disadvantage was associated with poorer outcomes across most measures of physical and developmental health and showed no evidence of either strengthening or attenuating at older compared to younger ages. Findings confirm the importance of early childhood as a key focus for health promotion and prevention efforts.

Childcare workers’ and centre directors’ beliefs about infant childcare quality and professional training

While there has been extensive research exploring quality in childcare programs for children older than three years, less attention has been directed to the nature of infants’ experiences in centre‐based childcare programs. In this study, six childcare workers and six centre directors located in centre‐based childcare programs in metropolitan Australia were interviewed about their beliefs about quality care and training for infants. In each of the participating centres, the infant programs were also observed using an observational measure that focused on the nature of adult–infant interactions. Both centre directors and childcare workers expressed beliefs that quality in infant care was related to affective dimensions (e.g. care, love, attention) and programming for infants’ learning and development. They also expressed views that infant care training should have a strong practical focus to provide the necessary knowledge and skills for interacting with infants. Only centre directors discussed beliefs about quality programming explicitly in terms of the impact on infants’ learning. Further, the centre directors were more likely to reflect on the nature of staff learning when engaged in infant care training programs. Implications for training are discussed.

Developing Relational Epistemology Through Relational Pedagogy: New Ways of Thinking About Personal Epistemology in Teacher Education

Personal epistemology research over the past few decades has helped us to understand better the nature of effective learning and teaching in teacher education. However, personal epistemology has been based predominantly on psychological frameworks in which knowledge and beliefs are individually constructed. In this chapter, we present a social constructivist perspective on the development of epistemological beliefs in which beliefs are constructed through interactions with social and learning contexts. We argue for the term “relational epistemology” to be used rather than “personal epistemology” to better reflect the role that external and internal relations play in the social construction of epistemological beliefs. From this framework, we then report on research into early childhood professionals’ beliefs that provide new ways of thinking about the referential and structural dimensions of relational epistemology and how these might be facilitated using an extended model of relational pedagogy in teacher education.

Respecting Children's Agency for Learning and Rights to Participation in Child Care Programs.

SummaryThe rights of participation for children in child care programs have not received strong attention. This is because the primary purpose of such programs is not to serve the needs of children. Government in many western countries support and promote child care primarily to serve economic imperatives related to parental participation in employment. The nature of many child care programs act against the recognition of the rights of young children in these institutional settings unless adults appreciate that children are agents of their own learning. This paper reports an empirical analysis of child care workers’ understandings of toddlers’ learning, within centre-based child care programs. The analyses draw on responses from 21 child care workers to questions about how children learn, how they know when children have learnt something, and examples of learning by young children which they had observed in their practice. The analyses provide insight into child care practices as the child care workers explain their experiences and understandings about children’s learning. The analyses revealed a sense of mutual engagement in learning between adults and children. Children’s participation is encouraged by collaboration between adults and children, shared understandings, and adult respect for children’s autonomy and independence.RésuméLes droits de participation des enfants aux programmes de garde à l’enfance n’ont pas été l’objet de beauccoup d’attention. La raison est la suivante: la fonction principale de ces programmes n’est pas de répondre aux besoins des enfants. Les gouvernements de nombreux pays occidentaux soutiennent et favorisent la garde à l’enfance d’abord pour des impératifs économiques liés à la participation parentale à l’emploi. La nature de bien des programmes de garde à l’enfance va à l’encontre de la reconnaissance des droits des jeunes enfants dans ces institutions, à moins que les adultes ne reconnaissent que les enfants sont les agents de leur propre apprentissage. Cet article présente une analyse empirique de la compréhension de l’apprentissage des toutpetits par les éducateurs, à l’intérieur de programmes centralisés de protection de l’enfance. Les analyses se basent sur les réponses de 21 éducateurs à des questions sur la façon d’apprendre des enfants, sur leur manière de savoir quand les enfants ont appris quelque chose, et sur des exemples d’apprentissage par les jeunes enfants qu’ils ont pu observer au cours de leur travail. Les analyses donnent une idée des pratiques en matière garde à l’enfance, les éducateurs expliquant leur expérience et leur compréhension de l’apprentissage des enfants. Les analyses ont révélé un certain engagement mutuel dans l’apprentissage entre adultes et enfants. La participation des enfants est encouragée via la collaboration entre adultes et enfants, la compréhension mutuelle, ainsi que le respect par les adultes de l’autonomie et de l’indépendance des enfants.ResumenLos derechos de participación de los niños en programas de asistencia infantil no han recibido la atención que se merecen. Esto se debe a que el objetivo principal de estos programas no es atender las necesidades de los niños. El gobierno de muchos países occidentales apoya y fomenta la asistencia infantil principalmente para que los padres puedan trabajar y favorecer así la economía del país. La mayoría de estos programas se opone al reconocimiento de los derechos infantiles en el ámbito institucional. El único modo de que esto no ocurra es que los adultos comprendan que los niños son responsables de su propio aprendizaje. Este documento recoge un análisis empírico acerca de cómo interpretan los profesionales la enseñanza de los pequeños dentro de programas que se centran en la asistencia infantil. El análisis refleja las respuestas de 21 educadores a preguntas acerca de cómo aprenden los niños y cómo saben cuándo el niño ha asimilado los conocimientos. También recoge ejemplos de aprendizaje que han podido observar en algunos niños. Estos datos nos permiten comprender los métodos de asistencia infantil utilizados, ya que los maestros nos explican sus propias experiencias en este sector y su interpretación sobre el modo en que los niños aprenden. El análisis pone de manifiesto la necesidad de que exista un compromiso mutuo entre adultos y niños para que el proceso de aprendizaje se Ileve a cabo con éxito. La participación de los niños aumenta cuando existe colaboración y comprensión mutua entre niños y adultos, y los adultos respetan la autonomía e independencia de los niños.

