Cognitive level and health decision-making in children: A preliminary study

The aim of the study was to compare the extent of agreement between parents and professional evaluators regarding the cognitive level of children with autism. We sought to determine the degree of parent and standardized test agreement about the child's cognitive level for children at different levels of cognitive functioning. Information regarding parental view of cognitive levels was collected from the questionnaires used during the initial evaluation. These levels were compared with age equivalencies obtained by professionals from standardized intellectual measures. Significant difference between parental perception and professional assessment of the child's cognitive level was found. In addition, there was significant correlation between the level of agreement and cognitive functioning; agreement increased as the level of cognitive functioning increased.

Enhancing the independence of children with cerebral palsy in their daily activities can significantly alleviate caregiver stress and challenges, thereby improving the quality of life for caregivers.. This study aimed to identify the influential factors in the independence level of children with CP in Activities of Daily Living (ADL) (self-care) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) (home participation). In this cross-sectional study, 116 children with different types of CP (61 boys and 55 girls) in the 4-6 age range and their parents were non-randomly selected through convenience sampling. The Iranian-Children Participation Questionnaire was used to measure the children's independence level in self-care activities and home participation. Several instruments, along with a demographic questionnaire, were used to assess personal factors, such as the Gross Motor Function Classification System, Manual Ability Classification System, Communication Function Classification System, SPARCLE (for determining children's cognitive level), and Eating and Drinking Ability Classification System. Eventually, the collected data were analyzed using stepwise linear regression.. The results showed that the level of Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) and Communication Function Classification System (CFCS) and the child's age had the most correlation with the independence level in self-care activities. Moreover, GMFCS, Manual Ability Classification System (MACS), cognitive level, and child's age were most associated with home participation. Personal factors are more effective than environmental factors in determining the independence of children with CP.

The object of education is human being. Undersanding student developmental psychology is essential in teaching and learning process. The research entitled “The Implementation of Teaching and Learning for Islamic Education Subject (Fiqh) Based on Cognitive Developmental Psychology Levels In MTsN Malang 1” is intentionally aimed to explore how the teaching and learning on Islamic studies (Fiqh) could be implemented by considering the students developmental psychology. This is descriptive qualitative research utilizing two perspectives as theoretical bases, Islamic perspective refers to Prophet Muhammad theory, and western perspective refers to Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky theories. The research begins by finding the problems, then breaking theories down to be reasearch instrument and comparing it as applied in model school, MTsN Malang 1. The result, based on both Islamic and western perspective theories, shows supports. Teaching and learning process are considered to implement interactive and cooperative models. Interactive model is implemented by utilizing learning technology such as LCD-projector and computer to show audio-visual contents, quiz creator and edmodo. And cooperative model is implemented not only by learning technology, but also language development applied in mapping and presentation set. Analysis result shows that teaching and learning based on cognitive developmental levels gives more understanding for most students’ proved by students’ interest and excellent score. The novelty is that the research used developmental psychology which specified on cognitive to be applied in Islamic Education subject (Fiqh).

Can anonymous written feedback collected during classroom assessment activities be used to assess students' cognitive development levels? After library instruction in a first-year engineering design class, students submitted minute papers that included answers to "what they are left wondering." Responses were coded into low, medium and high categories correlated to cognitive stages following a codebook that was developed based largely on Perry's model and on two semesters' worth of prior student feedback. Preliminary analysis suggests that subjects exhibit characteristics in keeping with the range of cognitive levels identified by previous research at this institution, but that they tend to be weighted toward the lower end of the spectrum. While this study does not reveal cognitive development levels as reliably as the work of previous researchers, it does propose an easy method for identifying general cognitive development levels of student cohorts and offers recommendations for using this knowledge to improve instructional effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objective was to analyze self-esteem in children within a spectrum of attention disorders, that is, besides attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), also children with subthreshold ADHD and even milder attention deficits and/or learning problems. From a population-based group of 10-11-year-old children in a Swedish municipality those with ADHD/subthreshold ADHD (n = 30) and those with milder attention and/or learning problems (n = 64) were targeted for the study. The children completed the 'I think I am' scale, reflecting physical appearance, scholastic competence, mental well-being, relationships to parents and to others and global self-esteem. Data from boys and girls were compared and related to the parents' and teachers' ratings on the two dimensions of the Conners' 10-item questionnaire (impulsive-restless behaviour and emotional lability) and to the children's cognitive levels. Significant gender differences were found, girls reporting lower self-esteem concerning mental well-being and poorer relationships with parents and peers. However, children with ADHD/subthreshold ADHD did not report significantly lower global self-esteem when compared to a reference population. Self-esteem in children with attention, behaviour and/or learning problems has to be carefully evaluated, especially in girls, and measures are needed to prevent a trajectory towards adolescent psychopathology.

