Effects of a responsiveness–focused intervention in family child care homes on children’s executive function

Abstract

Caregiver responsiveness has been theorized and found to support children’s early executive function (EF) development. This study examined the effects of an intervention that targeted family child care provider responsiveness on children’s EF. Family child care providers were randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups or a control group. An intervention group that received a responsiveness-focused online professional development course and another intervention group that received this online course plus weekly mentoring were collapsed into one group because they did not differ on any of the outcome variables. Children (N = 141) ranged in age from 2.5 to 5 years (mean age = 3.58 years; 52% female). At pretest and posttest, children completed delay inhibition tasks (gift delay-wrap, gift delay-bow) and conflict EF tasks (bear/dragon, dimensional change card sort), and parents reported on the children’s level of attention problems. Although there were no main effects of the intervention on children’s EF, there were significant interactions between intervention status and child age for delay inhibition and attention problems. The youngest children improved in delay inhibition and attention problems if they were in the intervention rather than the control group, whereas older children did not. These results suggest that improving family child care provider responsive behaviors may facilitate the development of certain EF skills in young preschool-age children.

Maternal emotional support but not cognitive support during problem-solving predicts increases in cognitive flexibility in early childhood

“…Consistent with previous research (Valcan, Davis, & Pino-Pasternak, 2017), the effect sizes of the paths from emotional support to cognitive flexibility in subsequent time points were small but stable across time. Our findings provide additional support for the growing body of evidence linking indicators of caregiver emotional support with children’s executive functioning (Bernier, Carlson, & Whipple, 2010; Blair et al, 2014; Cuevas et al, 2014; Merz, Landry, Johnson, Williams, & Jung, 2016). A plausible explanation for the current findings is that experiences with emotionally supportive caregivers during problem-solving may allow children use executive functions more frequently and efficiently.…”

Sociodemographic, nutritional, and environmental factors are associated with cognitive performance among Orang Asli children in Malaysia

“…Parents who provide learning materials at home, such as books or flashcards of letters and brain games that are either electronic or physical games, play the most significant role in improving the cognitive outcomes of their children, specifically their working memory and processing speed [38,43,44]. Meanwhile, parents’ responsive behaviors allow children to engage in more problem-solving skills involved in cognitive proficiency [45]. In general, the provision of a cognitively stimulating home environment during preschool years enhances a child’s cognitive development, for example, parents’ frequent reading to the child or helping the child with building blocks to learn letters and numbers [37].…”

For Better or for Worse? Positive and Negative Parental Influences on Young Children's Executive Function

“…Our findings also have implications for educational and health professionals seeking to improve developmental outcomes for at‐risk children. For example, Merz, Landry, Johnson, Williams, and Jung () have shown that an intervention designed to increase responsiveness in foster parents caring for children aged 2.5–5 years had limited benefits for children's EF, in that improvements in the intervention group were restricted to the youngest children in their sample. Coupled with findings from school‐based interventions that highlight the need for an incremental approach to ensure that children continue to receive an appropriate level of challenge, our results indicate that family‐based interventions to promote EF in preschool children should adopt a multipronged approach that goes beyond responsiveness to include a dual focus on promoting parents’ cognitive scaffolding and reducing negative affect.…”