Spoken language development in oral preschool children with permanent childhood deafness

This article documented spoken language outcomes for preschool children with hearing loss and examined the relationships between language abilities and characteristics of children such as degree of hearing loss, cognitive abilities, age at entry to early intervention, and parent involvement in children's intervention programs. Participants were evaluated using a combination of the Child Development Inventory, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Preschool Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals depending on their age at the time of assessment. Maternal education, cognitive ability, and family involvement were also measured. Over half of the children who participated in this study had poor language outcomes overall. No significant differences were found in language outcomes on any of the measures for children who were diagnosed early and those diagnosed later. Multiple regression analyses showed that family participation, degree of hearing loss, and cognitive ability significantly predicted language outcomes and together accounted for almost 60% of the variance in scores. This article highlights the importance of family participation in intervention programs to enable children to achieve optimal language outcomes. Further work may clarify the effects of early diagnosis on language outcomes for preschool children.     

Research Abstracts

Abstract

Two hundred high school and college students were paired to compete in two game abstracts to determine the effect of “game strategy” on winning two-person, zero-sum, finite strategy games involving a motor skill and to determine the effect of play experience on rational decision making. Subjects competed in eight series of ten plays for a total of 8,000 plays, under the following conditions: play vs. play, play-skill vs. play-skill, strategy-skill vs. play-skill, strategy vs. play, play-skill vs. strategy-skill, play vs. strategy, strategy vs. strategy, and strategy-skill vs. strategy-skill. Results indicate that “game strategy” contributes significantly to the winning of two-person, zero-sum, finite strategy games involving a motor skill and that rational decision making improves through experience. Within the limitations of this study it was concluded that play experience contributes to rational decision making in simple strategy games while “game strategy” is beneficial to winning complex strategy games.     

Tables for Finding the Partial Coefficient of Correlation

Within a conceptual framework of factors influencing time use, this study examined how career teachers would allocate extra work time, if available. The survey sample of 893 teachers had received teaching certificates from the University of Michigan from 1946 through 1976. Multiple group discriminant analysis was used to determine if groups of teachers preferring different time allocations could be distinguished by personal, environmental, and role factors. Four distinct groups of teachers preferring instructional tasks, student counseling, parent counseling, or committee activities, respectively, were identifiable in a modestly successful prediction model. Teachers selected professional time uses congruent with their perceived skills and attitudes toward professional success. Implication for practice, particularly regarding work assignments and incentive systems, are presented.     

Overcoming Overwhelmed and Reinventing Normal: A District Administrator's Account of Living in Hurricane Katrina's Aftermath

This article is an autoethnographic account of the events and impacts of, as well as the response to, Hurricane Katrina on the East Baton Rouge Parish School System (EBRPSS). During the aftermath of the storm, thousands evacuated to Baton Rouge. The purpose of this study was to examine how 1 district systematically dealt with an influx of over 7,000 displaced children, and to explore how I operated and behaved as an upper-level district administrator in a chaotic, unpredictable context. No blueprints for response, no established procedures, and no policies existed for a disaster of this magnitude, and although other storms had impacted smaller segments of populations temporarily, Katrina's impact was, for many, profound and lasting.     

A Planning Tool for Incorporating Backward Design,Active Learning,and Authentic Assessment in the College Classroom

Backward course design is a compelling strategy for achieving results-based, student-centered learning. The backward course-design approach is first to identify student-learning outcomes, then the means of assessing the outcomes, and lastly the classroom activities that would support the learning outcomes. With demonstrated success at improving teaching and learning at K–12 levels, this design approach is receiving increasing attention at the college level. Yet college faculty, who receive comparatively little instruction in course design, may find it challenging to enact the principles of backward course design into day-to-day lecture planning. To help address this challenge, we developed a backward design-inspired lesson planner to assist in restructuring college course periods for more active, learner-centered activities that align with course goals. We describe the planner and its application to a non-majors college biology class, and we share student and instructor perceptions of classroom structure and use of classroom time before and after implementation. Benefits of implementing the backward design planner included enhanced ability to prioritize content delivery to students, better time management in and out of the classroom, improved experience of lecture preparation, more engaged students, and more frequent feedback on student comprehension.