A meta-analysis of technology-based interventions on the phonological skills of children with dyslexia

There is a growing awareness of the need to understand how technology can help in education, especially in the area of special educational needs. The purpose of this meta‐analysis is to synthesise findings from independent studies gathered by a systematic review of the literature on the effectiveness of technology‐based interventions on the phonological skills of children diagnosed with dyslexia in English. Keywords for the literature search were selected that best represented the research area: technology, computer, elearning, mobile learning, ICT; intervention, instruction, remediation, therapy; phonology, phonological skills, spelling; and dyslexia. These key terms were used for the computerised search of five databases: Academic Search Premier, Education Research Complete, ERIC, PsycARTICLES and PsycINFO. The studies that met the inclusion criteria were further meta‐analysed for effect sizes with a fixed effects approach weighted by sample sizes. The inclusion criteria were that the studies must involve a technology‐based intervention, participants of the studies must be formally diagnosed with dyslexia in English, outcome measures used must include at least one measure of phonological skills in reading, and studies must utilise a pre‐test‐post‐test experimental design and include means, standard deviations, and sample sizes. There were a total of four studies that met all criteria and these four studies employed six different technology‐based interventions. All four studies had significant results showing that technology‐based interventions positively influenced phonological skills. A grand total of 157 participants across these four studies returned a significant result for weighted pooled estimates of overall effect size on non‐word decoding (a measure of phonological skills) to be d = 0.56 (ranging from d = 0.17 to 1.38), which is a medium effect size of the technology‐based intervention. Thus, technology‐based interventions is an effective method of remediating phonological skills of children with dyslexia

Inclusion in High-Achieving Singapore: Challenges of Building an Inclusive Society in Policy and Practice

Building an inclusive society in which all people can participate effectively and live together requires understanding inclusive education and its impact on the social order. As countries of different regions face the vast array of challenges unique to their educational systems, it becomes apparent that inclusive societies are intricately tied to social inclusion policy initiatives and developments in education. Governments are becoming increasingly aware of the need to review their educational systems as they attempt to define what an inclusive society is and how to make inclusion truly effective. Singapore is a unique example of a country that has the resources and the vision, but currently lacks an educational system designed to fully include individuals with special needs. Although Singaporean students consistently score near the top in science, math, and reading achievement on international assessments, many students with special needs still receive their education in schools separated from their mainstream peers. In 2004, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong discussed a new vision of Singapore becoming an inclusive society that embraces all individuals with special learning needs. In this manuscript, the authors provide a brief history of Singapore and its education system and explore how PM Lee’s vision of an inclusive society has shaped practice and policy in Singapore schools in the last decade. Specific ideas and next steps for creating an inclusive Singapore for individuals with disabilities are discussed

Adopting Team-Based Learning for In-Service Teachers: A Case Study

Team-based learning (TBL) is an instructional pedagogy that has gained recent popularity due to its effectiveness in disciplines such as medicine and business. However, TBL has not been widely adopted in teacher education based on reviews of research and practitioner based literature. The purpose of this case study was to assess the implementation and effectiveness of TBL in a Singapore teaching institute with thirty in-service teachers. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected from teachers about their experience learning through TBL. Research findings revealed that 1) teachers generally perceived TBL to be a positive experience, although several areas for improvement were suggested; 2) quality of scores through TBL was high, with team scores being significantly higher than individual scores. The findings from this study have the potential to guide the design of future TBL courses in education

Pokemon go, augmented reality, and universal design for learning

The success of Pokémon Go is demonstrating that augmented reality (AR) is reaching the masses quickly and can be a robust tool to enhance student engagement and learning. Leveraging AR for instructional purposes has the potential to become a powerful medium for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) by providing new tools for multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement. One of the advantages of using AR applications and AR platforms is the ability to display context relevant digital information to support students’ needs in real time and in specific contexts. Although many educational AR applications are in their developmental stages, the rapid growth of AR is likely to continue. The examples presented in this article focus on how educators can use mobile devices and AR to apply the principles of UDL. Combining AR with the principles of UDL can help educators create lessons that are accessible, engaging, and powerful for a diverse range of learners

Salient employability skills for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Singapore: the perspectives of job developers

