Biomedical subjects

A Winsler

Publications and source records attributed to A Winsler.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Age-related changes in preschool children's systematic use of private speech in a natural setting.

This study set out to explore the contexts in which preschool children use private speech, or self-talk, in the naturalistic setting of the preschool classroom, and age-related changes in the contexts in which preschoolers talk to themselves. A total of 2752 naturalistic observations of fourteen three-year-old and fourteen four-year-old children were conducted using a time-sampling procedure in two preschool classrooms over the course of one semester. Results from logistic regression analyses revealed that both age groups were (a) more likely to use private speech during the self-selected activity classroom context as opposed to both large group and outside free play classroom contexts, and (b) most likely to talk to themselves when alone, next likely in the presence of peers, and least likely when in the presence of a teacher. Although the probability of private speech among three-year-old children did not vary as a function of the child's immediate activity, four-year-old children's private speech was more likely to occur during sustained and focused goal-directed activity as opposed to rapidly-changing and non goal-directed activity. The findings suggest that private speech appears systematically in young children and that, in several ways, four-year-old children use private speech more selectively than three-year-olds.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Verbal self-regulation over time in preschool children at risk for attention and behavior problems.

This study is a prospective, longitudinal attempt to explore behavioral self-regulation, private speech, and speech-action coordination in a sample of behaviorally at-risk preschool children. Preschoolers (N = 72) were classified at age 3 years into a behaviorally at-risk group or a comparison group on the basis of preschool teacher behavioral ratings. Children were videotaped on four different occasions across the span of almost 2 years as they completed problem-solving tasks, and private speech, task performance, executive functioning, and speech-action coordination were analyzed. Children identified 2 years earlier as being hard to manage were at risk for continued behavior problems at elementary school entry. Behaviorally at-risk children consistently used more spontaneous private speech than comparison children across all observations. Both groups of children demonstrated a pattern of increasing silence with task success over time. No group differences were observed in children's speech-action coordination at age 5 years. Intraindividual developmental changes in private speech for both groups were associated with task performance, speech-action coordination, and executive functioning at age 5, but not with teacher- and parent-reported problem behavior.

Attention↗

PubMed1999

Mother-child interaction, private speech, and task performance in preschool children with behavior problems.

The purpose of the present study was to explore patterns of mother-child interaction, children's private speech use, and behavioral self-regulation among a sample of preschool children identified by their preschool teachers as evidencing behavior problems. Forty preschoolers were classified into two groups (behaviorally at-risk and a matched comparison group) on the basis of teacher ratings of impulsivity, inattention, and hyperactivity. Children completed a magnet board puzzle task once in collaboration with their mother and once individually, and maternal and child speech and behavior were coded from videotapes. Although there were no group differences in children's behavior or speech during the collaborative session, nor were there differences in children's individual task performance or on-task attention, mother-child interaction involving behaviorally at-risk children was characterized by more other-regulation, negative control, less praise, and less physical withdrawal over time, compared to interactions involving comparison children. Behaviorally at-risk children, compared to controls, used more overt, task-relevant private speech during individual problem solving. Partially internalized private speech use among at-risk preschoolers was positively associated with task performance. Group differences rather than similarities prevailed in terms of the relations between maternal behavior, child speech, and child performance.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

When learning a second language does not mean losing the first: bilingual language development in low-income, Spanish-speaking children attending bilingual preschool.

This article discusses two investigations which explored the bilingual language development outcomes of comparable groups of low-income, Spanish-speaking, Mexican American children who either did or did not attended a bilingual (Spanish/English) preschool. Study 1 is a replication of a study by Rodríguez, Díaz, Duran, and Espinosa, involving a new sample of 26 children who attended bilingual preschool for one year and 20 control children who remained at home. Study 2 represents a 1-year, longitudinal follow-up of Rodríguez et al.'s, sample of children during and after the children spent another year at home or in the preschool. In both investigations, standardized, objective measures of three components of children's language proficiency (productive language, receptive language, and language complexity) in English and Spanish were obtained at the beginning and end of the academic year. Contrary to fears that have been expressed by some that early exposure to English would lead to children's native language loss, the results of both studies offered no evidence of Spanish proficiency loss for children attending bilingual preschool. Children who attended bilingual preschool, compared to those who remained at home, showed significant and parallel gains in Spanish language development as well as significant and greater increases in English language proficiency over time. Results are discussed in terms of the need for more systematic research to be conducted in this area to inform policy and practice in the early education and development of language-minority children.

Achievement↗