ABSTRACT The majority of children cease napping between 3 and 5 years of age yet, internationally... more ABSTRACT The majority of children cease napping between 3 and 5 years of age yet, internationally, the allocation of a sleep time during the day for children of this age remains a practice in many early childhood education (ECE) settings. These dual circumstances present a disjuncture between children's sleep needs and center practices, that may cause conflict for staff, increase stress for children and escalate negative emotional climate in the room. Testing this hypothesis requires observation of both the emotional climate and behavioral management used in ECE rooms that extends into the sleep time. This study was the first to apply the Classroom Assessment and Scoring System (CLASS) Pre-K (Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008) to observe the emotional climate and behavioral management during sleep time. Pilot results indicated that the CLASS Pre-K functioned reliably to measure emotional climate and behavioral management in sleep time. However, new sleep-specific examples of the dimensions used were developed, to help orient fieldworkers to the CLASS Pre-K rating system in the sleep time context. The CLASS was then used to assess emotional climate and behavior management between the non-sleep and sleep time sessions, in 113 ECE rooms in Queensland, Australia. In these rooms 2.114 children were observed. Of these children, 71% did not sleep at any point during the allotted sleep times. There was a significant drop in emotional climate and behavioral management between the non-sleep and sleep-time sessions. Furthermore, the duration of mandated sleep time (a period of time where no activities are provided to non-sleeping children) accounted for significant independent variance in the observed emotional climate during sleep-time. The CLASS Pre-K presents a valuable tool to assess the emotional climate and behavior management during sleep-time and draws attention to the need for further studies of sleep time in ECE settings.
The sleep-wake cycle is a major determinant of locomotor activity in humans, and the neural and p... more The sleep-wake cycle is a major determinant of locomotor activity in humans, and the neural and physiological processes necessary for optimum postural control may be impaired by an extension of the wake period into habitual sleep time. There is growing evidence for such a contribution from sleep-related factors, but great inconsistency in the methods used to assess this contribution, particularly in control for circadian phase position. Postural control was assessed at hourly intervals across 14 h of extended wake in nine young adult participants. Force plate parameters of medio-lateral and anterior-posterior sway, centre of pressure (CoP) trace length, area, and velocity were assessed with eyes open and eyes closed over 3-min periods. A standard measure of psychomotor vigilance was assessed concurrently under constant routine conditions. After controlling for individual differences in circadian phase position, a significant effect of extended wake was found for anterior-posterior sway and for psychomotor vigilance. These data suggest that extended wake may increase the risk of a fall or other consequences of impaired postural control.
ABSTRACT The majority of children cease napping between 3 and 5 years of age yet, internationally... more ABSTRACT The majority of children cease napping between 3 and 5 years of age yet, internationally, the allocation of a sleep time during the day for children of this age remains a practice in many early childhood education (ECE) settings. These dual circumstances present a disjuncture between children's sleep needs and center practices, that may cause conflict for staff, increase stress for children and escalate negative emotional climate in the room. Testing this hypothesis requires observation of both the emotional climate and behavioral management used in ECE rooms that extends into the sleep time. This study was the first to apply the Classroom Assessment and Scoring System (CLASS) Pre-K (Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008) to observe the emotional climate and behavioral management during sleep time. Pilot results indicated that the CLASS Pre-K functioned reliably to measure emotional climate and behavioral management in sleep time. However, new sleep-specific examples of the dimensions used were developed, to help orient fieldworkers to the CLASS Pre-K rating system in the sleep time context. The CLASS was then used to assess emotional climate and behavior management between the non-sleep and sleep time sessions, in 113 ECE rooms in Queensland, Australia. In these rooms 2.114 children were observed. Of these children, 71% did not sleep at any point during the allotted sleep times. There was a significant drop in emotional climate and behavioral management between the non-sleep and sleep-time sessions. Furthermore, the duration of mandated sleep time (a period of time where no activities are provided to non-sleeping children) accounted for significant independent variance in the observed emotional climate during sleep-time. The CLASS Pre-K presents a valuable tool to assess the emotional climate and behavior management during sleep-time and draws attention to the need for further studies of sleep time in ECE settings.
The sleep-wake cycle is a major determinant of locomotor activity in humans, and the neural and p... more The sleep-wake cycle is a major determinant of locomotor activity in humans, and the neural and physiological processes necessary for optimum postural control may be impaired by an extension of the wake period into habitual sleep time. There is growing evidence for such a contribution from sleep-related factors, but great inconsistency in the methods used to assess this contribution, particularly in control for circadian phase position. Postural control was assessed at hourly intervals across 14 h of extended wake in nine young adult participants. Force plate parameters of medio-lateral and anterior-posterior sway, centre of pressure (CoP) trace length, area, and velocity were assessed with eyes open and eyes closed over 3-min periods. A standard measure of psychomotor vigilance was assessed concurrently under constant routine conditions. After controlling for individual differences in circadian phase position, a significant effect of extended wake was found for anterior-posterior sway and for psychomotor vigilance. These data suggest that extended wake may increase the risk of a fall or other consequences of impaired postural control.
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