Neriman Aral

Correlations of conceptual development with motor skills for a Turkish sample of kindergarten children.

The purpose was to research the conceptual development and motor skills of 36 healthy children of kindergarten age (M age = 67.6 mo., SD =3.6). 19 girls and 17 boys completed the Bracken Basic Concept Scale-Revised and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency–Short Form.

A COMPARISON OF DEPRESSION IN CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT MOTHERS

The present research investigated depression in children with and without mothers. Differences in depression scores were tested by gender, socio-economic level, the cause of not having a mother, and the age of separation. The sample included 300 fourth and fifth grade elementary school children. Among them, there were 150 children (68 boys and 82 girls) who were living with their mothers and 150 (68 boys and 82 girls) who did not live with their mothers. Each group had an equal number of students (n = 50) representing three different socio-economic levels (i.e., low, middle, high). Students in the sample came from 39 different public elementary schools. Childrens ages varied between 10 and 12 years (M = 10.8, SD = .6). Teachers, administrators, and school counselors were asked to identify children without mothers. The children who were living with their mothers were randomly chosen. Results showed significant differences in depression between the two groups of children. Furthermore, there was a significant difference by socio-economic level. Depression of children without mothers is significantly associated with the cause of not having a mother and the age when the child was separated from the mother.

A STUDY OF CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT AND VISUAL PERCEPTION IN SIX-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN.

Visual perception comprises established responses to visual stimuli. Conceptual development accompanies the development of visual perception skills. Both visual perception and sufficient conceptual development is vital to a childs academic skills and social participation. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between conceptual development and visual perceptual skills of six-year-old children. 140 children were administered Brackens (1998) Basic Concept Scale (BBCS–R) and the Frostig Developmental Visual Perception Test. BBCS–R scores were weakly correlated with FDVPT Discrimination of figure-ground, and had moderate and significant correlations with Constancy of the figures, Perception of position in space, Perception of spatial relation, and the Total score on visual perception. Also, a moderate correlation was found between the total scores of the FDVPT and the total score of the BBCS–R.

An overview of child neglect and abuse: types, causes, impact and prevention

Abstract This study aims at investigating the definitions, types and causes of child neglect and abuse, as well as their impacts on children, preventive efforts, and offers suggestions. Child neglect is the inhibition of a child’s physical, psychological, moral or social development due to negligence on the part of the parents, caregivers or other adults to provide the basic essentials. Child abuse, in its broadest sense, is the child being intentionally exposed to circumstances, which result in the inhibition of his/her physical, sexual, economic or psychological development by parents, caregivers or other adults. Children who are exposed to neglect or abuse suffers from health problems, such as, psychological problems, developmental delay, depression, low self-esteem, aggressive behavior, poor academic and work performance, learning disorders, difficulties in peer relationships or criminal tendencies. In order to mitigate its impact, the causes of child neglect and abuse should be identified and preventive measures should be taken both governmentally and as a community.

Investigation of Visual Motor Integration Skills in Children With Speech Sound Problems.

The aim of this study was to investigate visual motor integration skills in children with speech sound disorders compared with age-matched controls. Sixty-five children aged from 5 to 6½ years old (68% males, 32% females; M age = 5.4, SD = 0.5) participated in the study. Thirty-one of them had speech sound problems, and 34 were children without any problem in their speech. The Ankara Articulation Test for evaluating speech sound skills and the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration with its supplemental tests of Visual Perception and Motor Coordination were used in the study. Visual Motor Integration, Visual Perception, and Motor Coordination scores of children with speech sound disorders were significantly lower than those of controls.

Fen Eğitiminde Problem Çözme Ölçeğinin Geliştirilmesi: Geçerlik ve Güvenirlik Çalışmaları

This study aimed to develop a valid and reliable instrument measuring the 60-72 months old children’s problem solving skills in preschool science education. A total of 174 children were randomly selected and included in the study to achieve the reliability and validity studies. Exploratory factor analysis, item-total correlations, mean differences of the lower and upper groups, Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient, scoring consistency between the independent judges, and test-retest correlation coefficients were computed to achieve the reliability and validity. The scale had a total of 16 items on two factors as a result of the exploratory factor analysis. The Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient was calculated as 0.75. The inter consistency between the independent judges was computed and no significant difference was found. The test-retest correlation coefficient was computed as 0.96 between two applications done with an interval of four weeks. As a result of the reliability and validity analysis, the Problem Solving Scale in Science Education (PSSSE) was found to be a reliable and valid scale for the implementation with preschool children between 60-72 months old.

