Neuropsychological Predictors of ODD Symptom Dimensions in Young Children.

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a commonly diagnosed childhood behavior disorder, yet knowledge of relations between ODD and early neuropsychological functions, particularly independent of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is still limited. In addition, studies have not examined neuropsy chological functioning as it relates to the different ODD symptom dimensions. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate how preschool neuropsychological functioning predicted negative affect, oppositional behavior, and antagonistic behavior symptom dimensions of ODD in 224 six-year-old children, oversampled for early behavior problems. Working memory, inhibition, and sustained attention predicted negative affect symptoms of ODD, controlling for ADHD, whereas delay aversion uniquely predicted oppositional behavior, controlling for ADHD. Delay aversion also marginally predicted antagonistic behavior, controlling for ADHD. Results demonstrate that different ODD symptom dimensions may be differentially predicted by different neuropsychological functions. The findings further underscore the importance of future research on ODD to take into account the possible heterogeneity of both symptoms and underlying neuropsychological functioning.

A Longitudinal Study of Fathers' and Young Children's Depressive Symptoms.

Considerable research has examined the effects of maternal depression on children, but few studies have focused on the relation between paternal and child depressive symptoms, particularly during early childhood. Even fewer studies have been longitudinal, leaving open questions about how paternal and child depression covary over time. The present study sought to address this gap by examining the relation between fathers' and children's depressive symptoms over a 3-year period. Participants were 153 preschool children with behavior problems and their parents. Three longitudinal analytic approaches were used to examine how father and child depression change together and predict one another over time. Additional analyses examined whether externalizing problems or maternal depression might account for the associations between fathers' and children's depressive symptoms. Changes in paternal depression significantly predicted changes in father-reported and mother-reported child depressive symptoms. These effects were evident both in year-to-year fluctuations and in linear trajectories across the 3-year period. Cross-lagged analyses suggested that these relations may have been driven by father-effects; paternal depression at one time point predicted child depression at the next time point, but child depression did not significantly predict later paternal depression. We found little evidence that externalizing problems or maternal depression accounted for the relations between fathers' and children's depressive symptoms. Results provide convergent evidence that fathers' depression may play an important role in the development of depressive symptoms in young children and underscore the importance of including fathers in studies of depression in families.

Surveying Early Intervention Providers to Identify Opportunities for Workforce Support to Strengthen Family-Centered Care.

Traditional provider-to-child models of early intervention (EI) service provision have been increasingly replaced by service guidelines that promote a broader family-centered approach to support improvement in the child's primary area of delay. These guidelines include working directly with caregivers and addressing needs of the family that might impact a caregivers' capacity to engage in developmentally supportive interactions with children (e.g., caregiver distress). Knowledge of provider skills, practices, and attitudes would inform efforts to broaden and enhance practice in line with these guidelines. Within an academic-community partnership to support EI, we surveyed 88 providers in Miami and Boston about their usual practice, perceptions of their skills, general attitudes towards evidence-based practices, and interest in specific training opportunities. Findings indicated that providers spent more time working directly with children than caregivers. Providers reported high interest in training to manage caregiver distress, support preschool readiness, and align work with family culture. Negative overall attitudes towards using evidence-based interventions and provider exhaustion were related to less interest in obtaining training in culturally-responsive practice. Exhaustion also related to less interest in training on other topics that represent a broadened scope of care, including building warm parent-child relationships. Findings are informing efforts to design EI training opportunities to improve parent-provider relations, enhance parent-child interactions, and reduce caregiver stress.

A Population-Based Study of Associations Among Child Screen Media Use, Social-Contextual Factors, and School Readiness.

OBJECTIVE: Results of studies examining relations between child media use and school readiness have been inconsistent. Importantly, studies often focus on a single outcome domain (e.g., academic, social, or behavioral), making the comparison of relative importance difficult; fail to account for confounding variables; and fail to investigate social-contextual moderators. This study investigated relations among child media use exposure, social-contextual factors, and multiple domains of school readiness in preschool-aged children. METHODS: Multivariate regression analyses were used to examine relations between child media use and 3 domains of school readiness (early learning, social-emotional skills, and self-regulation), controlling for demographic and social-contextual factors, and to investigate differential susceptibility by examining family income and 4 social-contextual factors (sleep, exposure to adverse childhood events, frequency of shared reading, and parent stress) as moderators in a large US population-based sample (N = 9323) of 3 to 5 year olds. RESULTS: After controlling for confounding variables, higher screentime was negatively related to children's social-emotional skills and self-regulation, but less so for early learning. Effect sizes were small. The relation between screentime and self-regulation was significantly moderated by family income, such that the relation was stronger for children from low-income backgrounds. No other evidence of significant moderation was found. CONCLUSION: Results add to evidence that the relation between screen media use and outcomes in young children is likely complex. Future work should prioritize examining impacts of screen media use on social and behavioral functioning to further inform the evaluation of relative benefits and costs of child screen media use.

Apps As Learning Tools: A Systematic Review.

CONTEXT: Young children have increasing access to interactive applications (apps) at home and at school. Existing research is clear on the potential dangers of overuse of screens, but there is less clarity around the extent to which interactive apps may be helpful in supporting early learning. OBJECTIVE: In this systematic review, we present a narrative synthesis of studies examining whether children <6 years can learn from interactive apps. DATA SOURCES: The PsycInfo, PubMed, ACM Digital Library, and ERIC databases were searched. STUDY SELECTION: Studies were included if the study design was randomized or nonrandomized controlled (quasi-experimental), the sample mean age was <6 years, the intervention involved children playing with an interactive app, and academic, cognitive, or social-emotional skill outcomes were measured. DATA EXTRACTION: Of 1447 studies, 35 were included. RESULTS: Evidence of a learning benefit of interactive app use for early academic skills was found across multiple studies, particularly for early mathematics learning in typically developing children. Researchers did not find evidence of an intervention effect for apps aiming to improve social communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorder. LIMITATIONS: Risk of bias was unclear for many studies because of inadequate reporting. Studies were highly heterogenous in interventions, outcomes, and study design, making comparisons of results across studies difficult. CONCLUSIONS: There is emerging evidence to suggest that interactive apps may be useful and accessible tools for supporting early academic development. More research is needed to evaluate both the potential of educational apps to support early learning, and their limitations.

Preschool Neuropsychological Measures as Predictors of Later Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

The present study examined preschool neuropsychological measures as predictors of school-age attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants included 168 children (91 males) who completed neuropsychological measures at ages 3 and 4, and who were evaluated for ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder at age 6. The Conners' Kiddie Continuous Performance Test (K-CPT), NEPSY Statue subtest, and a delay aversion task significantly distinguished at-risk children who later did and did not meet criteria for ADHD, with poor to fair overall predictive power, specificity, and sensitivity. However, only the K-CPT ADHD Confidence Index and battery added incremental predictive validity beyond early ADHD symptoms. This battery approach, which required impairment on at least 2 of the 3 significant measures, yielded fair overall predictive power, specificity, and sensitivity, and correctly classified 67 % of children. In addition, there was some support for the specificity hypothesis, with evidence that cool executive function measures (K-CPT and Statue subtest) tended to predict inattentive symptoms. These findings suggest that neuropsychological deficits are evident by preschool-age in children with ADHD, but neuropsychological tests may still misclassify approximately one-third of children if used alone. Thus, neuropsychological measures may be a useful component of early ADHD assessments, but should be used with caution and in combination with other assessment methods.