Objective: In order to increase employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs), professionals are tasked with designing and implementing job training services to youth preparing to enter the job market. Having a better understanding of desirable employability skills aids in allowing professionals to develop programs that will target the needs of those who make decisions relating to human resources. Methods: This study features a qualitative research design to identify employability skills that individuals with IDDs in Singapore should possess to be successful in the workplace. Job developers were interviewed to identify and explore desirable employability skills. Results: Results from interviews suggest that soft skills, such as attitude, dependability, stamina, flexibility, and communication are valued over skills that are more job-specific technical skills. Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance including instruction in these skill areas when training youth with IDDs to find and maintain employment

The impact of simulated interviews for individuals with intellectual disability

The purpose of this research study was to explore the efficacy of role-playing and coaching in mixed-reality environments for the acquisition and generalization of social skills leading to successful job interview performance. Using a multiple baseline across participants design, five young adults with intellectual disability practiced interviewing in a mixed-reality environment and were rated on the use of appropriate social skills and overt behaviors during the mock interviews. Generalization and maintenance were assessed by the participant’s ability to display appropriate social skills and overt behaviors in a face-to-face interview in a live environment. The intervention demonstrated to be effective in fostering the acquisition of job interview skills in the mixed reality setting as well as generalization in face-to-face interviews

The Teaching of Maths to Students with Dyslexia: A Teachers' Perspective

This case study explores the perceptions of teachers who teach maths to students with dyslexia at the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS). The authors examined the challenges participants faced when teaching students with dyslexia maths, the processes that were used to help their learners understand maths concepts, and supports that were provided to minimise student anxiety and boost self‐esteem. Four distinct challenges emerged including inadequate training, content area language barriers, cognitive style implications and their impact on maths learning, and addressing and remediating students’ anxiety towards learning maths and the impact on their self‐esteem. Results indicated that teachers enjoy teaching maths to students with dyslexia but find that adequate training, teaching experience, and exposure to multiple teaching strategies are required for success. As DAS is a unique organisation that helps students with dyslexia improve their literacy and numeracy skills, teacher professional development and teacher training are important aspects that need to be in place so that teachers are well‐supported and guided to coach these students. Suggestions to meet these challenges are provided

Frontal-subcortical circuitry in social attachment and relationships: A cross-sectional fMRI ALE meta-analysis

Researchers have explored the concept of attachment in multiple ways, from animal studies examining imprinting to abnormal attachment in psychopathology. However, until recently, few have considered how neural circuitry develops the effective social bonds that are subsequently replicated in relationships across the lifespan. This current cross-sectional study undertook a fMRI Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analyses to examine the neurocircuitry that governs emotional and behavioural functions critical for building effective social relationships in children and adults. Results suggest that dissociable dorsal cognitive ("cool") and ventral - affective ("hot") frontal-subcortical circuits (FSC) work together to govern social relationships, with repeated social consequences leading to potentially adaptive - or maladaptive - relationships that can become routinized in the cerebellum. Implications for forming stable, functional, social bonds are considered, followed by recommendations for those who struggle with cool and hot FSC functioning that can hinder the development of adaptive prosocial relationships

Empirical research on ethnic minority students: 1995-2009

Ethnic minority disproportionality has been a topic of extensive discussion and research for many years. In 1997, Artiles, Trent, and Kuan conducted a seminal review of the special education research literature to identify how often researchers report and disaggregate data in ways that would support conclusions about specific ethnic minority groups. These authors found alarmingly low rates of publication on identifiable minority groups. The purpose of this review is to replicate the work of Artiles et al. and extend this literature analysis to the subsequent 15‐year period (1995–2009). We found increases in the proportion of articles reporting ethnic minority information 15 years following the Artiles et al. publication. Discussion focuses on the gap in our knowledge of evidence‐based practices for ethnic minority students in special education

Estimating spatiotemporally varying malaria reproduction numbers in a near elimination setting

In 2016 the World Health Organization identified 21 countries that could eliminate malaria by 2020. Monitoring progress towards this goal requires tracking ongoing transmission. Here we develop methods that estimate individual reproduction numbers and their variation through time and space. Individual reproduction numbers, Rc, describe the state of transmission at a point in time and differ from mean reproduction numbers, which are averages of the number of people infected by a typical case. We assess elimination progress in El Salvador using data for confirmed cases of malaria from 2010 to 2016. Our results demonstrate that whilst the average number of secondary malaria cases was below one (0.61, 95% CI 0.55–0.65), individual reproduction numbers often exceeded one. We estimate a decline in Rc between 2010 and 2016. However we also show that if importation is maintained at the same rate, the country may not achieve malaria elimination by 2020