Predictors of early literacy skills in kindergarteners with dyslexia familial risk

This dissertation research study aimed to determine the predictors of early literacy skills in kindergarteners with dyslexia familial risk. The home literacy environment, preschool attendance, and parental self-efficacy are known predictors of early literacy skills, specifically letter naming knowledge, in typically developing children. Letter naming knowledge is an early literacy skill that is important to future reading achievement and outcomes. Letter naming knowledge is also a powerful pre-literacy predictor of dyslexia. Dyslexia commonly manifest as difficulties in acquiring basic reading skills and is highly heritable. The population for this study was primary caregivers of kindergarteners with a first degree relative with a diagnosis of dyslexia. Participants completed the Home Literacy Checklist, Tool to Measure Parenting Self-Efficacy via an online survey with questions regarding preschool attendance, letter naming knowledge skills, and the presence of a diagnosis of dyslexia among first degree relatives. SPSS Statistics (Version 28) was used to run descriptive statistics. The sample was comprised of 12 primary caregivers. This sample size was not appropriate for the chosen analysis of multiple regression. Using exploratory data analysis, the data was organized and summarized. Due to an inadequate sample size caused by a low response rate, no conclusions could be drawn from this data. The research questions were not answered and there were no findings. COVID-19 restrictions impacted research sites and the level of participation, with participants being less available, school closures, and mandatory quarantines, creating a difficult atmosphere for completion of this research study. As a result, the lack of data during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns led to several revisions of the research plan. The revisions involved eliminating the need for standardized test scores, using primary caregiver report to determine the level of difficulty of letter naming knowledge of the kindergarten student, and using social media to recruit participants. Recommendations for further research were comprised of ways to increase the pool of participants by expanding inclusion criteria, eliminating the use of standardized test scores, considering the length of the survey, and the use of social media along with an incentive. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

What about the baby? Infancy and parenting in the COVID-19 pandemic

This article reviews the evolution of a newborn through the first year of life and the potential impacts of COVID-19 on the infant, parent, and the parent-infant relationship. Babies grow in the context of relationships, and the quality of those relationships affects the physiological and psychological organization of the baby. Precisely because each baby is a being with unique biology, temperament, and ways of experiencing, feeling, and learning, much is to be discovered and understood about them. The baby's wordless communications require their parents to intuit, infer, hypothesize, and experiment as parents come to know the needs of their baby. As we walk alongside parents who struggle to come to know their infant-even as the infant is coming to know them-we are required to have conceptual knowledge of how a newborn becomes a fully awakened infant. Under typical conditions, the birth of a firstborn baby presents a caregiving challenge and developmental opportunity for the emerging parent. Environmental context can serve to support or interfere in the success of the adjustment. This paper will explore some theoretical underpinnings that contribute to infant and parent well-being and the possible impact of being born during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also considered will be the undue burden of families bearing the weight of economic inequities, oppression, and structurally supported racism. This article will explore the influence of parental perception, the development of attachment relationships, and how that is influenced by and influences infant communication. Finally, it will suggest ways that psychotherapists seeing individuals who are parents can hold the infant in mind as they work to understand and respond to their adult clients navigating the impacts of this pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Storytelling for disability in COVID-19

This chapter describe a Storytelling and Narrative Medicine pilot study which focused on communication in therapeutic settings. The research was carried out by a group of Italian Health Care professionals (HCP) from Calambrone Institute for Rehabilitation (IRC), at the IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, along with a group of parents of patients with disabilities. However, because of the Covid-19 outbreak in Italy, many of the participants found themselves in lockdown in their own homes with their children. To evaluate the efficacy of storytelling as a tool for emotional and communication support, the authors submitted to both the HCP and parents two original online surveys to get information on their current emotional state. The assessed areas were personal stress, the relationship with children and family members, and the relationship with colleagues and professionals. The chapter focuses on emotional and psychological consequences that lack of social and therapeutic interactions might have produced. This short but effective educational intervention gives skills and knowledge to structure one's feelings and thoughts in a narrative form, equipping the participants with the resources to perceive themselves and their life experiences as the elements of the story. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Differences in traumatic stress among youth with and without chronic medical conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic is the deadliest pandemic in American history. This study aims to assess the differences in youth reported traumatic stress among those with and without chronic illness, and how those reports are impacted by parental level of concern regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Using convenience sampling, parents and their children completed a series of questionnaires focused on demographic information including questions about medical conditions, parental level of concern about COVID-19, and youth-report of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Results: Results of the anonymous survey (n = 164) found that parental reported level of concern of COVID-19 significantly predicted youth report of posttraumatic stress symptoms (F(4, 159) = 2.607, p = .038). There was no significant difference in youth-report of posttraumatic stress symptoms between youth with and without chronic medical conditions (F(1, 162) = .438, p = .509). Conclusions: Children often look to their parents for guidance during stressful life events, as confirmed by our findings. Parental emotional and behavioral responses may influence how youth make sense of highly stressful events and should be considered when determining intervention strategies in the COVID-19 era. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement This study found that youth with and without chronic health conditions did not differ in their report of posttraumatic stress 6 months after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, youth report of traumatic stress symptoms was predicted by their parents' level of concern regarding the impact of COVID-19 on their families, suggesting the need for targeted parent-based intervention. Clinical interventions to prevent chronic posttraumatic stress responses in youth regardless of medical comorbidity are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Socioemotional functioning as a moderator of the predictive ability of the DIAL-4 on academic achievement