External support has been viewed as an important biomechanical constraint for children with deficits in postural control. Nonlinear analysis of head stability may be helpful to confirm benefits of interaction between external trunk support and level of trunk control. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of biomechanical constraints (trunk support) on neural control of head stability during development of trunk control. This was a quasi-experimental repeated-measures study. Data from 15 children (4-16 years of age) with moderate (Gross Motor Function Classification System [GMFCS] IV; n=8 [4 boys, 4 girls]) or severe (GMFCS V; n=7 [4 boys, 3 girls]) cerebral palsy (CP) were compared with previous longitudinal data from infants with typical development (TD) (3-9 months of age). Kinematic data were used to document head sway with external support at 4 levels (axillae, midrib, waist, and hip). Complexity, predictability, and active degrees of freedom for both anterior-posterior and medial-lateral directions were assessed. Irrespective of level of support, CP groups had lower complexity, increased predictability, and greater degrees of freedom. The effect of support differed based on the child's segmental level of control. The GMFCS V and youngest TD groups demonstrated better head control, with increased complexity and decreased predictability, with higher levels of support. The GMFCS IV group had the opposite effect, showing decreased predictability and increased complexity and degrees of freedom with lower levels of support. Infants with typical development and children with CP were compared based on similar segmental levels of trunk control; however, it is acknowledged that the groups differed for age, cognitive level, and motor experience. The effect of external support varied depending on the child's level of control and diagnostic status. Children with GMFCS V and young infants with TD had better outcomes with external support, but external support was not enough to completely correct for the influence of CP. Children with GMFCS IV performed worse, with increased predictability and decreased complexity, when support was at the axillae or midribs, suggesting that too much support can interfere with postural sway quality.

Many studies have been conducted in the world regarding the level of physical activity and cognitive development. Based on the authors’ collective expertise, this book demonstrates how aerobic exercise can affect individuals’ cognitive development levels. This book has revealed how it affects individuals’ cognitive development levels and the artificial intelligence existing in education by modeling with artificial neural networks.

Objective In this exploratory study, we observed the process in which children make food choices from a cognitive development perspective and the implications that these choices have on the areas of cognitive development and health and nutrition education. Design This was a cross-sectional case study that involved an in-depth examination of the food choice process and knowledge of a child in the pre-operations stage and a child in the concrete operations stage as defined by Piaget. Setting This study took place in New York City. Methods The five general questions on health and nutrition which were posed to each child were: Why do we need to eat? What makes some foods healthy or unhealthy? Can some foods be healthy and unhealthy at the same time? Where do certain foods come from? Why is it important to eat in moderation? The responses to these questions were analyzed from both cognitive and health education perspectives. In addition to being asked questions about nutrition, each in-depth interview included an activity in which the children were given a stack of pictures of foods and were asked to classify them as being healthy or unhealthy. Results Thelevelofknowledgeandthoughtprocessaboutfoodofachild in the pre-operations stage and a child in the concrete operations stage exhibit several significant differences that are characteristic of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. Specifically, the depth of knowledge, the use of symbolic thinking, and the abilities to think bi-directionally and systematically, and to view issues from multiple perspectives vary between the two stages. Conclusion Many of the predictions about how the children would react to certain questions given their age appear to be consistent with the early writings of Piaget. The main implications of these findings could help health educators who focus on nutrition to tailor their educational programmes according to the cognitive abilities defined by Piaget, and reinforced by our findings.

