Some children find it difficult processing information no matter how many times they’re taught. This could result to stigmatization as a dullard. And in most public schools, they’re totally ignored instead of giving more attention.
Let’s take a close look at the illustrations below.
Situation 1 (fiction)
I told 44 months old Cindy that “willy willy” will eat her food if she plays with it or allows her 16 months old brother dip his hand in her food.😆
6 days later during lunch, I heard a loud scream from Cindy, she was crying uncontrollably.😠I realized “willy willy”👿 actually ate her food, her brother had dipped into her cereals.
I suggested that the monster must have come with a big cane for her to easily give in and she nodded in agreement.
Moments later when her Mom came in, Looking very downcasted, she reported that “willy willy” ate her food and he even whipped her with a big cane. (Me sef I shock)😮
Her mom immediately called her a little liar. In her words “Little liar, she keeps fabricating stories at this very young age, I wonder what will happen when she grows older?”
Source-Monitoring Error (SME) (in preschoolers)
SME is the difficulty individuals have in identifying the source of a suggestion, an occurrence or information. This is very normal in preschoolers.
Examples are recalling a conversation that occurred in the dream as reality, telling a joke to the same person you heard it from. In adults and older children,
SME could be caused by high stress, amnesia, effects of aging, depression, brain injury
Situation 2 (true story)
18 days ago, I carried out a short study with the help of my friend. This involved 5 children between ages 3-4years. They were made to sing 2 rhymes for “Miss Mimi” and each person was applauded after their rhymes.
After the session, I wrote a short story describing the activity they've had and adding a fabrication that “Miss Mimi awarded each child a chocolate after the session”. (note that the chocolate award never occured).
My friend assisting me interviewed them in a different room. She read the story to each child and asked them if Miss Mimi actually gave those chocolates and they all admitted that it happened. (Maybe it's spiritual chocolate). 😂😂
They were asked the colours of chocolates and 3 of the girls agreed it was pink (a popular choice for female kids). The interview was randomly repeated and gave same results.
This goes a long way to show how subtle suggestions can influence the inaccuracy of children when reporting nonevents.
If this was a criminal case, someone could be implicated if there is no professional psychologist. Older children can easily identify actual events from non-events.
- A child’s accuracy when reporting a story or as an eyewitness will depend on a whole lot of factors solely influenced by the interviewer.
- The interviewer’s skills and motivation will play a big role and this will also rely on factors as mood, environment, tension, child’s comfort, etc.
- SME in preschoolers if taken extreme or not handled properly can affect a child’s ability to process information.
- SME can positively influence a child’s development using good learning tools and strategies.
Children should be taught with interesting tools like songs, drama, animation, pictures, etc. to understand better.
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