ChildrenS Psychological Adjustment To Entry Into Kindergarten E

ChildrenS Psychological Adjustment To Entry Into Kindergarten Michael Burkhardt Page 2 From an ecological perspective, early childhood development occurs within the multiple contexts of the home, the school, and the neighborhood, and aspects of these environments can contribute to the development of adjustment problems (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). A childs psychological adjustment to entry into school for the first time can have a significant impact on the level of success achieved later in life. Children rated higher in school adjustment by their elementary school teachers, as a result of improved cognitive development, showed positive attitudes toward school resulting in better school performance which lead to higher educational attainment and lower delinquency at age 19. Not one factor alone accounts for childrens adjustment problems. Therefore it is important that we take a closer look at a wide range of factors that can affect the psychological adjustment to school in early childhood. Ladd, Birch, s entry factors, behavioral styles, relationships with classroom peers a nd teachers, classroom participation, and achievement. A childs entry factors are those attributes that are present in the child prior to entry into school, but impact the childs psychological adaptation after entry into school. Children that enter school with greater cognitive and linguistic maturity tend to form better relationships with teachers and perform better scholastically. Typically, girls are known to establish supportive ties with teachers, more often than boys (Birch and Ladd, 1997) because of their cognitive/linguistic maturity making gender an entry factor as well. Preschool experience is said to be an entry factor, which is the basis of Arthur J. Reynolds studies in 1996. Reynolds investigated the effects of preschool intervention versus school achievement in the sixth grade. Because of Michael Burkhardt Page 3 cognitive readiness at kindergarten entry due to preschool, children in the sixth grade showed significantly higher reading and math achievement with a lower incidence of grade retention. Evidence suggests that early school adjustment is positively associated with parental education, socioeconomic status, and childrens ethnicity (Ladd, 1987; Reynolds, 1991). These environmental entry factors are relative to the challenges of school and influence early adaptation. Parental education and income may afford advantages that lead to cognitive maturity prior to entry into kindergarten. A low socioeconomic status may produce increased stress in a family as well as diminished resources, and may influence the child through parenting practices and lack of warmth and acceptance. In American society, certain ethnic minorities have increased risk to psychological problems due to race discrimination and prejudice. This results in a higher amount of behavioral problems and lower academic achievement . These environmental entry factors effect a childs psychological adjustment indirectly due to the many contributing factors to be considered. The socioeconomic status includes many demographic factors including: single parent families or larger families which mean decreased attention toward the child, amount of income or resources available toward developing the childs cognitive ability, violence or other social practices within the childs neighborhood that could lead to increased behavioral problems, and the mothers age at childbirth which can affect parenting abilities since young mothers are generally more likely to have had difficulties in school and live in poor neighborhoods as well as emotional difficulties. Behavioral styles are the tools children use to confront challenges in school such as the formation of relationships with new classmates and teachers. Being rejected by a peer group or having a conflict with the teacher may cause the child to feel a lack of security or acceptance and Michael Burkhardt Page 4 promote maladjustment. Children appear to be better adjusted toward kindergarten when they have formed close rather than conflicting ties with their teachers (Birch & Ladd, 1996). Maladjustment is prevalent among children who remain friendless or are rejected by their classmates. The determinants in deciding the behavior type a child will pursue is based upon the notion to maximize rewards such as fun, arousal and common interests and minimize costs such as punishment and negative affective states. Antisocial behavior is found in those children whose style of relating produces a higher ratio of costs, and conversely pro-social behavior is found in those children who style of relating produces a higher

