نشریه سلامت و آموزش در اوان کودکی
سال دوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 4، تابستان 1400)

This study investigated the symbolic elements of colored drawings in autistic children in comparison with normal ones through a "Draw-a-Person" test.

The peresent research is a Causal-Comparative study. The statistical population of this study was all autistic children in elementry grade and normal children in range of 6 years old in 2019 of Tehran Province. The sample population was estimated by Cochran's method and random cluster sampling. The size of sample was 30 normal children who were chosen from different kindergartens(including: Nik Golan, Naghmehaye Zendegi, Ali and Reza, and Bagh-e-Gol) and 30 autistic children who were selected from different districts of Tehran Province. The instrument used in this research was the Iranian 1993-version of colored "Draw-a-Person" test. Data were analyzed by Independent T-test.

The results showed that there was a significant difference in drawing scales of the head, clothes, body design, color, and place of drawing between normal children and autistic ones.

The cognitive and emotional-sentimental world, hidden needs, intents and desires, and finally communicational issues can be understood from the symbolic elements of the colored drawings of autistic children in comparison with normal ones.

There is a clear correlation between the quality of early childhood educational programs and future academic and social success of a person. Therefore, the present study investigated mothers' attitudes toward cognitive-social skills of preschool children.

The present study was qualitative-descriptive phenomenological research. The sample consisted of 20 mothers selected by a targeted sampling with two criterions including at least a bachelor degree and one child in preschool age. The data of this study were analyzed based on the lived experiences of mothers and by conducting semi-structured interviews about mothers' attitudes toward cognitive-social skills of children. In order to verify the validity and formality of the interview questions, professors of psychology and experts in qualitative research had been consulted. Then, all obtained data were analyzed by the seven-step Colaizzi and MAXODA software version 18.

The present study eventuated in 2 main themes, seven subsets of cognitive skills consisted of dynamic memory, visual processing, recognition, recall and information processing, problem solving and purposeful plays, and four subsets of social skills including family, training classes, communication with peers and qualifications in social skills.

As children's success at school depends on events they have experienced before the school age, it seems necessary to engage them in basic skills improvement programs such as cognitive and social skills improvement programs which appear essential for later academic success at school age.

Preschool education improves in order to increase the efficiency and progress of educational conditions for children. The aim of this study was to make a comparative comparison of preschool education in Iran and South Korea.

The purpose of this study was a user-based one and its nature was analytical-descriptive. The statistical population in this study was all documents existed in Preschool Educational Systems of Iran and South Korea consisted of articles and reports which were uploaded on website of Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research, documents on Ministry of Education website, theses related to the preschool systems of different countries which were recorded on irandoc website, and a collection of articles of scientific congresses all about preschool systems which have been held in 2020. The data were collected by library and note taking methods. Then the data were analyzed in a content descriptive-analytical manner in line with Jorj F Berdy's four-stage approach (description, interpretation, comparison and coherence).

Research findings indicate that enrollment in preschools in both countries is compulsory. Unfortunately, there is no rules and regulations for preschool instructors' admissions in Iran, the teachers often have low educational degrees and qualifications, and sometimes the retired staff are employed. In contrast, in South Korea, a two-year course along with university approval and higher qualifications are necessary for acceptance in preschools. The ratio of instructor to student in Iran is 1 to 25, though this ratio is 1 to 21 in South Korea, which considered as a significant numerical advantage. In terms of governmental funds and expenditures on preschool education, both countries have spent less budgets than developed countries. In Iran, educational space, environment and facilities are inadequate with regard to the age of the child compared with South Korea. In contrast to South Korea, management in Iran is more centralized and focused.

The shortcomings of preschool educational systems in Iran have reduced the quality of education and nursing the children. Therefore, these centers often do not have the necessary conditions and motivation for entering the preparatory period. It seems to be difficult to achieve appropriate development for these centers unless government shows a strong participation and investment. On the other hand, the quantity and quality of preschools education are facing very serious obstacles, especially with regards to children from low-income families and bilingual areas and provision of experienced educators, and all these become true along with proper culture development, more government participations, and improvement of quality and quantity of preschool centers.

