Patterns of word and nonword processing in skilled and less-skilled readers

Sixty-eight third graders who were less-skilled readers performed more poorly than younger reading-level control children on tests of pseudoword reading and phonological sensitivity. These findings add to the growing consensus that the proximal cause of reading difficulties are spelling-sound coding problems that result from deficient underlying phonological processes and structures. Analyses of their word and pseudoword reading performance provided some suggestive evidence that less-skilled readers are less sensitive than their younger reading-level matched counterparts to all subword-size orthographic units, perhaps especially to grapheme-sized units.     

Screen time and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity changes and displacement in adolescence: A prospective cohort study

Background: This paper determines longitudinal changes in the time Spanish adolescents devote to moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and screen media activity (SMA). Moreover, it examines the displacement hypothesis between time spent on SMA and MVPA.

Methods: A cohort of 755 adolescents participated in a prospective cohort study over a three-year period. Repeated measures ANOVA to highlight interaction effects among all variables and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques were employed.

Results: Age and gender-related variations in longitudinal changes in time spent on MVPA and SMA evolved in the inverse direction (decreased on MVPA/increased on SMA) according to the ANOVA. The potential displacement between time spent on SMA and MVPA from Wave I to Wave II was analysed via SEM. The first model, estimated in the overall sample, showed no evidence for the displacement hypothesis. Subsequently, a multigroup sequence of panel models was performed and a partial displacement was observed only in boys. Hence, boys who spent more time on SMA were more likely to devote less time to MVPA three years later.

Conclusion: This study confirms the opposite trend on the time spent on MVPA and SMA over a three-year period, being clearly higher in SMA. Further SEM analyses reveal a deferred displacement hypothesis between SMA and MVPA only in boys. This partial gendered displacement may be linked to the different uses adolescents make of screen media. The incursion of new technological devices (smartphones or tablets) and their wide range of possibilities for social networking or gaming could explain this displacement     

A three-factor model of educational practice considerations for teaching neurodiverse learners from a strengths-based perspective

The purpose of this practice paper is to promote the teaching of learners with neurodevelopmental conditions from a neurodiverse perspective. The challenge teachers face in having to draw on up-to-date research evidence and theoretical perspectives, and align these with practical considerations to generate contextualised teaching strategies, are addressed with the introduction of a three-factor model. The utility of considering pupil assessment data gathered from a strengths-based perspective is positioned as a central component to bridging the gap between the incipient neurodiversity literature and the realities of applied teaching practice. Two case examples have presented that draw on the proposed three-factor model to demonstrate how teachers can assess and teach learners from a neurodevelopmental perspective. These case studies focus on supporting learners with Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in a secondary setting.     

Vocabulary use during storybook reading: Implications for children with augmentative and alternative communication needs

Storybook‐reading interactions are a critical component of emergent literacy, contributing to later development of conventional literacy skills. Children with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) needs must be provided with appropriate vocabulary to actively participate in storybook interactions in a manner similar to that of their typically developing peers. This study examined vocabulary used by typically developing kindergartners while being read a storybook. Words used by the kindergartners were compared to vocabulary on premade, commercially available storybook communication displays marketed for individuals with AAC needs. Results revealed that vocabulary on commercially available communication displays did not include the words used most frequently by the kindergartners. Results suggest that practitioners who use commercially available communication displays may need to modify the materials to provide children with AAC needs sufficient vocabulary to enhance their participation during storybook‐reading interactions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Accounting for unexpected test responses through examinees’ and their teachers’ explanations

Researchers have developed indices to identify persons whose test results ‘misfit’ and are considered statistically ‘aberrant’ or ‘unexpected’ and whose measures are consequently potentially invalid, drawing the test’s validity into question. This study draws on interviews of pupils and their teachers, using a sample of 31 10‐year‐olds who were flagged as most ‘aberrant’ in a standardised mathematics test. The children’s and their teachers’ explanations were analysed and attributed: (i) to item‐, person‐ (self/other) and classroom‐levels; and ii) according to causal dimensions. Children’s and teachers’ explanations were mostly in agreement in relation to unexpected negative results and they included references to previously well‐cited sources of construct‐irrelevant variance (e.g. ineffective test‐taking strategies, careless mistakes) as well as construct‐relevant variance (e.g. misconceptions, weaknesses in particular topics). Findings of this exploratory study are discussed from a test validity and attribution theory perspective: we conclude that this approach offers grounds for multi‐level explanations of person misfit and that this qualitative research approach to unexpected responses is worthy of more attention.     

