Universal Teacher-Child Interaction Training in early childhood special education: A cluster randomized control trial.

Growing evidence suggests that Teacher-Child Interaction Training-Universal (TCIT-U) is effective for increasing teachers' use of strategies that promote positive child behavior, but more rigorous research with larger, diverse samples is needed to understand the effects of TCIT-U on teacher and child outcomes in early childhood special education. Using a cluster randomized control trial, we evaluated the effects of TCIT-U on (a) teacher skill acquisition and self-efficacy and (b) child behavior and developmental functioning. Teachers in the TCIT-U group (n = 37) exhibited significantly greater increases in positive attention skills, increased consistent responding, and decreased critical statements relative to teachers in the waitlist control group (n = 36) at post and 1-month follow-up (d's range from 0.52 to 1.61). Teachers in the TCIT-U group also exhibited significantly fewer directive statements (d's range from 0.52 to 0.79) and greater increases in self-efficacy compared to waitlist teachers at post (d's range from 0.60 to 0.76). TCIT-U was also associated with short-term benefits for child behavior. Frequency (d = 0.41) and total number of behavior problems (d = 0.36) were significantly lower in the TCIT-U group than in the waitlist group at post (but not follow-up), with small-to-medium effects. The waitlist group, but not the TCIT-U group, demonstrated an increasing trend in number of problem behaviors over time. There were no significant between-group differences in developmental functioning. Current findings build support for the effectiveness of TCIT-U as universal prevention of behavior problems with an ethnically and racially diverse sample of teachers and children, including children with developmental disabilities. Implications for implementation of TCIT-U in the early childhood special education setting are discussed.

Psychometric Properties of the Behavior Assessment System for Children Student Observation System (BASC-3 SOS) with Young Children in Special Education.

Measuring classroom behavior among young children is important to guide assessment and intervention decisions, yet there is limited literature on appropriate direct observation tools for this purpose. This article describes the psychometric properties of the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Student Observation System (BASC-3 SOS) with 135 children ages 20 to 67 months (M = 35 months, 64% Latinx, 78% with an established developmental disability) and their teachers (N = 36) as part of a larger randomized control trial of a teacher training intervention. Inter-rater reliability on individual BASC-3 SOS behaviors ranged from poor to good. Correlations between BASC-3 SOS scores across time indicated low to moderate developmental test-retest reliability. Significant correlations between BASC-3 SOS scores and teacher ratings provided evidence for convergent, divergent, and predictive validity. Differences between BASC-3 SOS scores for children with versus without disabilities supported the tool's discriminant validity. There were no significant pre- to post-treatment changes in BASC-3 SOS scores. Overall, results provide mixed evidence for the psychometric properties of the BASC-3 SOS when used with young, diverse children with and without disabilities. Implications for clinical and research purposes are discussed. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10864-021-09458-x.

Longitudinal transactional relationships between caregiver and child mental health during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Emerging work examining the psychological impact of COVID-19 on children and families suggests that the relationship between pandemic-related stress, child psychosocial functioning, and caregiver mental health are interrelated. However, much of this research is unidirectional and thus little is known about the bidirectional cascading effects children and caregivers may experience. The current study examined the transactional relationships between caregiver and child mental health over time during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Linguistically, racially, and ethnically diverse caregivers (N = 286) of young children completed measures of caregiver mental health, caregiver pandemic-related stress, and child mental health (i.e., externalizing, internalizing, prosocial behavior) across three time points in the spring of 2020. RESULTS: Using autoregressive cross-lagged analyses, impaired caregiver mental health at Time 1 (April 2020) predicted increased caregiver pandemic-related stress at Time 2 (May 2020). Caregiver pandemic-related stress at Time 1 predicted increased child internalizing symptoms at Time 2 which, in turn, predicted increased caregiver pandemic-related stress at Time 3 (July 2020). Lastly, impaired caregiver mental health at Time 2 (May 2020) predicted increased child externalizing symptoms at Time 3 (July 2020). CONCLUSIONS: Assessing transactional relationships between child and caregiver mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic is important to inform models of risk and resilience. Interventions at the level of the caregiver, the child, and/or the family should be considered as a way to interrupt potential negative developmental cascades.

Effects of a teacher training program to promote physically active play among preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders.

Wellness Enhancing Physical Activity for Young Children (WE PLAY) is an intervention intended to promote physical activity (PA) among typically-developing preschool children in child care settings. It was adapted for use by teachers who educate children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This study used a multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate the impact of WE PLAY-Autism on teachers' PA facilitating behaviors and on the PA levels of children with ASD. Visual analysis and effect size estimates indicated that two of the three teachers increased their PA facilitating behavior, although this was insufficient to demonstrate a functional relation. Children's (n = 5) PA was measured daily during school hours using accelerometry. Visual analysis, which was further supported by effect size calculations, indicated higher average levels of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) among preschoolers with ASD in the intervention phase (Tau-UA vs. B = 0.53, p < .001, Hedges' g = 0.99, 95% CI [0.56, 1.43]) and post-training phase (Tau-UA vs. B = 0.55, p < .001, Hedges' g = 1.17, 95% CI [0.73, 1.60]) in comparison to the baseline phase. WE PLAY-Autism is an intervention deserving of further investigation given its meaningful impact on the MVPA of preschoolers with ASD paired with its potential for broad implementation in preschools.

