Identifying the cognitive predictors of early counting and calculation skills: Evidence from a longitudinal study.

The extent that phonological, visual-spatial STM and non-symbolic quantitative skills support the development of counting and calculation skills was examined in this 14-month longitudinal study of 125 children. Initial assessments were made when the children were 4:8. Phonological awareness, visual-spatial STM and non-symbolic approximate discrimination predicted growth in early calculation skills. These results suggest that both the approximate number system and domain-general phonological and visual-spatial skills support early calculation. In contrast, only performance on a small non-symbolic quantity discrimination task (where the presented quantities were always within the subitising range) predicted growth in cardinal counting skills. These results suggest that the development of counting and calculation are supported by different cognitive abilities

A cohort evaluation on arterial stiffness and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy

10.1186/1471-2393-12-160BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth12-BPCM

Growing wealth and growing pains: Child and adolescent psychiatry in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore

Objective: Several Asian regions have undergone a dramatic transformation, some becoming very affluent. This paper aims to ascertain how countries that are becoming wealthy have dealt with child and adolescent mental health issues. Method: Population health status, child and adolescent mental health services, child psychiatry training, the number of child psychiatrists and related matters were examined in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. Results: Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore are ethnically, religiously, socially and politically very different. In spite of considerable wealth and a growing recognition that mental health problems in the young are increasing, they face similar problems – lack of access to treatment due to a dearth of services and a lack of child psychiatrists (2.5, 0.5 and 2.8 per million people, respectively). Conclusions: Because the number of child psychiatrists is so small, their ability to provide services, advocate, train, maintain a professional identity, and deal with future crises is very limited. Other rapidly developing countries can learn from this experience and should take action early to prevent a similar outcome