BERNSTEIN, ANNE C., and COWAN, PHILIP A. Children's Concepts of How People Get Babies. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1975, 46, 77-91. 20 boys and girls at each of 3 age levels (3-4, 7-8, 11-12) were given a newly constructed interview focusing on their concepts of how people get babies (social causality). They were also given Piaget-type tasks assessing physical conservation-identity (Clay), physical causality (Origin of Night), and a new social identity task (Lemke 1973). Performance on all tasks systematically increased with age, intercorrelations were high, and children tended to perform at the same absolute cognitive level on each task. Children's concepts of how people get babies appears to follow a Piagetian developmental sequence embedded in a matrix of social and physical causality and identity concepts. There also appears to be a consistent developmental lag in which physical causality precedes physical conservation-identity, which in turn precedes social identity: the Origin of Babies appears to be the most developmentally difficult of the 4 tasks. A qualitative analysis supported Piaget's interactive theory of development. Sex information is not simply taken in by children; it is assimilated (transformed) to the child's present cognitive level.

CHAPTER 9 - THE CHILD'S CONCEPTION OF THE EXPERIMENTER

Theory-of-mind, cognitive development, and children's interpretation of anxiety-related physical symptoms

ABSTRACTThis study focuses on children who go through a ‘silent’ period early in the course of second language development, during which they largely cease verbal communication with speakers of the second language (English). Video recordings with radio microphones under natural conditions revealed that most of these children engaged in extensive private speech, which they were found to use for a variety of intrapersonal learning strategies, including (1) repetition of others' utterances, (2) recall and practice, (3) creation of new linguistic forms, (4) paradigmatic substitution and syntagmatic expansion, and (5) rehearsal for overt social performance. Quantity and quality of private speech was related not only to the children's level of cognitive development and the difficulty of the learning task (confirming previous research), but also to the children's social orientation and learning style, and to the domain of knowledge (language) that was being acquired.

Studies of peer interaction among children have generally shown that this experience aids performance, or at the very least does not result in poorer performance in relation to control conditions. Furthermore, working with a more able partner has been found to be a particularly effective form of peer interaction. In contrast, a model proposed by Karmiloff‐Smith suggests that at certain phases of cognitive development children may ignore feedback and information from task activities. These two ideas were tested in a study where pairs of 6–7 year old children had to balance a beam on a fulcrum during a computer task. The performance on a post‐test did not support either viewpoint. Children who were working with a more able partner were found to perform significantly worse than other children. The findings of a second study suggested that this effect may have been due to the more able children having an incomplete understanding of the computer task and they may have dominated social interaction thereby restricting the progress of the less able pupil. The findings from these two studies indicate that peer interaction can result in poorer learning outcomes, and that Karmiloff‐Smith's model should include the possibility of peer interaction effects.

WHITE, EDWARD; ELSOM, BILL; and PRAWAT, RICHARD. Children's Conceptions of Death. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 307-310. This study investigated children's conceptions of death from a developmental perspective. Kindergarten through fourth graders (N = 170) were tested for conservation and then interviewed following the presentation of a story about an elderly woman's death, in an attempt to assess children's understanding of 3 concepts: irrevocability, cessation of bodily processes, and universality. 2 story versions were used, 1 depicting the woman as a nice person, the other as an unkind person. In the major finding, understanding of universality, but not understanding of the irrevocability of death and cessation of bodily processes, was significantly related to the child's level of cognitive development. The variable relating to the attractiveness of the story character significantly affected children's responses regarding cause of death.

Psychosocial Aspects of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis