Does Poor Handwriting Conceal Literacy Potential in Primary School Children?

Handwriting is a complex skill that, despite increasing use of computers, still plays a vital role in education. It is assumed that children will master letter formation at a relatively early stage in their school life, with handwriting fluency developing steadily until automaticity is attained. The capacity theory of writing suggests that as automaticity develops, the proportion of working memory dedicated to the mechanics of handwriting is reduced, releasing capacity for the planning, composing and editing of content. This study examined the handwriting ability of 284 mainstream primary school children and explored possible associated factors. Correlations were found between poor handwriting, lower cognitive and literacy scores, and a longer duration for handwriting tasks. Giving children the opportunity to practise their handwriting sufficiently to increase the level of automaticity may release working memory to be applied to the cognitive demands of the task and may potentially raise their level of attainment.     

A Disability Studies Perspective on the Bush Education Agenda: The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 1

Our educational system is undergoing great scrutiny. The success of our nation's schools and their students is under serious evaluation and interpretation. Currently, one of the most visible and pertinent “political products” impacting our schools and students is the federal legislation No Child Left Behind (2002) Cohen, M. 2002. Implementing Title 1 standards, assessments and accountability: Lessons from the past, challenges for the future. Paper presented at the Thomas B. Fordham Conference: No Child Left Behind: What will it take?. February2002, Washington, DC.  [Google Scholar]. Specific concerns arise around schools' ability to include students with disabilities, among other “disadvantaged groups,” in strategies for academic success. Disability Studies contends that the place and positioning of disability is fundamentally political. This article uses a Disability Studies lens to critique NCLB. The potential benefits, problematic areas, and dangerous aspects to schools, teachers, parents, students with disabilities, and the community at large are presented within this Disability Studies context.     

SELECTED ASPECTS OF PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS FOR THREE AND FOUR YEAR‐OLDS IN ALABAMA,GEORGIA, MISSISSIPPI,AND TENNESSEE

Abstract

The perceptions of 28 preservice early childhood teachers about the social and cognitive competence of 68 preschool children were examined. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed gender, age, and family socioeconomic sta?us biases in preservice teachers’ perceptions of children's social and cognitive competence. Qualitative data from focus group discussions with preservice teachers also supported these findings. In addition, children's actual social and cognitive competence, while not the most significant, also uniquely and significantly contributed to preservice teachers’ perceptions of children's social and cognitive competence. This may indicate that preservice teachers are likely struggling with their biases as they involve themselves in their teacher preparation experiences, focused on developing more accurate views of children's social and cognitive competence. Both race/ethnicity and temperament contributions were not found, possibility due to the limited sample used.     

Exploring the Role of Bases and Suffixes When Reading Familiar and Unfamiliar Words: Evidence From French Young Readers

We examined whether French third- and fifth-grade children rely on morphemes when recognizing words and whether this reliance depends on word familiarity. We manipulated the presence of bases and suffixes in words and pseudowords to compare their contribution in a lexical decision task. Both bases and suffixes facilitated word reading accuracy and speed across all grades, even though the co-occurrence of a base and a suffix reduced the benefit associated to the presence of morphemes in third-grade children. Speed of pseudoword (i.e., unfamiliar word) reading was also influenced by base and suffix, and the combination of these units leaded to a high rate of false alarms. These results bring new evidence of morphological analysis in the reading of French familiar and unfamiliar words.     

Effects of Mindfulness‐Based Versus Interpersonal Process Group Intervention on Psychological Well‐Being With a Clinical University Population

This quasi‐experimental study compared a group mindfulness‐based intervention (MI) with an interpersonal process (IP) group intervention and a no‐treatment (NT) control condition in reducing psychological distress among 112 students at 2 universities. At postintervention, IP and MI group participants exhibited significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and interpersonal problems compared with the NT group. At the 6‐month follow‐up, only MI participants maintained the reduction in anxiety, depression, and academic problems; conversely, only IP participants maintained reductions in interpersonal problems.     

