Depth of reading vocabulary in hearing and hearing-impaired children

The main point of our study was to examine the vocabulary knowledge of pupils in grades 3–6, and in particular the relative reading vocabulary disadvantage of hearing-impaired pupils. The achievements of 394 pupils with normal hearing and 106 pupils with a hearing impairment were examined on two vocabulary assessment tasks: a lexical decision task and a use decision task. The target words in both tasks represent the vocabulary children should have at the end of primary school. The results showed that most hearing pupils reached this norm, whereas most hearing-impaired pupils did not. In addition, results showed that hearing-impaired pupils not only knew fewer words, but that they also knew them less well. This lack of deeper knowledge remained even when matching hearing and hearing-impaired children on minimal word knowledge. Additionally, comparison of the two tasks demonstrated the efficacy of the lexical decision task as a measure of lexical semantic knowledge

How Distinctive are ADHD and RD? Results of a Double Dissociation Study

The nature of the comorbidity between Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Reading Disability (RD) was examined using a double dissociation design. Children were between 8 and 12 years of age and entered into four groups: ADHD only (n = 24), ADHD+RD (n = 29), RD only (n = 41) and normal controls (n = 26). In total, 120 children participated in the study; 38 girls and 82 boys. Both ADHD and RD were associated with impairments in inhibition and lexical decision, although inhibition and lexical decision were more severely impaired in RD than in ADHD. Visuospatial working memory deficits were specific to children with only ADHD. It is concluded that there was overlap on lexical decision and to a lesser extent on inhibition between ADHD and RD. In ADHD, impairments were dependent on IQ, which suggest that the overlap in lexical decision and inhibition is different in origin for ADHD and RD. The ADHD only group was specifically characterized by deficits in visuospatial working memory. Hence, no double dissociation between ADHD and RD was found on executive functioning and lexical decision

De opbrengsten van geïntegreerd wetenschap en techniekonderwijs op de lerarenopleiding basisonderwijs

Verschillende onderzoekers pleiten voor het integreren van wetenschap en techniek-onderwijs met taal en rekenen-wiskunde op de lerarenopleiding. Er is echter nog weinig bekend over de effecten van een dergelijk aanbod. Om inzicht te krijgen in de reeds opgedane ervaringen van lerarenopleiders met integratie en de effecten daarvan op (de kennis en vaardigheden, houding, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) en self-efficacy van) studenten is een literatuurstudie uitgevoerd. Uit de review is gebleken dat een geïntegreerd aanbod van wetenschap en techniek, taal en/of rekenen-wiskunde in de literatuur op verschillende manieren vormgegeven wordt. In de meeste studies wordt geconcludeerd dat een geïntegreerd aanbod positief bijdraagt aan de ontwikkeling van de vakkennis en vaardigheden van studenten. Ook lijkt het een positief effect te hebben op de houding van aanstaande leraren ten aanzien van vakkenintegratie. Er zijn geen eenduidige effecten op de self-efficacy van studenten en geen resultaten met betrekking tot de PCK. Op basis van de resultaten worden verschillende aanbevelingen gedaan voor het vormgeven en uitvoeren van een geïntegreerd aanbod op de lerarenopleiding