A Descriptive Study of Early Childhood Education Steering Documents in Finland, Sweden and Australia around Language Immersion Programmes

Being able to speak different languages is important in today’s global world to allow communication and understanding. Countries may vary in how they support early language learning with immersion programmes. This paper specifically explores the steering documents in Finland, Sweden, and Australia for children attending early childhood education settings (children aged birth to five years). A content analysis was used to explore patterns. The descriptive comparison allows similarities and differences across the countries to emerge. As a result, a table describing the different immersion and monolingual approaches in respective country is presented. The paper concludes with a broader discussion on steering documents in early childhood education in regards to young children’s rights to learning languages and attending different immersion programmes within early childhood.Peer reviewe

Effect of Student Involvement on Patient Perceptions of Ambulatory Care Visits

OBJECTIVE: To determine if patient satisfaction with ambulatory care visits differs when medical students participate in the visit. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Academic general internal medicine practice. PARTICIPANTS: Outpatients randomly assigned to see an attending physician only (N = 66) or an attending physician plus medical student (N = 68). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Patient perceptions of the office visit were determined by telephone survey. Overall office visit satisfaction was higher for the “attending physician only” group (61% vs 48% excellent), although this was not statistically significant (P = .16). There was no difference between the study groups for patient ratings of their physician overall (80% vs 85% excellent; P = .44). In subsidiary analyses, patients who rated their attending physician as “excellent” rated the overall office visit significantly higher in the “attending physician only” group (74% vs 55%; P = .04). Among patients in the “attending physician plus medical student” group, 40% indicated that medical student involvement “probably” or “definitely” did not improve their care, and 30% responded that they “probably” or “definitely” did not want to see a student at subsequent office visits. CONCLUSIONS: Although our sample size was small, we found no significant decrement in patient ratings of office visit satisfaction from medical student involvement in a global satisfaction survey. However, a significant number of patients expressed discontent with student involvement in the visit when asked directly. Global assessment of patient satisfaction may lack sensitivity for detection of dissatisfaction. Future research in this area should employ more sensitive measures of patient satisfaction

Формирование эмоциональной культуры как компонента инновационной культуры студентов

Homozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders1 and Darwin was one of the first to recognise that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness2. However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness common in modern human populations is less well understood. Genomic data now allow us to investigate the effects of homozygosity on traits of public health importance by observing contiguous homozygous segments (runs of homozygosity, ROH), which are inferred to be homozygous along their complete length. Given the low levels of genome-wide homozygosity prevalent in most human populations, information is required on very large numbers of people to provide sufficient power3,4. Here we use ROH to study 16 health-related quantitative traits in 354,224 individuals from 102 cohorts and find statistically significant associations between summed runs of homozygosity (SROH) and four complex traits: height, forced expiratory lung volume in 1 second (FEV1), general cognitive ability (g) and educational attainment (nominal p<1 × 10−300, 2.1 × 10−6, 2.5 × 10−10, 1.8 × 10−10). In each case increased homozygosity was associated with decreased trait value, equivalent to the offspring of first cousins being 1.2 cm shorter and having 10 months less education. Similar effect sizes were found across four continental groups and populations with different degrees of genome-wide homozygosity, providing convincing evidence for the first time that homozygosity, rather than confounding, directly contributes to phenotypic variance. Contrary to earlier reports in substantially smaller samples5,6, no evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Since directional dominance is predicted for traits under directional evolutionary selection7, this study provides evidence that increased stature and cognitive function have been positively selected in human evolution, whereas many important risk factors for late-onset complex diseases may not have been

Hearing and middle ear status in children and young adults with cleft palate

Objective: The overall aim of this thesis was to define the hearing and prevalence of abnormal middle ear status across childhood and into young adulthood and attempt to understand the effects of a higher prevalence of abnormal middle ear status on the auditory system. The prevalence of abnormal middle ear status is higher in children with cleft lip and palate or cleft palate (CP±L) than in children without CP±L. Little is known when or if the prevalence of abnormal middle ear status decreases as children age or the effects of this higher prevalence of abnormal middle ear status on hearing. Methods: The studies examined audiological and otological data from children with CP±L and children without CP±L at 1, 1.5, 3 and 5 years of age, analysed audiological and otological data from adolescents with CP±L with and without additional malformations at 7, 10, 13 and 16 years of age, and presented hearing and speech recognition performance from a group of young adults with CP±L. Results: The prevalence of abnormal middle ear status was higher in children with CP±L than in children without CP±L. This higher prevalence of abnormal middle ear status decreased significantly with age and normalized by 13 years. Individuals with CP±L also presented with worse hearing in the low and mid frequencies which also normalized by 13 years of age. However, the hearing thresholds in the higher frequencies did not improve. When abnormal middle ear status was present, children with CP±L presented with significantly higher hearing thresholds than children without CP±L. In young adults, poorer speech recognition performance existed in those with abnormal middle ear status on the day of testing as compared to those without abnormal middle ear status. Conclusion: Higher prevalence of abnormal middle ear status is evident in individuals with CP±L. Also when a hearing loss is present, individuals with CP±L experience higher hearing thresholds than those without CP±L. This higher prevalence of abnormal middle ear status results in poorer high frequency hearing which could potentially lead to challenges in academics. It may also lead to difficulties understanding speech in social situations. Therefore, individuals with CP±L need regular audiolgical and otological follow-up to ensure management is appropriate and timely to ensure optimal speech, language, and auditory development as the presence of abnormal middle ear status effects hearing outcomes

