scholarly journals Enhancing executive functioning among toddlers in foster care with an attachment-based intervention

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 575-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Lind ◽  
K. Lee Raby ◽  
E. B. Caron ◽  
Caroline K. P. Roben ◽  
Mary Dozier
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Dimensional Change ◽  
Attention Problems ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Card Sort ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Control Intervention ◽  
Dimensional Change Card Sort

AbstractYoung children in foster care often experience adversity, such as maltreatment and lack of stability in early caregiving relationships. As a result, these children are at risk for a range of problems, including deficits in executive functioning. The Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up for Toddlers (ABC-T) intervention was designed to help foster parents behave in ways that promote the development of young children's emerging self-regulatory capabilities. Participants included 173 parent–toddler dyads in three groups: foster families that were randomly assigned to receive either the ABC-T intervention (n= 63) or a control intervention (n= 58), as well as low-risk parent–toddler dyads from intact families (n= 52). At a follow-up conducted when children were approximately 48 months old, children's executive functioning abilities were assessed with the attention problems scale of the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000) and a graded version of the Dimensional Change Card Sort developed for preschoolers (Beck, Schaefer, Pang, & Carlson, 2011). Results showed that foster children whose parents received the ABC-T intervention and low-risk children never placed in foster care had fewer parent-reported attention problems and demonstrated greater cognitive flexibility during the Dimensional Change Card Sort than foster children whose parents received the control intervention. These results indicate that an attachment-based intervention implemented among toddlers in foster care is effective in enhancing children's executive functioning capabilities.

Language, Bilingualism, and Executive Functioning in Early Development

2010 ◽  
Vol 107 (3) ◽  
pp. 888-890 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bruce Morton
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Dimensional Change ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
Standard Account ◽  
Card Sort ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Dimensional Change Card Sort ◽  
New Evidence

Okanda, et al. (2010) reported new evidence concerning associations between language ability, bilingualism, and executive functioning early in development. The paper adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that bilingualism is associated with advantages in executive functioning generally, and the Dimensional Change Card Sort task in particular. However, as with all findings that hinge on between-group comparisons, there is a need to exercise caution before drawing firm conclusions about the effects of bilingualism on the development of executive control. Several lines of recent evidence are outlined that challenge key assumptions underlying the standard account of the bilingual advantage. Okanda, et al.'s findings are discussed in light of this evidence.

scholarly journals Effects of an attachment-based intervention on the cortisol production of infants and toddlers in foster care

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 845-859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Dozier ◽  
Elizabeth Peloso ◽  
Erin Lewis ◽  
Jean-Philippe Laurenceau ◽  
Seymour Levine
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Developmental Education ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Initial Values ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Control Intervention ◽  
And Behavior

AbstractStudies with nonhuman primates and rodents, as well as with human children, have suggested that early separations from caregivers are often associated with changes in the functioning of the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. On the basis of these findings, we designed a relational intervention that was intended to normalize HPA functioning among children in foster care. This paper presents findings from a randomized clinical trial that assessed the effectiveness of a relational intervention (Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up [ABC]) with regard to HPA functioning. The ABC intervention was intended to enhance children's ability to regulate physiology and behavior. The control intervention (Developmental Education for Families) was intended to enhance children's cognitive skills. A comparison group of children who had never been in foster care was also included. Children's cortisol production was assessed upon arrival at the lab, and 15 and 30 min following the Strange Situation. Random effects analyses of variance were performed to assess differences in initial values and change between children in the two intervention groups. Children in the ABC intervention and comparison group children showed lower initial values of cortisol than children in the treatment control group, considering arrival at lab as initial values (p < .05). Groups did not differ significantly in change over time. These results suggest that the ABC intervention is effective in helping children regulate biology in ways more characteristic of children who have not experienced early adversity.

Foster Care for Child Maltreatment: Impact on Delinquent Behavior

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 562-568
Author(s):  
Desmond K. Runyan ◽  
Carolyn L. Gould
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Maternal Education ◽  
Child Victims ◽  
Foster Home ◽  
Historical Cohort ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Cohort Differences ◽  
The Impact

Previous reports of child maltreatment Sequelae have not systematically examined the effects of societal intervention. A historical cohort study has been undertaken to examine the impact of one intervention, foster care, on the subsequent development of juvenile delinquency among child victims. One hundred fourteen foster children, aged 11 to 18 years, in foster care for three or more years, and who were in foster care as a result of maltreatment were studied. A comparison cohort was composed of 106 victims of maltreatment who were left in their family home; these children were similar to the children in foster care with regard to age, race, sex, and year of diagnosis. Cohort differences in maternal education, type of abuse, history of prior maltreatment, sex, and race were controlled in the analysis. Foster children committed 0.050 crimes per person-year after age 11 years; home care children committed 0.059 crimes per person-year after age 11 years (P &gt; .2). Foster children were more likely to have committed criminal assault. Among foster children, increased number of foster home placements correlated with increased number of delinquency convictions. Overall, there appears to be no support for the idea that foster care is responsible for a significant portion of later problems encountered by victims of maltreatment.

