Now it’s autumn, a time for harvest and abundance. We hope everyone feels satisfied with the growth and achievements he/she has obtained during this year.

This issue has several items of interest. They are: an introduction to National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), some KIT research findings, a brief profile of Dr. Chia-Ling Chen at Department of Pediatric Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, and a book review of Little One Step, a picture book written and illustrated by Simon James about how a duckling overcomes difficulties with support from siblings.

NLSCY (National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth)

NLSCY, a long-term study that follows Canadian children from birth to adolescence, started in 1994. It is conducted in partnership between Statistics Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC). The purpose of the project is to explore how a child’s social, emotional, and behavioral development is influenced by his/her social environment, including family, friends, schools, and communities. Data of the study is collected once every two years, which is referred to as a ‘cycle’. Until now, eight cycles of data have been collected. The study consists of longitudinal and cross-sectional samples which are representative of the original populations. Both questionnaires and cognitive tests are administered for data collection. Please visit https://crdcn.org/datasets/nlscy-national-longitudinal-survey-children-and-youth for more information about NLSCY.

Highlight of KIT Findings

Cognitive development: The child makes pretend play. For example, he/she pretends to drink water from a cup or to talk to someone on a cell phone/phone.

Children at 3 months of age (N=6574)

🢡 Not yet: 100%

Children at 6 months of age (N=6739)

🢡 Beginning: 2%, Not yet: 98%

Children at 1 year of age (N=6864)

🢡Proficient: 47.4%, Intermediate: 19.9%, Beginning: 14.1%, Not yet: 18.6%

Language development: The one-year-old child can understand two or more oral instructions and follow them in the right order (e.g., “Clap first and then touch the head”). (N=6868)

🢡Proficient: 15.6%, Intermediate: 10.7%, Beginning: 18.3%, Not yet: 55.4%

Physical-motor development: The one-year-old child can eat with a spoon. (N=6872)

🢡Proficient: 0.9%, Intermediate: 3.7%, Beginning: 21.7%, Not yet: 73.7%

Social-emotional development:

The one-year-old child’s sleep pattern is regular. (N=6855)

🢡Yes: 87%, No: 13%

When approximately does the one-year-old child go to bed? (N=5924)

🢡20:00-21:00: 13%, 21:00-22:00: 33%, 22:00-23:00: 38%, 23:00-24:00: 15%, 1:00-3:00: 1%

Responds from parents – their beliefs about shame:

I should tell the three-year-old child that he/she should feel ashamed when behaving inappropriately. (N=2164)

🢡Strongly agree: 7.1%, Agree: 46.9%, Disagree: 37%, Strongly disagree: 8.9%

I should feel ashamed if the three-year-old child is not on his/her best behavior when we go out. (N=2164)

🢡Strongly agree: 7.1%, Agree: 47.9%, Disagree: 36.9%, Strongly disagree: 8%

Responds from caregivers – their beliefs about shame:

The adult should tell the child to feel ashamed when he/she misbehaves. (N=296)

🢡Strongly agree: 1.7%, Agree: 13.9%, Disagree: 52.9%, Strongly disagree: 31.5%

An adult should feel ashamed if the child misbehaves when they go out. (N=296)

🢡Strongly agree: 1%, Agree: 13.2%, Disagree: 52%, Strongly disagree: 33.8%

About Dr. Chia-Ling Chen

Dr. Chia-Ling Chen is an attending physician and Director of Department of Pediatric Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou Branch. Also, she currently holds the position of Professor and Chair of Graduate Institute of Early Intervention at Chang Gung University. Dr. Chen’s clinic interests include pediatric rehabilitation, early intervention, motor control, translational medicine, and innovative therapies. As physician, she has treated more than 20,000 children with developmental delay. Dr. Chen has received many academic awards and gained international reputation because of her outstanding achievements in medical education and research. Since 2009, some of her essays have been placed on the honorary list of excellent papers of NTU medical college and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. She was selected by "Marquis Who's Who in the World" in 2015.

Dr. Chen contributes significantly to the KIT project. She gave professional advice on the design of KIT physical motor development questionnaire and provided the research team with lots of helpful resources.

Book Review

Little One Step, a picture book written and illustrated by Simon James about how a tiny duckling deals with intimidating situations one step at a time, depicts the importance of perseverance. Its English version is available at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0763635200), and readers can find its Chinese version at Books.com.tw (https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010262411). Click https://youtu.be/bCE-Fd7BSNs to listen.