Early cognitive profiles of emergent readers:a longitudinal study

This longitudinal study examined the contribution of phonological awareness, phonological memory, and visuospatial ability to reading development in 142 English-speaking children from the start of kindergarten to the middle of Grade 2. Partial cross-lagged analyses revealed significant relationships between early performance on block design and matching letter-like forms tasks and later reading ability. Rhyme awareness correlated with later reading ability during the earliest stages, but onset awareness did not emerge as important until after the children had started reading. Digit span correlated significantly with future reading ability at every stage. These findings indicate that although phonological awareness, phonological memory, and visuospatial ability are all necessary for emergent reading, their relative importance varies across the first 2 years of reading development.

Evidence of a transition from perceptual to category induction in 3- to 9-year-old children

We examined whether inductive reasoning development is better characterized by accounts assuming an early category bias versus an early perceptual bias. We trained 264 children aged 3 to 9 years to categorize novel insects using a rule that directly pitted category membership against appearance. This was followed by an induction task with perceptual distractors at different levels of featural similarity. An additional 52 children were given the same training followed by an induction task with alternative stimuli. Categorization performance was consistently high, however we found a gradual transition from a perceptual bias in our youngest children to a category bias around age 6-7. In addition, children of all ages were equally distracted by higher levels of featural similarity. The transition is unlikely to be due to an increased ability to inhibit perceptual distractors. Instead, we argue that the transition is driven by a fundamental change in children’s understanding of category membership.

Separating the influences of prereading skills on early word and nonword reading

The essential first step for a beginning reader is to learn to match printed forms to phonological representations. For a new word, this is an effortful process where each grapheme must be translated individually (serial decoding). The role of phonological awareness in developing a decoding strategy is well known. We examined whether beginner readers recruit different skills depending on the nature of the words being read (familiar words vs. nonwords). Print knowledge, phoneme and rhyme awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), phonological short term memory (STM), nonverbal reasoning, vocabulary, auditory skills and visual attention were measured in 392 pre-readers aged 4 to 5 years. Word and nonword reading were measured 9 months later. We used structural equation modeling to examine the skills-reading relationship and modeled correlations between our two reading outcomes and among all pre-reading skills. We found that a broad range of skills were associated with reading outcomes: early print knowledge, phonological STM, phoneme awareness and RAN. Whereas all these skills were directly predictive of nonword reading, early print knowledge was the only direct predictor of word reading. Our findings suggest that beginner readers draw most heavily on their existing print knowledge to read familiar words.

Developing the practice of educational psychologists through theory and research

Recent research in literacy acquisition has generated detailed programs for teaching phonological awareness. The current paper will address three issues that follow from this research. Firstly, much of the past research has been conducted under conditions that are divorced from the classroom. As a result, it is not known whether the suggested teaching strategies will lead to an increase in children’s attainments when integrated into a broad reading curriculum implemented by teachers in mainstream classrooms. Secondly, these phonological interventions have been designed either to prevent the occurrence of reading difficulties or to meet the needs of failing readers. Therefore, it is not known whether the same methods would advantage all children. Thirdly, teaching children to read takes a minimum of two to three academic years. We herefore need to develop a reading curriculum that can provide the progression and differentiation to meet a wide range of needs over several academic years. We report two studies that have addressed these issues through monitoring the impact of a reading curriculum, implemented by teachers, which integrated children’s acquisition of phonological skills with broader aspects of teaching reading over three academic years. The attainments of children at all levels of ability in the experimental group were raised relative to controls, and importantly, these gains were maintained after the intervention was withdrawn. These results demonstrate that phonological awareness training can be successfully integrated into real classroom contexts and that the same methods raised the attainments of normally developing children, as well as those at risk of reading failure.

