The use and frequency of verbal and non-verbal praise in nurture groups

Nurture groups are a form of provision for children with social, emotional, behavioural and learning difficulties. The study examines the interactions between children and staff – in particular, the frequency and effects of verbal and non-verbal praise – and discusses how this contributes to its effectiveness as a positive intervention instrument for all children. Results from structured observations confirmed that interactions in four nurture groups were positive and likely to enhance the self-esteem of pupils. Staff in all nurture groups used a higher frequency of specific verbal praise compared to non-verbal praise, despite results from children's responses to praise revealing that nearly a half of the children responded to non-verbal praise by continuing with appropriate behaviours. An interesting and unexpected finding revealed that as time passed the frequency of both verbal and non-verbal praise reduced. The study highlights how the frequency of certain behaviours such as non-verbal praise can impact on children's behaviour.     

Nonverbal learning disability,school behavior,and dyslexia

The aims of the study were to investigate whether children showing a low nonverbal/high verbal (LNV) WISC-R profile are more likely to exhibit behaviors conducive to school failure than children with a low verbal/high nonverbal (LV) profile, and to examine the relationships among these behaviors, the LNV/LV profiles, and reading ability. The 65 subjects included 27 LNV and 38 LV children, aged 5 to 11 years. Results confirmed earlier findings (Badian 1986) that LNV children are perceived by their teachers as significantly poorer than LV children in many behaviors associated with school success. There was a dichotomy, however, between LNV good and poor readers. All LNV subjects displayed problems in organizational skills, but those who were dyslexic were poorer in social behavior (e.g., acceptance of criticism and peer relationships) than either LNV good readers or LV good or poor readers. It was concluded that children with a low nonverbal/high verbal profile and a probable right hemisphere dysfunction, who appear to be dyslexic in the early school years, are at high risk for both social behavior problems and school failure, and that these children are a more high-risk group than poor readers with a low verbal/high nonverbal profile.     

Verbal and spatial analogical reasoning in deaf and hearing children: the role of grammar and vocabulary

The extent to which cognitive development and abilities are dependent on language remains controversial. In this study, the analogical reasoning skills of deaf and hard of hearing children are explored. Two groups of children (deaf and hard of hearing children with either cochlear implants or hearing aids and hearing children) completed tests of verbal and spatial analogical reasoning. Their vocabulary and grammar skills were also assessed to provide a measure of language attainment. Results indicated significant differences between the deaf and hard of hearing children (regardless of type of hearing device) and their hearing peers on vocabulary, grammar, and verbal reasoning tests. Regression analyses revealed that in the group of deaf and hard of hearing children, but not in the hearing group, the language measures were significant predictors of verbal analogical reasoning, when age and spatial analogical reasoning ability were controlled for. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Teaching Through Collaboration: Flexibility and Diversity in Caregiver–Child Interaction Across Cultures

Teaching supports the high-fidelity transmission of knowledge and skills. This study examined similarities and differences in caregiver teaching practices in the United States and Vanuatu (N = 125 caregiver and 3- to 8-year-old child pairs) during a collaborative problem-solving task. Caregivers used diverse verbal and nonverbal teaching practices and adjusted their behaviors in response to task difficulty and child age in both populations. U.S. caregivers used practices consistent with a direct active teaching style typical of formal education, including guiding children’s participation, frequent praise, and facilitation. In contrast, Ni-Vanuatu caregivers used practices associated with informal education and divided tasks with children based on difficulty. The implications of these findings for claims about the universality and diversity of caregiver teaching are discussed.     

Verbal Intelligence: a key to basic skills?

