Longitudinal Stability of Phonological and Surface Subtypes of Developmental Dyslexia

Limited evidence supports the external validity of the distinction between developmental phonological and surface dyslexia. We previously identified children ages 8 to 13 meeting criteria for these subtypes (Peterson, Pennington, & Olson, 2013) and now report on their reading and related skills approximately 5 years later. Longitudinal stability of subtype membership was fair and appeared stronger for phonological than surface dyslexia. Phonological dyslexia was associated with a pronounced phonological awareness deficit, but subgroups otherwise had similar cognitive profiles. Subtype did not inform prognosis. Results provide modest evidence for the validity of the distinction, although not for its clinical utility.     

Response to Fry and Kraemer

In general, women are well represented among sport participants and sport audiences but not in the media. Data show that women's sport is greatly underreported and trivialized in newspapers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to measure press coverage during the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in the largest circulating Belgian, Danish, French, and Italian daily newspapers by: (a) number of articles, (b) size, (c) page placement, (d) accompanying photographs, and (e) photograph size. For each sport covered, the athletes' nationality and the gender were recorded. Compared to the 1996 Atlanta Games, there was an increase of 326 female athletes (+4%), and women competed in 25 sports and 132 events (44%) of the total 300 events. Although only 29.3% of the articles and 38% of photos were on women's sports, the newspaper coverage was similar to the distribution of participating athletes and events. No significant gender differences were found with respect to article size, page placement, accompanying photographs, or photograph size. The most covered sport was track and field, independent of national achievement. Other sports received different coverage in relation to national expectations, achievement, and participation. In conclusion, there was a trend to overcome gender inequities in media coverage during the Olympic Games, which may be due to the International Olympic Committee's actions to promote increased participation of women in sport activities and to publicize their achievements. Moreover, during the Olympic Games, a nationalistic fervor might affect the equality of gender coverage.     

“It's Cheesy When They Smile

Building on previous research in which we provided an opportunity for female college athletes to construct their own photographic portrayals, this study explored young female athletes' perceptions of the college athlete photographs. Fifty-two girls participated in focus group interviews where they viewed and discussed the images. The young athletes particularly liked images they perceived to show authentic athletes (e.g., in athletic settings, with appropriate sport attire), images they could relate to due to personal experiences, and images that reflected competent and passionate sportswomen. Images perceived as revealing a lack of motivation, poor sporting attitudes, and nonathletic poses generally were disliked. Images depicting multiple social identities (e.g., an athlete in a dress) were controversial and generated much discussion.     

Feature Article—Continuing Education Module—Reimagining Postpartum Support

This article introduces the author''s emerging new paradigm (“perinatal participation”) that re-imagines postpartum support by helping expectant parents have more peace of mind, confidence, self-compassion, and emotional wellbeing over the course of their perinatal journeys, with special focus on feeling more prepared for all that happens after baby arrives. The author''s work rests on the shoulders of her 1992 book, Mothering the New Mother: Women''s Feelings and Needs After Childbirth. Perceiving a new urgent need to support expectant parents three decades later (the need to alleviate the high stress levels in expectant parents she was talking to) the author explored filtering the expectant and new parent''s experience through what she calls a “peace-of-mind lens.”     

Developmental co‐ordination disorder (DCD) in adolescents and adults in further and higher education

Few studies have looked at the strengths and weaknesses and needs of students with developmenal co‐ordination disorder (DCD). This paper describes a cohort of 93 UK students currently studying at further or higher education and who have reported motor difficulties present since childhood. The study group consisted of 21 reporting to have DCD only, 38 with DCD plus another diagnosis (a combination of any of the following: dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), learning difficulties); 23 subjects reporting dyslexia only, and 11 students who have not been formally diagnosed. The aim of this study was to first ascertain the similarities and differences between the students in the type of support received in childhood and while at university. The second goal was to examine the reported strengths and difficulties and see how they vary for each subgroup. The DCD group reported higher levels of motor‐related difficulties such as handwriting and also executive functioning difficulties. They also had higher levels of professional support given in childhood and were also more likely to be living at home with parents compared with the dyslexia group. Despite different types of difficulties reported in the DCD group, the range of student support given across all groups was similar. Significantly more of the dyslexia group were reported to be in receipt of disability student allowance than the DCD group. The DCD and other disorders group were seen to be an intermediary group in most of the areas studied.     

