The child development Laboratory

Prof. Ora Aviezer - Head of the Laboratory

Mail: [email protected]

Dr. Revital Tamari – Head of Laboratory  

Mail: [email protected]                   

Dr. Lee Pergamin-Hight – Researcher

Mail: Pergminhitlee@telhai.ac.il               

Yoav Schweitzer, MA – Laboratory Director

MA Students

Chavivit Moshe (Educational Psychology)

Oshri Sela (Educational Psychology)

Mushka Myudovnik (Educational Psychology)

Mai Eviatar (Educational Psychology)

Or Hadar (Educational Psychology)

Asia Gringlaz (Developmental Psychology)

Roni Margolis (Developmental Psychology)

Bar Peleg (Developmental Psychology)

Or Carmon (Developmental Psychology)

Neta Kandel (Developmental Psychology)

Tom Baruch (Developmental Psychology)

Research Assistants

Noam Kaplan, BA (Psychology)

Noa Even-Nir

Mika Wolfstein

Alon Waisman Livni

Danielle Taiber

Shir Ginsburg

Collaboration of Dr Revital Tamari and Prof. Ora Aviezer
This is a longitudinal study, which has been in effect since 2004, and targets socio-emotional development. Specifically, we focus on the connections of mother-child emotional communication, as measured by mother-child dialogues, to children's emotional experiences in preschool and in early adolescence, and their contribution to young adults' attachment representations, self-perception, and socio-emotional adaptations. Parent-child's conversations about children’s autobiographical events play an important role in structuring and organizing children's emotional experiences (Nelson & Fivush, 2004) and promote children's self-understanding and emotional regulation (Oppenheim & Koren-Karie, 2009). Sensitive, and organized parental guidance in the dialogue was associated with secure attachment representations, in childhood (Dubois-Comtois, et al., 2011,) and in adolescence (Allen, McElhaney, et al., 2003; Scott, et al., 2011; Sher-Censor, et al., 2017, Tamari, Aviezer, & Oppenheim, 2019). Our previous data analyses revealed the important role played by mother-child early emotional communication in shaping adolescents' attachment representations, such that open, accepting, and organized expression of ideas and emotions, were associated with the development of secure internal working model of close relations. Currently, we are collecting the third wave of data and intend to explore the contribution of mother-child emotional communication and children's adaptations in preschool and adolescence to attachment representations and socio-emotional adjustments in young adulthood.

Collaboration of Prof. Ora Aviezer and Dr Revital Tamari with Orna Deli-Gottfried, MD and Ms. Shir Galin of Rebecca Sief Hospital 
This research, which is conducted jointly with the Diabetes clinic at Rebecca Sief hospital, aims to examine the personal and familial resources of children and adolescents who suffer from Type 1 diabetes and how they effect the management of the disease, during the covid-19 pandemic. Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease prevalent among children and adolescents (Hilliard et al., 2016; Hackett & Steptoe, 2017), and difficulties in management of blood sugar levels have been associated to stress, which during covid-19 pandemic was exacerbated due to medical concerns for patients with diabetes and to disrupted daily routines. Parents need to monitor closely their children’s blood sugar levels, nutrition and exercise, and this intense parental involvement may be an additional source of stress on top of the normative tension between adolescents and their parents. We evaluated parents’ and children’s stress levels, as well as their personal resources, and assessed the possible mediating role of these resources in the association between the increased stress in the family and adolescents’ ability to follow treatment protocols and maintain a balanced blood sugar levels.
 