Sensory processing, reading, IQ, and attention

Detection thresholds for two visual- and two auditory-processing tasks were obtained for 73 children and young adults who varied broadly in reading ability. A reading-disabled subgroup had significantly higher thresholds than a normal-reading subgroup for the auditory tasks only. When analyzed across the whole group, the auditory tasks and one of the visual tasks, coherent motion detection, were significantly related to word reading. These effects were largely independent of ADHD ratings; however, none of these measures accounted for significant variance in word reading after controlling for full-scale IQ. In contrast, phoneme awareness, rapid naming, and nonword repetition each explained substantial, significant word reading variance after controlling for IQ, suggesting more specific roles for these oral language skills in the development of word reading. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Diagnosing autism spectrum disorder:who will get a DSM-5 diagnosis?

Background Introduction of proposed criteria for DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has raised concerns that some individuals currently meeting diagnostic criteria for Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD; DSM-IV-TR/ICD-10) will not qualify for a diagnosis under the proposed changes. To date, reports of sensitivity and specificity of the new criteria have been inconsistent across studies. No study has yet considered how changes at the 'sub domain' level might affect overall sensitivity and specificity, and few have included individuals of different ages and ability levels. Methods A set of DSM-5 ASD algorithms were developed using items from the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO). The number of items required for each DSM-5 subdomain was defined either according to criteria specified by DSM-5 (Initial Algorithm), a statistical approach (Youden J Algorithm), or to minimise the number of false positives while maximising sensitivity (Modified Algorithm). The algorithms were designed, tested and compared in two independent samples (Sample 1, N = 82; Sample 2, N = 115), while sensitivity was assessed across age and ability levels in an additional dataset of individuals with an ICD-10 PDD diagnosis (Sample 3, N = 190). Results Sensitivity was highest in the Initial Algorithm, which had the poorest specificity. Although Youden J had excellent specificity, sensitivity was significantly lower than in the Modified Algorithm, which had both good sensitivity and specificity. Relaxing the domain A rules improved sensitivity of the Youden J Algorithm, but it remained less sensitive than the Modified Algorithm. Moreover, this was the only algorithm with variable sensitivity across age. All versions of the algorithm performed well across ability level. Conclusions This study demonstrates that good levels of both sensitivity and specificity can be achieved for a diagnostic algorithm adhering to the DSM-5 criteria that is suitable across age and ability level. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry © 2013 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Predicting dyslexia using prereading skills:the role of sensorimotor and cognitive abilities

Background: It is well established that phonological awareness, print knowledge and rapid naming predict later reading difficulties. However, additional auditory, visual and motor difficulties have also been observed in dyslexic children. It is examined to what extent these difficulties can be used to predict later literacy difficulties. Method: An unselected sample of 267 children at school entry completed a wide battery of tasks associated with dyslexia. Their reading was tested 2, 3 and 4 years later and poor readers were identified (n = 42). Logistic regression and multiple case study approaches were used to examine the predictive validity of different tasks. Results: As expected, print knowledge, verbal short-term memory, phonological awareness and rapid naming were good predictors of later poor reading. Deficits in visual search and in auditory processing were also present in a large minority of the poor readers. Almost all poor readers showed deficits in at least one area at school entry, but there was no single deficit that characterised the majority of poor readers. Conclusions: Results are in line with Pennington’s (2006) multiple deficits view of dyslexia. They indicate that the causes of poor reading outcome are multiple, interacting and probabilistic, rather than deterministic. Keywords: Dyslexia; educational attainment; longitudinal studies; prediction; phonological processing.