Rapid, Full-Scale Change to Virtual PCIT During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implementation and Clinical Implications.

Health agencies call for the immediate mobilization of existing interventions in response to numerous child and family mental health concerns that have arisen as result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Answering this call, this pilot study describes the rapid, full-scale change from a primarily clinic-based Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) model to a virtual service model (i.e., I-PCIT) in an academic and community-based program in Miami, Florida. First, we describe the virtual service training model our program developed and its implementation with 17 therapists (MAge = 32.35, 88.2% female, 47.1% Hispanic) to enable our clinic to shift from providing virtual services to a small portion of the families served (29.1%) to all of the families served. Second, we examine the effect of I-PCIT on child and caregiver outcomes during the 2-month stay-at-home period between March 16, 2020, and May 16, 2020, in 86 families (MChildAge = 4.75, 71% Hispanic). Due to the rapid nature of the current study, all active participants were transferred to virtual services, and therefore there was no comparison or control group, and outcomes represent the most recently available scores and not treatment completion. Results reveal that I-PCIT reduced child externalizing and internalizing problems and caregiver stress, and increased parenting skills and child compliance with medium to large effects even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the study examined components of our virtual service training model associated with the greatest improvements in child and caregiver outcomes. Preliminary findings revealed that locally and collaboratively developed strategies (e.g., online communities of practice, training videos and guides) had the strongest association with child and caregiver outcomes. Implications for virtual service delivery, implementation, and practice in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.

Risk and resilience of well-being in caregivers of young children in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting communities worldwide, with direct effects of illness and mortality, and indirect effects on economies, workplaces, schools/daycares, and social life. However, we understand very little about the effects of this pandemic on families of young children. We used a risk and resilience model to evaluate the effects of the pandemic on mental health in diverse caregivers (N = 286) with children ages birth to 5. We evaluated the hypotheses that (a) pandemic stress and caregiver-reported child psychosocial concerns correlate with caregivers' mental health symptoms and (b) caregivers' pandemic-related self-efficacy and coping mediate these relationships. Caregivers completed surveys in April-May 2020 assessing pandemic stress (e.g., health, finances, and housing), child psychosocial problems, coping strategies, and self-efficacy to manage family needs. Our primary outcome was caregivers' self-reported changes in mental health symptoms since the outbreak. Path analysis revealed that higher pandemic stress was associated with caregivers' reduced confidence in meeting their family's needs related to COVID-19, which correlated with worse caregiver mental health symptoms. Greater child psychosocial problems also predicted worse caregiver mental health symptoms. Findings suggest that pandemic stress, child psychosocial problems, and caregiver self-efficacy are interrelated in their influence on caregivers' mental health. While further research is needed to examine strategies to foster resilience and buffer the pandemic's effects on caregiver mental health, this is a first step in evaluating the psychosocial effects of this pandemic in families of young children. Clinical implications are discussed for a tiered response to mitigate the pandemic's impacts on family functioning.

Online preschool teacher training to promote physical activity in young children: A pilot cluster randomized controlled trial.

This study tested the Wellness Enhancing Physical Activity in Young Children (WE PLAY) program, a 4-week online preschool teacher training, on children's moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). In this cluster RCT, six Head Start preschools were randomized to an intervention and comparison group. Children's MVPA was measured using accelerometers at pre- and posttest. The magnitude of the difference in MVPA between groups at posttest was small, but in the expected direction: Δ min/hour = 1.60, 95% CI [-0.97, 4.18], p = .22, Cohen's d = 0.32. We observed a pre/post within group increase in average minutes per hour of MVPA in school with a medium effect size for the intervention group: Δ mean min/hour = 2.09, 95% CI [0.51, 3.67], p = .0096, Cohen's d = 0.42. An increase was not seen for the comparison group: Δ mean min/hour = 0.44, 95% CI [-0.70, 1.59], p = .45, Cohen's d = 0.07. WE PLAY children in 6 hr/day programs gained 63 min of MVPA per week in school, providing preliminary evidence of the benefits of WE PLAY on children's physical activity levels. WE PLAY deserves further testing with larger groups of children and teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The Effects of Varying Structured Physical Activity Duration on Young Children's and Parents' Activity Levels.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine whether structured physical activity (PA) in a family-based community exercise program affects PA of young children and parents. Method: Twenty-two children (mean ± SD; age, 4.9 ± 2.1 years) and their parents (age, 34.3 ± 7.6 years) participated in unstructured PA sessions followed by either short- or long-duration structured PA sessions, while wearing an ActiGraph GT9X activity monitor on their right hip to estimate PA. Independent t-tests compared children's and parents' PA during short- and long-structured PA sessions. Paired t-tests compared short- versus long-structured PA sessions. A mixed model ANOVA compared PA during unstructured versus structured sessions and between children and parents. Results: Children spent proportionately more time in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and had higher accelerometer counts/min than parents during short-structured PA (children:60.9 ± 18.8% vs. parents:17.7 ± 6.8%, children:3870 ± 742 vs. parents:1836 ± 556 counts/min, p < .05) and long-structured PA (children:61.1 ± 20.1% vs. parents:12.6 ± 4.9%, children:3415 ± 758 vs. parents:1604 ± 633 counts/min, p < .05). No statistical differences were found between short- and long-structured PA sessions for proportion of time spent in MVPA or counts/min for children or parents (all, p > .05). Children spent proportionally more time in MVPA and had higher counts/min during unstructured PA compared to structured PA (unstructured MVPA:54.4 ± 3.9% vs. structured MVPA:38.2 ± 4.2%, unstructured counts/min:3830 ± 222 vs. structured counts/min:2768 ± 239 counts/min; p < .05). Conclusions: Children were more active than parents during both the unstructured and structured PA sessions. However, unstructured PA sessions resulted in 63-77% and 10-11% of PA recommendations for children and adults, respectively. Family-based exercise programming can provide an opportunity for children and their parents to attain MVPA during the week.