Expressive vocabulary of school-age children with mild to moderately severe hearing loss

Objectives: The main goal of this study was to describe the expressive vocabulary of school-age children with mild to moderately severe hearing loss (CHL group) and to compare their performance with children with normal hearing (CNH group) of the same age. Another aim was to examine the interaction between nonword repetition and expressive vocabulary size. Furthermore, the interaction between results on vocabulary tests and background factors, such as the age of diagnosis, age of hearing aid fitting, and amount of hearing aid use, was explored.  Method: School-aged children with mild to moderately severe, permanent bilateral hearing loss and children with normal hearing were included in this cross-sectional study. The children participated in assessments of naming pictures, defining words, and repetition of nonwords and sentences. Results of the CHL group and the CNH group were compared. The analysis also included the degree of hearing loss, the age of diagnosis, amount of hearing aid use, and level of parental education.  Results: The CHL group performed significantly below the CNH group on all measures: picture naming, defining words, nonword repetition, and repetition of sentences. The proportion of words pronounced with correct phonological structure when picture naming was more limited in the CHL group than in the CNH group. There was a significant positive correlation between the amount of hearing aid use and nonword repetition ability in the CHL group. Age of diagnosis and age of hearing aid fitting was not significantly correlated with the outcomes of the vocabulary assessments in this study. Conclusion: Despite the technological advancement of hearing aids, the expressive vocabulary in school-aged children with mild to moderately severe, permanent bilateral, hearing impairment does not reach the same level as for children with normal hearing, although there is a variation in performance within the group. The variation in the CHL group was not uniquely impacted by either age, degree of hearing loss, or the age of diagnosis. The amount of hearing aid use seems to impact the perception of new words. More studies of expressive vocabulary are needed, because they capture a dimension of word learning that seems particularly sensitive to hearing loss and hearing aid use.Del av forskning finansierad med bidrag av Margit Wibelfonden, Stockholm</p

Expressive vocabulary development in children with moderate hearing loss - the impact of auditory variables and early consonant production

In this study, the early expressive vocabulary development was investigated in a group of children with moderate hearing loss (HL). Size and development of expressive vocabulary from 18 30 months were analyzed and compared to a group of children with normal hearing (NH). For the children with HL, the impact of auditory variables on number of words were examined. The relationship of early consonant production to number of words produced of both groups were examined and the phonological complexity of reported words was compared between the groups. The results showed that children with HL (n = 8) produced a similar number of words as the NH (n = 8) at 18 months, but fewer at 24 and 30 months. Hours of HA use showed significant correlations to number of words. The number of different true consonants at 18 months for the whole group showed a significant relationship to number of words produced at 24 months. No significant differences were found between children with HL and NH children regarding phonological complexity of reported words. The findings indicate that the children born with moderate HL who were fitted with hearing aids (HAs) before 6 months of age are at risk in their development of expressive vocabulary. Full-time use of HAs and monitoring of early consonant use should be encouraged in the early intervention of this target group.Funding Agencies|Wibelfonden; , Tysta skolan; Majblomman; Region Stockholm</p

Schoolchildren with unilateral or mild to moderate bilateral sensorineural hearing loss should be screened for neurodevelopmental problems

Aim: The aim was to assess the rate and overlap of language and other neurodevelopmental problems in children aged 9‐12 years with unilateral or mild to moderate bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Methods: Caregivers of 24 of the 58 eligible children, born 2004‐2007, registered at the regional audiology department in Gothenburg, Sweden, with these types of hearing loss completed the Five‐to‐Fifteen questionnaire, a comprehensive screening instrument for neurodevelopmental problems. Of these 24 children, 21 were assessed with the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals—Fourth Edition (CELF‐4). Children with scores indicating definite problem on the Five‐to‐Fifteen questionnaire and their parents were invited to a clinical neuropaediatric assessment. Results: Of the 24 children, 13 (54%) screened positive for definite neurodevelopmental problems. Clinical assessments confirmed the presence of at least one neurodevelopmental disorder in eight of these 24, corresponding to 33%. Seven (33%) of the 21 children participating in the CELF‐4 had scores indicating a language disorder, of whom four children had a neurodevelopmental disorder according to the neuropaediatric assessment. Conclusion: The results support that schoolchildren with unilateral or mild to moderate bilateral sensorineural hearing loss should undergo neurodevelopmental screening to identify possible coexisting neurodevelopmental problems or disorders