Spoken Language Skills in Children With Bilateral Hearing Aids or Bilateral Cochlear Implants at the Age of Three Years

Objectives: Early hearing aid (HA) fitting and cochlear implants (CIs) aim to reduce the effects of hearing loss (HL) on spoken language development. The goals of this study were (1) to examine spoken language skills of children with bilateral HAs and children with bilateral CIs; (2) to compare their language skills to the age-norms of peers with normal hearing (NH); and (3) to investigate factors associated with spoken language outcomes. Design: Spoken language results of 56 Finnish children with HL were obtained from a nationwide prospective multicenter study. Children with HL comprised two groups: children with mild-to-severe HL who used bilateral HAs (BiHA group, n = 28) and children with profound HL who used bilateral CIs (BiCI group, n = 28). Children's spoken language comprehension, expressive and receptive vocabulary, and phonological skills were compared with normative values of children with NH at the age of three years. Odds ratio (OR) was calculated to compare proportions of children below age-norms in BiHA and BiCI groups. Factors associated with spoken language outcomes were modeled with analysis of covariance. Results: At the age of 3 years, 50%-96% of children with HL performed 1 SD or more below the mean of the normative sample of age-peers with NH in spoken language skills, depending on the language domain. Receptive vocabulary and phonological skills were the most vulnerable language domains. In receptive vocabulary, 82% of the children in the BiHA group and 50% of the children in the BiCI group scored 1 SD or more below the normative mean. The BiHA group was 4.4 times more likely to have poorer receptive vocabulary than the BiCI group. In phonological skills, 96% of children in the BiHA group and 60% of the children in the BiCI group scored 1 SD or more below the normative mean. The BiHA group was 18.0 times more likely to have poorer phonological skills than the BiCI group. The analysis of covariance models showed that unaided pure-tone average, PTA(0.5-4 kHz), had a significant effect on spoken language comprehension in the BiHA group. For the BiCI group, age at HL diagnosis and age at CI activation had a significant effect on expressive vocabulary. High maternal level of education had a significant effect on language comprehension and expressive vocabulary and female gender on phonological skills. Conclusions: At the age of 3 years, especially receptive vocabulary and phonological skills caused difficulties for children with HL showing also considerable individual variation. Children with bilateral HAs seemed to be more likely to have poorer receptive vocabulary and phonological skills than children with bilateral CIs. A variety of factors was associated with outcomes in both groups. Close monitoring of spoken language skills of children with HL is important for ensuring similar opportunities for all children with HL and timely intervention, when needed.Peer reviewe

Spoken Language Skills in Children With Bilateral Hearing Aids or Bilateral Cochlear Implants at the Age of Three Years

Objectives: Early hearing aid (HA) fitting and cochlear implants (CIs) aim to reduce the effects of hearing loss (HL) on spoken language development. The goals of this study were (1) to examine spoken language skills of children with bilateral HAs and children with bilateral CIs; (2) to compare their language skills to the age-norms of peers with normal hearing (NH); and (3) to investigate factors associated with spoken language outcomes. Design:Spoken language results of 56 Finnish children with HL were obtained from a nationwide prospective multicenter study. Children with HL comprised two groups: children with mild-to-severe HL who used bilateral HAs (BiHA group, n = 28) and children with profound HL who used bilateral CIs (BiCI group, n = 28). Children's spoken language comprehension, expressive and receptive vocabulary, and phonological skills were compared with normative values of children with NH at the age of three years. Odds ratio (OR) was calculated to compare proportions of children below age-norms in BiHA and BiCI groups. Factors associated with spoken language outcomes were modeled with analysis of covariance. Results: At the age of 3 years, 50%-96% of children with HL performed 1 SD or more below the mean of the normative sample of age-peers with NH in spoken language skills, depending on the language domain. Receptive vocabulary and phonological skills were the most vulnerable language domains. In receptive vocabulary, 82% of the children in the BiHA group and 50% of the children in the BiCI group scored 1 SD or more below the normative mean. The BiHA group was 4.4 times more likely to have poorer receptive vocabulary than the BiCI group. In phonological skills, 96% of children in the BiHA group and 60% of the children in the BiCI group scored 1 SD or more below the normative mean. The BiHA group was 18.0 times more likely to have poorer phonological skills than the BiCI group. The analysis of covariance models showed that unaided pure-tone average, PTA(0.5-4 kHz), had a significant effect on spoken language comprehension in the BiHA group. For the BiCI group, age at HL diagnosis and age at CI activation had a significant effect on expressive vocabulary. High maternal level of education had a significant effect on language comprehension and expressive vocabulary and female gender on phonological skills. Conclusions: At the age of 3 years, especially receptive vocabulary and phonological skills caused difficulties for children with HL showing also considerable individual variation. Children with bilateral HAs seemed to be more likely to have poorer receptive vocabulary and phonological skills than children with bilateral CIs. A variety of factors was associated with outcomes in both groups. Close monitoring of spoken language skills of children with HL is important for ensuring similar opportunities for all children with HL and timely intervention, when needed.</p

