Dialogic Reading: Language and Preliteracy Outcomes for Young Children with Disabilities

Dialogic reading is an evidence-based practice for preschool children who are typically developing or at-risk (WWC, 2007). However, there is limited research to evaluate if dialogic reading has similar positive effects on the language and preliteracy skills of preschool children with disabilities (WWC, 2010). This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of dialogic reading, with the incorporation of pause time, on the language and preliteracy skills of 42 preschool children with disabilities within 5 inclusive and 7 self-contained preschool classrooms. Following random assignment of students at the level of the classrooms, participants were equally distributed into an intervention (n=21) and a comparison group (n=21). The intervention consisted of dialogic reading, with the incorporation of pause time, based on the Read Together, Talk Together (RTTT; Pearson Early Learning, 2006) program kit. The targeted outcomes were receptive language skills, expressive language skills, and preliteracy skills. Children received either dialogic reading or typical storybook reading for 10 to 15 minutes per day, three days per week, for six weeks (i.e., 18 sessions in total) in small groups. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4th Edition (PPVT-4; Dunn & Dunn, 2007), Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test-4th Edition (EOWPVT-4; Martin & Brownell, 2011), Get Ready to Read!-Revised (GRTR-R; Whitehurst & Lonigan, 2010), and the ‘Which One Doesn’t Belong’ and Picture Naming subtests of the Individual Growth and Development Indicators of Early Literacy (IGDIs-EL; McConnell, Bradfield, Wackerle-Hollman, & Rodriquez, 2012) were used as pre and posttest assessments. A researcher developed near transfer test of receptive and expressive vocabulary words was also administered pre and post intervention to determine if words specifically targeted during the intervention were learned. These standardized and researcher developed measures were analyzed with one-way ANCOVAs, using pretest scores and age as covariates to determine within and between group differences. The Johnson-Neyman procedure was utilized as necessary when violations of heterogeneity of slopes occurred. Following the intervention period, children in the intervention group scored significantly higher on the receptive and expressive near transfer vocabulary assessments. This occurred both for words that were specifically targeted during dialogic reading, as well as additional vocabulary words in the storybook

Evaluating a Metric to Predict the Academic and Clinical Success of Master’s Students in Speech-Language Pathology

Speech-Language Pathology is one of the fastest growing professions in the United States. As such graduate programs have become inundated with applications to their programs in Speech-Language Pathology. Admissions committees often use GPA scores and GRE scores to determine the merit of an undergraduate student for acceptance into their graduate programs. This study examines a metric created to predict the success of graduate students in their academic and clinical work. It was determined that a metric that equally weighs GRE and GPA scores was not particularly predictive of graduate school success. Presented in this work is a new metric that weighs GRE and GPA scores uniquely. This new metric was able to reliably predict the success of students for both academic and clinical coursework in Speech-Language Pathology

Parental Nutrition Health Literacy

Executive Summary Parental Nutrition Health Literacy and Children’s Health Problem: The problem identified in the following study is that overweight and obesity is associated with comorbidities that contribute to chronic diseases such as depression, decreased academic performance, type 2 diabetes, cardiac disease and others (Allesio, 2018; Barlow & Expert Committee, 2007). Demographics reveal obesity prevalence among children and adolescents to be 18.9% in the lowest income group, 19.9% in the middle-income group, and 10.9% in the highest income group (CDC, 2018). School and home environments are especially influential in affecting school-age children’s health behaviors (Luesse, Paul, Koch, Contendo, & Marsick, 2018). The PICO question is, “Will the nutrition literacy of parents of school age children in a low- and a high-income community be improved after a nutrition education intervention?”. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify trends in nutrition health literacy among parents of diverse backgrounds. The trends identified may assist in the direction of future studies in order to implement tools that will improve the nutrition knowledge of parents. This information will translate into practices that will benefit the nutritional health status of their children. If these healthy practices are implemented into the family routine, the children will reduce their basis for chronic diseases that are nutrition related and that begin early in development. Goals: The goal is to improve the nutrition literacy of parents because health literacy of parents is directly related to their BMI’s and this is predictive of their children’s BMI’s (Morrison, Power, Nicklas &Hughes, 2013). Objectives: The objectives of the project include the use of a nutrition literacy survey (NLit), with known validity and reliability to assess if an education intervention improved nutrition literacy of parents. By implementing nutrition education to parents, they will have increased awareness of the health consequences of poor nutritional behaviors. Plan: The plan is to provide and advocate for nutrition literacy programs for parents in all communities through public venues in cooperation with community partners, especially in at-risk areas. Outcomes and Results: The pre-and post-nutrition education intervention surveys were analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics that were run using IBM SPSS software. There was an aggregate sample of 30 obtained for the study. The outcome and results of this study are very positive based on the statistical analysis generated. The paired-sample t-test of the aggregate samples shows a pre-and post-intervention mean of correct answers of 30.12 and 34.27, respectively with a sig. (two-tailed) p-value of .000. We reject the null hypothesis for the aggregate group. H0: (t=-2.752, p=.000). This indicates that the means are statistically different and there was an improvement in overall nutrition-literacy scores after the nutrition education intervention. Individual results from each group show improvement in the post-education intervention surveys as well. The Cronbach’s alpha statistic was .929 for the study which indicates excellent internal consistency

