Role of Neurological and Social Stimuli 1
Running head: Role of Neurological and Social Stimuli
Role of Neurological and Social Stimuli
Literature Review by
Candice Markham and Juan Garcia
April 17, 2011
EDCI 6304 Learning and Cognition
The University of Texas at Brownsville

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This review is to examine the role neurological and social stimuli play in the expansion of learning skills in the early childhood development of children. Six articles were reviewed to address this inquiry. The articles have been sorted by their common themes. The first two articles; “Schooling effects on preschoolers' self regulation, early literacy, and language growth” and the “Effects on preschool intervention on cognitive development among East-African preschool children” relate to social aspect of learning at a young age. The research articles
“Preschool behavior problems in classroom learning situations and literacy outcomes in kindergarten and first grade” and “Predicting ELL in students beginning first grade English oral reading fluency from initial kindergarten and vocabulary letter naming, and phonological awareness skills” examine language and learning in early childhood development. Finally, “The production of temporal terms by 3, 4, and 5 and Letter Knowledge, Phonological Processing” and “Print Knowledge: Skill Development in non reading Preschool Children” look at the science behind learning.
The “Effects of preschool intervention on cognitive development among East-African preschool children: A flexibly time- coded growth model” is a study that test the effects of early childhood social intervention and a child’s ability to develop learning skills. The study concludes that a strong social structure has a positive effect on early childhood development. To come to this conclusion the researchers used a cross-sequential study over three time-points. A multilevel model showed a curvilinear effect of the intervention program on the children’s cognitive gains. The study was conducted on 321 East-African children. The control or nonintervention group had 153 children while the intervention group had 168 children.
This study investigates the effects of the Madrasa Resource Center (MRC), on East-
African preschool children's cognitive development. The Madrasa Resource Center is a child-

Role of Neurological and Social Stimuli 3 centered intervention program. The research conducted in the study investigates the effect intervention has in early childhood development from the beginning to the end of preschool. A flexibly coded time-variable with and age residualized score are used to make a more precise cognitive measure and they use a three-level multilevel model to account for differences in classroom practices. The results show a beneficial curvilinear effect of the intervention program on the preschooler's cognitive gains. The article Malmberg uses the population mean and other statistical data to draw its conclusions. The study had to account for the children in the non-
MRC (Madrasa Resource Center) preschools typically changing teachers each year as they were grouped by age. The MRC children were mixed across year-groups and attended classes with the same teacher. The study also addresses the challenges faced by East African children (mean ages 4.3, 6.0, and 7.1 years) due to insufficiently trained teachers, overcrowded classrooms, low levels of cognitive stimulation which result in deteriorating educational outcomes with a high level dropout rate. The idea of social development and its importance in children’s cognitive development are reinforced by the results of the study.
Development is viewed as an interactive process between the individual and the environment; the more negative an environment the less interaction in learning. The study draws on the effects of health interventions, preschool attendance, and quality of preschool on shorter and longer-term academic outcomes. According to the article (Malmberg, Mwaura, & Sylva,
2011) there are over 200 million children in developing countries that do not reach their potential of cognitive development due to lack of nutrition, early stimulation, or resources. It is important that we review this information to create a better understanding of social development and its relation to cognitive development. A moderation analysis showed that observed quality predicted children’s cognitive outcome in the intervention, but not in the comparison in the

Role of Neurological and Social Stimuli 4 preschools. The findings are in line with studies that show positive effect of warm, sensitive, and stimulating adult-child interaction in a preschool context conducive to child development.
“The Schooling effects of preschooler’s self regulation, early literacy and language growth” is a study examines the effect of students who received early childhood education verses those who did not receive the same level of education in the earlier years of development. The study used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to measure the associations between selfregulation, decoding, letter knowledge, and vocabulary. Implications for preschool curricula and instruction are discussed, including the increasing emphasis on literacy learning prior to kindergarten entry and the need to address self-regulation development along with academic learning. Measures of self regulation have been linked to children’s concurrent as well as future academic success. There has been some debate about the nature of early self-regulation the view is that it is a set of behaviors that includes attention, working memory, and inhibitory control.
The aim of the study is to exam the relations between first and second years in school preschoolers and the level of growth of self regulation, early literacy and language skills. “We hypothesized that children starting their second year of preschool would display higher levels of self regulation than the same-age children starting their first year of preschools as formal school settings may place many more behavioral demands on children then home settings, encouraging development of self-regulation skills.” (Skibbe, Connor, Morrison, Jewkes, 2010)
To examine the difference in scores between groups and over time the Hierarchical Liner
Modeling (HLM version 6.01) was used. Classrooms were part of the district sponsored preschool program that included state funded Head Start and state licensed fee-for –service options. The results of the final models revealed significant difference in how children

