The CHASE questionnaire was developed to capture the multiple dimensions of the health of children in their first year at school, and to evaluate data quality, reliability and validity. Parents of 278 Year 1 children received a parent questionnaire and school nurses completed a separate questionnaire from health and education records. Additional data on free school meal eligibility and ethnicity were obtained from the two LEAs involved. The questionnaire was acceptable to parents and school nurses, and feasible to implement within existing school resources. Initial tests of internal reliability and validity are satisfactory. These data have the potential to inform interventions and service provision at school and borough level, and public health trends.
Edmunds, S and others, Child: Care, Health and Development 31(2): 143-154, March 2005. Abstract: www.blackwellsynergy.com
Developing young children's thinking through learning to write argument Draws on evidence from a small-scale study carried out in two UK early years classrooms, investigating an approach that appeared to enable young children to construct and to write an argument. Shows that five- to seven- year-olds can engage with contentious, real-life issues and, if offered structured support, are able not only to produce written texts in the argument genre, but their thinking also develops. A collaboration between professionals from different fields reaffirms the impressive competence of early years pupils.
Riley, J and Reedy, D, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 2005(5): 29-51, April 2005. Abstract: www.sagepub.com select journals.
Do 'clumsy' children have visual recognition problems?
Visual recognition by eight-year-old children with hand-eye co-ordination problems (HECP), and by a control group of children without such problems, was tested using a task of identifying common objects from an incomplete visual presentation. As predicted, it was found that the HECP children, who were designated as such solely on the basis of their motor difficulties, identified significantly fewer correct objects than their control counterparts. This finding raises the possibility that the visual processing problems of 'clumsy 'children contribute to, or even strongly determine, not only their movement problems but also their learning difficulties.
Sigmundsson, H, and Hopkins, B, Child: Care, Health and Development 31(2): 155-158, March 2005. Abstract: www.blackwellsynergy.com