The Effectiveness of an Online Workshop on Behavior Management as a Professional Development Tool for Teachers

The current study examines the effects of an online workshop pertaining to classroom behavior management on teacher self-efficacy, attitudes, motivation, knowledge, and practices. In addition, information about teacher utilization of the Internet, their opinions about professional development, and experiences with classroom management were collected. Participants included 57 1st through 5th grade special and regular education teachers. Eligible teachers were those who teach an academic subject and had at least one child in the classroom they considered as disruptive. Teachers were randomized to either a training or waitlist group. Classroom observations of teacher practices and questionnaires were utilized. Teachers in the training group participated in two assessment points, baseline and post-workshop, and received access to the online course immediately following the baseline assessment. Teachers in the waitlist group participated in three assessment points, baseline, post-workshop, and follow-up, and received access to the online course immediately following the post-workshop assessment. Findings show that all teachers had access to the Internet at home and at school and used it on a daily basis. The majority of teachers indicated having some past training on all the techniques that were presented in the online workshop. All teachers expressed satisfaction with the workshop, indicating that it should be offered again. Post-workshop, findings showed significant group differences in knowledge with a large effect for the training group scoring higher than the waitlist group on a quiz. Secondly, group differences in self-efficacy, knowledge, and attitudes with teachers’ past-training as a moderator, was examined. Past-training was not found to be a significant moderator of self-efficacy, knowledge, or attitudes. However, the main effect for training group was significant for attitudes. In addition, teacher attitudes, but not knowledge and self-efficacy, significantly predicted motivation to implement. Next, the moderating effect of barriers on motivation and classroom management skill implementation was examined. Barriers were not found to be a significant moderator. Lastly, the training group was observed to be significantly more effective at giving commands compared to the waitlist group. The current study demonstrates the potential of a low-intensity online workshop on classroom management to enhance the accessibility of teacher professional development.

Infants' detection of synchrony between sounds and pauses in the movement of an object

The present study investigated the development of sensitivity to temporal synchrony between sounds of impact and pauses in the movement of an object by infants of 2 1/2, 4 and 6 months of age. Ninety infants were tested across four experiments with side-by-side videos of a red and white square and a blue and yellow triangle along with a centralized soundtrack which was synchronized with only one of the films. This preference phase was then followed by a search phase, where the two films were accompanied by intermittent bursts of the soundtrack from each object. Twomonth- olds showed no evidence of matching films and soundtracks on the basis of synchrony, however 4-month-olds looked more on the second block of trials to the object which paused when the sound occurred and directed more first looks during the preference phase to the matching object. Six-month-olds demonstrated significantly more first looks to the mismatched object during the search phase only. These results suggest that infants relate impact sounds with synchronous pauses in continuous motion by the age of four months.

Patterns of cooperation, conflict, and domination in children's collaborative problem-solving

This study examined the influence of age, expertise, and task difficulty on children's patterns of collaboration. Six- and eight-year-old children were individually pretested for ability to copy a Lego model and then paired with each other and asked to copy two more models. The design was a 3 (dyad skill level: novice, expert, or mixed) X 2 (age: six or eight) X 2 (task difficulty: moderate or complex) factorial. Results indicated that cooperation increased with age and expertise and decreased with task difficulty. However, expertise had a greater influence on younger than older children's interaction styles. It is argued that with age, social skills may become as important as expertise in determining styles of collaboration. The issue is raised of whether cooperation, domination, and independence represent developmental sequences (i.e., independence precedes cooperation) or whether they represent personal styles of interaction. Finally, it is suggested that an important goal for future research is to assess the relationship between patterns of collaboration and learning.

Understanding the cycle of violence: an examination of bully and victim social roles in early childhood

The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of bullying and victimization in a metropolitan area. A cross-sectional study with kindergarten (n = 127) and first grade (n = 126) children was conducted in two Miami-Dade County Public Schools and three private schools in the same area. Bullying and victimization behavior and social acceptance were assessed through peer nomination and the mental health outcomes of depression and anxiety were assessed through children's self-report. Teachers and parents also completed a social behavior scale for each child. Three areas of analyses were conducted pertaining to membership classification of social roles and the social acceptance and mental health outcomes associated with those roles, reporter agreement within the social roles, and the psychometric properties of the Childhood Social Behavior Scale. Results showed an overall negative pattern of adjustment for children identified as a member of any of the negative social roles. Also, the results support a new analytic approach to the investigation of social roles. The implication of these findings for early identification, social policy, and effective prevention strategies are discussed.

