The Importance of L.S. Vygotsky’s and A.R. Luria’s Ideas in the Study of ‘Twice Exceptional’ Children

The article highlights the importance of ‘twice exceptionality’ studies and the significance of L.S. Vygotsky and A.R. Luria’s ideas for this research. Twice exceptional children combine the signs of giftedness with one or several mental disabilities, specific learning difficulties, etc. In our research, we analyzed the developmentof writing skills in three groups of school children with different variants of mental functions development, distinguished on the basis of neuropsychological characteristics. The use of the original method of recording movements while writing, combined with a neuropsychological assessment of children allowed revealing the dependence of writing parameters and their dynamics on the strength and weakness of the components involved in the functional system of writing. According to the results obtained, each group has its own pattern of the following parameters: time, writing quality and errors, explained by the primary weakness in the child’sfunctional system of writing and compensatory restructuring. A comparative analysis of analytical and holistic strategies use in reading was also conducted. Keywords: ‘twice-exceptional children’, mental functions development desynchrony, neuropsychological analysis, difficulties and specific errors in writing

A serious games platform for cognitive rehabilitation with preliminary evaluation

In recent years Serious Games have evolved substantially, solving problems in diverse areas. In particular, in Cognitive Rehabilitation, Serious Games assume a relevant role. Traditional cognitive therapies are often considered repetitive and discouraging for patients and Serious Games can be used to create more dynamic rehabilitation processes, holding patients' attention throughout the process and motivating them during their road to recovery. This paper reviews Serious Games and user interfaces in rehabilitation area and details a Serious Games platform for Cognitive Rehabilitation that includes a set of features such as: natural and multimodal user interfaces and social features (competition, collaboration, and handicapping) which can contribute to augment the motivation of patients during the rehabilitation process. The web platform was tested with healthy subjects. Results of this preliminary evaluation show the motivation and the interest of the participants by playing the games.- This work has been supported by FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia in the scope of the projects: PEst-UID/CEC/00319/2015 and PEst-UID/CEC/00027/2015. The authors would like to thank also all the volunteers that participated in the study

Use of Cash Flow to Evaluate Investment Attractiveness of Enterprises Использование показателя cash flow для оценки инвестиционной привлекательности предприятия

In the article the features of estimation of enterprises activity efficiency are explored. A necessity of application for the analysis of enterprises evaluate investment attractiveness of ratios, based on the net cash flow is grounded.В статье исследуются особенности оценки инвестиционной привлекательности предприятий. Обосновывается необходимость применения для оценки инвестиционной привлекательности предприятий показателей, основанных на чистом денежном потоке предприятия

Improving spatial functioning in children with cerebral palsy using computerized and traditional game tasks.

Purpose: To examine the effectiveness of combining virtual environment (VE) instruction with additional desk-top tasks, based on the Luria-Vygotsky methodology, for spatial remediation in children having complex motor disabilities restricting movement. Method: In Experiment 1, from among children attending for residential rehabilitation, an experimental subgroup had additional spatial training using a VE and corresponding desk-top models. All children were tested at the start and end of training, using four spatial tests. In Experiment 2, larger groups of children (pair-matched for initial performance) were given the same training as in Experiment 1, but experimentals received both VE-based training and supporting tasks designed to improve executive functions and verbal regulation of spatial functioning. Assessment involved a wider range of tests than in Experiment 1. Results: In Experiment 1, both groups showed improvement at retest, but experimentals showed greater improvement. Children beginning with the lowest level of cognitive performance failed to benefit from the additional training. In Experiment 2 the experimental group made significantly greater improvement than controls, irrespective of initial performance level. Conclusions: VE-based spatial training is effective for children with complex disabilities, particularly when combined with training that remediates cognitive weaknesses