Conceptualizing dispositions: intellectual,cultural, and moral domains of teaching

In this conceptual paper, we provide a heuristic that organizes dispositions in a manner that is useful for prospective teachers and teacher educators. The heuristic is organized around three domains of dispositions – intellectual, cultural, and moral. We use a small sample of teacher candidate journal entries to ground the discussion of each disposition domain. Our goal is to explore how teacher candidates are inclined to think through issues of content and pedagogy, the cultural backgrounds of their students, and the values driving their moral reasoning. A significant part of this exploration includes examining teacher candidate assumptions. We offer recommendations for how teacher education programs can provide opportunities for prospective teachers to consider their dispositions and to identify how their dispositions influence teaching decisions.     

Children referred for possible sexual abuse: medical findings in 2384 children

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to compare rates of positive medical findings in a 5-year prospective study of 2384 children, referred for evaluation of possible sexual abuse, with two decades of research. The prospective study summarizes demographic information, clinical history, relationship of perpetrators, nature of abuse, and clinical findings. The study reports on the results by patterns of referral and the medical examination. RESULTS: There were 2384 children evaluated in a tertiary referral center between 1985 and 1990 for possible sexual abuse. Children were referred after they disclosed sexual abuse, because of behavioral changes or exposure to an abusive environment, and because of possible medical conditions. A total of 96.3% of all children referred for evaluation had a normal medical examination; 95.6% of children reporting abuse were normal, 99.8% who were referred for behavioral changes or exposure to abuse were also normal. Of the 182 children referred for evaluation of medical conditions, 92% were found to be normal at the time of examination by the Child Advocacy Center. The remaining 15/182 (8%) that were found to be abnormal were diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases, acute or healed genital injuries, and were 17% (15/88) of the total cases found to have medical findings diagnostic of abuse. Interviews of the children indicated that 68% of the girls and 70% of the boys reported severe abuse, defined as penetration of vagina or anus. Penetration was associated with a higher percentage of abnormal findings in girls (6%) compared to 1% of the boys. The relationship of the abuser impacted on the severity of the abuse. CONCLUSION: Research indicates that medical, social, and legal professionals have relied too heavily on the medical examination in diagnosing child sexual abuse. History from the child remains the single most important diagnostic feature in coming to the conclusion that a child has been sexually abused. Only 4% of all children referred for medical evaluation of sexual abuse have abnormal examinations at the time of evaluation. Even with a history of severe abuse such as vaginal or anal penetration, the rate of abnormal medical findings is only 5.5%. Biological parents are less likely to engage in severe abuse than parental substitutes, extended family members, or strangers.     

Average acceleration and intensity gradient of primary school children and associations with indicators of health and well-being

ABSTRACT

Average acceleration (AvAcc) and intensity gradient (IG) have been proposed as standardised metrics describing physical activity (PA) volume and intensity, respectively. We examined hypothesised between-group PA differences in AvAcc and IG, and their associations with health and well-being indicators in children. ActiGraph GT9X wrist accelerometers were worn for 24-h·d^?1 over 7days by 145 children aged 9–10. Raw accelerations were averaged per 5-s epoch to represent AvAcc over 24-h. IG represented the relationship between log values for intensity and time. Moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) was estimated using youth cutpoints. BMI z-scores, waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), peak oxygen uptake (VO₂peak), Metabolic Syndrome risk (MetS score), and well-being were assessed cross-sectionally, and 8-weeks later. Hypothesised between-group differences were consistently observed for IG only (p < .001). AvAcc was strongly correlated with MVPA (r = 0.96), while moderate correlations were observed between IG and MVPA (r = 0.50) and AvAcc (r = 0.54). IG was significantly associated with health indicators, independent of AvAcc (p < .001). AvAcc was associated with well-being, independent of IG (p < .05). IG was significantly associated with WHtR (p < .01) and MetS score (p < .05) at 8-weeks follow-up. IG is sensitive as a gauge of PA intensity that is independent of total PA volume, and which relates to important health indicators in children.