Drawing as a technique to facilitate childrens memory

This study examined a technique to assist children to recall more information about witnessed events. Thirty-eight fourth-grade children from a public grade school in Miami Florida participated in the experiment. The participants watched a Red Cross demonstration and were interviewed one week later about details of the demonstration. All of the children were interviewed using a police style interview. In addition, half of the children were instructed to draw during the interview. The current study supported previous findings that the instruction to draw increased the amount of information recalled. The effect of drawing was greatest for high-visual events. In addition, the instruction to draw prompted an increase in non-verbal information, which had an unusually high accuracy rate.

Cognitive behavior therapy for anxiety disorders in youth: Treatment specificity and mediation effects

The present study investigated the efficacies of Individual CBT (ICBT), Parent Relationship Skill Training (RLST, which targets increasing parental acceptance of youth and increasing autonomy granting) and Parent Reinforcement Skills Training (RLST, which targets increasing parental positive reinforcement and decreasing negative reinforcement). The specific aims were to examine treatment specificity and mediation effects of parenting variables. ICBT was used as a baseline comparison condition. The sample consisted of 253 youth (ages 5-16 years; M = 9.38; SD = 2.42) and their parents. To examine treatment outcome and specificity, the data were analyzed using analysis of variance within a structural equation modeling framework. Mediation was analyzed via structural equation modeling using MPlus. Results indicated that ICBT, RLST, and RFST produced positive treatment outcomes across all indices of change (i.e., clinically significant improvement, anxiety symptom reduction) and across all informants (i.e., youths and parents). RLST was associated with incremental reduction in youth anxiety symptoms beyond ICBT, as per youth report. Treatment specificity effects were found for participants in RFST in terms of parental reinforcement, as per parent report only. Treatment mediation was not found for any of the hypothesized parenting variables (i.e., parental acceptance, parental autonomy granting, parental reinforcement). The results support the use of CBT involving only the youth and the parent and youth together for treating youth anxiety. The findings’ implications are further discussed in terms of the need to conduct further meditational treatment outcome designs in order to continue to advance theory and research in youth anxiety treatment.

Evaluating the Sandcastles Program: A Group Intervention for Children of Divorce

The Sandcastles program has been utilized nationwide as a one-time group intervention to assist children of divorcing parents. For several years Miami-Dade family court services mandated participation in the program for divorcing or separating families. Currently, there is a paucity of research and evaluation to ascertain the efficacy of the program. This symposium will provide details and discussion regarding the planning and process used to establish an evaluation plan to assess the effectiveness of the Sandcastles program for families in MiamiDade County. Any preliminary outcomes available at the time of the symposium will also be shared.

Does a peer model’s task proficiency influence children’s solution choice and innovation?

The current study investigated whether 4- to 6-year-old children’s task solution choice was influenced by the past proficiency of familiar peer models and the children’s personal prior task experience. Peer past proficiency was established through behavioral assessments of interactions with novel tasks alongside peer and teacher predictions of each child’s proficiency. Based on these assessments, one peer model with high past proficiency and one age-, sex-, dominance-, and popularity-matched peer model with lower past proficiency were trained to remove a capsule using alternative solutions from a three-solution artificial fruit task. Video demonstrations of the models were shown to children after they had either a personal successful interaction or no interaction with the task. In general, there was not a strong bias toward the high past-proficiency model, perhaps due to a motivation to acquire multiple methods and the salience of other transmission biases. However, there was some evidence of a model-based past-proficiency bias; when the high past-proficiency peer matched the participants’ original solution, there was increased use of that solution, whereas if the high past-proficiency peer demonstrated an alternative solution, there was increased use of the alternative social solution and novel solutions. Thus, model proficiency influenced innovation.