Jill Jacobi-Vessels

Alphabetic Skills in Preschool: A Preliminary Study of Letter Naming and Letter Writing

Development of letter naming and writing (skills in writing first name, dictated and copied letters, and dictated and copied numbers) was examined in 79 preschool children (M age = 56 months). Skills were assessed in the fall to determine the status of these procedural skills that are components of alphabetic knowledge at the start of the school year. Children with high letter-naming scores also had high scores on letter writing, including dictated or copied letters and writing some or all of the letters of their names. Letter-naming skills were related to number-writing skills whether the numbers were dictated or copied. The highest writing scores were found for first name writing compared to writing or copying letters and numbers. A focus on the development of procedural knowledge in the preschool period may yield the hopep for impacts on later reading skills that has not been found in curricula emphasizing conceptual knowledge (e.g., knowledge of print concepts, book conventions).

Infant Temperament, Maternal Personality, and Parenting Stress as Contributors to Infant Developmental Outcomes

This study examined contributions of maternal personality and infant temperament to infant vocabulary and cognitive development both directly and indirectly through parental stress. Participants were recruited at birth and included 63 infant twin pairs and their mothers. Assessments were completed at 6, 9, 12, and 18 months of age and included Dimensions of Temperament–Revised (maternal personality), Parenting Stress Index (parental stress), Infant Behavior Questionnaire–Revised (infant temperament), Bayley Scales of Infant Development II: Mental Development Index, and MacArthur-Bates Total Vocabulary. Structural equation modeling with a jackknife approach was used to analyze data separately for each twin in the pair. At 12 months, maternal personality and infant temperament contributed indirectly to MacArthur-Bates Total Vocabulary and Bayley Mental Development Index scores through parental stress. In addition, infant temperament directly contributed to 12-month MacArthur-Bates Total Vocabulary. At 18 months, these relationships were no longer significant. The different findings at 12 months compared to 18 months may reflect important developmental and environmental shifts, as well as possible differences in the method and measurements used at each age.

Dynamic Links Between Emerging Cognitive Skills and Brain Processes

The goal of the present study was to investigate whether advanced cognitive skills in one domain impact the neural processing of unrelated skills in a different cognitive domain. This question is related to the broader issue of how cognitive-neurodevelopment proceeds as different skills are mastered. To address this goal, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were used to assess linkages between cognitive skills of preschool children as reflected in their performance on a pre-reading screening test (Get Ready To Read) and their neural responses while engaged in a geometric shape matching task. Sixteen children (10 males) participated in this study. The children ranged from 46 to 60 months (SD = 4.36 months). ERPs were recorded using a 128-electrode high-density array while children attended to presentations of matched and mismatched shapes (triangles, circles, or squares). ERPs indicated that children with more advanced pre-reading skills discriminated between matched and mismatched shapes earlier than children with poorer pre-readings skills. The earlier discrimination effect observed in the advanced group was localized over the occipital electrode sites whereas in the Low Group such effects were present over frontal, parietal, and occipital sites. Modeled magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of the ERP component sources identified differences in neural generators between the two groups. Both sets of findings support the hypothesis that processing in a poorer-performing group is more distributed temporally and spatially across the scalp, and reflects the engagement of more distributed brain regions. These findings are seen as support for a theory of neural-cognitive development that is advanced in the present article.

Growth of Cognitive Skills in Preschoolers: Impact of Sleep Habits and Learning-Related Behaviors

Research Findings: The present study used a longitudinal design to identify how sleep habits and learning-related behaviors impact the development of cognitive skills in preschoolers (ages 3–5). Sixty- seven children with parental report and cognitive skill assessment data were included. Scores on the Differential Ability Scales (C. Elliott, 1990) were obtained at ages 3, 4, and 5. A Sleep Questionnaire (D. Gozal, 1998) with 12 items from the Child Behavior Checklist (T. M. Achenbach & L. A. Rescorla, 2000) related to childrens attention and activity levels was administered at age 3. Growth curve changes in cognitive scores were estimated using hierarchical linear modeling. Parental reports of nighttime sleep duration predicted level of cognitive skills at 3 years. The effect of sleep duration on cognitive scores was constant across age. Practice or Policy: Sleep and learning-related behaviors distinguish the cognitive skills children bring to preschool programs and impact gains made in skills while in preschool.

The development and initial assessment of Reach Out and Read Plus Mathematics for use in primary care paediatrics

Objective: Children from low-income families are often not well-prepared for kindergarten entry, especially in mathematical skills. Caregivers may lack the knowledge and confidence to teach early mathematical skills. The purpose of this study was to develop a parent–child activities-based mathematics learning programme and test its acceptability and initial efficacy. Method: The evidence-based Reach Out and Read (ROR) programme was adapted to incorporate mathematics content. ROR plus Mathematics (ROR+M) was developed and introduced during well-child visits. Descriptive and repeated-measures analysis of variance analyses were used to evaluate pre- and three weekly post-intervention assessments. Results: Parents self-reported acceptability and initial efficacy of the ROR+M programme was demonstrated. No change was reported in non-mathematical reading behaviour. Discussion: ROR+M was developed and implemented in a primary care paediatric setting serving primarily low-income families. Acceptability and initial efficacy was demonstrated. Randomised clinical trials are needed before widespread implementation.

