Conference Agenda

Since digital gadgets are widespread in children’s home learning environments, picture book apps have the potential to provide even more children with the experience of dialogic reading. Picture book apps differ from printed picture books through features such as embedded sounds, animations, hotspots, or games. Hotspots—interactive areas within the app that trigger effects, such as animations or sounds, when touched—are suspected of significantly influencing the reading experience (Smeets & Bus, 2014). For instance, congruent hotspots, whose content aligns with the narrative, are believed to support children’s comprehension of the story (Eng et al., 2019; Takacs et al., 2015). However, knowledge about the actual usage of these interactive elements remains limited.

As part of an ongoing SNSF-Project, reading sessions involving both printed and digital picture books are being recorded and analysed. This presentation closely examines various aspects of how both adults and children interact with hotspots during reading sessions that involve digital picture books. It is hypothesized that the usage of hotspots differs due to various characteristics of them (e.g. congruent vs. non-congruent). An overview of the hotspots included in this research project is provided and a descriptive analysis of their usage offered. Preliminary results will be discussed and within a theoretical framework, it will be outlined, how these insights can inform further research in the field.

Introduction: In Switzerland, pediatric emergency department (ED) visits have steadily increased. However, parental satisfaction after these visits has not been systematically studied so far. Therefore, we aimed to assess overall parental satisfaction, as well as its variation depending on the time of the visit, or the place of residence of the families.

Methods: This prospective cohort study assessed parental satisfaction after pediatric ED consultations at the Cantonal Hospital of Winterthur. In January 2024 parents of patients were contacted by telephone in a 10-day window shortly after their visit and asked about their satisfaction with the ED visit. We assessed satisfaction with the first contact, waiting time, age-appropriate interaction, communication, medical explanations, examination and treatment, and likelihood of returning on a Likert scale (1: lowest, 5: highest). Overall satisfaction was also calculated as a mean of the above.

Results: We interviewed 246 parents (mean patient age 5.55 years, SD 4.69), representing 60% of all recorded patients during the observation period. The average overall satisfaction score was 4.39 (SD 0.55). Satisfaction was highest for the category age-appropriate handling (4.79, SD 0.78), followed by likelihood of returning (4.77, SD 0.86), and waiting time (3.52, SD 1.32). No significant differences were found in satisfaction between consultations during or outside regular office hours of primary care providers, nor across residential environments.

Discussion: Parental satisfaction at the Cantonal Hospital of Winterthur was good to very good. Lower satisfaction with waiting times did not affect overall satisfaction with treatment quality, or interaction with patients and families.

Parenting support measures are now set to play an important role in early childhood education policies (OFAS, 2018). They raise questions in terms of collaboration and coordination of actions between professionals from different fields, including social work, education, health, psychology or special education (Daly, 2013). The attention paid to the issue of the transition to school also raises the question of collaboration and coordination of actions between the various professionals involved in parenting support and school staff (Garcia 2021). In our research work carried out in the canton of Fribourg, we conducted semi-structured interviews to discuss this twofold level of collaboration and coordination with managers of organisations from various professional fields supporting parents of young children, and with school executives responsible for the school-entry transition issue within the cantonal school administration. The results presented will show that fruitful collaboration exists on the ground, but that it is poorly institutionalised and poorly supported by public policy. What also emerges is a limited, asymmetrical and mostly unilaterally oriented collaboration between parenting support and school professionals, and differences of opinion as to the respective roles and the way in which the transition to school should be viewed. The poster will suggest ways of strengthening networking between the various professionals working with young children before and around the time they start school. This requires both the creation of an institutional environment that is more supportive of collaboration and the promotion and enhancement of initiatives that stem from the agentivity of players on the ground.

Very preterm children are prone to a variety of neurodevelopmental deficits, particularly regarding their attention and executive functions (i.e., inhibition, shifting, and working memory). Yet, the underlying neural structures and processes are not yet clearly defined. Here thirty-three very preterm children (Mgestational age = 27.22 weeks, SD = 1.36) aged 8-10 years chronological (Mage = 8.85, SD = 0.49, 17 girls) underwent a brain MRI session alongside neurodevelopmental testing. We performed a factor analysis to group the different variables measuring executive functioning and attentional capacities. The analysis revealed a three factors design, in which the first factor was mostly driven by inhibitory abilities, the second factor by attentiveness and the third factor by flexibility. From T1-weighted MRI images, we extracted the anterior cingulate cortex, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, based on fMRI meta-analyses to encompass brain regions involved into attention and executive processes. We estimated their cortical thickness, fractional anisotropy, volume, cortical surface area, and betweenness centrality. Significant negative associations were found after multiple comparisons corrections and adjustment for age and gender between cortical thickness and executive functions and attentional abilities. While thinner left anterior cingulate cortex was related with higher factor 1 (i.e., mostly inhibitory capacities) and factor 2 (i.e., primarily attentiveness), thinner right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was associated with better factor 3 (i.e., largely flexibility). These findings provide new insights of brain structures underpinning executive and attentional abilities in very preterm children at school-age.

