A study of the effect of interactive language in the stimulation of cognitive functioning for students with learning disabilities

Much can be gained by applying knowledge and insight gleaned from the field of neuropsychology to the field of education. Diagnosis and treatment of learning disabilities (LD) could be enhanced through an increased understanding of neurolinguistic functioning. The present study examined the effect of five instructional techniques aimed at stimulating the cognitive functioning of students with diagnosed learning disabilities. The defining characteristic of each of the five techniques is the use of interactive dialogue to stimulate oral language production leading to greater cognitive efficiency. Evidence is presented for the need for interhemispheric collaboration in complex linguistic tasks such as reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic. Students with learning disabilities could be viewed as having a breakdown in dynamic functioning impacting neurological systems.;The intervention model developed by the National Institute for Learning Disabilities (NILD) assessed in the present study is based upon the theoretical foundations of Feuerstein (1980), Luria (1981), Piaget (1959), and Vygotsky (1962/1975). The interrelatedness of thought and language, the creation of the zone of proximal development, the recognition of the plasticity of intelligence and the belief in the importance of a human mediator in the learning process, each contributes to the design of techniques used in the NILD program.;The statistical analysis showed significant group-by-time interaction effects in the areas of general and verbal cognitive functioning for the experimental group (n = 47), as assessed by the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude - Second Edition (DTLA-2) when compared to the control group (n = 25). Significant gains over time were evidenced by the experimental group in reading, spelling, and arithmetic scores as measured by the Wide Range Achievement Test - Revised (WRAT-R), and in nonverbal cognitive functioning as measured by the DTLA-2.;Overall results indicated that students with diagnosed learning disabilities benefited from an intensive individualized program over a three-year period in a modified pull-out approach involving 160 minutes of instruction per week. Specifically, the interactive effects of five core instructional techniques appeared to significantly impact neurolinguistic functioning for the experimental group

The Power of Music

There is accruing evidence which indicates that actively making music can contribute to the enhancement of a range of non-musical skills and lead to other beneficial outcomes

The effect of a perceptual-motor intervention on the motor proficiency, letter recognition and -formation of selected Grade 1 children

