Communicative performance and vocabulary domain in preschool preterm infants

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the performance of children in preschool age who were born premature and term, without neurological injury, regarding receptive and expressive language skills, and to reflect on the importance of these skills for performance in preschool. Materials and Methods: Two groups named Preterm Group and Comparison Group, each composed by 40 children, as well as 80 legal representatives (mothers) and 80 teachers of the participants. To pair the groups, we considered chronological age (months), sex, educational level, type of school (public or private) and socioeconomic status. To assess the groups we used structured and semi-structured Observation of Communicative Behavior and applied the ABFW Child Language Test - Part B-Vocabulary and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. To assess the legal representatives we applied an anamnesis questionnaire and the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory. The assessment of the teachers consisted of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory and a Student Assessment Protocol developed by the authors. Results: For the observation of communicative behavior, the categories with the highest losses were: narrative, maintaining dialogic activities and attention difficulties. In the ABFW Child Language Test and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test there were statistically significant differences. In the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory there were statistically significant differences in expressive vocabulary, but no differences in receptive vocabulary, for both the mothers and the teachers.  Conclusion: Children born prematurely with low risk of neurological sequelae in preschool age may have greater difficulties in linguistic performance than their peers born to term

Ocorrência de classes gramaticais na fala espontânea de crianças de 18 a 41 meses com pares

Este estudo teve como objetivo investigar a ocorrência de diferentes categorias gramaticais em 21 crianças (18 a 41 meses), interagindo espontaneamente com pares; e comparar esses dados com estudos que empregam a observação da interação adulto/criança em contexto de fala elicitada. Cada participante foi filmado durante 15 minutos, por cinco vezes (em intervalos de um mês) interagindo com colegas de classe. Os registros foram distribuídos em quatro grupos etários. As categorias gramaticais mais frequentes em todos os grupos foram verbos e substantivos. A frequência de tipos de verbos e substantivos foi equivalente entre os grupos mais jovens, mas verbos foram mais frequentes nos grupos mais velhos. Discute-se o papel do contexto de observação e do método de coleta de dados

Controle restrito de estímulos em participantes com Síndrome de Down e crianças com desenvolvimento típico

Participantes com atraso no desenvolvimento podem responder sob controle de parte de estímulos compostos. Um método para investigar controle restrito de estímulos seria realizar treinos de discriminação condicional combinando estímulos simples e compostos e testar as respostas dos participantes aos elementos individuais dos estímulos compostos. O presente estudo realizou tarefas desse tipo com participantes com Síndrome de Down e crianças com desenvolvimento típico. Foram ensinadas tarefas de emparelhamento com o modelo por identidade envolvendo estímulos abstratos. Em seguida, foram realizados testes em tarefas de emparelhamento com o modelo simultâneo e com atraso de zero ou dois segundos com quatro tipos de tentativas: 1. modelos e estímulos de comparação simples; 2. modelos simples e estímulos de comparação compostos; 3. modelos compostos e estímulos de comparação simples; 4. modelos e estímulos de comparação compostos. Os participantes responderam com bastante acurácia em testes de emparelhamento com o modelo simultâneo. Nos testes com atraso na apresentação dos estímulos de comparação, os adultos com Síndrome de Down cometeram mais erros do que as crianças com desenvolvimento típico. Esses resultados confirmam e estendem os de estudos prévios que verificaram que indivíduos com atraso no desenvolvimento podem não responder sob o controle de todos os elementos de um estímulo, o que tem importantes implicações para o planejamento e o monitoramento do ensino para esta população.   Palavras-chave: controle restrito de estímulo; estímulos compostos; emparelhamento com o modelo; Síndrome de Down.Developmentally delayed individuals may respond to certain parts of complex stimuli. One method to investigate restricted stimulus control involves conducting training of conditional discrimination combining simple and complex stimuli and test the responses of participants to individual elements of the complex stimuli. This study carried out such tasks with participants with Down’s Syndrome and typically developing children. Initial training involved identifying matching tasks involving abstract stimuli. Then tests were carried out with four types of trials: 1. simple sample and simple comparison stimuli; 2. simple sample and complex comparison stimuli; 3. complex sample and simple comparison stimuli; 4. complex sample and complex comparison stimuli. Participants responded with considerable accuracy in simultaneous matching to sample tasks. In delayed matching to sample tasks, adults with Down’s Syndrome showed more errors than typically developing children. These results confirmed and extended findings from previous studies in the literature indicating that individuals with a developmental delay may not respond under the control of all elements of a stimulus. The findings have important implications for designing and monitoring teaching procedures in this population.   Keywords: restricted stimulus control; complex stimuli; matching to sample; Down’s syndrome

Adults writing profile at the beginning of their reading and writing acquisition

ABSTRACT Purpose: to describe and analyze the writing profile of 12 adults in the literacy phase. Methods: 12 students of both genders enrolled in the Youth and Adult Education Program (EJA) of public school in a medium-sized city in the state of São Paulo. The study was divided into two stages: proposal presentation to participants and School Performance Test assessment to evaluate the writing phase and the type of error presented by each participant. Results: the majority of the results belonged to the alphabetical phase (criterion established by Ferreiro and Teberosky). The most frequent errors were grapheme omissions and oral support. Conclusion: results indicated the need to focus on the alphabetic principle acquisition, which allows the initial writing by the phonological route, and to work the differences between standard and colloquial language