Student performance on kindergarten screening measures and level of kindergarten-entry skills have been shown to be predictive of subsequent academic achievement, thus making kindergarten screening measures a useful tool that guides the monitoring of student progress over time. Though a commonly used tool to assist in kindergarten placement considerations by educators nationwide, the literature is lacking in studies that demonstrate the predictive ability of the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning - Fourth Edition (DIAL-4) on later academic achievement. Related, behavioral and emotional functioning has been demonstrated to significantly impact student achievement. While the literature supports the predictive ability of kindergarten screening measures on academic performance, research is limited on how behavioral functioning moderates this predictive relationship. The present study aimed to examine the predictive ability of the DIAL-4 on later academic achievement and identify whether behavioral and emotional functioning impacts upon, and to what degree, the relationship between academic achievement and the DIAL-4. Additionally, this study examined the impact of the pause of in-person learning, as caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on student achievement and behavioral and emotional functioning through within-samples comparisons of student functioning in 2019 and 2021 to identify change amongst individual students. The results support the predictive ability of the DIAL-4 on subsequent academic achievement with significant correlations between DIAL-4 scores obtained before kindergarten with subsequent measures of academic achievement. The was no evidence found for a moderation effect of behavioral and emotional functioning on the prediction of academic achievement. Lastly, when controlling for scores on the DIAL-4, the data suggest a decrease in rate of student academic achievement and an increase in emotional and behavioral dysregulation following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated by statistically significant differences in BERI scores as well as significant decreases in rates of growth in reading ability within some cohorts. These findings provide educators with empirical evidence for the utility of the DIAL-4 in predicting academic achievement as well as insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted students' functioning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Researching children and disasters: What's different in pandemic times?

The repercussions of the global COVID-19 pandemic are far-reaching and extend to the ways in which scholars conduct disaster research. Research on children and disasters is no exception. Focusing on methodologies, this paper explores the methodological constraints and innovations of studying children during the current crisis, and the implications for post-pandemic research on children and disasters. We begin by reviewing research methodologies to study children and disasters, drawing upon scholarly and grey literature as well as on our own research project on the pandemic experiences of children, adolescents, and older adults. We then discuss how these research approaches, tools, and spaces have changed during the pandemic. Methodological adaptation and innovation are necessary because traditional data collection methods are largely not feasible during the current pandemic;for example, many researchers cannot travel to the disaster site, hold in-person focus groups, interview children and their families face-to-face, or conduct extensive participant observation in places people would usually frequent. We pay particular attention to research ethics issues, including the challenges of navigating the research design process when children are involved. We contend that the massive adoption of online methods during the COVID-19 pandemic is laying the foundation for a seventh wave of research on children and disasters characterized by the integration of in-person and virtual worlds, and of in-person and virtual research methods. Rather than initiating this transition to a hybrid or blended model, the pandemic is accelerating the transition, and compelling more of the research community to engage than might have otherwise. The "bricolage" of methods originating in both in-person and virtual fields, adapted in various ways for both in-person and virtual fields, is better attuned to the spaces where children live their lives, and the ways in which they live their lives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The setting put to the test by the telephone