Intra‐individual variability of cognitive measures, such as verbal and spatial ability tests, has frequently been reported to typify learning disabled children. To test the generality of such findings, longitudinal data from a large representative and non‐clinical sample of Swedish children (n = 812) were analysed. At age 10, the children were tested with a Swedish intelligence scale. At age 13, basic academic skills were measured by standardised achievement tests. Typical cognitive profile types, based on the verbal and spatial intelligence subtests, were identified through cluster analyses (CLUSTAN) of the girl and boy samples separately. The satisfactory solution arrived at was a five‐cluster representation for the girls (n = 497) and an eight‐cluster representation for the boys (n = 497). For both sexes, verbally as well as spatially oriented profiles emerged. However, the verbal orientation was more pronounced for girls, whereas the boys displayed greater variability and stronger spatial orientation. General intelligence at age 10 was a strong predictor for basic skills at age 13 (r > 0.70). Verbally strong children tended to achieve better than predicted by their overall level of intelligence, whereas spatially oriented children showed a less favourable development in basic academic skills. The results are discussed in relation to neuropsychologically‐based models of reading disability and theories of language and development.     

Influencing graduate students' classroom achievement,homework habits and motivation to learn with verbal praise

Identifying factors that influence students' learning in the classroom continues to be an important objective of educators at all levels. To address this issue, researchers have investigated a multitude of instructional variables that impact students' motivation to learn. One instructional variable, verbal praise, has often been identified as an important mediator in the enhancement of students' motivation to learn. However, the lack of consistent findings regarding students' reactions to verbal praise, combined with the lack of research on adult learners, prompted the current investigation. Using an experimental design, this study revealed that graduate students exposed to well-administered verbal praise by a professor performed significantly better on a professor-created examination, spent significantly more time doing homework and exhibited higher motivation to learn in the classroom than did studentswho received no verbal praise. Characteristics of effective verbal praise that contributed to these outcomes, the potential usefulness of verbal praise as a reinforcer of student motivations and directions for future research are discussed.     

Drawing on the Wrong Side of the Brain: an Art Teacher's Case for Recognising NLD

Secondary art teachers sometimes agonise over students who struggle, but are frustrated by the general failure of the special educational needs system to recognise such problems as worthy of intervention or as more widely significant. Until recently, any analyses of such learning difficulties have found no support in educational psychology. This paper argues for the usefulness of the profile of ‘non‐verbal learning disorders’ (NLD), which recognises visual‐spatial problems associated with the right brain hemisphere. This diagnosis remains controversial and is unrecognised in the UK. The paper looks at examples of work by a student of high academic ability that seem to bear out this profile, discusses them in relation to ‘right brain’ approaches to drawing, and briefly examines some of the positive and far‐reaching implications for art teachers of the growing recognition of NLD.     

Picking up the threads. Languaging in a Swedish mainstream preschool

This paper examines the strategies monolingual teachers use to scaffold meaning and encourage and enhance verbal communication with emergent bilingual children in a Swedish mainstream preschool. The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork in a preschool group in which seven of twelve children spoke Swedish as their second, additional language. The basic assumption in this paper is that knowledge is scaffolded in talk between teachers and children. Several scaffolding strategies are identified such as guessing, qualified guessing, interactive scaffolding and co-construction of meaning. The analysis shows that successful languaging assumes a high level of trust between the children and their teachers and that it is essential that the teachers can identify each child’s zone of proximal development. Some educational implications and dilemmas are identified on the basis of the results.     

Impact of Verbal Praise on College Students' Time Spent on Homework

Abstract

Verbal praise, a type of external reward addressed in many theories of motivation, has often been recognized as an important mediator in the development of students' motivation in the classroom. However, the lack of consistently replicated findings regarding students' reactions to verbal praise, combined with the paucity of research on post-secondary students, prompted the current investigation. Using an experimental design, the author found that college students exposed to well-administered verbal praise by a professor spent significantly more time doing homework than did students who received no verbal praise. Characteristics of effective verbal praise that contributed to the results, the potential usefulness of verbal praise as an enhancer of student motivation, and directions for future research are discussed.     