Annelerin Çocuklarına Etkileşimli Kitap Okuma Sürecine İlişkin Görüşleri

In this study it is aimed to identify the views of mothers regarding interactive book-reading process to their children whose ages are between 46 and 62. In the survey the qualitative pattern was conducted. 46-62 months old children and their mothers were the participants of this qualitative study. A ‘semi-structured interview form’ was used to indicate the views of mothers regarding interactive book-reading process. After the first interviews a three-session seminar was held for the volunteered participating mothers. At first part of the seminar, the mothers were presented the language development of children and supporting this development with some samples. Then the impacts of book-reading on their development, the features of pictorial books, the criteria of choosing reading books some features of the books and the ways of interactive book reading to children and such issues were discussed. In the second and third parts of the seminar, practical interactive book-reading activities were applied. Following this, mothers were asked to read 3 books a week, totally 27 story-books within 9 weeks. For each reading book, mothers filled a form so called ‘story book verse form’. Lately the interviews were conducted with mothers after they read the books. According to the results, the findings of the second interview indicated that interactive book-reading has a positive impact on children’s development and mothers’ interactive book-reading skills.

3D Animated Movies, Touch Screen Applications and Visual Motor Development of Five-Year-Old Children

This study is implemented to investigate the effects of 3D animated movies and interactive applications on visual motor development of five year old children. The research has been performed in pretest-posttest-permanence test, experimental pattern with control group. For four months, every fifteen day experimental groups 24 children watched eight episodes of 3D animated movies; 12 of them performed the interactive applications with computer while the other 12 performed the same applications with worksheets. 14 children in control group engaged merely their preschool education. Test of Visual Motor Skills-3 was used to collect and evaluate the visual motor skills of children. Since the data of the research was not distributed normally, non-parametric Kruskal Wallis, Friedman and Wilcoxon tests were used to analyze the data. The results of the research show that the visual motor skills of children who engaged the study in both test and control groups, had improved significantly.

Üç Boyutlu (3D) Animasyon Filmler ve Etkileşimli Uygulamaların Okul Öncesi Dönem Çocuklarının Görsel Algı Gelişimi Üzerine Etkileri

This study is implemented to investigate the effects of three dimensional animated movies and interactive applications series on development of visual perception of five year old (60-72 months) children. The research has been performed in pre-test post-test permanence test experimental pattern with control group. In the study, 12 children (7 girls, 5 boys) in Test Group 1, 12 children (7 girls, 5 boys) in Test Group 2) and 14 children (8 girls, 6 boys) in Control Group were evaluated. ‘Personnel Information Form’ developed by the researcher, Test of Visual Perceptual Skills-3 developed by Martin (2006), adapted to Turkish language and validity and reliability studies completed by the researchers were used to collect and evaluate the visual perceptual skills of the children. In the study, the test groups watched eight episodes of three dimensional animated movies and performed the interactive applications with computer and worksheets every fifteen day for 16 weeks. Since the data of the research were not distributed normally, non-parametric tests Kruskal-Wallis, Friedman, (pairwise comparison for post-hoc), Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon tests were used to analyze the data. The results of the research show that on average and for Sequential Memory and Visual Closure subtests the visual perception of children who attended the training programs were significantly better than that of children who did not. The programs were found to generate significant effect on Test of Visual Perception Skills-3 and its subtests Spatial Relations, Form Constancy and Visual Figure-Ground.

Proje Yaklaşımına Dayalı Eğitimin Beş Yaş (60-72 Ay) Çocuklarının Görsel Algılarına Etkisinin İncelenmesi

The current study aimed to identify whether the project-based approach affects the visual perception skills of five-year-old preschool children (60-72 months). The universe of the study was constituted of five-year-old (60-72 months) children enrolled in preschools affiliated with the Turkish Ministry of National Education in the provincial centre of Kayseri during the 2012-2013 academic year. The study was performed using a control group, pretest-posttest and retention test study design. The study was conducted in two preschools selected through the simple random sampling method, and with one class selected from each one of these kindergartens. 22 children in these classes formed the study group, while 22 children formed the control group. Children in the control group continued their normal education, while children in the study group took part in a project work that lasted for 41 days, and which they performed for three hours a day. A general information form and the Motor-Free Visual Perception Test 3 (MVPT-3) developed by Colarusso and Hammill (2003) – the reliability and validity study for which was performed by Metin (2014) – were used as data collection tools in the study. The obtained data were analyzed using covariance analysis (ANCOVA) and ANOVA. The study results indicated that the project-based approach led to a significant difference (p 0.05) for children in the study group, thus indicating that the education provided to the study group had a lasting and continuous effect.