The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown of the spring 2020 led psychotherapists and psychoanalysts working with children and adolescents to experiment, whether they liked it or not, with new ways of meeting, by telephone or video-conferencing, and new practices were generated. In this context, new questions about the treatment format lead to a discussion of the precise place and function of telephone sessions with the adolescent as compared to the child. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (French) La pandemie de Covid-19 et le confinement du printemps 2020 ont conduit les psychotherapeutes et psychanalystes d'enfants et d'adolescents a l'experimentation, a marche forcee, de nouveaux modes de rencontres, par telephone ou visio, generateurs de pratiques inedites. Dans ce contexte de nouvelles interrogations concernant ce dispositif conduisent a preciser la place et la fonction des seances au telephone chez l'adolescent comparativement a l'enfant. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Nobody's child: Managing mental trauma of children with mental health issues

The world has not yet seen the end of COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2. However, as the spate of infection, hospitalization, and death abates, we are limping back to what we used to know as being normal. A new world is emerging, and more of this newness is yet waiting to be discovered. Children are developing differently, parents are unable to provide the necessary psychological and social support, there is hardly any peer interaction yet, and adults in their lives are too preoccupied with their own distresses to give the kind of support a growing child needs. In many situations, children are being allowed to almost fend for themselves in social and familial areas and in the area of cognitive development and these will surely show their true colors in the years to come. On a positive note, the nearly-post-COVID-19 world has witnessed children displaying an array of coping mechanisms leading to post-traumatic growth (PTG). It is heartening to note that the human psyche has the ability to overcome distress and disaster and forge ahead in a positive manner. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The effect of a global pandemic on students' social emotional competencies

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of COVID-19 on youth's social emotional competencies. Specifically, this study examined whether there was a significant difference in social emotional competency proficiency levels of self-management, social awareness, and emotion regulation as measured by the Panorama SEL Survey from October 2019 to October 2021 in fifth through twelfth grade students who attended a large, diverse suburban school district in Illinois. This study showed statistically significant differences in students' proficiency levels, which increased for self-management and decreased for social awareness and emotion regulation. Based on these results, school district leaders should consider investing funds to increase interventions and strategies for students regarding social awareness and emotion regulation. Future research should consider analyzing mindfulness interventions implemented as well as the different demographic subgroups with pre-pandemic and during-pandemic data. An extension study with additional years from the same cohort may also provide meaningful insights to school district leaders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Reaching city youth with an online summer arts workshop in Los Angeles

The Summer Arts Workshop (SAW) is a community-based art therapy program with a social justice focus. It has been offered through the Helen B. Landgarten (HBL) Art Therapy Clinic at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) since 2007 in partnership with Dolores Mission School in Boyle Heights, a historically under-resourced part of East Los Angeles. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders in Los Angeles, the SAW leadership team adapted the workshop to an online format. The authors took advantage of the online format to extend the reach of the workshop to several school sites in marginalized communities in Los Angeles County, including a juvenile hall high school, which is a prison for youth in a state youth detention centre. The greatest challenge in adapting to an online format was preserving the core component of the workshop: building trust and healthy attachments through expressive art making. The authors overcame this and other challenges and succeeded in providing connecting experiences for participants and facilitators during a time of social isolation and collective anxiety. This chapter shows how teletherapy can bridge gaps of access, particularly for marginalized populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

A collective strange situation: COVID-19 and children's developmental lines

Emerging findings have demonstrated the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being of children and families through abrupt and ongoing changes in routine due to social distancing measures, school closures, financial stress, fears of infection, and the loss of loved ones. Research has provided insight into the diverse ways that children and families react to heightened stressors in their environment, both through evidence of increased risk of developing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (Xie et al. 2020), and through protective factors, such as seeking support within a secure family system (Schofield et al. 2013). This paper will review the current literature about the impact of COVID-19 related stressors on children and families and then revisit literature and theories that developed in the context of previous widespread crises, which continue to inform our understanding of human development and resilience following shared traumatic experiences. For example, Bowlby's theory of attachment was honed by observing the effects of children's separations from their parents during WW2. Additionally, Victor Frankl's meaning-focused work, developed after surviving Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust, provides a framework for understanding resilience and shaped the elaboration and applications of existential therapies (Frankl 1946/1984). Based on a review of both the historical and more recent literature, as well as our own observations of children and parents in our clinical practice, we offer some suggestions for how psychoanalytic theories and therapies can support children and adolescents' emotional development and resilience during and following this crisis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Health disparities among rural individuals with mental health conditions: A systematic literature review