10 Types of Hyphenation Errors

10 Types of Hyphenation Errors 10 Types of Hyphenation Errors 10 Types of Hyphenation Errors By Mark Nichol I’ve written more than once about hyphens, including this previous post, but it remains a troublesome topic, so I’ll approach it from this direction, too: the categories of hyphenation errors. 1. Omitting Hyphens in Phrasal Adjectives Some phrasal adjectives (including â€Å"civil rights,† â€Å"stock market,† and â€Å"high school†) don’t require hyphenation when they appear before a noun; they’re so well entrenched in the language that no risk of ambiguity exists, and their status is enshrined by inclusion in dictionaries. But when two words team together to describe a noun, they’re usually hyphenated. (Leave them open after a noun, however.) If you can’t find them in your well-thumbed dictionary, attach them and don’t hesitate to link more than two words: â€Å"The company instituted a pay-as-you-go plan.† 2. Adding Hyphens to Compound Words Compound words come in three forms: open (â€Å"sand dollar†), hyphenated (sand-blind), and closed (sandbag). As you see from these examples, compounds including the same particular word are not necessarily treated the same; compounding is a random process related to usage. (Popular treatment of long-hyphenated compounds changes so rapidly that dictionaries change them in new editions to reflect prevailing usage; pigeonhole formerly pigeon-hole is just one example.) 3. Adding Hyphens to Prefixes Prefixes, on the other hand, are almost always closed up to the root word. Exceptions include when the root word is a proper name (pre-Christian) and when the prefix ends and the root word begins with an i (anti-inflammatory). Note, however, that this is not true in the case of e (preempt). Another exception is words beginning with c preceded by co-, because to many people, terms like co-chair look awkward without a hyphen. 4. Omitting Hyphens from Potential Homographs Sometimes, prefixed words that would otherwise be closed up retain a hyphen to distinguish them from otherwise identical-looking words, such as re-cover as opposed to recover and re-creation as distinct from recreation. 5. Omitting Hyphens in Verb Phrases Compound verbs, those consisting of more than one word, are hyphenated (test-drive) or closed (troubleshoot); the dictionary will let you know which form to employ. Note, however, the difference in nearly identical-looking compound verbs and open compound nouns: â€Å"I’m going to test-drive it tomorrow,† but â€Å"I’m going to take it on a test drive tomorrow.† Also, consider the subtle difference between gerunds formed from a hyphenated compound verb that are followed, or not followed, by an object: â€Å"I was spot-checking the report when I found a serious error,† but â€Å"I’m going to do a little spot checking.† 6. Adding Hyphens to Adverbial Phrases Adverbs are not attached to adjectives when they team up to modify a noun: â€Å"The slowly melting ice rendered the river crossing a perilous enterprise.† However, the presence of an adverb does not negate the need for a hyphen in a phrasal adjective that follows it: â€Å"Hers was an eloquently sharp-tongued response.† 7. Adding Hyphens to Prepositional Phrases Phrases telling the reader to do something in which the first word is a verb and the second is a preposition are not hyphenated: â€Å"Sign in at the registration table.† (The phrase is hyphenated, however, when it modifies a noun: â€Å"Go to the sign-in table.†) 8. Adding or Omitting Hyphens When Referring to Ages or Physical Dimensions When a person is identified by their age with the phrase â€Å"seven-year-old,† for example, the phrase is hyphenated whether it modifies child, boy, girl, and so on or the noun is implied. (Note that two hyphens are necessary and that, for the spelled-out form of a two-digit number, three are required: â€Å"twenty-seven-year-old.†) However, the constituent words are unattached when the phrase follows the noun: â€Å"The child is seven years old. By the same rules, words describing an object’s physical dimensions are similarly linked: â€Å"Cut the eight-foot-long board in half.† Note, again, that all the words describing the length of the board are attached: If the final hyphen is incorrectly omitted, the reference to a board that is eight feet long is erroneously changed to describe a long board with eight feet. 9. Omitting Letter Spaces When Using Hyphens When you see a hyphen followed by a letter space, don’t assume the space is an error. â€Å"The assignment is a 2,000- to 5,000-word essay† is correct; word has been omitted after the first number because it is implied by its presence after the second number. (This usage is called suspensive hyphenation.) 10. Confusing Hyphens and Dashes Many publications, for the sake of simplicity or because the producers don’t know any better, use single hyphens in place of em dashes or double hyphens (the less aesthetically pleasing alternative that is frequently employed online). But they look stubby and ugly, and this crime against aesthetics is compounded when letter spaces around them are omitted, producing abominations such as â€Å"The key-and this is important-is to keep stirring constantly.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Has vs. HadOne Fell SwoopWood vs. Wooden