Implementing Technology in the Primary Montessori Classroom

TECHNOLOGY IN THE PRIMARY MONTESSORI CLASSROOM 2 Abstract The purpose of this research was to find out if implementing technology that parallels the Montessori language sequence would increase student engagement with literacy work. Would an increase in student interest facilitate the potential for them to meet the expected goals for alphabetic knowledge? This study was conducted in a primary Montessori classroom consisting of four year-old students identified as being “at risk” for school readiness. Prior to beginning the project, observations of student work with the language materials was conducted to create a log of lessons completed by each student. An assessment of student knowledge of upper and lower case letter names and sounds was also completed. Daily activities to increase phonological awareness were implemented by utilizing the classroom Smart Board and iPad over a six week period. Post assessments revealed an increase in language lessons completed each day and an increase in knowledge of letter names and sounds by most students

Actionable exomic incidental findings in 6503 participants: challenges of variant classification

Recommendations for laboratories to report incidental findings from genomic tests have stimulated interest in such results. In order to investigate the criteria and processes for assigning the pathogenicity of specific variants and to estimate the frequency of such incidental findings in patients of European and African ancestry, we classified potentially actionable pathogenic single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) in all 4300 European- and 2203 African-ancestry participants sequenced by the NHLBI Exome Sequencing Project (ESP). We considered 112 gene-disease pairs selected by an expert panel as associated with medically actionable genetic disorders that may be undiagnosed in adults. The resulting classifications were compared to classifications from other clinical and research genetic testing laboratories, as well as with in silico pathogenicity scores. Among European-ancestry participants, 30 of 4300 (0.7%) had a pathogenic SNV and six (0.1%) had a disruptive variant that was expected to be pathogenic, whereas 52 (1.2%) had likely pathogenic SNVs. For African-ancestry participants, six of 2203 (0.3%) had a pathogenic SNV and six (0.3%) had an expected pathogenic disruptive variant, whereas 13 (0.6%) had likely pathogenic SNVs. Genomic Evolutionary Rate Profiling mammalian conservation score and the Combined Annotation Dependent Depletion summary score of conservation, substitution, regulation, and other evidence were compared across pathogenicity assignments and appear to have utility in variant classification. This work provides a refined estimate of the burden of adult onset, medically actionable incidental findings expected from exome sequencing, highlights challenges in variant classification, and demonstrates the need for a better curated variant interpretation knowledge base

The Autism Education Trust Training Hubs Materials

A national, face-to-face modular training programme for all professionals working in all school settings