Efficacy of a perceptual and visual-motor skill intervention program for students with dyslexia

Purpose: To verify the efficacy of a perceptual and visual-motor skill intervention program for students with dyslexia. Methods: The participants were 20 students from third to fifth grade of a public elementary school in Marília, São Paulo, aged from 8 years to 11 years and 11 months, distributed into the following groups: Group I (GI; 10 students with developmental dyslexia) and Group II (GII; 10 students with good academic performance). A perceptual and visual-motor intervention program was applied, which comprised exercises for visual-motor coordination, visual discrimination, visual memory, visual-spatial relationship, shape constancy, sequential memory, visual figure-ground coordination, and visual closure. In pre- and post-testing situations, both groups were submitted to the Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills (TVPS-3), and the quality of handwriting was analyzed using the Dysgraphia Scale. Results: The analyzed statistical results showed that both groups of students had dysgraphia in pretesting situation. In visual perceptual skills, GI presented a lower performance compared to GII, as well as in the quality of writing. After undergoing the intervention program, GI increased the average of correct answers in TVPS-3 and improved the quality of handwriting. Conclusion: The developed intervention program proved appropriate for being applied to students with dyslexia, and showed positive effects because it provided improved visual perception skills and quality of writing for students with developmental dyslexia.

O outro na cidade: deficiência, acessibilidade e saúde em Presidente Prudente-SP

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Elementos psicomotores e fatores sociais relacionados ao desenvolvimento motor e dificuldades de aprendizagem em crianças ingressantes no ensino fundamental

In humans, psychic and motor skills are interdependent, and therefore, cannot fail to take into account the influence of a good psychomotor development in the prevention of learning difficulties. Another factor that interferes with the learning process is the social. Family problems, socioeconomic status of the child, among others, may be associated with learning difficulties and, consequently, the student's performance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate through the elements of psychomotor, if a delay in neuropsychomotor development may be related to the presence of learning problems in children entering elementary school. Also, determine whether there were differences regarding the presence or absence of these difficulties in students from middle and low social class and have family problems or not. For this, we analyzed two classes of 49 students from 1 year of elementary education at a public school in the city of Bauru/SP, aged between 6 and 7 years. These students were tested for the ENE proposed by Lefèvre (1976) to assess the maturity of the nervous system. A pre-designed questionnaire was answered by the teachers of classes to know students' academic performance, learning difficulties presented by them, social status and the presence of family problems. All students participating in the survey had the term sheet signed by the parents, allowing participation in the study. To reach the results, we applied the Anova and Tukey test for comparison analysis of mean age in the performance of ENE. To investigate the existence of a relationship between performance in the ENE and learning difficulties, we used the calculation of Pearson correlation. To analyze the difference in average scores of learning disabilities in students from different social classes and among those who had family problems or not, comparative graphs were used with the averages obtained from the questionnaire answered by the teachers for each learning...

Projeto Saúde na Praça: uma experiência de promoção da saúde em Araraquara-SP

Introduction: Considering the benefi ts of a regular physical activity already indicated on literature and, on the other hand, the high prevalence of physical inactivity, the negative impact of this behavior to the population’s health and also to the public safe, Araraquara city hall (SP) creates the project Health in the Square off ering Lian Gong practice to elderly people since 2001. Objective and Methodology: This experience report describes such project and how it is monitored by city hall through some indicators of physical assessment that was obtained whit the participants in 2007 (General Gymnastics mode). Results: During nine years, this project evolved exponentially because included three physical activity types (General Gymnastics, Hidrogymnastics and Tai-chi-chuan) in 55 city’s spots, mostly public squares, and it benefi ciates about 1.300 adults. The Project has achieved good results in provides health of participants, what justify continuation and expansion of the project in this city.