The theoretical foundation, fidelity, feasibility, and acceptability of a teacher training to promote physical activity among preschoolers in child care: A pilot study.

This article describes the Wellness Enhancing Physical Activity in Young Children (WE PLAY) teacher training, which was designed to assist early childhood educators to promote physical activity among preschoolers in child care. We describe the WE PLAY intervention and its grounding in constructs from theories of health behavior and an implementation science framework. Fidelity, feasibility, and acceptability data from the WE PLAY pilot study, a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) with six Head Start programs in Massachusetts. Data, collected between October 2017-May 2018, are from teachers and supervisors at 3 preschool programs who participated in the WE PLAY (intervention) group. To understand program feasibility and acceptability, we used the Usage Rating Profile-Intervention (URP-I; n = 13) and key informant interviews (n = 5). The URP-I is a validated teacher survey with 6 subscales (Acceptability, Understanding, Feasibility, Family-School Collaboration, Systems Climate, and Systems Support). It was administered twice; immediately after users completed the first component, an online training (week 2), and after implementation of all program components (week 4). WE PLAY was implemented as it was intended, and it was considered acceptable and feasible to users. There was an increase in users' understanding of how to implement the program between weeks 2 and 4, and a concomitant decrease in the amount of additional systems-level supports users thought they would need to implement WE PLAY between weeks 2 and 4. WE PLAY was easily understandable and feasible to implement in real world settings, it was highly acceptable to users, and it deserves further testing.

Gender comparisons of young adults' eating behavior regulation: Re-examination of the Regulation of Eating Behavior Scale (REBS).

The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Regulation of Eating Behavior Scale (REBS) in mixed-gender, American samples and to evaluate how responses differed across male and female respondents. Responses were examined in a sample of 535 undergraduate students in the Southeastern United States. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to confirm the predicted factor structure; male and female participants were analyzed in a multi-group, unconstrained configural model, with male and female participants analyzed simultaneously to allow for multi-group comparisons within the same model. Additional analyses evaluated measurement invariance, reliability of the measure in the new sample, gender differences in subscale scores, and correlations across factors. Results of confirmatory factor analysis, multi-group by gender comparisons suggested that the factor structure did not vary across genders. In addition, factor structure was consistent with the findings of the original studies examining the psychometric property of the REBS, with the exception of the 'introjected regulation' subscale, which measures regulation of eating behaviors to avoid self-enforced consequences. Consistent with expectations, female participants' ratings were higher, on average, on more autonomous forms of eating regulation; however, contrary to expectations, scores did not differ significantly between males and females on more external forms of eating regulation. Conclusions, limitations, and implications are discussed.

First-hand sensory experience plays a limited role in children's early understanding of seeing and hearing as sources of knowledge: evidence from typically hearing and deaf children.

One early-developing component of theory of mind is an understanding of the link between sensory perception and knowledge formation. We know little about the extent to which children's first-hand sensory experiences drive the development of this understanding, as most tasks capturing this early understanding target vision, with less attention paid to the other senses. In this study, 64 typically hearing children (Mage  = 4.0 years) and 21 orally educated deaf children (Mage  = 5.44 years) were asked to identify which of two informants knew the identity of a toy animal when each had differing perceptual access to the animal. In the 'seeing' condition, one informant saw the animal and the other did not; in the 'hearing' condition, one informant heard the animal and the other did not. For both hearing and deaf children, there was no difference between performance on hearing and seeing trials, but deaf children were delayed in both conditions. Further, within both the hearing and deaf groups, older children outperformed younger children on these tasks, indicating that there is a developmental progression. Taken together, the pattern of results suggests that experiences other than first-hand sensory experiences drive children's developing understanding that sensory perception is associated with knowledge.