Naming New Stimuli After Selection by Exclusion

O responder por exclusão em tarefas de escolha de acordo com o modelo é um dos padrões mais robustos do comportamento humano. Contudo, uma única resposta por exclusão não assegura a aprendizagem da relação arbitrária entre dois estímulos. O presente estudo teve por objetivo investigar a quantidade de exposição necessária até que oito pré-escolares nomeassem duas figuras novas emparelhadas, por exclusão, a palavras novas. Após o estabelecimento de uma linha de base de emparelhamentos entre figuras e palavras ditadas, duas palavras novas eram introduzidas em sondas de exclusão. Em cada sonda, uma palavra nova era ditada e uma figura nova era apresentada entre outras figuras definidas experimentalmente. Sondas em tarefas de emparelhamento e de nomeação das figuras mostraram aprendizagem das relações condicionais e emergência da nomeação depois de três a 10 tentativas de exclusão. A nomeação correta tendeu a ocorrer de forma mais regular quando a fase de ensino estabeleceu controle de estímulos por seleção.El responder por exclusión en tareas de igualación a la muestra es uno de los patrones más robustos del comportamiento humano. No obstante, una única respuesta por exclusión no garantiza el aprendizaje de la relación arbitraria entre dos estímulos. El presente estudio investigó la cantidad de exposiciones necesarias para que ocho estudiantes preescolares nominaran dos figuras nuevas emparejadas, por exclusión, con palabras nuevas. Después del establecimiento de una línea de base de emparejamientos entre figuras y palabras dictadas, dos palabras nuevas eran introducidas en pruebas de exclusión. En cada prueba, una palabra nueva era dictada y una figura nueva presentada entre otras definidas. Pruebas de aprendizaje en tareas de igualación al modelo y de nominación de las figuras mostraron que la nominación emergió después de tres a 10 ensayos de exclusión. Se observó que la nominación correcta ocurrió de forma más fidedigna cuando el control era por selección.Responding by exclusion in matching-to-sample tasks is a robust behavioral pattern in humans. A single selection, however, does not ensure learning of the arbitrary relationship between the sample and the selected comparison stimulus. The present study aimed to investigate the amount of exposure required until eight preschoolers were able to name two undefined pictures, matched by exclusion, to two undefined words. After establishing a matching-to-sample baseline between pictures and dictated words, two new words were introduced in exclusion probes. On each probe, a new word was dictated and the matrix of comparison stimuli included a new picture and two experimentally defined pictures. Naming emerged after three to10 exclusion trials. Correct naming tended to occur more reliably when the teaching phase established stimulus control by selection

Adults writing profile at the beginning of their reading and writing acquisition

<div><p>ABSTRACT Purpose: to describe and analyze the writing profile of 12 adults in the literacy phase. Methods: 12 students of both genders enrolled in the Youth and Adult Education Program (EJA) of public school in a medium-sized city in the state of São Paulo. The study was divided into two stages: proposal presentation to participants and School Performance Test assessment to evaluate the writing phase and the type of error presented by each participant. Results: the majority of the results belonged to the alphabetical phase (criterion established by Ferreiro and Teberosky). The most frequent errors were grapheme omissions and oral support. Conclusion: results indicated the need to focus on the alphabetic principle acquisition, which allows the initial writing by the phonological route, and to work the differences between standard and colloquial language.</p></div

Naming New Stimuli After Selection by Exclusion

Responding by exclusion in matching-to-sample tasks is a robust behavioral pattern in humans. A single selection, however, does not ensure learning of the arbitrary relationship between the sample and the selected comparison stimulus. The present study aimed to investigate the amount of exposure required until eight preschoolers were able to name two undefined pictures, matched by exclusion, to two undefined words. After establishing a matching-to-sample baseline between pictures and dictated words, two new words were introduced in exclusion probes. On each probe, a new word was dictated and the matrix of comparison stimuli included a new picture and two experimentally defined pictures. Naming emerged after three to10 exclusion trials. Correct naming tended to occur more reliably when the teaching phase established stimulus control by selection

Communicative performance and vocabulary domain in preschool preterm infants

<div><p>Abstract Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the performance of children in preschool age who were born premature and term, without neurological injury, regarding receptive and expressive language skills, and to reflect on the importance of these skills for performance in preschool. Materials and Methods Two groups named Preterm Group and Comparison Group, each composed by 40 children, as well as 80 legal representatives (mothers) and 80 teachers of the participants. To pair the groups, we considered chronological age (months), sex, educational level, type of school (public or private) and socioeconomic status. To assess the groups we used structured and semi-structured Observation of Communicative Behavior and applied the ABFW Child Language Test - Part B-Vocabulary and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. To assess the legal representatives we applied an anamnesis questionnaire and the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory. The assessment of the teachers consisted of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory and a Student Assessment Protocol developed by the authors. Results For the observation of communicative behavior, the categories with the highest losses were: narrative, maintaining dialogic activities and attention difficulties. In the ABFW Child Language Test and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test there were statistically significant differences. In the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory there were statistically significant differences in expressive vocabulary, but no differences in receptive vocabulary, for both the mothers and the teachers. Conclusion Children born prematurely with low risk of neurological sequelae in preschool age may have greater difficulties in linguistic performance than their peers born to term.</p></div