Predictors of Adoption and Guardianship Dissolution: The Role of Race, Age, and Gender Among Children in Foster Care

2020 ◽  
pp. 107755952095217
Author(s):  
Kierra M. P. Sattler ◽  
Sarah A. Font
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
Cognitive Disability ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Foster Care System ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Disability Status ◽  
Entry Cohort ◽  
And Gender

Adoption and guardianship are meant to provide permanency to foster children when reunification is not a viable option. Unfortunately, sometimes adoption and guardianship placements dissolve resulting in children returning to care. Currently, there is limited research on the prevalence and predictors of adoption and guardianship dissolutions. This study investigated rates of guardianship and adoption dissolution using a complete entry cohort from a large state foster care system and the associations between child characteristics and risk factors with dissolution. Drawing on a complete entry cohort of foster children in Texas that exited to either adoption or guardianship placements, results demonstrated that over 2% of adoptive placements and 7% of guardianship placements were dissolved. Compared with White and Hispanic children, Black children had a higher risk of guardianship, but not adoption, dissolution. Older age was associated with a higher risk of adoption dissolution, and females had a higher risk of guardianship dissolution than males. Behavior problems, cognitive disability status, and mental health issues were all associated with a higher risk of dissolution. These findings have important implications for caseworkers and policymakers on permanency for children in adoptive or guardianship placements.

scholarly journals Not Quite as Grown-Up as We Like to Think

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Diamond ◽  
Natasha Kirkham
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Dimensional Change ◽  
Dependent Measure ◽  
The Other ◽  
Card Sort ◽  
Sensitive Measure ◽  
Infancy And Early Childhood ◽  
Dimensional Change Card Sort

Greater continuity in cognition between children and adults may exist than is usually appreciated. It was thought that after 3 to 4 years of age, the problem in switching on the dimensional-change card-sort task disappears. We show here, however, that if speed is used as the dependent measure, the effect of the first dimension is evident even in adults. Adults, like preschoolers, show difficulty in switching from a block of sorting by color or shape to a block of sorting by the other dimension. Notably, performance throughout the session was affected by the first dimension by which stimuli were sorted. We hypothesize that perhaps adults never fully outgrow any of the cognitive and perceptual biases of infancy and early childhood. Other examples of such biases that appear to still be present in adults are discussed. Conversely, the assumption that the optimal dependent measure for adults is the most sensitive measure for children is questioned.

Appendix: Summary of Versions of the Dimensional Change Card Sort Used

2003 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 120-123
Author(s):  
Philip David Zelazo ◽  
Ulrich Muller ◽  
Douglas Frye ◽  
Stuart Marcovitch
Keyword(s):  
Dimensional Change ◽  
Card Sort ◽  
Dimensional Change Card Sort

scholarly journals Emotion understanding in preschool children

2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Costa Martins ◽  
Ana Osório ◽  
Manuela Veríssimo ◽  
Carla Martins
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Dimensional Change ◽  
Emotion Understanding ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Set Shifting ◽  
Peabody Picture Vocabulary ◽  
Card Sort ◽  
R Language ◽  
Dimensional Change Card Sort

This investigation was aimed at studying the relations between executive functions (EFs) and categorical emotion understanding while controlling for preschoolers’ IQ, language ability and theory of mind (ToM). Specifically, we wanted to analyse the association between emotion understanding and set shifting, due to the lack of studies with this EF. Data of 75 children aged 4½ years (52% boys) was collected in two laboratory visits. Emotion understanding was assessed using the Emotion Recognition Questionnaire, inhibitory control using the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task and set shifting using a version of the Dimensional Change Card Sort task. IQ was evaluated using the WPPSI-R, language using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – Revised; and ToM using six standardized tasks. Set shifting, but not inhibitory control, predicted emotion understanding, over and above mothers’ age, and children’s IQ, language ability, and ToM. Mothers’ age and children’s language ability were also significant predictors in the final regression model. Results suggest that the capacity to shift mental sets is linked with inter-individual differences in children’s understanding of situational causes of emotion. Therefore studying EFs as correlates of emotion understanding is an important focus of future research.

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