How aware is the public of the existence, characteristics and causes of language impairment in childhood and where have they heard about it? A European survey

Public awareness of language impairment in childhood (Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)) has been identified as an important determiner of research and clinical service delivery, yet studies directly assessing public awareness are lacking. This study surveyed awareness across 18 countries of Europe.Method: A questionnaire developed by an international team asked whether respondents had heard of language impairment affecting children, what they thought its manifestations and causes were and where they had heard of it. Respondents were also asked whether they had heard of autism, dyslexia, ADD/ADHD and speech disorder. The questionnaire was administered to members of the public in 18 European countries. A total of 1519 responses were obtained, spanning 6 age groups, 4 educational level groups and 3 income level groups.Results: Across all but one country, significantly fewer people had heard of language impairment than any of the other disorders (or 60 % compared to over 90 % for autism). Awareness tended to be lowest in Eastern Europe and greatest in North-Western Europe, and was influenced by education level, age and income level. People in countries with overall low and overall high awareness differed in their views on manifestations and causes. People had heard of language impairment and autism the same way - most frequently through the media, including Internet, and less frequently through their child’s school or a medical professional.Discussion: The study confirms that awareness of language impairment and knowledge of the breadth of its manifestations are low. It also suggests opportunities for how to increase awareness, including greater media coverage of language impairment and more efficient use of venues such as schools and healthcare. Ways in which cultural and linguistic differences may influence public awareness efforts are discussed, including the translatability of clinical labels and scientific terms. These may impact the acceptance of a common term and definition across all countries. As awareness campaigns are gaining momentum, the findings of this study can serve as a baseline against which to compare future findings.peer-reviewe

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Übungen mit grobmotorischen Bewegungen in sieben finnischen DaF-Lehrwerkserien der Gesamtschule