The Effect of Gender Context on Children's Social Behavior in a Limited Resource Situation: An Observational Study

Knowing when to compete and when to cooperate to maximize opportunities for equal access to activities and materials in groups is critical to childrens social and cognitive development. The present study examined the individual (gender, social competence) and contextual factors (gender context) that may determine why some children are more successful than others. One hundred and fifty-six children (M age=6.5 years) were divided into 39 groups of four and videotaped while engaged in a task that required them to cooperate in order to view cartoons. Children within all groups were unfamiliar to one another. Groups varied in gender composition (all girls, all boys, or mixed-sex) and social competence (high vs. low). Group composition by gender interaction effects were found. Girls were most successful at gaining viewing time in same-sex groups, and least successful in mixed-sex groups. Conversely, boys were least successful in same-sex groups and most successful in mixed-sex groups. Similar results were also found at the group level of analysis; however, the way in which the resources were distributed differed as a function of group type. Same-sex girl groups were inequitable but efficient whereas same-sex boy groups were more equitable than mixed groups but inefficient compared to same-sex girl groups. Social competence did not influence childrens behavior. The findings from the present study highlight the effect of gender context on cooperation and competition and the relevance of adopting an unfamiliar peer paradigm when investigating childrens social behavior.

National study of an early parenting intervention: implementation differences on parent and child outcomes: parenting program implementation.

Sing & Grow is a 10-week group music therapy intervention to promote positive parenting and child development for marginalized parents of birth to 3-year-old children. This paper examined whether changes from pre to post intervention varied according to implementation site, when the intervention was taken to scale nationally. Outcomes for 850 participants were compared for the site where the program was first established against three new locations; one site where implementation processes were more favorable relative to the other two sites. Overall, the findings provided only limited support for differential outcomes by site of implementation. Participants showed significant improvements in parent-reported parenting and child outcomes from pre to post that were similar across all sites. For clinician-reported outcomes, improvements over time were generally greater in the original site and the well-supported site compared to the sites where there were more implementation difficulties. These differences were partly accounted for by differences in the characteristics of participants receiving programs in different sites and differences in the clinicians’ ratings of program quality and the levels of support and training provided. However, confounding by the source of measurement requires cautious interpretation of clinician data. This study further highlights the potential for music therapy as an early parenting intervention, and the need for more rigorous evaluations in this field.

A Developmental Cascade Model of Behavioral Sleep Problems and Emotional and Attentional Self-Regulation Across Early Childhood

This article documents the longitudinal and reciprocal relations among behavioral sleep problems and emotional and attentional self-regulation in a population sample of 4,109 children participating in Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC)–Infant Cohort. Maternal reports of children’s sleep problems and self-regulation were collected at five time-points from infancy to 8–9 years of age. Longitudinal structural equation modeling supported a developmental cascade model in which sleep problems have a persistent negative effect on emotional regulation, which in turn contributes to ongoing sleep problems and poorer attentional regulation in children over time. Findings suggest that sleep behaviors are a key target for interventions that aim to improve children’s self-regulatory capacities.

A shared reading intervention with parents to enhance young children's early literacy skills

A pragmatic randomised controlled trial was used to investigate the effects of two forms of shared reading on childrens language and literacy skills. Parents of 80 children in the preparatory year of school participated in an eight-week home reading intervention. Families were assigned to one of three groups: dialogic reading (DR), dialogic reading with the addition of print referencing (DR + PR), or an attention-matched control group. Analyses of change from pre- to post-intervention showed significant effects for the DR and DP+PR groups compared to the control group on three of the six emergent literacy measures: expressive language, rhyme, and concepts about print. At three-month follow-up assessment, the two intervention groups maintained significantly better performance on the measure of concepts about print only. These findings illustrate the potential of a brief home-based intervention for promoting childrens emergent literacy.

The effects of witnessing domestic violence on young children's psycho-social adjustment

Many researchers have examined the serious consequences that spouse abuse may have on battered womens physical and psychological health. Considerably less attention has been given to the effects on children of witnessing domestic violence. This article reports an empirical study which examined the effects of witnessing domestic violence on the psycho-social adjustment of 54 young children aged three to six years. The childrens adjustment was examined using the Child Behaviour Checklist and 42 percent of the children exhibited behavioural problems in the clinical range on this measure. Significant correlations were found between the childrens adjustment and the amount of verbal aggression and domestic violence in the home prior to parental separation. The implications of the research for social work and family violence policy and practice are also discussed.