Young children's cognitive achievement: home learning environment, language and ethnic background

For decades, research has shown differences in cognitive assessment scores between White and minority ethnic group(s) learners as well as differences across different minority ethnic groups. More recent data have indicated that the home learning environment and languages spoken can impact cognitive assessment and other corollary outcomes. This study uses the Millennium Cohort Study to jointly assess how minority ethnic group, home learning environment and home languages predict child cognitive assessment scores. Regression analyses were conducted using two assessment measures. The following is hypothesised: (1) cognitive achievement scores vary by minority ethnic group, (2) more home learning environment in early childhood leads to higher cognitive development scores and (3) English only in the home yields the highest cognitive scores while no English in the home yields the lowest. Findings reveal that there are differences in cognitive scores along ethnic group categories although there are also some unexpected findings. Home learning environment does not play as large a role as was predicted in raising the assessment scores overall for learners while speaking English in the home does, irrespective of ethnic background

Cognitive and environmental predictors of early literacy skills

Not all young children benefit from book exposure in preschool age. It is claimed that the ability to hold information in mind (short-term memory), to ignore distraction (inhibition), and to focus attention and stay focused (sustained attention) may have a moderating effect on children’s reactions to the home literacy environment. In a group of 228 junior kindergarten children with a native Dutch background, with a mean age of 54.29 months (SD = 2.12 months), we explored therefore the relationship between book exposure, cognitive control and early literacy skills. Parents filled in a HLE questionnaire (book sharing frequency and an author recognition checklist as indicator of parental leisure reading habits), and children completed several tests in individual sessions with the researcher (a book-cover recognition test, PPVT, letter knowledge test, the subtests categories and patterns of the SON, and cognitive control measures namely digit span of the KABC, a peg tapping task and sustained attention of the ANT). Main findings were: (1) Children’s storybook knowledge mediated the relationship between home literacy environment and literacy skills. (2) Both vocabulary and letter knowledge were predicted by book exposure. (3) Short-term memory predicted vocabulary over and above book exposure. (4) None of the cognitive control mechanisms moderated the beneficial effects of book exposure

The proper name as starting point for basic reading skills

Does alphabetic-phonetic writing start with the proper name and how does the name affect reading and writing skills? Sixty 4- to 5½-year-old children from middle SES families with Dutch as their first language wrote their proper name and named letters. For each child we created unique sets of words with and without the child’s first letter of the name to test spelling skills and phonemic sensitivity. Name writing correlated with children’s knowledge of the first letter of the name and phonemic sensitivity for the sound of the first letter of the name. Hierarchical regression analysis makes plausible that both knowledge of the first letter’s name and phonemic sensitivity for this letter explain why name writing results in phonetic spelling with the name letter. Practical implications of the findings are discussed

Dutch home-based pre-reading intervention with children at familial risk of dyslexia

Children (5 and 6 years old, n = 30) at familial risk of dyslexia received a home-based intervention that focused on phoneme awareness and letter knowledge in the year prior to formal reading instruction. The children were compared to a no-training at-risk control group (n = 27), which was selected a year earlier. After training, we found a small effect on a composite score of phoneme awareness (d = 0.29) and a large effect on receptive letter knowledge (d = 0.88). In first grade, however, this did not result in beneficial effects for the experimental group in word reading and spelling. Results are compared to three former intervention studies in The Netherlands and comparable studies from Denmark and Australia

Cardiac autonomic neuropathy in patients with diabetes and no symptoms of coronary artery disease: comparison of 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine myocardial scintigraphy and heart rate variability

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) in a cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes, truly asymptomatic for coronary artery disease (CAD), using heart rate variability (HRV) and (123)I-metaiodobenzylguanidine ((123)I-mIBG) myocardial scintigraphy. METHODS The study group comprised 88 patients with type 2 diabetes prospectively recruited from an outpatient diabetes clinic. In all patients myocardial perfusion scintigraphy, CAN by HRV and (123)I-mIBG myocardial scintigraphy were performed. Two or more abnormal tests were defined as CAN-positive (ECG-based CAN) and one or fewer as CAN-negative. CAN assessed by (123)I-mIBG scintigraphy was defined as abnormal if the heart-to-mediastinum ratio was 25%, or the total defect score was >13. RESULTS The prevalence of CAN in patients asymptomatic for CAD with type 2 diabetes and normal myocardial perfusion assessed by HRV and (123)I-mIBG scintigraphy was respectively, 27% and 58%. Furthermore, in almost half of patients with normal HRV, (123)I-mIBG scintigraphy showed CAN. CONCLUSION The current study revealed a high prevalence of CAN in patients with type 2 diabetes. Secondly, disagreement between HRV and (123)I-mIBG scintigraphy for the assessment of CAN was observed.Cardiovascular Aspects of Radiolog