Etiology of reading difficulties as a function of gender and severity

To test the hypothesis that the etiology of reading difficulties may differ for males and females in more severely impaired samples, reading performance data from monozygotic (MZ), same-sex dizygotic (DZ_ss), and opposite-sex dizygotic (DZ_os) twin pairs were analyzed using a model-fitting implementation of the DeFries-Fulker (DF) model (Purcell & Sham, 2003, Behavior genetics, 33, 271–278). Five non-independent samples were selected using cut-offs of −1 (N = 737 pairs), −1.5 (N = 654), −2 (N = 468), −2.5 (N = 335), and −3 (N = 198) standard deviations (s) below the mean composite reading score of control twins. Male/female gender ratios for children with reading difficulties were significantly higher than 1.0 for all five samples and increased as a function of severity (viz., 1.15, 1.17, 1.40, 1.61, and 1.88, respectively). When the DF model was fit to the data, estimates of heritability (h _g²) and shared environmental influences (c _g²) were not significantly different for males and females in any of the groups. Consequently, the most parsimonious model that provided a good fit to the data at all five levels of severity equated the heritabilities and shared environmental influences for males and females, and fixed the DZ_os coefficient of genetic relatedness at 0.5. Thus, these results provide no evidence for a differential etiology of reading difficulties as a function of gender in more severely impaired samples, and suggest that the same genetic and environmental influences contribute to reading difficulties in males and females, irrespective of severity.     

Head Start in Transition

This article explores the history of Head Start, the federal early education program for economically disadvantaged preschool children in the United States, as a way of understanding what it means to talk about change in the late twentieth century. The history of Head Start has been a story of administrative changes and improvement and accountability initiatives in the realm of public policy, a ominant narrative of progress and rational planning that is consonant with a large, centralized governance structure. In an effort to create another way of conceiving of the organization, we first examine shifting definitions and conflicting interpretations of parental involvement and staff development within the program to reveal some of the tensions inherent in all human endeavors. We then draw on interviews with women who work in and are served by Head Start to show how needs and resources vary and how policy mandates can have differential—and unintended—effects. In the conclusion, we suggest, following Toulmin (1990), that the certainty and stability that has characterized public policy since the Enlightment must now be tempered with a postmodern recognition of change, complexity, and variability. Rather than one history, we see many histories. Instead of one approach, we see value in tailoring improvement initiatives to the needs of families and staff in specific circumstances.     

Teachers' and Pupils' Experiences of Integrated Education in Uganda

Under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme in Uganda, which was implemented in 1997, the idea of integrated education was put into practice. Today children with disabilities are enrolled in regular primary schools in the whole country. After three years of experience with UPE, the aim of this study was to examine the views of teachers about their needs for training and support regarding the task of teaching children with disabilities in ordinary classrooms. A qualitative approach was chosen using individual interviews, focus group discussions with teachers, pupils and head teachers, and observations in classrooms. Three primary schools in different districts of Uganda were selected as research sites. For a number of reasons data collection from the pupils proved problematic but generally the findings confirmed the information drawn from the review of literature. In addition to the high teacher-pupil ratio, there is an alarming lack of resources in the schools and an urgent need for teacher training to meet special needs in the classroom. Despite these difficult conditions found in schools, many teachers had positive attitudes towards integrating children with disabilities, but only a few examples from the classroom observations showed good practice for meeting a diversity of needs.     

Making the Case for Budget Reductions: Pierce County Library’s FY2013 Budget

This article features a discussion about how Pierce County (Washington) Library’s 2013 budgeting process and budget document explain budget cuts and service changes to users and taxpayers within the context of the library’s continuing effort to improve operational efficiency and maintain valued core, customer, and community services. Pierce County Library is an independent municipal corporation established by state law and is funded from a separate property tax levy as a junior taxing district.