A Consumer‐Driven Approach to Increase Suggestive Selling

Several research articles have been published demonstrating the effectiveness of behavioral interventions in improving suggestive selling behavior of sales staff (e.g., Johnson & Masotti, 1990; Martinko, White, & Hassell, 1989; Mirman, 1982; Ralis & O'Brien, 1986). Procedures employed in these studies made use of two classes of personnel to implement the intervention: (1) personnel internal to the organization or (2) external consultants. The current study examined the efficacy of a consumer‐driven approach to improve suggestive selling behavior of three employees of a fast food franchise. Customers delivered either a verbal prompt or praise to an employee after they had placed their order. Delivery of a prompt or praise depended on whether or not the employee made a suggestion for an additional food purchase. This consumer‐driven intervention increased suggestive selling behaviors of all three employees, and was associated with higher suggestive sales in each case.     

Tiger Mothers and Praise Junkies: Children,Praise and the Reactive Attitudes

In this article, I look at some discussions of praising children in contemporary parenting advice. In exploring what is problematic about these discussions, I turn to some philosophical work on moral praise and blame which, I argue, indicates the need for a more nuanced response to questions about the significance of praise. A further analysis of the moral aspects of praise suggests a significant dimension of the parent‐child relationship that is missing from, and obscured by, the kind of parenting advice exemplified by the discussions of praise with which I began.     

The effect of type of reinforcer and reinforcement schedule on performances of EMR students on four selected subtests of the WISC-R

An experimental study was undertaken with 120 EMR students to examine the effect on performance of three types of test item response reinforcers (token, verbal praise, verbal neutral), and two levels of reinforcement schedule (fixed and continuous ratio). Results indicated: (a) no interaction between type of reinforcement and schedule, (b) no main effect for type of schedule, (c) but a statistically significant positive effect on scaled scores for token and verbal praise reinforcers on the Arithmetic, Digit Span, and Picture Completion WISC-R subtests. No effect on Block Design scores was noted.     

When Parents’ Praise Inflates,Children's Self‐Esteem Deflates

Western parents often give children overly positive, inflated praise. One perspective holds that inflated praise sets unattainable standards for children, eventually lowering children's self‐esteem (self‐deflation hypothesis). Another perspective holds that children internalize inflated praise to form narcissistic self‐views (self‐inflation hypothesis). These perspectives were tested in an observational‐longitudinal study (120 parent–child dyads from the Netherlands) in late childhood (ages 7–11), when narcissism and self‐esteem first emerge. Supporting the self‐deflation hypothesis, parents’ inflated praise predicted lower self‐esteem in children. Partly supporting the self‐inflation hypothesis, parents’ inflated praise predicted higher narcissism—but only in children with high self‐esteem. Noninflated praise predicted neither self‐esteem nor narcissism. Thus, inflated praise may foster the self‐views it seeks to prevent.     

The effects of teachers' verbal behaviors on kindergartners' perceptions of competence

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in kindergartners' perceptions of competence and to determine the effects of teachers' verbal behaviors on these perceptions. A sample of 168 kindergartners from 31 classrooms participated in a pre- and posttest administration of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance and three classroom observations. Kindergartners in this study generally reported high perceptions of competence. The drop in perceptions documented in previous research was not found in this study, suggesting that the developmental change occurs after kindergarten. A modest significant correlation between perceptions of competence and both academic skills and teacher ratings indicated that children were developing more accurate judgements. Teachers' verbal behaviors were not related to students' perceptions of competence. In contrast, the amount of praise that students received was related to the instructional style of the teacher and the frequency in which students were criticized was related to their academic skills. Implications for educational practice are discussed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Turner Syndrome: Genetic and Hormonal Factors Contributing to a Specific Learning Disability Profile

Turner Syndrome (TS) is a genetic disorder affecting primarily females. It arises from a loss of X‐chromosome material, most usually one of the two X chromosomes. Affected individuals have a number of distinguishing somatic features, including short stature and ovarian dysgenesis. Individuals with TS show a distinct neurocognitive profile involving visuospatial deficits and selective memory and attention difficulties. They also have a number of psychosocial and behavioral problems. They are at high risk of learning disabilities and often have a need for special education. Recent research has identified some of the genetic and hormonal mechanisms contributing to their neurobehavioral profile. This article reviews the current findings on TS and shows how understanding the impact of these factors on early brain development and later brain function might advance our understanding of learning disabilities more generally. The implications of current research findings for the daily management of children with TS in the classroom are also discussed.     

