ATTENTION IN NORMAL AND AT RISK PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

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This proposal is to conduct pilot work in preparation for a larger project. One goal of the study is to examine patterns of attention in preschool children in settings outside the lab. To do this will require the development of new measures appropriate for field observation. This phase of the project will be conducted in steps. Initially, a few children will be videotaped at home and at their preschools. The videotapes will form the basis for extended discussion of a coding system and the development of reliable categories of coding. We will then go back to the field to try the coding system which will entail mainly a checklist and time sampling of the children's behavior along several dimensions: attention, activity level, impulsitivity, emotional tone, and social competence. We will make every attempt to see all of the children in similar contexts on several occasions; for example, structured activities in the preschool, free play in the preschool, free play at home, mealtime at home, watching television, and bookreading. These repeated observations are necessary because another goal of the project is to explore consistency of situational profiles as a measure of individual differences. A third goal of the project is related to the strategy intended for the larger subsequent project. That is, to observe preschool children of parents who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It will be necessary to use diagnostic interviewing of adults who claim to have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. For this proposal, however, the goal is simply to gain some experience with the diagnostic interview and the make sure that potential questions can be addressed before the submission of the subsequent proposal.