Art box deliveries: The experiences of people with dementia and their carers during the Covid 19 lockdown

Art workshops have been looked at before in terms of impact for people with dementia but never those conducted remotely during a pandemic lockdown. Two artists, working with local museums, provided Art workshops for people with dementia and their caregivers. Due to the first Covid 19 lockdown in the UK, the artists set up a weekly delivery service of Home Art Boxes to thirty-three people with dementia and their caregivers over a period spanning 11 months. The artists received funding from local organisations and the Community Lottery Fund. Thematic analysis of the feedback from the participants regarding the project and the artists themselves provided the data for this evaluation of the project. Seven main themes were identified: organisation of the project; community and connections; supporting the caregivers; enjoyment and enrichment; well-being and cognitive benefits of the projects; equipment and instructions; and drawbacks within the project. The participants’ feedback enabled the artists to improve the contents and instructions given each week so that they were able to adjust the activities for those people with dementia whose condition was declining. Implications are that remote Art workshops are possible during lockdown restrictions, but that personal communication is equally important

A critical review of methods for eliciting voice from children with speech, language and communication needs

In this paper we discuss the need to find suitable methods for eliciting the voices of children with communication, speech and language needs in order to gain insights into their experiences of school, especially in the context of renewed legal requirements to involve children in decisions about their education. A critical review of existing methods for eliciting and facilitating communication from children with communication needs is presented, and an analysis of those approaches is offered. From this analysis we propose a framework for the characteristics needed in any new tool developed for this purpose

Examining the independent contribution of prosodic sensitivity to word reading and spelling in early readers

This study was designed to examine the independent contribution of prosodic sensitivity – the rhythmic patterning of speech – to word reading and spelling in a sample of early readers. Ninety-three English-speaking children aged five to six years old (M = 69.28 months, SD = 3.67) were assessed for their prosodic sensitivity, vocabulary knowledge, phonological, and morphological awareness (predictor variables) along with their word reading and spelling (criterion variables). Bivariate (zero-order) correlation analyses revealed that prosodic sensitivity was significantly associated with all other variables in this study. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that after controlling for individual differences in vocabulary, phonological, and morphological awareness, prosodic sensitivity was still able to explain unique variance in word reading, but was unable to make an independent contribution to spelling. The findings suggest that prosodic sensitivity gives added value to our understanding of children’s reading development

Handwriting processes when spelling morphologically complex words in children with and without Developmental Language Disorder

INTRODUCTION: Representations activated during handwriting production code information on morphological structure and reflect decomposition of the root and suffix. Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) have significant difficulties in spelling morphologically complex words, but previous research has not sought evidence for a morphological decomposition effect via an examination of handwriting processes in this population. METHOD: Thirty-three children aged 9-10 years with DLD, 33 children matched for chronological age (CA), and 33 younger children aged 7-8 years matched for oral language ability (LA) completed a dictated spelling task (21 words; 12 with inflectional suffixes, nine with derivational suffixes). The task was completed on paper with an inking pen linked to a graphics tablet running the handwriting software Eye and Pen. Pause analyses and letter duration analyses were conducted. RESULTS: The three groups showed similar handwriting processes, evidencing a morphological decomposition effect in a natural writing task. Pause durations observed at the root/suffix boundary were significantly longer than those occurring in the root. Letter durations were also significantly longer for the letter immediately prior to the boundary compared to the letter after it. Nevertheless, despite being commensurate to their LA matches for mean pause durations and letter durations, children with DLD were significantly poorer at spelling derivational morphemes. Handwriting processes did significantly predict spelling accuracy but to a much lesser extent compared to reading ability. DISCUSSION: It is suggested that derivational spelling difficulties in DLD may derive more from problems with underspecified orthographic representations as opposed to handwriting processing differences

Handwriting processes when spelling morphologically complex words in children with and without Developmental Language Disorder

Introduction: Representations activated during handwriting production code information on morphological structure and reflect decomposition of the root and suffix. Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) have significant difficulties in spelling morphologically complex words, but previous research has not sought evidence for a morphological decomposition effect via an examination of handwriting processes in this population. Method: Thirty-three children aged 9–10 years with DLD, 33 children matched for chronological age (CA), and 33 younger children aged 7–8 years matched for oral language ability (LA) completed a dictated spelling task (21 words; 12 with inflectional suffixes, nine with derivational suffixes). The task was completed on paper with an inking pen linked to a graphics tablet running the handwriting software Eye and Pen. Pause analyses and letter duration analyses were conducted. Results: The three groups showed similar handwriting processes, evidencing a morphological decomposition effect in a natural writing task. Pause durations observed at the root/suffix boundary were significantly longer than those occurring in the root. Letter durations were also significantly longer for the letter immediately prior to the boundary compared to the letter after it. Nevertheless, despite being commensurate to their LA matches for mean pause durations and letter durations, children with DLD were significantly poorer at spelling derivational morphemes. Handwriting processes did significantly predict spelling accuracy but to a much lesser extent compared to reading ability. Discussion: It is suggested that derivational spelling difficulties in DLD may derive more from problems with underspecified orthographic representations as opposed to handwriting processing differences