The interrelationships among preschool predictors of reading acquisition for German children

A sample of 169 German children were tested in general verbal ability, verbal memory span, phonological awareness, lexical access speed and accuracy, and letter knowledge in preschool. These tests were used as independent measures predicting performance on second grade reading comprehension, word discrimination, and word decoding speed. Tests of verbal ability, memory capacity, and phonological awareness were also given over a year later in elementary school. After determining that the influence of verbal ability, memory capacity, and phonological awareness on reading comprehension was comparable when measured in preschool and elementary school, the effects of all preschool measures on the three dependent reading measures were assessed. These analyses revealed differential main effects and interactions for the three dependent measures. However, a significant three-way interaction among lexical access, memory capacity, and phonological awareness was found for all three reading measures. These results indicate that the interaction and subsequent effects of these linguistic skills precedes and influences reading acquisition. This is contrary to the view that these skills interact as a result of reading experience. The implications of these results, as well as comparisons of conducting such studies with German rather than English speaking children are discussed.     

Mathematical thinking of kindergarten boys and girls: similar achievement, different contributing processes

The objective of this study was to examine gender differences in the relations between verbal, spatial, mathematics, and teacher–child mathematics interaction variables. Kindergarten children (N = 80) were videotaped playing games that require mathematical reasoning in the presence of their teachers. The children’s mathematics, spatial, and verbal skills and the teachers’ mathematical communication were assessed. No gender differences were found between the mathematical achievements of the boys and girls, or between their verbal and spatial skills. However, mathematics performance was related to boys’ spatial reasoning and to girls’ verbal skills, suggesting that they use different processes for solving mathematical problems. Furthermore, the boys’ levels of spatial and verbal skills were not found to be related, whereas they were significantly related for girls. The mathematical communication level provided in teacher–child interactions was found to be related to girls’ but not to boys’ mathematics performance, suggesting that boys may need other forms of mathematics communication and teaching.     

Hemispheric processing and cognitive styles in learning-disabled and normal children.

A paradigm of specialized brain hemisphere processing abilities was used to test cognitive skills and cognitive style in "learning-disabled" (LD) and "normal" children. Results indicate that (1) verbal ability is not a unitary factor, and LD children are deficient in only some aspects of verbal ability; (2) the LD group perform as well as the control group on right-hemisphere tests; (3) LD boys are more field sensitive (field dependent) than the control boys; (4) LD children may be attempting to use a nonverbal information processing mode to deal with academic tasks. The need for information on nonverbal processing skills in order to aid verbal processing is discussed.     

Verbal skills in children with ADHD

The present study examined whether ADHD children exhibit low verbal IQ (VIQ) and distinguishable test profile on the Verbal comprehension (VC) and Freedom from distractibility (FFD) factors, and whether gender influences their verbal abilities. At the Laboratory of Neuropsychology of the Department of Special Education, University of Thessaly, WISC‐III verbal scales were administered to 69 ADHD children (50 boys and 19 girls) and controls who were matched for age and sex. Mean scores for all WISC‐III verbal scales, VIQ, VC and FFD of ADHD children were significantly lower than controls. FFD was found lower than VC and it correlated statistically significantly with VC in ADHD children. No gender differences were found among ADHD children.     

Communication skills, educational achievement and biographic characteristics of children with moderate learning difficulties

This paper examines aspects of intellectual, linguistic and academic abilities of 71 children with moderate learning difficulties. A profile of these abilities is presented and analysed. The profile provides a rationale for mounting a long-term intervention study designed to develop these children’s communication abilities. It also provides us with a baseline model against which the effects of the intervention can be assessed. In addition, the profile explores the relationships between several aspects of academic achievement and biographical factors such as age, gender, season of birth and IQ. Statistical analysis reveals significant relationships between several of the variables investigated. The implications of this analysis for educational practice are considered.