Naomi J. Aldrich

Perspective taking in children's narratives about jealousy

This study explored relationships between perspective-taking, emotion understanding, and childrens narrative abilities. Younger (23 5-/6-year-olds) and older (24 7-/8-year-olds) children generated fictional narratives, using a wordless picture book, about a frog experiencing jealousy. Childrens emotion understanding was assessed through a standardized test of emotion comprehension and their ability to convey the jealousy theme of the story. Perspective-taking ability was assessed with respect to childrens use of narrative evaluation (i.e., narrative coherence, mental state language, supplementary evaluative speech, use of subjective language, and placement of emotion expression). Older children scored higher than younger children on emotion comprehension and on understanding the storys complex emotional theme, including the ability to identify a rival. They were more advanced in perspective-taking abilities, and selectively used emotion expressions to highlight story episodes. Subjective perspective taking and narrative coherence were predictive of childrens elaboration of the jealousy theme. Use of supplementary evaluative speech, in turn, was predictive of both subjective perspective taking and narrative coherence.

Power Mobility Training for Young Children with Multiple, Severe Impairments: A Case Series

ABSTRACT Aims: Young children with neurodevelopmental conditions are often limited in their ability to explore and learn from their environment. The purposes of this case series were to (1) describe the outcomes of using an alternative power mobility device with young children who had multiple, severe impairments; (2) develop power mobility training methods for use with these children; and (3) determine the feasibility of using various outcome measures. Methods: Three children with cerebral palsy (Gross Motor Function Classification System Levels IV, V, and V) ages 17 months to 3.5 years participated in the case series. Examination included the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory—Computer Adaptive Test (PEDI-CAT) and the Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaire (DMQ). An individualized, engaging power mobility training environment was created for each participant. Intervention was provided for 60 minutes per week over 12 weeks. Results: All participants exhibited improvements in power mobility skills. Post-intervention PEDI-CAT scores increased in various domains for all participants. Post-intervention DMQ scores improved in Participants 1 and 2. Discussion: The participants appeared to make improvements in their beginning power mobility skills. Additional research is planned to further explore the impact of power mobility training in this unique population.

Does power mobility training impact a child’s mastery motivation and spectrum of EEG activity? An exploratory project

Abstract Purpose: The purposes of this exploratory project were: (1) to evaluate the impact of power mobility training with a child who has multiple, severe impairments and (2) to determine if the child’s spectrum of electroencephalography (EEG) activity changed during power mobility training. Study design: A single-subject A–B–A–B research design was conducted with a four-week duration for each phase. Two target behaviours were explored: (1) mastery motivation assessed via the dimensions of mastery questionnaire (DMQ) and (2) EEG data collected under various conditions. Power mobility skills were also assessed. Methods: The participant was a three-year, two-month-old girl with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, gross motor function classification system level V. Each target behaviour was measured weekly. During intervention phases, power mobility training was provided. Results: Improvements were noted in subscale scores of the DMQ. Short-term and long-term EEG changes were also noted. Improvements were noted in power mobility skills. Conclusions: The participant in this exploratory project demonstrated improvements in power mobility skill and function. EEG data collection procedures and variability in an individual’s EEG activity make it difficult to determine if the participant’s spectrum of EEG activity actually changed in response to power mobility training. Additional studies are needed to investigate the impact of power mobility training on the spectrum of EEG activity in children who have multiple, severe impairments. Implications for Rehabilitation Power mobility training appeared to be beneficial for a child with multiple, severe impairments though the child may never become an independent, community-based power wheelchair user. Electroencephalography may be a valuable addition to the study of power mobility use in children with multiple, severe impairments. Power mobility training appeared to impact mastery motivation (the internal drive to solve complex problems and master new skills) in a child who has multiple, severe impairments.

Linguistic and socio-cognitive predictors of school-age children’s narrative evaluations about jealousy

This study investigated children’s narrative evaluations about jealousy in relation to performance on a higher-order perspective-taking task and assessments of receptive vocabulary and nonverbal intelligence. Eighty children (5;0–11;11) narrated a wordless picture book about a jealous frog, answered probe questions about the plot, and generated a personal narrative about a situation where they had felt like the frog. Each task was coded for evaluative components of jealousy understanding. With age, children were more likely to mention a jealousy-related mental state, relationship interference, and use the term jealous. Although girls used the term jealous more often than boys, the effect of gender on jealousy understanding was significant only in probe-question responses. Regression analyses revealed bi-directional relationships between jealousy understanding and perspective-taking skills in the two narrative tasks, with age and receptive vocabulary independently predicting perspective taking, but not jealousy understanding. That is, effects of vocabulary and age on narrative evaluations of jealousy were fully mediated by development in higher-order perspective-taking skills.

Infant twins’ social interactions with caregivers and same-age siblings ☆

The study of twin behavior offers the opportunity to study differential patterns of social and communicative interactions in a context where the adult partner and same-age peer are equally familiar. We investigated the development of social engagement, communicative gestures, and imitation in 7- to 25-month-old twins. Twin dyads (N=20 pairs) participated in 10-min, semi-structured play sessions, with the mother seated in a chair completing paperwork for half the session, and on the floor with her children for the other half. Overall, twins engaged more with their mothers than with their siblings: they showed objects and imitated speech and object use more frequently when interacting with their mothers than with their siblings. When the mother was otherwise engaged, the twins played with toys separately, observed each others toy play, or were unengaged. These results demonstrate that adult scaffolding of social interactions supports increased communicative bids even in a context where both familiar peers and adults are available as communicative partners.