While football/soccer is the most influential sport in the world, it is surprising that developmental sequences of forceful kicking have not been adequately described and validated in the literature. The purpose of this study was to explore potential developmental sequences for forceful kicking using a prelongitudinal screening method. Data were…

Children learn words in ambiguous situations, where multiple objects can potentially be referents for a new word. Yet, researchers debate whether children maintain a single word-object hypothesis -- and revise it if falsified by later information -- or whether children establish a network of word-object associations whose relative strengths are…

In this dissertation I report findings from two studies of the literacy abilities of children with Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic disorder associated with intellectual disability. I had two overarching goals: 1) evaluate the applicability of theories of reading and spelling acquisition developed based on typically developing children to…

The implementation of lockdowns that include the closure of educational facilities for face to face teaching has been one of the strategies used internationally to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Research suggests lockdowns are associated with negative impacts on children's psycho-social functioning, Most research, however, has been…

In this study, the authors evaluated the potential role of an activity-based guitar training program on reducing anxiety and providing fulfillment for younger relatives of cancer patients. Ten active members of KHYD (The Society for Relatives of Cancer Patients), between ages 11 and 17 participated in an 8-week guitar education program. The…

Background: Developmental research provides considerable evidence of a strong relationship between verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM) and mathematics ability across age groups. However, little is known about how components of WM (i.e., short-term storage, processing speed, the central executive) might relate to mathematics sub-categories…

Temporal accounts of Developmental Dyslexia (DD) postulate that a timing impairment plays an important role in this learning disorder. However, DD has been associated with timing disorders as well as other motor and cognitive dysfunctions. It is still unclear whether nonverbal timing skills per se may be considered as independent determinants of…

Engagement in physical activity plays a central role in the prevention and treatment of childhood overweight/obesity. However, some children may lack the skills and confidence to be physically active. This 3-year follow-up study aimed to form profiles based on cardiorespiratory fitness, actual motor competence, perceived motor competence, physical…

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…

Our interest is in the development of gratitude as a moral virtue, and its variability across different cultural contexts. Given psychology's overreliance on samples collected from the United Sates, Western Europe, and Australasia, we contrasted patterns of age-related expressions of gratitude among a sample of U.S. 7- to 14-year-old children with…

Background: Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have deficits in verbal and non-verbal processing relative to typically developing (TD) peers, potentially reflecting difficulties in working memory, processing speed and inhibition of interference. We examined working memory in children with DLD using the…

In this paper we present a theoretical discussion on how problems issued from discrete mathematics can develop the attitudes, skills, and knowledge required for scientific mathematical activity in the classroom. We do so via the research situation for the classroom model by performing mathematical and didactical analyses of a problem issued from…

In this study we have investigated the effectiveness of a one day school-based intervention with recreational fishing (in Swedish called Klassdraget) in increasing environmental awareness, interest in nature and recreational fishing in pupils aged between 8 and 12. Our results suggest a weak positive association between exposure to natural…

Background: The association between problem behavior in children and adolescents and creativity has hardly been examined. The few studies available report contradictory findings. There is some empirical evidence that a low socioeconomic status coincides with lower creativity test achievements. Objective: The current study addresses the question…

Young children born preterm may be more affected by environmental influences than their full-term peers. Few studies have investigated whether such effects exist for older children and young adolescents. With participants aged 9 and 13 years, we examine whether children born preterm could be differentially affected by the quality of their…