Audiovisual integration is a multisensory process central for understanding human speech. This crossmodal matching seems to be impacted by prematurity. A common paradigm to evaluate this ability in the laboratory is the McGurk illusion. It consists in an illusion elicited by the incongruency between visual and auditory stimuli. In premature as well as term-born children at school-age, little is known about the presence of the McGurk illusion, knowing that multisensory integration is still developing during this period. Using behavioral assessment in more than 40 subjects aged between 6 and 10 years old, we aimed at identifying whether we could elicit the McGurk illusion and assessing audiovisual speech integration. The acquisition of data is still ongoing. As of now, 21 preterm children and 25 term controls were recruited. We designed a paradigm in which we presented McGurk incongruent syllables as well as congruent audiovisual syllables and unisensory stimuli in different levels of auditory noise in a behavioral setting. By recording the responses to the open-choice behavioral task, we showed that both groups experienced the illusion (full-term: mean(sd) = 54.3%(25.2), preterm: mean(sd) = 50.7%(22.7)). Furthermore, a comparison of the accuracy of audiovisual with audio-only perception showed a significantly better performance in the audiovisual condition (full-term: t = 5.95, p < 0.001, mean difference(sd) = 14.8%(12.4), preterm: t = 5.52, p < 0.001, mean difference(sd) = 11.5%(9.51)). These results confirm that children at school-age with or without prematurity exhibit audiovisual integration capacities in noisy environments.

Background: Problematic Smartphone use has severe negative effects on individuals' physical and psychological health, and is posing substantial challenges to social interactions. Parents are often distracted by their smartphones during daily family routines; a behavior also known as parental phubbing. Parental phubbing has been shown to negatively affect children's socio-emotional development; however, its impact remains underexplored, particularly within European populations. Furthermore, to our knowledge, no studies have examined this relationship within a controlled laboratory setting.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the association of parental phubbing with parent-child interactions in a laboratory environment. The focus is on behavioral variables such as the child’s solo play, eye gaze, the child's demands and parental responsiveness and how these differ across experimental conditions.

Methods: 51 parent-child dyads (Mage_parent=38.7 years, SD=5.6; 86.3% females) with children aged 4-8 years (Mage_child=6.0, SD=1.5; 43.1% females) participated in a laboratory experiment consisting of four conditions: two free play phases (baseline and interaction) and two distraction phases (paper-pencil vs. smartphone). Additionally, parents completed the Parental Scale of Phubbing (PSP), a 15-item questionnaire, which assesses their phubbing habits.

Results: Data analysis is currently ongoing and results will be presented and discussed at the conference.

Conclusions: This study will shed light on the potential effects of digital distractions on parent-child interactions. The findings are expected to enhance our understanding of how parental phubbing influences parent and child behaviors, highlighting the importance of awareness and intervention strategies when integrating digital media into daily family routines.

Introduction

This contribution deals with language hierarchies and social inequalities in multilingual Swiss daycare centers. Multilingualism reveals different evaluations of and hierarchies between individual languages (Schwartz et al. 2023, Simoes Lourêiro & Neumann 2020), which are closely linked to social inequalities and issues of social participation, integration and equal opportunities for children. The following questions are addressed: How is multilingualism practiced in the everyday life of multilingual Swiss daycare centers? What language hierarchies can be observed and what do they mean in terms of inequalities between children?

Methods

To answer these questions, the article draws on ethnographic data (Breidenstein et al. 2013) collected as part of a research project on multilingual Swiss daycare centers (Knoll & Becker 2023). Observations of interactions between children and professionals were used to investigate how multilingualism is implemented in everyday daycare settings.

Results

On the one hand, it was found that languages with high prestige (including English) have a privileged status, which limits the recognition of children with other first languages. On the other hand, the children receive multilingual support, they have a significant influence on linguistic events and this enables them to further develop their language skills (Becker & Knoll, 2021).