Tutkimusten mukaan liike edistää oppimista. Aistihavainnejärjestelmään perustuvan oppimistyyliteorian mukaan tietoa vastaanotetaan, käsitellään ja tallennetaan visuaalisen, auditiivisen ja kinesteettisen kanavan kautta. Havainnekanavia käytetään erilaisina yhdistelminä sekä erilaisin painotuksin. Liikkeen vaikutus oppimiseen korostuu erityisesti ihmisillä, joiden havainnejärjestelmä on hallitsevasti kinesteettinen. Oppimisympäristössä toimimiseen vaikuttavat myös oppijoiden synnynnäiset temperamenttipiirteet. Ihmisillä, joiden temperamenttipiirteenä on korkea aktiivisuus, esiintyy usein keskittymisvaikeuksia, mikäli opetuksessa käytetyt työtavat eivät sisällä liikettä. Fyysinen aktiivisuus, kehollisuus, eri aistien käyttö sekä toiminnalliset työtavat, joiden voidaan katsoa pitävän sisällään fyysistä toimintaa, mainitaan myös vuoden 2014 perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelman perusteissa. Jo vuoden 2004 opetussuunnitelmassa mainitaan erilaisten oppimistyylien, oppimis- ja työskentelytapojen sekä oppilaiden yksilöllisyyden huomioiminen. Suomalaisessa vieraan kielen kouluopetuksessa oppikirja ohjaa usein oppitunnin kulkua. Erityisesti tehtäväkirjojen sekä oppikirjasarjoihin kuuluvien opettajien oppaiden voidaan katsoa määrittävän opetuksessa käytettäviä työtapoja. Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on selvittää, missä määrin karkeamotorista liikkumista sisältävät työtavat tulevat esiin peruskoulun saksan kielen oppikirjojen tehtävänannoissa, sekä millä tavoin työtavat on huomioitu opettajien oppaissa ja muissa lisätehtäviä sisältävissä materiaaleissa. Tarkastelun kohteena on seitsemän peruskoulun oppikirjasarjaa, jotka käsittävät kahden Suomen suurimman oppikirjoja julkaisevan kustantamon ajankohtaiset saksan kielen opetukseen ylä- ja alakoulussa soveltuvat materiaalit, jotka on laadittu vuoden 2004 tai 2014 perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelman perusteiden mukaisesti. Tarkasteltujen oppikirjasarjojen välillä esiintyy merkittävää vaihtelua karkeamotorista liikkumista sisältävien tehtävien määrissä. Erityisesti alakoulun oppikirjoissa fyysiset toimintatavat ovat hyvin edustettuina, ja myös yläkoulun puolella liikkumista sisältävät tehtävät tulevat esiin erityisesti osassa opettajien oppaista. Useimmissa yläkoulun oppikirjasarjoissa liikkumista sisältäviä toimintatapoja ei kuitenkaan ole huomioitu merkittävästi, vaikka opettajien oppaissa saatetaan kuvata niiden merkitystä oppimisprosesseissa. Lisäksi yläkoulun oppikirjasarjojen runsaslukuisiset digitaaliset lisätehtävät eivät sisällä karkeamotorista liikettä, mikä lisää huolta oppilaiden fyysisestä aktiivisuudesta digitalisoituvassa kouluopetuksessa

Kuka minä olen, millainen minä olen, mikä on minun arvoni? : Seksuaalikäyttäytyminen ja -tietous KAO:n asuntolaopiskelijoilla