Predicting reading growth with event-related potentials: Thinking differently about indexing “Responsiveness”

The purpose of this study was to determine if event-related potential (ERP) data collected during three reading-related tasks (Letter Sound Matching, Nonword Rhyming, and Nonword Reading) could be used to predict short-term reading growth on a curriculum-based measure of word identification fluency over 19 weeks in a sample of 29 first-grade children. Results indicate that ERP responses to the Letter Sound Matching task were predictive of reading change and remained so after controlling for two previously validated behavioral predictors of reading, Rapid Letter Naming and Segmenting. ERP data for the other tasks were not correlated with reading change. The potential for cognitive neuroscience to enhance current methods of indexing responsiveness in a response-to-intervention (RTI) model is discussed.     

Below-average, average, and above-average readers engage different and similar brain regions while reading

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 27 children (14 girls, 13 boys) who varied in their reading skill levels. Both behavior performance measures recorded during the ERP word classification task and the ERP responses themselves discriminated between children with above-average, average, and below-average reading skills. ERP amplitudes and peak latencies decreased as reading skills increased. Furthermore, hemisphere differences increased with higher reading skill levels. Sex differences were also related to ERP amplitude variations across the scalp. However, ERPs recorded from boys and girls did not differ as a function of differences in the children's reading levels.     

Calcium carbonate polymorph control using droplet-based microfluidics

Calcium carbonate (CaCO(3)) is one of the most abundant minerals and of high importance in many areas of science including global CO(2) exchange, industrial water treatment energy storage, and the formation of shells and skeletons. Industrially, calcium carbonate is also used in the production of cement, glasses, paints, plastics, rubbers, ceramics, and steel, as well as being a key material in oil refining and iron ore purification. CaCO(3) displays a complex polymorphic behaviour which, despite numerous experiments, remains poorly characterised. In this paper, we report the use of a segmented-flow microfluidic reactor for the controlled precipitation of calcium carbonate and compare the resulting crystal properties with those obtained using both continuous flow microfluidic reactors and conventional bulk methods. Through combination of equal volumes of equimolar aqueous solutions of calcium chloride and sodium carbonate on the picoliter scale, it was possible to achieve excellent definition of both crystal size and size distribution. Furthermore, highly reproducible control over crystal polymorph could be realised, such that pure calcite, pure vaterite, or a mixture of calcite and vaterite could be precipitated depending on the reaction conditions and droplet-volumes employed. In contrast, the crystals precipitated in the continuous flow and bulk systems comprised of a mixture of calcite and vaterite and exhibited a broad distribution of sizes for all reaction conditions investigated.     

Young Children's Trust in Their Mother's Claims: Longitudinal Links With Attachment Security in Infancy

In a longitudinal study of attachment, children ( N = 147) aged 50 and 61 months heard their mother and a stranger make conflicting claims. In 2 tasks, the available perceptual cues were equally consistent with either person's claim but children generally accepted the mother's claims over those of the stranger. In a 3rd task, the perceptual cues favored the stranger's claims, and children generally accepted her claims over those of the mother. However, children's pattern of responding varied by attachment status. The strategy of relying on the mother or the stranger, depending on the available perceptual cues, was especially evident among secure children. Insecure-avoidant children displayed less reliance on their mother's claims, irrespective of the available cues, whereas insecure-resistant children displayed more.     

Cultural transitioning of Jewish immigrants: Education, employment and integration

This paper discusses the cultural transitioning process that immigrants undergo in order to attain educational, occupational, and social integration within Canadian society. Results of this phenomenological study examining 31 Jewish immigrants from Argentina, Israel, France and the Former Soviet Union, reveal that lack of educational equivalency and lack of recognition of foreign work experience, language barriers, discrimination, insider/outsider sentiments and the structure of the community were common impediments to cultural transitioning. However, findings suggest that despite a common religious identity, immigrants’ ethnic identities and expectations lead to divergent cultural transitioning experiences.