A Group Reading Intervention With Individualized Error Correction for Middle School Students With Reading Difficulties

Reading difficulties are common among middle school students in the US, especially among those with disabilities. Unfortunately, there is a significant shortage of professionals (e.g., special educators) who can provide high-quality reading interventions. Small group (SG) intervention is a group instruction that helps more students in need per intervention session and may mitigate the aforementioned shortage. SG intervention packages often include various intervention components that address skill and performance difficulties. However, SG reading intervention research has mostly focused on helping elementary school students without disabilities. Also, many SG reading interventions used one-size-fits all approach which restricted individualization of error correction procedure. The current study developed a multi-component SG reading intervention package that contained individualized error correction procedures to improve the reading skills of three middle school students with disabilities. An ABAB single-subject design was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of the SG reading fluency intervention package. Visual analysis and effect size measurements indicated a strong effect on the intervention package for each participant. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed

A Preliminary Evaluation of a Digital Token Economy to Increase Student Engagement during Group Teletherapy

Shortly following the temporary nationwide school dismissal amid COVID-19, the current exploratory case-study evaluated the feasibility of two engagement strategies delivered during group teletherapy: Class Dojo and opportunities to respond (OTR). Three elementary students with emotional and behavioral difficulties participated. An A-B-A design was used to evaluate the effects of Class Dojo on student engagement with therapist-delivered OTRs. Due to one student’s poor response to the contingency, an A-B-C design was used to evaluate the additive effect of student-delivered OTRs on his engagement. Results indicated moderate to high rates of student attendance, and consistently high rates of engagement for two students. When students delivered OTRs, the student who initially struggled to engage demonstrated an increase in engagement. Practical issues are discussed and recommendations are considered for future research on increasing student engagement during online settings

Reciprocal Effects Among Parental Homework Support, Effort, and Achievement? An Empirical Investigation

The present study investigates reciprocal influences of parental homework support, effort, and math achievement, using two waves of data from 336 9th-graders. Results revealed that higher prior autonomy-oriented support and homework effort resulted in higher subsequent achievement. Higher prior content-oriented support led to higher subsequent effort, but lower subsequent achievement. Additionally, higher prior effort led to higher subsequent autonomy-oriented support. Furthermore, our results supported the structural path invariance over gender. The current investigation advances extant research, by differentiating two forms of parental homework support (autonomy- and content-oriented support), and by showing their respective influences on subsequent homework effort and math achievement

An examination of video self-modeling as a reading fluency intervention

The purpose of the study was to examine the efficacy of video self-modeling as a reading fluency intervention for elementary school students. The participants were 10-year-old male students, and they were enrolled in 4th or 5th grade. All of the participants carry disabilities, including Autism Spectrum Disorder or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. 2 participants participated in the study in a clinic setting, and one participant participated in the study in a school setting. Before attending the intervention sessions, the participants attended pre-participation assessment sessions to evaluate if their current reading skills and behavioral repertoire met the purposes of the current study. Following the screening procedures, the participants participated in the baseline measurements, video developments, alternating treatments phase, confirmatory phase, and follow-up phase. The results indicated the stand-alone Video Self-Modeling was efficacious for 2 out of 3 participants, and the Video Self-Modeling as a supplemental intervention component showed its efficacy for 1 participant. The findings showed various practical implications. Limitations and future studies are also discussed

Responses of Water Fluxes and Water-Use Efficiency of Maize to Warming Based on Water Transformation Dynamical Processes Experimental Device (WTDPED) Experiment