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2019.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The growing sedentary lifestyles among today’s school-going youth, have negative effects on their physical development and academic performance. Children need to move in order to learn and develop. During Grade 1, children experience a rapid increase in their motor and cognitive development. It is,therefore, important to establish healthy and active habits during this developmental period. This period (ages 5 to 7 years) is strongly related to improved academic performance, as well as the onset of perceptual-motor development. Perceptual-motor integration is important for both gross motor development and academic achievement. The purpose of the current study was to improve the motor proficiency, letter recognition and -formation (reading and spelling) skills of selected Grade 1 children by implementing a perceptual-motor intervention and determining the relationships between these variables. The Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-Second Edition Short Form(BOT-2) was used to measure children’s gross and fine motor proficiency; the ESSI Reading and Spelling test was used to test reading and spelling abilities and the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration 6th Edition (BeeryVMI) was used to evaluate participants’ visual-motor integration (VMI) skills. Two primary schools were selected through convenient sampling. Two Grade 1 classes from each school were randomly selected and the learners were randomly assigned to an experimental (n=50) and control group (n=50). Of the total participants initially evaluated(N=100), 3 participants had to be excluded due to health reasons and non-attendance. Therefore, the final sample size was 97 (N=97), with 48 in the experimental group (n=48) and 49 in the control group (n=49). After pre-tests, the experimental group participated in a 12-week perceptual-motor intervention that consisted of two 60-minute sessions per week. The intervention focused on perceptual-motor skills, which included body awareness, spatial awareness, balance, visual perception and directional awareness and incorporated letters into the activities. After the 12-week intervention, participants underwent a post-test to measure the effects of the intervention. All data were statistically analysed by applying repeated measures ANOVA and Pearson correlations. The results revealed that the 12-week perceptual-motor intervention was effective in significantly improving participants’ overall motor proficiency, VMI, reading and spelling skills. Results also indicated statistically significant positive correlations between motor proficiency, reading and spelling. Another finding revealed a significant improvement in participants’ fine motor skills. As the intervention consisted of predominantly gross motor movements, it could be assumed that gross motor skills are essential for the development of fine motor skills. This study provides unique contributions to the field of early childhood development investigating the relationship between gross motor development and academic performance. It provides sufficient evidence that gross motor movements can be beneficial for children’s physical and academic skills.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die toenemende sedentêre leefstylpatrone onder vandag se skoolgaande jeug het negatiewe effekte op hulle fisieke ontwikkeling en akademiese prestasie. Kinders moet beweeg om sodoende te leer en te ontwikkel. Tydens Graad 1 ervaar kinders ʼn vinnige toename in hul motoriese en kognitiewe ontwikkeling. Dit is daarom belangrik om gesonde en aktiewe gewoontes tydens hierdie ontwikkelingsperiode te vestig. Hierdie tydperk (ouderdomme 5 tot 7 jaar) toon ʼn sterk korrelasie met verbeterde akademiese prestasie, asook met die aanvang van perseptueel-motoriese ontwikkeling. Perseptueel-motoriese integrasie is belangrik vir groot motoriese ontwikkeling en akademiese prestasie. Die doel van die huidige studie was om die motoriese bedrewenheid, letter-erkenning en -formasie (lees en spel) vaardighede van Graad 1 leerlinge te verbeter deur middel van ʼn perseptueel-motoriese intervensie en om die verhouding tussen die veranderlikes te ondersoek. Die Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-Second Edition Short Form (BOT-2) is gebruik om die kinders se groot en fyn motoriese vaardigheid te bepaal; die ESSI Lees en Speltoets is gebruik om die kinders se lees-en spelvaardighede te toets en die Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration 6th Edition (Beery VMI) is gebruik om die kinders se visueel-motoriese integrasie (VMI) te evalueer. Twee laerskole is by die studie betrek deur van ʼn gerieflikheidsteekproef gebruik te maak. Twee Graad 1 klasse van elke skool is ewekansig gekies en die leerders is ewekansig aanʼn eksperimentele (n=50) en kontrole (n=50) groep toegeken. Van die totale groep deelnemers wat oorspronklik geëvalueer is(N=100), het 3 deelnemers uitgeval as gevolg van gesondheidredes en afwesigheid. Die finale steekproef grootte was dus 97 (N=97), met ʼn eksperimentele groep van 48 (n=48) en kontrolegroep van 49(n=49). Na die pre-toetse, het die eksperimentele groep aan ʼn 12-week perseptueel-motoriese intervensie deelgeneem wat uit twee 60-minuut sessies per week bestaan het. Die intervensie het gefokus op perseptueel-motoriese vaardighede soos liggaamsbewustheid, ruimtelike bewustheid, balans, visuele persepsie en rigtinggewende bewustheid en het ook letters met aktiwiteite geïnkorporeer. Na die 12-week intervensie het deelnemers aan ʼn post-toets deelgeneem om die effekte van die intervensie te bepaal. Alle data is statisties geanaliseer deur ‘Repeated measures ANOVA’ en ‘Pearson’ korrelasies toe te pas. Die resultate toon dat die 12-week perseptueel-motoriese intervensie effektief was om deelnemers se motoriese vaardigheid, VMI en lees en spel statisties beduidend te verbeter. Die resultate het ook aangedui dat daar statisties beduidende positiewe korrelasies tussen motoriese vaardighede, lees en spel was. Nog ʼn bevinding toon dat daar ʼn statisties beduidende verbetering in die deelnemers se fyn motoriese vaardighede was. Omdat die intervensie oorwegend bestaan het uit groot motoriese vaardighede, kan aangeneem word dat groot motoriese vaardighede belangrik is vir die ontwikkeling van fyn motoriese vaardighede. Hierdie studie lewer ʼn unieke bydrae tot die studieveld van vroeë kind ontwikkeling en navorsing oor die verhouding tussen groot motoriese ontwikkeling en akademiese prestasie. Dit bied ook voldoende bewyse dat groot motoriese bewegings voordelig vir kinders se fisieke en akademiese vaardighede is.Master