Alex Chaldi under supervision of Ora Aviezer in collaboration with Dr. Omer Horovitz 
According to the attachment model young children’s relationships with fathers and mothers contribute to their psychological security. However, while mothers’ sensitivity is directed to children’s emotional needs, fathers’ sensitivity is directed to children’s exploration needs and play (Bretherton, 2010). This study examined the assumption that fathers will show more sensitivity during play interaction with their children compared to an emotional conversation about events involving negative feelings. Hence, paternal sensitivity was evaluated in two father-child dyadic interactions – a board game and a joint recall of an emotional autobiographical event. Fifty-five 5-years-old children and their fathers were observed in a challenging play interaction, and in a joint discourse about child-experienced emotional events. Fathers also completed questionnaires. Fathers’ sensitive challenging during play was coded with SCIP (Grossmann et al., 2002), and their sensitive guidance of dialogue was coded with the AEED (Koren-Karie, et al., 2000). A dependent samples t-test revealed that fathers’ sensitive challenging was significantly higher than their sensitive guidance of conversation. Furthermore, higher child temperamental surgency was associated with more sensitive paternal challenging during play, but it was associated with lower paternal sensitive guidance of conversation. These findings suggest that fathers’ sensitivity in play and in emotional dialogue involve different skills, while fathers tend to offer more sensitive challenging to children’s exploration needs.
Another goal of this research is to examine whether paternal sensitivity is also related to the level of physiological synchronization of parent and child during their joint activity, which can serve as an additional objective correlate for the quality of the child-father relationship. Thus, During the performance of the two tasks, the father-child dyad wore wireless bracelets which measure changes at the physiological level, such as skin conductance (EDA - electrodermal activity), pulse and heart rate (PPG - photoplethysmograph), temperature and mobility. Data is currently being analyzed to examine the hypothesis that the degree of parental sensitivity at the relevant activity and the physiological synchronization between the parent and the child will be associated while performing the tasks.
 

leav Solliway under supervision of Ora Aviezer in collaboration of Prof. Deborah Golden of University of Haifa 
The “junkyard” in kindergartens is a unique educational practice used in kibbutzim since the 1940s. The Junkyard, consisting of artefacts of the adult world that are no longer in use, is an ever-changing setup in which children’s free play is encouraged, with minimal rules for use of time, space, objects, and social relations. Empirical research of this practice is scarce, and the present research a preliminary step aimed to extend the available knowledge about the junkyard through a qualitative examination from the point of view of novice and experienced teachers.  Findings showed that according to teachers the value of this practice is in its facilitation of children’s acquisition of various competencies and in their activity that simulates life outside the kindergarten in connection to the community.  The shortcomings of this practice are the extensive investment in its upkeep and maintenance of safety. With regards to the children, they like to play in the junkyard because it a facilitates their imagination and social-dramatic play. However, it also challenges those children who experience sensory-motor sensitivities and struggle with regulation, hence makes their independent play and activity more difficult.   
 

Dr. Lee Pergamin-Hight
Diagnosis of developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and global developmental delay (GDD) is an intricate and often lengthy process until final diagnosis and recommendations are delivered, and it involves parents' confusion and uncertainty concerning the near and far future. The feedback session, in which the parents receive a diagnosis, is typically etched in the parents' memory, and could bear consequences for their later emotional and practical coping and adjustment. For example, it could impact parents' confidence in professionals and hence treatment decisions, as well as emotional reactions and attitudes, such as parents' resolution of their child diagnosis. The literature about parents' satisfaction with the delivery of a diagnosis emphasizes their need for respectful reactions to their questions and difficulties, reflection of the child's strengths, and provision of accurate, direct, and comprehensive information. 
In Israel, there is a wide variance in the length of the diagnosis process, the type and number of professionals involved, the manner the diagnosis is conveyed, and the availability of support. The purpose of the current study is to examine the experience and needs of Israeli parents when their child receives a diagnosis of a developmental disability. It is further aimed to identify factors that affect parental satisfaction with the process and that may shape reactions to the diagnosis. These include child and parent characteristics, times of identifying concerns and of receiving the diagnosis, and aspects of the delivery of the diagnosis. Insights into parents' experiences and related preceding factors and outcomes, could inform professionals concerning the best practice for this complex process of delivering a diagnosis of developmental disability to parents.