Evaluating the impacts of warming on water balance components in the groundwater⁻soil⁻plant⁻atmosphere continuum (GSPAC) and crop growth are crucial for assessing the risk of water resources and food security under future global warming. A water transformation dynamical processes experimental device (WTDPED) was developed using a chamber coupled with a weighing lysimeter and groundwater supply system, which could simultaneously control both climatic and ground-water level conditions and accurately monitor water fluxes in the GSPAC. Two experiments with maize under increased temperature by 2 °C (T-warm) and ambient temperature (T-control) scenarios were conducted via the WTDPED. The duration of growing season decreased from 125 days under T-control to 117 days under 2 °C warming. There was little difference of total evapotranspiration (ET) (332.6 mm vs. 332.5 mm), soil water storage change (∆W) (−119.0 mm vs. −119.0 mm), drainage (D) (−13.6 mm vs. −13.5 mm) between T-control and T-warm experiments. The average daily ET for maize significantly increased by approximately 6.7% (p < 0.05) in the T-warm experiment, especially during the sixth leaf to tasseling—silking stage with an increase of 0.36 mm with respect to the T-control experiment. There were evident decreases in LAI (leaf area index), whereas non-significant decreases in mean stem diameter, crop height and leaf chlorophyll content under T-warm compared to T-control experiment. However, the chlorophyll content increased by 12% during the sixth leaf to tasseling⁻silking stage under 2 °C warming, which accelerated the photosynthesis and transpiration rate. The grain yield and water-use efficiency (WUE) for maize increased by 11.0% and 11.1% in the T-warm experiment, respectively, especially due to enhanced growth during the sixth leaf to tasseling⁻silking stage. This study provided important references for agricultural planting and water management to adapt to a warming environment

Assessment of Non-Point Source Total Phosphorus Pollution from Different Land Use and Soil Types in a Mid-High Latitude Region of China

The transport characteristics of phosphorus in soil and the assessment of its environmental risk have become hot topics in the environmental and agricultural fields. The Sanjiang Plain is an important grain production base in China, and it is characterised by serious land use change caused by large-scale agricultural exploitation. Agricultural inputs and tillage management have destroyed the soil nutrient balance formed over long-term conditions. There are few studies on non-point source phosphorus pollution in the Sanjiang Plain, which is the largest swampy low plain in a mid-high-latitude region in China. Most studies have focused on the water quality of rivers in marsh areas, or the export mechanism of phosphorus from specific land uses. They were conducted using experimental methods or empirical models, and need further development towards mechanism models and the macro-scale. The question is how to find a way to couple processes in phosphorus cycling and a distributed hydrological model considering local hydrological features. In this study, we report an attempt to use a distributed phosphorus transport model to analyse non-point source total phosphorus pollution from different land uses and soil types on the Sanjiang Plain. The total phosphorus concentration generally shows an annually increasing trend in the study area. The total phosphorus load intensity is heterogeneous in different land use types and different soil types. The average total phosphorus load intensity of different land use types can be ranked in descending order from paddy field, dry land, wetlands, grassland, and forestland. The average total phosphorus load intensity of different soil types can be ranked in descending order: paddy soil, bog soil, planosol, meadow soil, black soil, and dark brown earth. The dry land and paddy fields account for the majority of total phosphorus load in the study area. This is mainly caused by extensive use of phosphate fertilizer on the cultivated land. This has important implications for future agricultural management and non-point source control in this agricultural area of the mid-high latitude region

Screening of Cold-Adapted Strains and Its Effects on Physicochemical Properties and Microbiota Structure of Mushroom Residue Composting

Composting is an effective way to dispose of agricultural waste; however, its application is limited in the winter and in areas with low average annual temperatures. This study screened out a composite microbial agent (CMA) including Bacillus (B.) cereus QS7 and B. pumilus QM6 that could grow at 10–15 °C and investigated the effects of the CMA as an inoculant on the physicochemical parameters and microbial communities of compost made from mushroom residue mixed with sheep manure. The results showed that CMA inoculation prolonged the days of high temperature above 60 °C. When the ratio of mushroom residue to sheep manure was at 9:1, compost increased the accumulation of nitrogen, and reduced the electrical conductivity (EC). Under this ratio, the inoculation of CMA accelerated the degradation of organic matter (OM) (decreased by 12.22%) and total organic carbon (TOC) (decreased by 8.13%) and increased the germination rate and seed germination index (GI) to 100% and 106.86, respectively. Microbial community structure analysis showed that the relative abundance of Flavobacterium was 30.62% on day 15 and was higher after CMA inoculation in the high mushroom residue condition, which was higher than that of other groups, and the relative abundance of thermophilic fungi increased. This study demonstrated that CMA improves the quality and efficiency of mushroom residue and sheep manure composting, and it provides evidence to improve the efficiency of low-temperature composting