Use of event-related potentials to identify language and reading skills

Research findings from studies using event-related potential measures of phonological processing support the importance of these measures as correlates and predictors of language and reading skills in school-aged children. A research study is reported focusing on preschool-aged children to understand how event-related potential measures of phonological processing relate to oral language and emergent literacy skills. In this study, 33 preschool-aged children (42–54 months) participated in assessments of receptive and expressive language skills from the Preschool Language Scale and assessment of letter identification from the Wide Range Achievement Test. On the basis of previous findings with older children, it was expected that event-related potential responses would discriminate differences in childrens skills. The results of both analysis of variance and discriminant function analyses showed that event-related potential responses identify differences in letter naming but not receptive language skills as measured in this study.

Kuby, C. R. (2013). Critical Literacy in the Early Childhood Classroom: Unpacking Histories, Unlearning Privilege

C hildren are exposed to injustices and inequities during the early years despite the best efforts of parents and teachers to protect them. Such experiences shape beliefs and power positions into adulthood, yet few authors have addressed how to engage very young children in meaningful topics about social justice. In Kuby’s two-part book, the author employs autoethnography to examine her history of growing up in Alabama as a white child of conservative, religious parents and grapples with a critical literacy project with children. She writes to an audience of early childhood teachers, encouraging readers to consciously examine the effects of their own experiences on teaching and research and to incorporate critical conversations into the curriculum. In Part I, Kuby examines her personal histories and identifies critical narrative events, lifetime events that had a profound effect on her developing ideologies. The author employs autoethnography to examine written personal narratives and self-identified critical events and their effects on her beliefs and ideologies. Chapter 1 includes a presentation of critical literacy, critical sociocultural, and Whiteness theories as a framework for her self-reflection. Kuby situates her research within the body of literature and points to the need for critical inquiries in early childhood education. In Chapter 2, the author details the privileged contexts in which she was raised, including a professional portrait of her as a child in a ruffled dress and patentleather shoes, and a picture taken at her mother’s Ph.D. graduation. She describes her family’s deep involvement with religion and mission trips to “save the souls” of those less privileged than the members of her church and her school days with mostly affluent Caucasian peers. She closes the chapter with a contemplation of how her experiences led to “othering,” the positioning of herself as better than others. In Chapter 3, she describes the preschool summer enrichment program that became the focus of her research and introduces the inquiry project sparked by another teacher’s insistence that a shady playground bench was for adult use only. In Part II, Kuby employs guiding questions to identify “moments of consciousness raising,” the personal childhood and teaching experiences that profoundly impacted her worldviews. In Chapter 4, she explores the tensions felt when witnessing inequities by reflecting on the bench incident from Chapter 3 and by returning to scenes from her own childhood. Kuby connects classroom bench discussions to Rosa Parks’ famous bus seat choice, considers the effects of her own “Whiteness” on teaching, and shares her struggle to converse with young children about skin color in Chapter 5. In Chapters 6 and 7, the author critically examines power relationships and the uncertainty of her role as she negotiates a co-created inquiry with the children and addresses the non-neutrality of language in such an endeavor. Chapter 8 is a contemplation of what social action might look like for an early childhood critical literacy experience; the author notes that the actual resultant social action may not take place until years later. Kuby closes Part II with a review of the challenges and rewards of conducting her autoethnography and urges teachers to undertake similar projects to inform their own teaching. Early childhood educators accept that children are not blank slates waiting to be filled with new knowledge. Kuby’s book clearly illustrates that teachers also arrive in the classroom with previously developed knowledge, beliefs, and values that impact the curriculum. She provides a detailed, hands-on approach to autoethnography as a viable method for deep teacher reflection and paves the way for exploring critical literacy within early childhood settings. While she recognizes that there may be criticism for writing about racism from a white perspective she makes a strong point that, in order for change to occur, we must all examine our histories and perspectives with a critical voice. Through deep descriptions of children’s conversations and artwork, Kuby convincingly suggests that critical inquiry with young children is possible and even vitally important. As the author acknowledges, the bench and Rosa Parks connection may not have tapped into the children’s life experiences as effectively as hoped but through her self-reflective processes she is able to redirect conversations and elicit deep contemplations of equity from the children. Kuby’s journey illustrates the value of critical literacy within an early childhood classroom. She deftly navigates the unexpected avenues of the children’s discussions and provides practical resources to support other teachers as they implement critical literacy inquiry in early childhood classrooms.