Transformando a extensão universitária de Golbol Unesp/Lar Escola Santa Luzia (Bauru-SP) em uma equipe de iniciação paradesportiva: análise das expectativas e perspectivas de praticantes e monitores

O Golbol é um esporte desenvolvido para deficientes visuais (DV), no qual o intuito é poder oferecer uma possibilidade adaptada de esporte coletivo, que atenda às necessidades sensoriais do indivíduo DV. Nesse trabalho, nosso objetivo se encontra em verificar e comparar por meio de um questionário estruturado, em escala Likert de 4 pontos, o nível médio de respostas dos participantes a respeito da situação do projeto de extensão e da possibilidade de criarmos uma equipe competitiva e representativa a partir das vivências já estipuladas por estes praticantes. Método: Foi aplicada a avaliação em 12 sujeitos, durante uma sessão de atividades no mês de outubro de 2013. Todos os princípios de ética foram respeitado, seguindo as normas e exigências de nosso comitê de ética local. Dos 12 participantes, 05 eram praticantes DVs do projeto e 07 foram os monitores e envolvidos com a supervisão e docência no projeto. Resultados: Dos resultados encontrados, a partir da relação das respostas dos participantes e da análise descritiva dos itens respondidos e percentuais da amostra, destacamos grande pretensão nas práticas do golbol e na formação de uma equipe competitiva, que condiz com a análise das respostas dos monitores do projeto. Conclusão: Os itens analisados no presente estudo indicam que as expectativas dos envolvidos estão alinhadas com os reais objetivos do projeto. No entanto, nota-se a necessidade de pesquisas futuras que subsidiem estratégias e metodologias adequadas a este público e que permitam mais especificidade a partir da criação de uma equipe representativa e de caráter competitivo para esta modalidade.

Subsídios geomorfológicos para a avaliação da sensibilidade ambiental ao óleo: o caso do baixo curso do rio Tietê (SP)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Quantification of central motor conduction deficits in multiple sclerosis patients before and after treatment of acute exacerbation by methylprednisolone

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of intravenous methylprednisolone (IVMP) in patients with relapsing-remitting (RR-MS), secondary progressive (SP-MS), and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PP-MS). METHODS: Clinical and neurophysiological follow up was undertaken in 24 RR-MS, eight SP-MS, and nine PP-MS patients receiving Solu-Medrol 500 mg/d over five days for exacerbations involving the motor system. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were used to measure central motor conduction time (CMCT) and the triple stimulation technique (TST) was applied to assess conduction deficits. The TST allows accurate quantification of the number of conducting central motor neurones, expressed by the TST amplitude ratio. RESULTS: There was a significant increase in TST amplitude ratio in RR-MS (p<0.001) and SP-MS patients (p<0.02) at day 5, paralleling an increase in muscle force. TST amplitude ratio and muscle force remained stable at two months. In PP-MS, TST amplitude ratio and muscle force did not change. CMCT did not change significantly in any of the three groups. CONCLUSIONS: In RR-MS and SP-MS, IVMP is followed by a prompt increase in conducting central motor neurones paralleled by improvement in muscle force, which most probably reflects partial resolution of central conduction block. The lack of similar clinical and neurophysiological changes in PP-MS corroborates previous clinical reports on limited IVMP efficacy in this patient group and points to pathophysiological differences underlying exacerbations in PP-MS.

An incident at sea: The historic combat between U.S. Navy Blimp K-74 and U-Boat 134

This thesis studies the historic encounter between United States Navy airship K-74 and Nazi submarine U-134 in World War II. The Battle of the Atlantic is examined through case study of this one U-boat and its voyage. In all things except her fight with the American blimp, the patrol was perfectly typical. Looked at from start to finish, both her reports and the reports of the Allies encountered, many realities of the war can be studied. U-134 sailed to attack shipping between Florida and Cuba. She was challenged by the attack of United States Navy airship K-74 over the Florida Straits. It is the only documented instance of battle between two such combatants in history. That merits attention. Thesis finding disprove historian William Eliot Morison’s contention that the K-74 airship bombs were not dropped and did not damage the U-boat. Study of this U-boat and its antagonist broadens our understanding of the Battle of the Atlantic. It is a contribution to our knowledge of military, naval, aviation, and local history.