Development can be altered by several factors which can either facilitate or obstruct development. The aim of the current study was the examination and the detection of differences in the developmental profiles of preschool aged children living in conventional institution facilities (N = 28), in SOS villages (N = 20) and in natural family…

The male to female ratio is raised in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Previous studies have suggested that girls with ASD have more problems with communication than boys, but boys show more repetitive behaviours than girls. In this study, 20 girls, 1.8-3.9 years of age were matched for chronological and developmental age with 20 boys with…

The aim of this study was to validate a questionnaire on mastery motivation (task and effort) for use with Chinese preschool children in Hong Kong. A parent version and a teacher version were developed and evaluated. Participants included 457 children (230 boys and 227 girls) aged four and five years old, their preschool teachers and their…

Developmental problems may decrease participation of children. The objective of this study was to evaluate multidimensional aspects of participation amongst preschool children with and without DCD. Participants included 63 children with mean age of 4.96 years (SD = 0.62; range = 4.02-6.35 years). Twenty one children were diagnosed with DCD, 21…

This study examines the criterion-related validity and clinimetric properties of the Assessment of Preschool Children's Participation (APCP) for children with cerebral palsy (CP). Eighty-two children with CP (age range, two to five years and 11 months) and their caregivers participated in this study. The APCP consists of diversity and intensity…

This study was designed to examine the cultural sensitivity of the PDMS-2 for Portuguese preschool children aged 36-71 months. A total of 540 children (255 males and 285 females) from 15 public preschools of Viana do Castelo, Portugal, were assessed. Age and gender effects in motor performance were examined. Results indicated that PDMS-2 is valid…

We report on the preliminary validity and utility of the "Ghuman-Folstein Screen for Social Interaction" ("SSI"), a measure of social interaction that can serve to screen for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in clinical samples of young high-risk children. Caregivers of 350 children (176 younger participants, ages 24-42 months, mean age = 34.1…

The current study adopts the PASS theory of information processing to investigate the probable differences in specific motor and cognitive abilities between children with and without developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Participants were 108 5- and 6-year-old preschoolers (54 children with DCD and 54 children without DCD). The Movement…

This study examined the relation between emergent literacy skills, teachers' reports of behavioral problems, and word reading achievement in a community sample of French students. Family background was investigated and included familial antecedents of reading difficulties (Fa/Rd) and parents' educational level. The analyses explored the pattern of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the body awareness of preschool children with a psychiatric disorder as measured by the test imitation of gestures (Berges & Lezine, 1978), using the subsections for pointing to body parts (passive vocabulary) and naming body parts (active vocabulary). Seventy-seven children from 37 to 72 months of age…

There has been limited epidemiologic information concerning preschoolers' behavioral and emotional problems in Eastern societies. This study was therefore aimed to investigate behavioral and emotional problems in a large sample of Taiwanese preschoolers using the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 1.5-5 (CBCL/1.5-5). The CBCL/1.5-5 was scored by…

The teaching of imitation skills is often the first step in interventions for young learners with intellectual disabilities. The main goal of this study was to determine the smallest detectable difference (SDD) at 95% confidence of the Preschool Imitation and Praxis Scale (PIPS) in preschoolers with intellectual disabilities. Two raters…

Background: Despite previous efforts to understand temperament in children with intellectual disability (ID), and how child temperament may affect parents, the approach has so far been unidimensional. Child temperament has been considered in relation to diagnosis, with the inherent risk of overlooking individual variation of children's temperament…

The aim of this study was to validate a questionnaire on academic competence behaviour for use with Chinese preschool children in Hong Kong. A parent version and a teacher version were developed and evaluated. The participants included 457 children (230 boys and 227 girls) aged four and five years old, their preschool teachers and their parents.…

This study reports on the validation of the language domain subtest of a developmental assessment scale for Cantonese Chinese preschool children. Three hundred and seventy eight multi-stage randomly selected children between 3;4 and 6;3 years of age were tested on the 104-item subtest. Fifty-four of these children, spreading across three age…