The present study examined younger and older children's perceptions of friendship characteristics and expectations from best friends. One hundred and eighty eight children (Mage = 8.51 years old, SD = 1.70, age range: 6-11 years old) from two primary schools of Athens were involved in a 15-min semi-structured interview and produced drawings of…

The storage of information in external tools (e.g., notebook, cellphone) has become increasingly common. Some researchers have defined this behavior as cognitive offloading, which is a type of learning strategy. Studies have indicated that as age increases, children become increasingly capable of calibrating their learning strategies according to…

There is growing evidence that school starting age impacts children's likelihood of receiving special education services, but less is known about variations in this effect. Using a regression discontinuity design, I found that the youngest students in a kindergarten cohort are 40% more likely (p < 0.001) to be placed in special education than…

Empathy is important for interpersonal communication, social emotion, and social cognitive abilities throughout the lifespan. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Empathy Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (EmQue-CA) in a sample of 472 Italian children and early adolescents aged 8-13 years.…

We investigated performance levels on conducting continuous two-footed jumping of preschool children (4 years old) to high school students (16 years old) to clarify the developmental progression and sex differences in motor coordination and agility. In total, 450 children (boys: 227; girls: 223) participated in this study. We set 10 obstacles to…

Although it is widely accepted that reading motivation erodes over the elementary years and school experiences shape motivation, few have examined young readers' motivation for their reading intervention programs. This two-year qualitative case study probed the motivation-related perceptions of four young children specific to their involvement in…

False memories are well established episodic memory phenomena. Recent research in young adults has shown that semantically related associates can be falsely remembered as studied items in working memory (WM) tasks for lists of only a few items when a short 4-second interval was given between study and test. The present study reported two…

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is socially relevant because of its number and the intensity of the medical and socio-educational response it requires. In Andalusia, one in 70 children will be diagnosed with ASD in 2021. It is much more frequent in boys than in girls, being 5.91 times more likely to present it as a boy than as a girl. The age of…

The present study aimed to determine whether exceptional items in human figure drawings (HFDs) can serve the identification process of talents and (educational) needs of children with high intellectual abilities. Participants were 152 children aged 4 to 6 years at the time of drawing. After 2 years, 85 had received regular curriculum (the…

Background: Fundamental Motor Skills (FMS) are important building blocks for children's sport-participation and lifelong physical activity. In the last decade, several international studies have reported delays in the development of FMS. To get better insight into the Dutch situation and to provide future directions, this study examined the…

Concern that stereotypical perceptions of scientists may influence attitudes towards science and willingness to pursue STEM-related careers has motivated interest in children's perceptions of scientists. This study investigated primary children's drawings of scientists at work based on Chambers' 'Draw-A-Scientist Test' (DAST) and explored the…

The study aimed to examine effectiveness of a visual perception training program upon an application period of 14 weeks on primary school first graders. Effects of the "Frostig Visual Perception Training Program" were evaluated within demographics of gender, age, parental education level, previous kindergarten attainment and family…

Most extant research on parental socialization for child appreciation has either conflated appreciation and gratitude or fallen foul of a conceptual-operational mismatch, yielding theoretical controversies and inconsistent results. Using a matched conceptualization and operationalization of appreciation and based on three waves of data from 496…

This study examined the relationships between word reading and rapid automatized naming (RAN) for objects and letters in Arabic-speaking children with and without dyslexia to determine potential modulating effects of color on naming by comparing children's performance on color and black-white RAN plates. Participants were 114 Arabic-speaking third…

Reading disabilities are the most common type of referral in schools. In non-RTI settings, evaluation of reading disabilities requires comprehensive individual evaluation of cognitive abilities and reading achievement (basic reading, reading fluency, and reading comprehension). The current study focuses on the measurement of reading comprehension…