The Conundrum of Low Achievement and Feedback for Learning

The literature on improving student engagement with assessment and feedback has a tendency to treat all students as if they are the same. Students with lower levels of attainment are generally underrepresented within empirical studies and their feedback behaviours are less well understood. The recent drive to improve student assessment and feedback literacy and the move from ‘feedback’ being information about a task to being a process of understanding and using performance information is a larger conceptual leap for some students than others. In this paper, we consider issues surrounding the transition to new modes of feedback, focusing on what is needed for those who find study difficult and persistently are disappointed by their levels of attainment, to benefit from and take advantage of our feedback pedagogies. We examine literature advocating strategies such as increasing agency, using praise, developing feedback literacy and cultivating a growth mind-set. We argue that students who underachieve may benefit from strong relationships with educators and peers; exposure to feedback rich, low stakes environments, which permit repeated integrations of practice and feedback and building feedback literacy through peer assessment activities

Beat synchronization across the lifespan: intersection of development and musical experience

Rhythmic entrainment, or beat synchronization, provides an opportunity to understand how multiple systems operate together to integrate sensory-motor information. Also, synchronization is an essential component of musical performance that may be enhanced through musical training. Investigations of rhythmic entrainment have revealed a developmental trajectory across the lifespan, showing synchronization improves with age and musical experience. Here, we explore the development and maintenance of synchronization in childhood through older adulthood in a large cohort of participants (N = 145), and also ask how it may be altered by musical experience. We employed a uniform assessment of beat synchronization for all participants and compared performance developmentally and between individuals with and without musical experience. We show that the ability to consistently tap along to a beat improves with age into adulthood, yet in older adulthood tapping performance becomes more variable. Also, from childhood into young adulthood, individuals are able to tap increasingly close to the beat (i.e., asynchronies decline with age), however, this trend reverses from younger into older adulthood. There is a positive association between proportion of life spent playing music and tapping performance, which suggests a link between musical experience and auditory-motor integration. These results are broadly consistent with previous investigations into the development of beat synchronization across the lifespan, and thus complement existing studies and present new insights offered by a different, large cross-sectional sample

Developmental Trajectories in Siblings of Children with Autism: Cognition and Language from 4 Months to 7 Years

We compared the cognitive and language development at 4, 14, 24, 36, 54 months, and 7 years of siblings of children with autism (SIBS-A) to that of siblings of children with typical development (SIBS-TD) using growth curve analyses. At 7 years, 40% of the SIBS-A, compared to 16% of SIBS-TD, were identified with cognitive, language and/or academic difficulties, identified using direct tests and/or parental reports. This sub-group was identified as SIBS-A-broad phenotype (BP). Results indicated that early language scores (14–54 months), but not cognitive scores of SIBS-A-BP and SIBS-A-nonBP were significantly lower compared to the language scores of SIBS-TD, and that the rate of development was also significantly different, thus pinpointing language as a major area of difficulty for SIBS-A during the preschool years

To be understood: Transitioning to adult life for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to explore the viewpoints of parents of young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in relation to their child's transition to adulthood. Methods: Data were collected during four structured focus groups with 19 parents of young people with ASD with average to high intellectual capacities. Condensed meaning units were identified and checked during focus groups, and were subsequently linked to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Results: Three major themes emerged: to be understood, to understand the world and to succeed. The ICF domains of activity and participation and environmental factors emerged as having the greatest potential to influence transition outcomes. Conclusions: Policies and services should focus on strengths to maximise participation in higher education, employment and independent living amongst young people with ASD. Interventions targeting environmental factors could be effective in improving participation in adult life. Person-centred and individualised approaches could further complement this approach supporting the transition to adulthood for people with ASD, ultimately improving outcomes in adulthood

Abstract Reasoning and Friendship in High Functioning Preadolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

To investigate the relationship between cognitive and social functioning, 20 Israeli individuals with HFASD aged 8–12 and 22 age, maternal education, and receptive vocabulary–matched preadolescents with typical development (TYP) came to the lab with a close friend. Measures of abstract reasoning, friendship quality, and dyadic interaction during a play session were obtained. As hypothesized, individuals with HFASD were significantly impaired in abstract reasoning, and there were significant group differences in friend and observer reports of friendship quality. There also was consistency in reports between friends. Two factors—“relationship appearance” and “relationship quality” described positive aspects of the relationships. Disability status and age related to relationship appearance. Proband abstract reasoning was related to relationship quality

Siblings of children with autism:The Siblings Embedded Systems Framework

Purpose of review: a range of interacting factors/mechanisms at the individual, family, and wider systems levels influences siblings living in families where one sibling has autism. We introduce the Sibling Embedded Systems Framework which aims to contextualise siblings’ experience and characterise the multiple and interacting factors influencing family and, in particular, sibling outcomes.Recent findings: findings from studies that have reported outcomes for siblings of children with autism are equivocal, ranging from negative impact, no difference, to positive experience. This is likely due to the complex nature of understanding the sibling experience. We focus on particular elements of the framework and review recent novel literature to help guide future directions for research and practice including the influence of culture, methodological considerations, and wider participatory methods.Summary: the Siblings Embedded System Framework can be used to understand interactive factors that affect sibling adjustment and to develop clinically, educationally and empirically based work that aims to enhance and support sibling adjustment, relationships, and well-being in families of children with autism.<br/