The present study examined and compared parenting stress and coping strategies of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder and mothers of healthy children.

The statistical population of this study included all mothers of healthy children and mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder who referred to the centers for organizing, treating and rehabilitating autistic disorders in districts 5 and 6 of Tehran. Sample size was calculated by research background. The sample size included 50 mothers of healthy children and 50 mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder who referred to selected centers in districts 5 and 6 of Tehran Province who were participated in the study. Research instruments included the Gary Barry Jones (1995) Parental Stress Questionnaire and the Lazarus-Folkman (1985) Stress Coping Strategies Questionnaire. After the data had been collected, the data were analyzed by Multivariate Analysis of Variance and comparing the independent means of T between two independent groups.

According to the obtained means, the problem-oriented coping strategy of mothers of healthy children was significantly more than the problem-oriented coping strategy of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders. Also, the emotion-coping strategy of mothers of healthy children was significantly less than the emotion-coping strategy of mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders.

The results showed that there was a significant difference between mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder and mothers of healthy children in terms of parenting stress and coping strategies usage. Therefore, both hypotheses of the present study were confirmed.

Today, novel educational methods are being developed all over the world; among all those methods, game-based ones are the best because these games are often welcomed by learners. The aim of this study was to explain the effect of preschool games on mental and social skills of children in preschool centers.

This study is a semi-experimental research consists of control and experimental groups. The method was performed by Pretest-posttest method. The statistical population was 8467 preschool children in 5-6 years of old. 120 children were selected by random clustering sampling method, then they were categorized in two groups: experimental and control. After equalization of groups, in order to assess the mental skills of children Bender Gestalts visual-motional pretest were implemented on all chosen children who were 60 boys and 60 girls. And Matson's Social Skills Questionnaire were given to teachers to measure social skills of children. Then from each group 30 participants were randomly assigned as an experimental group and 30 participants were chosen as a control group. Afterwards Games have been taught to experimental group in two months (two 90-minutes-sessions per week). When games have been learnt, the tests were repeated again, then the data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).

Findings of the research showed that the effect of independent variable intervention (preschool games) was 0.16, that meant 16% of the variance of post-test scores of mental skills of children was due to preschool games. This asserts that preschool games have increased the mental skills of preschool children. Also, the effect of independent variable intervention (preschool games) was 0.28, i.e., 28% of the variance of post-test scores of social skills of children was due to the effect of preschool games. This indicated that preschool games have improved social skills children.

It can be said that preschool games have a capacity to improve mental and social skills of children. Accordingly, preschool games should be designed and implemented in line with developing these two goals.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between parental attachment styles, mental health and parenting styles towards behavioral problems of preschool children by intervention of children attachment.

This study is a descriptive research. The statistical population were all parents of 6-year-old children in preschool centers in Tehran. The statistical sample included 237 parents of 6-year-old children, chosen by multi-stage cluster sampling. Hazen and Shaver adult attachment styles (1990/1987), Baumrind parenting styles (1972), Goldberg & Hiller general health questionnaire (1979), behavioral problems of kindergarten and preschools (1994), and Halpern & Kapfenberg child attachment questionnaires (2006) were used to collect the data.

The results showed that all three variables consisted of parental attachment, parenting style and mental health could indirectly predict behavioral problems by intervention of child attachment. Also, the results obtained from path analysis indicated that the standardized coefficients of parental attachment and mental health and parenting style had a significant and negative impact on child attachment.

The results showed a significant relationship between child & parent attachment style, mental health, and parenting style with behavioral problems of children. Therefore, it seems that implementing appropriate programs in order to improve child and parent attachment styles, mental health, and parenting styles might be effective to reduce behavioral problems of children.