Role of Neurological and Social Stimuli 5 performed on all four outcome variables investigated. School effects for fall decoding and letter knowledge were detected but were not apparent for self-regulation of vocabulary.
Childrens’ development of self-regulation and vocabulary was not associated with their experiences in either year of preschool. Contradictory to the children starting their second year of preschool had higher scores in the fall on measures of decoding. For the two measures of literacy both groups of children grew in similar ways throughout the school year. This demonstrated that the first and second year of preschool affected literacy growth similarly.
Teachers in this study indicated that early childhood educators are aware of and concerned about children’s self-regulation development. Typical preschool experiences are associated with gains in some but not all, of children’s school readiness skills. Results suggest effects accumulate and that more preschool is better than less as children demonstrated significant growth during both years of school. Preschool instructional strategies that combine self-regulation, early literacy and language instruction may be a promising holistic approach to early childhood education. It is important that children receive these strategies to be successful and to continue to increase neural stimuli early on to increase cognitive development.
“Predicting ELL students’ beginning first grade English oral reading fluency form initial kindergarten vocabulary, letter naming, and phonological awareness" is a study which investigates the predictive role of English letter naming fluency, initial sound fluency, and vocabulary skills from kindergarten entry for first grade English oral reading fluency. The study also examined how ELL (English Language Learner) students' kindergarten and first grade
English language literacy skills varied by their demographic characteristics. “Oral reading fluency is a characteristic of skilled reading.” (Adams, 1990) Research has established a strong connection between vocabulary skills and reading comprehension, per the author few researchers

Role of Neurological and Social Stimuli 6 have studied the relevance of vocabulary to word reading. English language exposure and literacy experiences before children start school predict their English language and literacy learning in later grades. While and extensive amount of research has been conducted on the development of language and literacy skills for non ELL students, researchers have only recently begun to study the English reading development of ELL students. The majority of studies that have been focused on cross-linguistic transfer or examined effects of specific language and literacy interventions. The current study was based on the hypothesis, “that characteristics of native languages may influence English language and literacy acquisitions by ELL students from different language backgrounds.” (Yesil-Dagli, 2010)
The participants of this study were 2481 ELL students who attended first grade in 291
Florida Reading First schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of initial kindergarten English letter naming fluency, initial sound fluency, and vocabulary in predicating first grade English oral reading fluency for ELL students. It also tried to examine variation in first grade English oral reading fluency and in initial kindergarten language and literacy skills by the socio-demographic characteristics of ELL students. The unique and joint contribution of
English vocabulary skills provides support for intervention programs which promote the need for neural stimuli at an early age for students who desire strong vocabulary skills. At the earliest age it is important as educators we understand the types of neurological stimuli required to assist our students with learning.
“Preschool behavior problems in classroom learning situations and literacy outcomes in kindergarten and first grade” is a study of the relations between classroom behavior problems early in the preschool year and elementary school literacy and language outcomes were

Role of Neurological and Social Stimuli 7 examined for an entire cohort of four-year-old Head Start children. Preschool behavior problems in structured learning situations differentially predicted lower literacy outcomes across all time points. Findings extend previous research and underscore the importance of early identification of problem behavior using developmentally and ecologically valid tools within early childhood classrooms intentionally designed to foster literacy skills. There is growing concern that many children enter early childhood classrooms not ready to learn because they lack the social and emotional skills to engage successfully in learning contexts. There is evidence that classroom behavior problems negatively influence literacy outcome in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. It is essential that preschool emotional and behavioral problems are identified early to promote active engagement in the classroom to help foster literacy and language skills. The researches asked themselves the questions, “…how can we identify classroom behavioral problems that have the most influence on emerging literacy and language skills?” (Bulotsky-
Shearera, 2010) Research warranted to investigate classroom situation where behavior problems most influence early literacy learning and to examine the influence as children transition from preschool to formal schooling. The purpose of the study was to examine these differences across the transition to formal schooling for an entire cohort of urban Head Start children.
The study showed a consistent pattern of emergence at the end of kindergarten and first grade. “Early preschool problems in structured learning situations differentially predicted lower literacy and language outcome at the end of the kindergarten and first grade years. The findings were consistent across multiple measures of early literacy and language skills predictive of reading ability, across multiple methods, and across multiple informants.” (Bulotsky-Shearera,
2010) These findings are supported by the developmental-ecological theory and early childhood research indicating that preschool classroom activity settings such as structured learning

Role of Neurological and Social Stimuli 8 activities demand different levels of emotional and behavioral skills than other activities. The researcher does state that one alternative explanation for the findings is that children with learning difficulties or cognitive delays may demonstrate behavioral difficulties within structured learning situations because the cognitive or social demands of these situations are too challenging for them. This study provides important evidence for the differential prediction of problems within preschool structured learning situation to literacy outcomes, future studies should examine the relations between other skills identified as vital for early school success across the transition to formal schooling. There were not statically significant interactions found between ASPI situational problems. Again we discover that it is important to look at social stimuli and it role in education.

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References
Bulotsky-Shearera, R.J., Fantuzzob, J.W. (2010) Preschool behavior problems in classroom learning situations and literacy outcomes in kindergarten and first grade. Early
Childhood Research Quarterly , 26(1), 61-73. Retrieved from Science Direct.
Malmberg, L., Mwaura, P., & Sylva, K. (2011). Effects of a Preschool Intervention on Cognitive
Development among East-African Preschool Children: A Flexibly Time-Coded Growth
Model. Early Childhood Research Quarterly , 26(1), 124-133. Retrieved from Science
Direct.
Skibbe, L.E., Connor, C.M., Morrison, F.J., Jewkes, A.M. (2010). Schooling effects on preschoolers’ self-regulation, early literacy, and language growth.
Early Childhood
Research Quarterly , 26(1),42-49. Retrieved from Science Direct.
Yesil-Dagli, U. (2011). Predicting ELL Students' Beginning First Grade English Oral Reading
Fluency from Initial Kindergarten Vocabulary, Letter Naming, and Phonological
Awareness Skills. Early Childhood Research Quarterly , 26(1), 15-29. Retrieved from
Science Direct.