There is growing concern about the availability of health care services for rural patients. This systematic literature review evaluates original research on health disparities among rural and urban populations with mental health (MH) conditions in North America. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reveiws and Meta-Analyses guidelines, we used four electronic databases (Pubmed, Cochrane, APA PsycInfo, Web of Science) and hand searches and included original research conducted in the United States or Canada before July 2021 that compared health outcomes of patients with any mental health disorder in rural versus nonrural areas. Both qualitative and quantitative data were extracted including demographics, mental health condition, health disparity measure, rural definition, health outcome measures/main findings, and delivery method. To evaluate study quality, the modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used. Our initial search returned 491 studies, and 17 studies met final inclusion criteria. Mental health disorders included schizophrenia (4 studies), posttraumatic stress disorder (10), mood disorders (9), and anxiety disorders (6). Total sample size was 5,314,818 with the majority being military veterans. Six studies (35.2%) showed no significant rural-urban disparities, while 11 (64.7%) identified at least one. Of those, nine reported worse outcomes for rural patients. The most common disparities were diagnostic differences, increased suicide rates, and access problems. This review found mixed results regarding outcomes in rural patients with mental health disorders. Disparities were found regarding risk of suicide and access to services. Telehealth in addition to in-person outreach to these rural communities may be alternative to impact these outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement This critical review of the literature highlights that health disparities such as suicide rates/ideation, access to care, and utilization of mental health services are essential factors that put some subsets of rural patients compared to urban patients at a disadvantage. There is still a significant need for more research post COVID-19 on the use of telepsychiatry and rural health populations with mental health conditions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Reader identity in the shadow of COVID

Reader identity has long been associated with reading success and is based on social interactions happening in conjunction with reading tasks. Social feedback, observational comparison, and progress are three of the sources of self-perceptions that inform reader identity. During the COVID pandemic, schools employed various safety protocols, including learning online or in a hybrid format, and social distancing and wearing masks when in school. These safety measures inhibited social interaction and communication (both verbal and non-verbal). Since reader identity is informed by social interactions, this descriptive research explored the state of reader identity among middle school students in the wake of safety protocols that limited social interactions. Eighty-nine students completed a modified version of the Reader Self-Perception Scale-2 (Henk, Marinak, & Melnick, 2012) to identify how students view their own reader identities. Contrary to what was expected, reader identity has not altered much throughout the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical activity and anxiety levels of young mental health patients and their parents

Introduction: One restriction measure during the COVID-19 pandemic period was the closure of sport-related facilities, generating substantial anxiety. This study analyzed longitudinal changes in anxiety and physical activity (PA) levels in young people (YP) attending a community child and adolescent mental health service, and their parents/caregivers from 2020 to 2022. Method: This quantitatively driven convergent mixed-methods cohort study utilized validated scoring tools (GAD-7/GLTEQ) as the core quantitative component, and open-ended questions as the supplementary qualitative component. The quantitative and qualitative data were statistically analyzed, and both results were integrated. Questionnaires were distributed in August-October 2020 (Phase 1: At the peak of restriction period), August-October 2021 (Phase 2: During gradual removal of restrictions) and August-October 2022 (Phase 3: When all restrictions were removed). Results: Parent/caregiver's anxiety levels significantly reduced from Phase 1 to Phase 3. Results revealed non-significant improvements in YP's PA levels from Phase 1 to Phase 3. PA levels in YP were significantly higher than those of parents/caregivers throughout all Phases. A significant negative correlation was revealed between PA and anxiety levels in parents/caregivers throughout all Phases. The fear of getting infected, lifting of restrictive measures, vaccination benefits, and pandemic-induced social/financial struggles were common themes generated from the qualitative comments. Conclusion: The authors recommend PA promotional campaigns and incentives during such restrictive periods, helping the population's mental well-being. The high attrition rates in this study may decrease its generalizability. However, the results generated from this innovative study may serve as a platform for future research carried out during traumatic periods. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

How COVID-19 worsened the mental health problems of incarcerated youth

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 transformed daily life worldwide. To minimize the spread of the virus, many governments imposed a lockdown and physical distancing measures. Schools, universities, restaurants, shops, and businesses all closed. Research has shown that the mandatory stay-at-home orders associated with the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the mental health of parents, children, and youth. This chapter considers how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the mental health of youth behind bars in the United States and in other countries. The longstanding impression of prisons is that the people in custody are violent, dangerous, and deserve to be incarcerated. Even incarcerated youth are viewed by many in society as super-predators. Most incarcerated youth have significant mental health needs. Incarcerated youth often suffer from a variety of mental health conditions including anxiety, depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation. When incarcerated youth show symptoms of COVID-19 or are diagnosed with it, juvenile correctional facilities are faced with few options for quarantine that do not resemble solitary confinement. Because of concern regarding the high transmissibility of COVID-19 in juvenile prisons, most prison administrators suspend visitors or greatly restrict the number of people entering the facilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Care, compassion, & controversy: Supporting children in a COVID-19 vaccine pod through music therapy & child life