The Role of Speech Rhythm Sensitivity in Children's Reading Development

This thesis examines whether speech rhythm sensitivity is related to children's reading development, phonological awareness, and non-speech rhythm sensitivity, whether children at risk of reading difficulties have a specific speech rhythm sensitivity deficit, and whether speech rhythm sensitivity is predictive of children's reading development over time. Study One investigated the relatedness of speech rhythm, non-speech rhythm, reading ability and phonological awareness. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that non-speech rhythm sensitivity was unable to predict unique variance in reading attainment after controlling for speech rhythm sensitivity and phonological awareness. In contrast, sensitivity to speech rhythm was able to predict a significant amount of unique variance in reading attainment after age, vocabulary, phonological awareness, short-term memory, and non-speech rhythm had been accounted for. These results suggest that speech rhythm sensitivity is not merely an aspect of general phonological awareness or rhythmic appreciation; it is a skill that is explaining new variance in reading ability. Study Two investigated whether a measure of speech rhythm sensitivity administered to 5 to 7-year-old children could predict the different components of reading ability one year later. A series of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that speech rhythm sensitivity was able to predict a significant amount of unique variance in word reading, reading comprehension, and the phrasing component of a reading fluency measure after controlling for receptive vocabulary, age and phonological awareness. Study Three investigated whether apparent speech rhythm sensitivity deficits in young poor readers represent a specific deficit in these children who were at risk of reading difficulties. It was found that after controlling for receptive vocabulary and phonological awareness, the 'at risk' children were outperformed by their chronological-age matched controls. but not by their reading-age matched controls on measures of speech rhythm sensitivity. This is suggestive of a maturational lag as opposed to a specific deficit in speech rhythm sensitivity. The overall findings from these concurrent, longitudinal, and cross-sectional data suggest that speech rhythm sensitivity is an important, yet neglected aspect of English-speaking children's phonological representations, which needs to be incorporated into theoretical accounts of reading development

Parental attitudes to bilingualism and parental strategies for developing first and second language skills in bilingual children

Much research has been carried out concerning parental attitudes and strategies towards bilingualism. However, fewer studies have concentrated on kindergarten and elementary-level children and involved parents from different language backgrounds, focusing on all four speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. The current study is focused on the involvement of parents in the home in order to develop the English language as the second and focus language, in addition to the mother tongue, within the Norwegian language environment. In other words, this study explores if parents encourage the application of bilingualism in speaking, listening, reading, and writing activities in the home environment. Importantly, this project is bed rocked on the mindset of parents, either positive or negative, toward bilingualism. In this study, the participants were bilingual families who live and work in the Stavanger and Sandnes areas of Norway, with children between three to six and six to nine in Norwegian kindergarten and elementary schools. To achieve the objective of this study, a qualitative research method was chosen for data collection. Amidst the qualitative data collection approach, the researcher adopted a semi-structured interview, where eight families volunteered to participate in the study. This study would guide parents raising bilingual children living in a country other than their own on the strategies they could use for different language skills at home. The study's main findings were that all the interviewees, especially mothers, were much involved in reading comprehension and writing with their children and motivated them by buying or borrowing books. As for the speaking skill, all families had dinner-time discussions, in which parents and their children unofficially talked and listened to one another about personal and family matters. Among other speaking activities, dinner-time discussion had been favoured. In addition, the participants submitted that their children liked watching TV, listening to songs and stories from YouTube/audio-visual appliances, and their parents, respectively. The interviewees had strong positive attitudes toward bilingualism and wanted to raise bilingual children, at least with a focus on their mother tongue and English. They believed bilingualism would add substantial cognitive, educational, social, emotional, behavioural, and cultural benefits to their children; thus, they applied different domestic strategies to support the language skill development of their children in speaking, reading, listening, and writing. The participants also employed similar correction strategies in all the involved language skills, though with slight disparity according to family background and parental job schedules. Furthermore, all the participants wished their children could maintain English and their mother tongue simultaneously, including the language of the environment, but not all the participants put in the effort to keep or maintain the two languages regarding the four language skills, especially the ones with children between three to six. Additionally, the following chapters will present detailed information and discussions about the findings through the semi-structured interviews with the participants