Conclusion and Discussion

The results are discussed against the background of the tension between promoting the local majority language (in this case: German) for the purpose of participation, integration and educational opportunities on the one hand and the inclusion of children's languages of origin for the purpose of recognition and prevention of discrimination on the other. Directions and suggestions for further research are outlined.

Introduction: The Swiss paediatric emergency care system is recognized for its high-quality care despite regional and linguistic differences. An increase in paediatric emergency department (ED) consultations, partly due to the discontinuation of paid consultation helplines, reflects growing parental concern and reduced accessibility. Parental satisfaction is influenced by factors such as communication, waiting times, and language congruity. This study aimed to assess parental satisfaction at Stadtspital Zürich Triemli, hypothesizing overall satisfaction but concerns over long waiting times and the need for a fast track by patients in lower triage categories.

Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted using a structured telephone survey to assess parental satisfaction with outpatient care at the paediatric ED of Stadtspital Zürich Triemli during the period from 22.01.-31.02.2024. Satisfaction with factors such as medical care and consultation, waiting time, and communication were rated on a Likert scale (1 = "Very satisfied" to 5 = "Very dissatisfied") and analysed statistically.

Results: Interviews were conducted with 210 guardians, representing 51% of the patients recorded during the observation period. Overall satisfaction was high (Mean = 1.86). No significant differences in satisfaction were found across groups with different triage categories (F=0.632, p=0.595) or language groups (F=0.914, p=0.402).

Discussion: The high overall satisfaction suggests effective communication and quality care at the paediatric ED in Stadtspital Zürich Triemli. The lack of significant differences in satisfaction across various groups indicates a consistent perception of care, regardless of triage category or language spoken. Further research could explore additional dimensions of parental satisfaction in Switzerland.

Introduction:

Children born very or extremely preterm (VEPT; <32nd week of gestation) are at high risk for developmental delays in various domains, such as cognitive, language or motor development. This makes VEPT a public health concern and the early identification of such developmental delays a high priority.

Although General Movements (GMs), i.e., spontaneous movement patterns which persist until about 5 months corrected age, are indicators for the integrity of the nervous system and a highly sensitive predictor for Cerebral Palsy, associations of GMs with long-term developmental outcomes are not well established yet.

Aims:

Investigate the association between GMs and cognitive outcomes in children born VEPT.

Methods:

N=322 Children born or hospitalized at the University Hospital of Zurich between 2014 and 2018 participated in this study. Those infants have recordings of their GMs at 3 months corrected age and neurodevelopmental test scores at 2 years corrected age measured with the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (3rd Edition). The GMs have been analyzed using the Motor Optimality Score – Revised (MOS-R).

Results:

Mean cognitive composite scores of the cohort at 2 years of age was M= 103.4 (SD= 15.2). Multiple linear regression analysis showed no significant relationship between the MOS-R total score and cognitive outcomes. Among the different sub-scales of the MOS-R, only the movement character sub-scale significantly predicted cognitive outcomes at 2 years corrected age.

Conclusion:

The ability of the MOS-R to identify children at risk for developmental delays might depend on the quality of neonatal and post-discharge. Future research with a higher sample size is needed to determine the effectiveness of the MOS-R.

Emotion regulation is an internal process that cannot be directly observed, requiring reliance on emotion-related behavior and (changes in) emotional expression. Optical pulse rate measurements offer a complementary, simple, and non-intrusive way to quantify these processes. Compared to well-established upper-arm sensors, sports watches are less intrusive, and well accepted. This study examines whether sports watches (a) provide valid heart rate measurements comparable to upper-arm sensors and (b) are suitable for measuring emotional arousal in preschoolers. A total of N = 113 children (Mage = 3.8 years, SDage = 0.5 years, 57.3 % female) from 16 Swiss playgroups participated. Each child wore both a Polar V2 watch and a Polar Verity Sense sensor during different emotion-eliciting tasks (e.g. an attractive toy in a locked transparent box) to induce emotional arousal. To assess data quality, for half the participants (n = 54), raw data was collected live using the Kubios® app, while for the others, data was stored on the devices and exported later. Data processing is currently ongoing. To determine the validity of sports watches, Intraclass Correlation Coefficients and Bland-Altman analyses will compare the Polar V2 watches with upper-arm sensors. Mixed linear models will evaluate the suitability of sports watches for measuring emotional arousal in preschoolers. The results will provide insights into the effectiveness of sports watches for tracking preschoolers' physiological responses during emotional tasks. If validated, this approach could offer a child-friendly, accessible tool for monitoring emotion regulation, potentially enhancing assessments in both research and early childhood education settings.

