It’s getting warm now, and summer is coming soon. We hope everyone has an enjoyable and relaxing summer vacation.

This issue has several items of interest. They are: a report of the KIT conference and workshop in June, some KIT research findings, and a book review of The Growing Story, a picture book written by Ruth Krauss about a small boy who wonders if he is growing bigger.

Conference and workshop on the use of Kids in Taiwan (KIT): National Longitudinal Study of Child Development and Care

Supervised by the Education Discipline of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ministry of Science and Technology, the conference was held by NTNU in partnership between the Department of Human Development & Family Studies and the Center for Educational Research and Evaluation on June 29, 2019. The College of Education of NTNU and Taipei City Family Education Center were the co-organizers. More than two hundred people participated in the event at the Lecture Hall of the College of Education. Speeches were given by scholars in related disciplines and there were 25 poster sessions which covered a variety of topics, such as children’s health, language, cognition, social development, and experiences in child care. The event provided researchers with opportunities to share their insights with other colleagues, and the study results they presented are useful not only for parents who need information about parenting but also for government officials who are in charge of policies related to children’s health, welfare, family, child care, and early intervention.

Highlight of KIT Findings

Cognitive development: After showing the child an attractive toy and then hiding the toy under a cover, the child removes the cover and finds the toy.
Children at 3 months of age (N=6574)
[ Not yet: 100%
Children at 6 months of age (N=6739)
[Proficient: 6.3%, Intermediate: 10.4%, Beginning: 14.9%, Not yet: 68.4%
Children at 1 year of age (N=6864)
[Proficient: 75.4%, Intermediate: 18.8%, Beginning: 4.1%, Not yet: 1.69%
Language development: The one-year-old child can understand a simple oral instruction and follow that instruction (e.g., “Clap”). (N=6864)
[Proficient: 61.7%, Intermediate: 21.6%, Beginning: 12.4%, Not yet: 4.3%
Physical-motor development: The three-year-old child can skip forward continuously on one foot. (N=2164)
[Proficient: 13.8%, Intermediate: 19.5%, Beginning: 31.9%, Not yet: 34.8%
Social-emotional development: The child gets shy when meeting unfamiliar adults.
Children at 3 years of age (N=2164)
[ Always: 30.1%, Often: 29.4%, Sometimes: 25.8%, Rarely: 10.2%, Never: 4.4%
Children at 4 years of age (N=2125)
[ Always: 25.6%, Often: 29.1%, Sometimes: 27.6%, Rarely: 11.8%, Never: 5.8%
Responds from parents – their beliefs about parenting:
The 3-year-old child should greet me without prompting when seeing me. (N=2164)
[Strongly agree: 22.6%, Agree: 60.6%, Disagree: 15.9%, Strongly disagree: 0.9%
When I talk to the 3-year-old child, the child should look at me without being distracted. (N=2164)
[Strongly agree: 29.4%, Agree: 64.5%, Disagree: 5.8%, Strongly disagree: 0.3%
Responds from caregivers – childcare activities provided:
The 4-year-old child watches educational TV programs or video, or the child uses educational computer software. (N=594)
[Never provided: 22.1%, Less than once per week: 27%, Once or twice a week: 32.1%, More than 3 times a week: 18.8%
On average, how much time each day does the 4-year-old child spend on watching TV (including all kinds of recorded media, such as DVDs) here? (N=594)
[None: 38.7%, Less than 1 hour: 58.4%, More than 1 hour: 2.9%

Message from Prof. Chien-Ju Chang, the KIT Principal Investigator
It has been three years since the KIT project started. On behalf of the research team, I’d like to thank all of the parents, caregivers, and teachers for your kind support and participation. To ensure the success of this project, we need your continuous involvement. Only when a child is longitudinally observed can his/her growth and development be seen.
The subjects of the KIT project are randomly sampled from all of the newborn babies in Taiwan. We take the data we collect from each individual child seriously since it is unique, irreplaceable, non-retrospective, and representative in nature. The database we create will make a great contribution to science and society in Taiwan because it can be used to inform government policies related to children and families and is valuable to interested researchers when they need a reliable data source.

 

There are also child development databases in other countries. They follow children from birth, and some participants have been traced for over fifty years. Results derived from these studies not only mean a lot to children and their parents but also have a great impact on policy makers. We appreciate your continuous participation and contributions!

Book Review

The Growing Story, a picture book written by Ruth Krauss about a small boy who wonders if he is growing bigger, tells young readers that they can assure they are growing up by noticing the little changes around them. Its English version is available at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060247169), and readers can find its Chinese version at Books.com.tw (https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010433152). Click https://youtu.be/MW_rkbitXSE to listen.