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a trajectory punctuated by controversy, from understanding the virus itself to the development of therapeutics and a vaccine. The offering of vaccination to children through a destination Covid-19 vaccine pod fore grounded the need for procedural support within a psychosocial reality of children and families navigating the pandemic. Children receiving the Covid-19 vaccine benefitted from a synthesis of music therapy and child life services into a comprehensive approach that proved essential for not only the child, but for personal caregivers, and very often the nursing staff administering the vaccine itself. This article presents the praxis of psychoeducational interventions, psychotherapeutic support, and procedural support including both pre- and post-procedural interventions to support children receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

School and community reforms that help navigate the COVID-19 crisis

Twenty-five percent of high school students have reported emotional and mental health issues during the pandemic. Many students have had to face illness, loss, food insecurity, and economic hardship resulting from the pandemic. They have experienced anxiety, fear, and depression attributable to long-term school closures, isolation, quarantines, and stay-at-home orders. School-based mental health (SMH) can be viewed as an emerging need in response to this increasing national health crisis. This chapter discusses the importance of SMH services for children in schools, highlights the use of tiered systems to prevent and respond to mental health concerns of students and provides specific considerations for school and community for creating integrated systems. Evidence-based practices (EBPs) have a strong scientific basis for their use, as they are supported by high-quality research that offers empirical demonstrations of effectiveness. As a response, schools across the United States are adopting tiered systems of support, consisting of EBPs, to address systematically the growing diversity of students' needs, particularly in light of Covid-19's effects on students' academic, behavioral, and social-emotional well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

A sketch of the problem

In 2019, the world changed in significant ways. The emergence and spread of the virus SARS-CoV-2, more commonly known as COVID-19 to note the year of its development into a pandemic, altered social and economic conditions everywhere. All nations of the world had to contend with the virus and its effects. This chapter draws on ecological systems theory to highlight the ways in which various systems were able to/unable to address children and adolescents' social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs during the pandemic. It lays out the assumptions that underlie ecological systems theory, a developmental theory that explores human development as the result of interacting and intertwined ecological contexts. The chapter provides an illustration of how the social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs of children and adolescents have been and continue to be shaped by interactions across these various ecological contexts. It considers next steps and outlines how research, policy, and practice might take up ecological systems theory in seeking to address the persistent and pervasive problems of children and adolescents' well-being in the context of intertwined and overlapping systems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Parental perception of the relationship between stress responses and the changes in lifestyle habits of elementary school students during a temporary leave of absence for COVID-19

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between stress responses and the lifestyle habit changes of elementary school students during a temporary leave of absence from school during measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections. We surveyed 637 parents of elementary school students about their lifestyle habit changes and stress responses during their temporary leave and finally analyzed 510 subjects. Variance analysis, showed that there were significant differences in "irregular sleep," "disordered eating habits," and "increased use of games and smartphones," but the effect size was small. When the correlation was calculated, "disordered eating habits" was associated with all stress responses, and six lifestyle-related changes were associated with lethargy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Summing up what we know-And what we don't

The year 2022 is a particularly troubled time for the concept of truth, fact, and veracity. Some try to parse the difference between truth and fact, holding fast to a belief that truth never changes, although facts might, yet being uncomfortable with or contemptuous of the idea that scientific fact may change with new information or with a change in circumstance. In the stew of reliable information, misinformation, and disinformation about COVID-19, concern for the mental health of children and adolescents is likely to get lost. Among the things we don't know are the long-term effects of the disease, not only on learning but also on mental wellness and physical health. Clearly, mental health services were inadequate prior to the pandemic, and one effect of the pandemic has been the exposure the widespread need for more accessible mental health services for families, both adults and children. We know that the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the mental health of the world's population, including children and adolescents. We know that anxiety, anger, uncertainty, disruption of routines, social isolation, and deterioration of family relationships contribute to the mental/emotional distress of children and adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)