The 2007 Intercantonal Agreement on Collaboration in Special Education recommends harmonizing the care for children with special educational needs and implementing standardized tools across cantons. In this context, our research compares two cantonal systems – Zurich and Geneva – focusing on data collection and the coordination of specialized services for preschool children at risk or with developmental delay requiring early intervention, with the goal of identifying areas for improvement. This poster will present the findings of this study collected from interviews with known healthcare and education institutions, as well as from available data and literature, revealing notable differences between Zurich and Geneva, particularly in the systematization of data and individualized support. These insights foster discussions on best practices that can be modeled in other cantons or nationwide. By optimizing the identification of children with developmental delays and addressing their specific needs, this research seeks to contribute to a more cohesive and effective approach to early detection and support of these children across Switzerland.

Background: Neural synchrony, refers to the time-dependent association of two or more brain signals. In adults, increased neural and physiological synchrony are associated with attachment and communication facilitation. Physiological and behavioral synchrony have been observed in infants and their parents, which have been associated with bonding and infant development. So far, no study has investigated whether neural synchrony is also associated with mother-infant relationship and child development.

Method: 42 mothers (Mage = 33.44 years) and their infants (52.94 % female; Mage = 220.17 days). In a free play interaction, the mother and infant play with each other, whilst the infant is in a high chair or is held by their mother. During baseline, they watch a cartoon with no interaction. During all conditions, systemic-augmented fNIRS hyperscanning is applied in bilateral prefrontal (PFC) and temporo-parietal (TP) regions. Mean coherence was calculated with wavelet transform coherence (WTC) for the low frequency band (LF, 0.015–0.15 Hz) and the heart rate band (HR, 1–2.5 Hz).

Results: Preliminary results in the LF band showed significant difference between the physical contact compared to the baseline in the left TP (p < 0.05). A trend for highest synchrony during physical contact was observed in other regions of interest. For the HR band, statistically higher coherence for physical contact compared to baseline and high-chair interaction was found in all regions of interest (ps < 0.05). Left PFC synchrony during physical touch correlates positively with maternal confidence (p = .045). Synchrony in left PFC was associated with better fine motor skills at 6 months of age.

Discussion: Results present evidence of mother-infant brain coupling at 7.5 months during social play interaction. Highest levels of synchrony were observed during physical contact. Mother–infant neural synchrony may give insight into mother–infant relationship and child development.

Introduction: A recent phenomenon in connection with the widespread use of smartphones is phubbing, defined as ignoring a person in a social setting by focusing on one’s smartphone. Parental phubbing denotes parents phubbing their children and has been associated with a range of negative outcomes. However, it is not yet clear if some parents are at higher risk of showing greater levels of parental phubbing. To address this gap, this paper aims to identify potential correlates of parental phubbing.

Methods: We conducted two cross-sectional observational studies in which German-speaking parents with children aged 2-16 years (Study 1, N = 147) and 4-8 years (Study 2, N = 49) completed an online survey on parent-, parenting-, and child-related psychosocial variables. These variables were used as predictors in a LASSO regression to identify meaningful correlates of parental phubbing. Training and testing were performed on data from Study 1, and results were validated on data from Study 2.

Results: The results indicate associations of parental phubbing with 11 potential correlates. The three most robust correlates were parental stress experience, parental partnership satisfaction, and child age. We are currently testing these correlates in the validation sample to corroborate the findings. The final findings will be presented at the conference.

Discussion: The preliminary findings suggest that factors related to parents, parenting, and children are associated with the level of parental phubbing. This knowledge could help identify parents at risk of showing greater levels of phubbing.

Tools for assessing early childhood development typically rely on standardized assessments in controlled environments or parental questionnaires, which can be time-consuming and limited in scope. Capturing developmental changes over time necessitates frequent, detailed assessments, which can be challenging to implement consistently. To address these limitations, we introduce the Pebbles App (formerly known as the kleineWeltentdecker App), a smartphone-based developmental diary designed to enhance the tracking of a child's development across multiple domains. This app enables caregivers to document their child's progress continuously, providing a flexible and comprehensive tracking tool. With the use of the Pebbles App, we aim to achieve three major goals: 1) to establish a comprehensive data set of child development, 2) to account for developmental variability across cultures beyond WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries, and 3) to outsource data collection to caregivers, thereby enhancing the breadth and applicability of developmental research. The Pebbles App supports open data access, facilitating collaboration with a wider community of researchers and enabling more comprehensive studies of early childhood development. The updated version has new features, developmental milestones are better tailored to individual children, and it is now accessible across multiple devices. We describe the design, questions, and questionnaires embedded in the app, as well as its technical features.

