READING ATTAINMENT IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS OF BRIGHTON

Children who are ‘at risk’ of educational handicap, or who are likely to show a poor response to the experience of school require special help and care at the earliest opportunity. In order that the educational system can respond positively to the needs of such children, their early identification is a matter of priority. This may be achieved provided ‘risk’ factors in the child's environment have been established through experiment and that their effects, both singly and in combination, on various educational progress measures have been investigated. The present paper discusses the complex relationships observed between a wide range of conditions, personal and environmental, associated with a large group of children at school entry, and the subsequent educational development of these children three years later on. The analysis locates sub‐groups of children who have made a poor response to school and identifies them using different combinations of school entry factors. The analysis also defines a group of children who are on the whole somewhat above average in ability and attainment, but who nevertheless show a deterioration in their school work owing to emotional or social problems. The implication of these findings for the educational system is briefly discussed.     

Association of perpetrator relationship to abusive head trauma clinical outcomes

The diagnosis of abusive head trauma (AHT) remains a significant public health problem with limited prevention success. Providing protection from further harm is often challenged by the difficulty in identifying the alleged perpetrator (AP) responsible for this pediatric trauma. The objective of this study was to evaluate demographic and clinical characteristics of children with AHT and the relationship between APs and their victims in a large, multi-site sample. Understanding the AHT risks from various caregivers may help to inform current prevention strategies. A retrospective review of all cases of AHT diagnosed by child protection teams (CPT) from 1/1/04 to 6/30/09 at four children's hospitals was conducted. Clinical characteristics of children with AHT injured by non-parental perpetrators (NPP) were compared to parental perpetrators (PP). There were 459 children with AHT; 313 (68%) had an identified AP. The majority of the 313 children were <1 year of age (76%), Caucasian (63%), male (58%), receiving public assistance (80%), and presented without a history of trauma (62%); mortality was 19%. Overall, APs were: father (53%), parent partner (22%), mother (8%), babysitter (8%), other adult caregiver (5%); NPP accounted for 39% of APs. NPPs were more likely to cause AHT in children ≥1 year (77% vs. 23%, p < 0.001) compared to PP. Independent associations to NPP included: older child, absence of a history of trauma, retinal hemorrhages, and male perpetrator gender. While fathers were the most common AP in AHT victims, there is a significant association for increased risk of AHT by NPPs in the older child, who presents with retinal hemorrhages, in the hands of a male AP. Further enhancement of current prevention strategies to address AHT risks of non-parental adults who provide care to children, especially in the post-infancy age seems warranted.     

Human relations: A challenge to the teacher of speech

This essay illustrates some of the day‐to‐day tasks that an ombudsman performs and notes the centrality of speech communication to their resolution.     

DIF Testing With an Empirical-Histogram Approximation of the Latent Density for Each Group

This research introduces, illustrates, and tests a variation of IRT-LR-DIF, called EH-DIF-2, in which the latent density for each group is estimated simultaneously with the item parameters as an empirical histogram (EH). IRT-LR-DIF is used to evaluate the degree to which items have different measurement properties for one group of people versus another, irrespective of mean differences on the construct. Usually, the latent distribution is presumed normal for both groups, but results are biased if this assumption is violated. Simulations show that if the latent densities are nonnormal, Type I error and estimates of the item parameters and focal-group mean and SD are more accurate using EH-DIF-2 than standard methods. Free software for carrying out EH-DIF-2 is available on request.     

Children's understanding of substances,Part 2: Explaining chemical change

This is the second part of a paper which focuses on the idea of chemical change (see Johnson 2000). The reported data comes from a study which explored the development of children's concept of a substance (ages 11-14). It examines the use of the ideas of elements, compounds and the bonding between atoms to explain chemical change and the intersection of these ideas with 'basic' particle ideas. Evidence is presented which suggests that the particle ideas were the means by which the pupils came to acknowledge the phenomenon of chemical change, having been unmoved by a macroscopic approach which identified substances by melting and boiling point. Furthermore, a basic particle model in which individual particles still retained the macroscopic properties of the substance was found to inhibit an understanding of chemical change. Findings with respect to a burning candle are reported in a separate section. Important implications for teaching are discussed.     

Effects of a Cognitive Acceleration Programme in a Low Socioeconomic High School in Regional Australia

This paper presents research on the effects of a cognitive acceleration intervention in science lessons on low socioeconomic students in a government high school in regional Western Australia. Thinking Science Australia is a programme currently being implemented in Australian junior high school classes. The research was conducted for over two years as a case study in one school with students as they entered high school in Year 8 (n?=?71). Findings show that significant cognitive gains were made, with concomitant improvement in the state-wide testing in science when participating students were in Year 9, aged 13 and 14. Teachers reported changes to the ways they teach and described the challenges in implementing the intervention programme.     

Children’s Self‐documentation and Understanding of the Concepts ‘Healthy’ and ‘Unhealthy’

The present paper describes a study in which 13 children aged 9–11 years, of diverse ethnic, linguistic, and socio‐economic backgrounds, were asked to use a digital camera and small notebook to document the range of things they consider to be healthy and unhealthy. Using open‐ended interview questions, the children were then asked to explain each item, including what it was, why they chose it, and why they thought it was either healthy or unhealthy. The range of definitions of ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ invoked by the children was surprisingly broad, encompassing not only illness and proper nutrition, but also environmental health, mental health, cleanliness, and other meanings. Findings across all 13 children are displayed, and a case study of one child serves as a detailed example of the types of meanings children ascribe to the words ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’, as well as the kinds of analyses being employed on these data. The theoretical implications of these results for research on children’s ideas about health, as well as implications for the design of health interventions, are discussed.