Cognitive and linguistic predictors of literacy skills in the Greek language: the manifestation of reading and spelling difficulties in a regular orthography

The aim of this thesis was three-fold: firstly, to examine the development of reading and spelling abilities in the Greek language; secondly, to identify the cognitive predictors of reading and spelling skills; and finally, to establish how developmental dyslexia is manifested in the regular Greek orthography. An extensive battery of cognitive, linguistic, and literacy tasks was administered to 132 children: 66 Grade-2 and 66 Grade-4 Greek-speaking children attending four different schools in Athens, Greece. The battery included: tests of reading, spelling, and mathematical attainment; a nonword reading task, various phonological awareness & other phonological processing tests; a non-verbal intelligence test and various syntactic awareness tasks. Evidence on the manifestation of developmental dyslexia in Greek was based on a chronological-age and a reading-level matched-pairs comparison between poor and average readers. Despite a large number of difficult polysyllabic word stimuli, reading accuracy was at ceiling for most subjects. Reading speed proved a more effective measure of individual differences. A high degree of accuracy was also observed on many phonological awareness tests. Rapid naming, phonological awareness and speech rate proved the most important predictors of reading ability in the regular Greek language. The predictive value of many variables/tests, however, appeared to differ between English and Greek. Phonological awareness - the most powerful and stable predictor in English - appeared to be a reliable predictor of reading ability only at the initial stages of literacy development (Grade-2). The most significant predictor at Grade-4 was rapid naming. Speech rate consistently predicted reading skill in all our analyses. Syntactic awareness proved not a reliable predictor. Its contribution was significant only for spelling ability at Grade-4. The matched-pair comparisons supported the above results. Results are discussed in relation to the existing differences in the orthographic structure of the English and Greek languages. It is suggested that the examination of linguistic differences is important, both, from a theoretical and clinical point of view

Are better communicators better readers? : an exploration of the connections between narrative language and reading comprehension

The association between receptive language skills and reading comprehension has been established in the research literature. Even when the importance of receptive skills for reading comprehension has been strongly supported, in practice lower levels of skills tend to go unnoticed in typically developing children. A potentially more visible modality of language, expressive skills using speech samples, has been rarely examined despite the longitudinal links between speech and later reading development, and the connections between language and reading impairments. Even fewer reading studies have examined expressive skills using a subgroup of speech samples – narrative samples – which are closer to the kind of language practitioners can observe in their classrooms, and are also a rich source of linguistic and discourse-level data in school-aged children. This thesis presents a study examining the relationship between expressive language skills in narrative samples and reading comprehension after the first two years of formal reading instruction, with considerable attention given to methodological and developmental issues. In order to address the main methodological issues surrounding the identification of the optimal linguistic indices in terms of reliability and the existence of developmental patterns, two studies of language development in oral narratives were carried out. The first of the narrative language studies drew data from an existing corpus, while the other analysed primary data, collected specifically for this purpose. Having identified the optimal narrative indices in two different samples, the main study examined the relationships between these expressive narrative measures along with receptive standardised measures, and reading comprehension in a monolingual sample of eighty 7- and 8-year-old children attending Year 3 in the UK. Both receptive and expressive oral language skills were assessed at three different levels: vocabulary, grammar and discourse. Regression analyses indicated that, when considering expressive narrative variables on their own, expressive grammar and vocabulary, in that order, contributed to explain over a fifth of reading comprehension variance in typically developing children. When controlling for receptive language however, expressive skills were not able to account for significant unique variance in the outcome measure. Nonetheless, mediation analyses revealed that receptive vocabulary and grammar played a mediating role in the relationship between expressive skills from narratives and reading comprehension. Results and further research directions are discussed in the context of this study’s methodological considerations.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Are better communicators better readers? : an exploration of the connections between narrative language and reading comprehension