The human brain, despite initial symmetry, exhibits intriguing asymmetrical features. Strong associations have been established between brain asymmetry and corpus callosum structure. Prenatal brain asymmetries appear around 11-13 weeks of gestation, reflecting early genetic-developmental left-right axis formation. These asymmetries affect cognitive and socio-emotional processes, with implications for neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. However, the developmental trajectory of brain asymmetry from prenatal to postnatal stages, its interaction with corpus callosum integrity, and its effects on cognitive and socio-emotional development remain unclear.

This study aims to trace anatomical brain asymmetry from pre- to postnatal periods in typically developing (TD) children and those with corpus callosum dysgenesis (CCD). Using longitudinal, multimodal data from Lausanne and Geneva University Hospitals, it will evaluate relationships between callosal biomarkers, cognitive and socio-emotional development, and genetic origins. The study includes T2-weighted foetal brain MRI scans acquired between 20-35 gestational weeks and follow-up data (T1-weighted MRI, neuropsychological tests, questionnaires and saliva DNA sampling) at school age (6-12 years) from 90 children (60 TD, 30 CDD) born between 2012 and 2021.

Brain images will be segmented using FoetalSynthSeg and SynthSeg to calculate hemispheric asymmetry indexes. Genetic analysis will focus on TUBB3 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, linked to callosal formation and brain asymmetry. Random effects models will assess group differences and asymmetry maturation. Associations between asymmetry indexes, cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes, and SNPs will be examined using sparse partial least squares correlations.

This study leverages unique longitudinal data to enhance understanding of brain asymmetry development and its relationships to cognition and genetic variations.

Emotion regulation (ER) and sleep are essential for healthy development. Yet, more than a third of children suffer from poor sleep. Here we aim to examine the effects of ER on sleep, specifically investigating the role of co-sleeping.

We hypothesize that low emotion regulation is associated with a lower sleep quality and more co-sleeping. Co-sleeping is a controversial factor since children who co-sleep tend to show poorer sleep quality. However, cultures that tend to co-sleep show various benefits. Co-sleeping can be considered as a form of social support. Since social support has been shown to moderate the effects of stress on sleep, we hypothesized that co-sleeping would moderate the relationship between ER and sleep quality as a protective factor. To better explain the mechanism of co-sleeping, we hypothesized that sleep anxiety would mediate the relationship between ER and co-sleeping.

A sample of 105 children aged 3-4 years from 16 playgroups was assessed in various ways to measure their ER and sleep. ER was measured through observations in a semi-standardized group play situation. Videos were analyzed with a standardized manual (ERSS). Additionally, educators provided reports on the children's ER, and parents reported on their children's sleep quality (e.g. sleep duration, sleep anxiety, and co-sleeping).

Generalized Linear Models were used to analyze the data, showing that high levels of observed and teacher-reported ER are associated with lower sleep quality and more co-sleeping. A full mediation emerged: Children with lower observed and teacher-reported ER were more likely to co-sleep because they experienced more sleep anxiety. Contrary to our prediction, co-sleeping moderated only the relationship between observed ER and sleep duration, but not as a protective factor. Children with lower ER slept for a shorter duration if they were co-sleeping.

Our findings shed new light on the importance of addressing ER to improve children’s sleep.

It is now undisputed that media play a major role in the lives of children and young people. In order for them to learn to become responsible members and decision-makers in a media society, they must acquire skills from an early age that will benefit them in their dealings with all media. They acquire these skills at home with their parents, partly at school and also through communication with peers. But what exactly can schools contribute?

The prospective teachers who are training at teacher training colleges have heterogeneous media and user skills. The curriculum in Switzerland clearly specifies what knowledge teachers should pass on to children. However, not all teachers are equally media literate due to their personal use and experience. Furthermore, a high level of personal media affinity or competence does not mean that this knowledge can be passed on to pupils in an age-appropriate setting. This requires media education expertise. And this is constantly evolving in its subtleties due to the development of new tools such as artificial intelligence, which requires a more in-depth examination of these topics.

Using examples from Switzerland, specifically from the Zurich University of Teacher Education in the field of media education, this contribution to a panel discussion will show how prospective teachers are currently being prepared for their task of teaching young children the necessary media skills. It will illustrate what future-relevant knowledge nursery and primary school teachers acquire in modules and how they learn to prepare themselves and their pupils for the world of today and tomorrow.