Hand-writing processes when spelling morphologically complex words in children with and without Developmental Language Disorder

Introduction: Representations activated during hand-writing production code information on morphological structure and reflect decomposition of the root and suffix. Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) have significant difficulties in spelling morphologically complex words, but previous research has not sought evidence for a morphological decomposition effect via an examination of hand-writing processes in this population. Method: Thirty-three children aged 9-10 years with DLD, 33 children matched for chronological age (CA), and 33 younger children aged 7-8 years matched for oral language ability (LA) completed a dictated spelling task (21 words; 12 with inflectional suffixes, nine with derivational suffixes). The task was completed on paper with an inking pen linked to a graphics tablet running the hand-writing software Eye and Pen. Pause analyses and letter duration analyses were conducted. Results: The three groups showed similar hand-writing processes, evidencing a morphological decomposition effect in a natural writing task. Pause durations observed at the root/suffix boundary were significantly longer than those occurring in the root. Letter durations were also significantly longer for the letter immediately prior to the boundary compared to the letter after it. Nevertheless, despite being commensurate to their LA matches for mean pause durations and letter durations, children with DLD were significantly poorer at spelling derivational morphemes. Hand-writing processes did significantly predict spelling accuracy but to a much lesser extent compared to reading ability. Discussion: It is suggested that derivational spelling difficulties in DLD may derive more from problems with underspecified orthographic representations as opposed to hand-writing processing differences

The development of spelling and reading strategies and children's sensitivity to word type

Research Context. There is an overlapping developmental relationship between word recognition, transcriptive processes (e.g. spelling) and text-level features of writing (Berninger et al. 2002). Furthermore the role of metaknowledge has been highlighted in these processes (Fitzgerald & Shanahan, 2000) with evidence that children can strategically choose among different reading and spelling approaches (e.g. Farrington-Flint et al 2008a, Lindberg et al 2011). However there has been less consideration for how these word recognition and transcriptive processes may change among older children as they encounter more complex word types and the implications of strategy-based research for theories of spelling and reading. Aims. To examine patterns in children’s spelling and reading strategies across older age groups and across more complex word types incorporating a selection of regular (e.g. ‘wedding’) irregular (e.g. ‘island’) and nonword items (e.g. ‘brinth’). Furthermore to explore the distribution of strategy type (lexical versus non-lexical) according to word type, to evaluate predictions made by the Dual Route Cascade (DRC) model (Castles et al. 2001). Method. Sixty children (aged 7-9 years), were given experimental spelling and reading trials and asked to provide retrospective verbal reports of the strategies that they employed. The individual reports were then coded as lexical/non-lexical strategies across the two domains and according to word type. Results. Reading showed greater accuracy than spelling across word type however there was a similar distribution of strategies across the domains. The distribution of strategy use according to word type matched predictions made by the DRC model with a mixture of lexical and non-lexical strategies being employed for regular words, a predominance of lexical strategies being employed for irregular words and a predominance of non-lexical strategies being employed for nonwords. However regression analyses examining strategy usage in relation to accuracy when spelling and reading word types produced mixed findings. Discussion. Implications are considered for understanding how children’s strategy choice develops as they encounter more complex word types when spelling and reading and the role of metaknowledge in reading and writing. Furthermore the usefulness of a model for skilled spelling and reading is considered in relation to children who are still developin

The development of spelling and reading strategies and children’s sensitivity to word type

Previous work, in reading and spelling, has examined global changes within young children’s strategy choice supporting the application of the Overlapping Waves theory of cognitive development to non-algorithmic domains (Farrington-Flint et al 2008a, 2008b, Lindberg et al 2011). However there has been less consideration of developmental changes in word-specific orthographic representations and how this influences the choice of reading or spelling strategies within older children. The current work examined patterns in children’s reading and spelling strategies across older age groups and across more complex word types incorporating a selection of regular (e.g. ‘wedding’) irregular (e.g. ‘island’) and nonword items (e.g. ‘brinth’) so as to consider changes in orthographic representations on later strategy performance. Sixty children, aged between 7-9 years, were given experimental reading and spelling trials and asked to provide retrospective verbal reports of the strategies that they employed. The individual reports were then analysed to code for patterns of lexical and non-lexical strategy choice across the two domains. Results showed that children were highly variable in the type of strategies they employ when reading and spelling but that reliance on particular strategies is dependent on year group and orthographic features of word type. As children become more sophisticated in their reading and spelling ability, they show greater adaptation when selecting appropriate strategies, which is sensitive to word type and reflects the development of the underlying orthographic representations