The association between receptive language skills and reading comprehension has been established in the research literature. Even when the importance of receptive skills for reading comprehension has been strongly supported, in practice lower levels of skills tend to go unnoticed in typically developing children. A potentially more visible modality of language, expressive skills using speech samples, has been rarely examined despite the longitudinal links between speech and later reading development, and the connections between language and reading impairments. Even fewer reading studies have examined expressive skills using a subgroup of speech samples – narrative samples – which are closer to the kind of language practitioners can observe in their classrooms, and are also a rich source of linguistic and discourse-level data in school-aged children. This thesis presents a study examining the relationship between expressive language skills in narrative samples and reading comprehension after the first two years of formal reading instruction, with considerable attention given to methodological and developmental issues. In order to address the main methodological issues surrounding the identification of the optimal linguistic indices in terms of reliability and the existence of developmental patterns, two studies of language development in oral narratives were carried out. The first of the narrative language studies drew data from an existing corpus, while the other analysed primary data, collected specifically for this purpose. Having identified the optimal narrative indices in two different samples, the main study examined the relationships between these expressive narrative measures along with receptive standardised measures, and reading comprehension in a monolingual sample of eighty 7- and 8-year-old children attending Year 3 in the UK. Both receptive and expressive oral language skills were assessed at three different levels: vocabulary, grammar and discourse. Regression analyses indicated that, when considering expressive narrative variables on their own, expressive grammar and vocabulary, in that order, contributed to explain over a fifth of reading comprehension variance in typically developing children. When controlling for receptive language however, expressive skills were not able to account for significant unique variance in the outcome measure. Nonetheless, mediation analyses revealed that receptive vocabulary and grammar played a mediating role in the relationship between expressive skills from narratives and reading comprehension. Results and further research directions are discussed in the context of this study’s methodological considerations.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Early cognitive neuropsychological profiles and development of reading skills

The present thesis sought to investigate the precise relationship between the cognitive and psychophysiological profiles of developing readers, of established readers and of failed readers. Phonological processing tasks and visuospatial tasks were used to assess relevant auditory and visual cognitive skills; handedness and EEG measures were used to provide indices of cortical organisation and activation. A 21/2 year longitudinal investigation of some 150 pre-readers provided evidence of mutually facilitative relationships between and within specific types of phonological skill and phonological memory. Early significance of visual skills was subsequently superseded by the importance of these phonological skills. The acquisition of early reading skills was associated with a shift towards increased dextrality as measured by hand skill and hand preference; this relationship was not evident in subsequent stages. Cross-sectional studies comparing dyslexic children with chronological- and reading-age matched controls extended these findings. The dyslexic readers displayed impaired phonological processing and phonological memory skills relative to chronological-age matched competent readers; similarities were observed between dyslexics and reading-age matched controls. Visual perceptual skills failed to differentiate between the chronological-age matched competent and impaired readers, although both out-performed younger control readers. ERP measures consistently demonstrated diffuse patterns of bilateral activation in dyslexic readers as opposed to asymmetric activity lateralised to the left hemisphere in control readers. Between group comparisons of inter-hemispheric activity revealed greater levels of right-hemisphere involvement in the dyslexic samples; between group comparisons of intra-hemispheric activity revealed evidence of greater involvement of fronto-central regions in the dyslexic samples. It is proposed that these data provide supportive evidence for the central involvement of phonological processing skills in the development of reading, underpinned by the normal development of asymmetric patterns of cortical lateralisation. Children where this development is delayed or deficient will display the reading difficulties characteristic of developmental dyslexia

Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilities are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by failure to acquire, retrieve, and use information competently. These disorders have a multifactorial aetiology and are most common and severe in children, especially when comorbid with other chronic health conditions. This book provides current and comprehensive information about learning disorders, including information on neurobiology, assessment, clinical features, and treatment. Chapters cover such topics as historical research and hypotheses of learning disorders, neuropsychological assessment and counselling, characteristics of specific disorders such as autism and ADHD, evidence-based treatment strategies and assistive technologies, and much more