Parhaimmillaan seksuaalisuus on merkittävä voimavara ja voi parantaa itsetuntoa. Se on tärkeä osa ihmisen hyvinvointia, yksi perustarpeista. Nuoruusiän identiteettikriisi on ehkä mullistavin kaikista kriiseistä, joita ihminen käy läpi elämänsä aikana. Nuoruuden kehitystehtävänä Eriksonin teorian mukaan on identiteetin muodostaminen. Opinnäytetyömme tavoitteena oli tehdä Kainuun ammattiopistolle selvitys, josta ilmenee asuntolaopiskelijoiden seksuaalitietouden määrä ja lisäksi pyrimme saamaan tietoa heidän seksuaalikäyttäytymisestään. Työmme tarkoituksena oli antaa KAO:lle tietoa, jonka pohjalta se voi kehittää seksuaalivalistustaan sekä puuttua seksuaalikäyttäytymiseen liittyviin ongelmakohtiin. Lisäksi KAO voi lisätä harrastustoimintaansa tulostemme perusteella. Tutkimuksemme oli kvantitatiivinen. Aineisto kerättiin strukturoidulla kyselylomakkeella, ja aineisto käsiteltiin SPSS- ohjelmalla. Kyselyt tehtiin Kainuun eri kunnissa asuville KAO:n asuntolaopiskelijoille. Toteutimme kyselyn itse. Tuloksista ilmeni, että opiskelijoiden seksuaalikäyttäytymisessä esiintyy riskikäyttäytymistä etenkin tytöillä. Tämä ilmenee raskauksien ja sukupuolitautien pelkona yhä uudelleen. Riskikäyttäytyminen korostuu kuitenkin vain tietyllä ryhmällä nuorista. Suurin osa nuorista on vastuuntuntoisia ja itsestään huolta pitäviä. Asuntolaopiskelijoiden tietouden määrä seksuaalisuuteen liittyvissä asioissa on hyvä, mutta tuloksissa ilmeni tiettyjä merkittäviä epäkohtia. Yllättävän suuri osa opiskelijoista ei esimerkiksi tiennyt, että klamydia voi aiheuttaa hedelmättömyyttä, tai että kuukautisten alkaminen on merkki siitä, että nainen voi tulla raskaaksi. Jatkotutkimusaiheita työllemme voisi olla seksuaalikäyttäytymisen vaikutukset mielenterveyteen tai terveysvaikutukset yleensä, päihteiden vaikutus seksuaalikäyttäytymiseen sekä lukiolaisten ja ammattiopistossa opiskelevien nuorten seksuaalikäyttäytymisen erot.Sexuality at best can be a power that gives great pleasure in every aspect of human life, and it is also an important basic need. Perhaps the most revolutionary crisis of all is the crisis of youth when a young person forms his or her identity. The purpose of this thesis was to give information to Kainuu Vocational College so they can develop their sex education and leisure time interests. The goal of this thesis was to do a study that reveals the sexual behaviour and knowledge among students living at the KAO dormitories. The thesis is a quantitative research. The research material was collected with a questionnaire which included two open questions. The data was collected in Kajaani, Suomussalmi, Kuhmo and Vuokatti, and was analyzed with the SPSS programme. The results showed that there is risk behaviour in students’ sexual behaviour. This causes fear of sex diseases and unwanted pregnancies. The results also showed that sexual knowledge among students in some areas was poor. Students did not know that chlamydia causes infertility or that a girl can get pregnant after her first period. Further ideas for research would be, for example, to study the effect of early sexual activity to mental health or how intoxicant abuse affects sexual behaviour

Kieli, leikki ja pelillisyys kehittymisen välineinä

nonPeerReviewe

Bibliometric services in recruiting processes at Aalto University

Established in 2010, Aalto University is a new university with centuries of experience. It was created from the merger of three Finnish universities and today it consists of six schools: School of Arts, Design and Architecture; School of Business; School of Chemical Engineering; School of Electrical Engineering; School of Engineering and School of Science with nearly 20 000 students and 4 700 employees, 390 of which are professors. Aalto University has a tenure track system with clearly set evaluation criteria and selection process. The tenure track evaluation criteria is based on the principles of predictability, transparency, and comparability with international standards. Bibliometric analysis have been an integrated part of Aalto University recruiting processes since 2011 and the bibliometric service portfolio has evolved to support the different phases of the tenure track system. The services are all a result of collaboration between several sections of the university: the Management Information Services (MIS) unit coordinates the bibliometric analysis and collaboration partners include HR, the Learning Centre (Library), Research and Innovation Services (RIS), and the selection committees of the schools. In the publication analysis the international bibliometric indicators are used and the overall methodology follows the policies highlighted e.g. in the Leiden Manifesto and the Acumen Portfolio. The poster will give an overview of the current bibliometric service portfolio, the respective partnerships of the service in question, and volume of the service. The poster will focus on the recently launched new service, the Talent Search that aims to identify and attract good candidates to apply for a tenure track position at Aalto University. Talent Search brings together the knowhow of the School´s search committee, HR recruiting specialist, and the bibliometric information specialists of MIS. Based on the descriptive information about the post given by the selection committee the information specialists prepare a search strategy in the bibliometric databases to track down potential candidates. The dialogue with the selection committee continues until the result matches the intended scope of candidates in terms of their tenure track level and publication activity. The HR specialist is subsequently responsible of personally contacting the identified suitable candidates to market the open position. Aalto Talent Search service specifications were introduced in 2015 and the first appointment based on its results took place in 2017