Effect of Water Levels and Beach Availability on Waterfront Homes

Previous hedonic pricing models have studied in depth the aesthetic value of views, as well as the recreational value of proximity to waterfronts. This study examines the same proximity and aesthetic effects in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and builds in the effect of changing water levels and beach availability on those implicit values. Results indicate that aesthetic effects of living adjacent to the waterfront, as well as proximity, are insignificant. Water levels are negatively correlated with home prices, but this effect is not magnified or dimmed for waterfront homes. Beach availability has an ambiguous effect on home prices; statistical significance was found to be positive and negative depending on the specification

Using Ability Grouping to Examine the Effects of Differentiated Instruction in an Undergraduate Course in Communication Sciences & Disorders

Differentiated instruction is a student-centered approach to instruction that considers the differing characteristics and aspects of the learner. With increasing diversity in higher education, differentiated instruction is one strategy that instructors may use to facilitate student success. However, there is limited empirical research examining the effectiveness of differentiated instruction in higher education. Using a quasi-experimental pretest posttest group design, the effects of differentiation of instruction, specifically differentiation of content and variable grouping, on student content knowledge were examined in an undergraduate course in a Communication Sciences and Disorders program. Students in the intervention group scored significantly higher on final course grades and one unit posttest following participation in the intervention. Overall, the intervention group scored significantly higher on the final course grade than the comparison group. Yet, there were no significant differences between the intervention and comparison group on the final posttest scores, on the student perception survey, nor the weekly posttest quiz scores, except in the area of pragmatics. Implications for pedagogical approaches in CSD and higher education are discussed

Gender role, life satisfaction, and wellness: Androgyny in a Southwestern Ontario sample.

This study investigated the relationships among gender role and self-reported health functioning in a sample of community dwelling older adults. One hundred and two (55 female, 47 male) participants were recruited through seniors’ associations in Windsor, Ontario. Analyses of variance were conducted separately by gender to compare the self-rated physical health functioning, wellness, and life satisfaction of participants differing on classification of their gender role. For older women classified as androgynous, gender role exhibited significant effects on general wellness and life satisfaction, but not on self-reported physical health functioning. In support of Bem’s androgyny model of optimal adjustment, post-hoc analyses revealed that women who rated themselves as androgynous reported better overall wellness levels than their peers. Older men’s self-reported physical health functioning and general wellness did not differ significantly by gender role. Limitations and implications are discussed

Culture\u27s influence on the perception of OCB as in-role or extra-role

The relationship between dimensions of individual level culture-related variables (social axioms) and the categorization of organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB) as in-role versus extra-role was explored within a Canadian sample. In order to appropriately address levels-of-analysis issues, this study focused on the relationship between two variables at the same level of analysis: individual social beliefs and individual perceptions of what constitutes OCB. Results indicate that the extent to which each of the OCB dimensions were viewed as in-role versus extra-role varied considerably among participants and that this variation could in part be predicted by social beliefs. The implications of understanding culture\u27s effect on employee work behaviours and attitudes are discussed

Complicaciones de la implantación de catéteres de Tenckhoff por cirugía abierta versus cirugía minimamente invasiva.

Introducción: La diálisis peritoneal es la modalidad de terapia de remplazo renal más usada debido a su fácil manejo, además de ser el método más económico. El primer paso para que la diálisis peritoneal tenga un alto nivel de éxito es la realización de una técnica quirúrgica eficaz para la inserción del catéter de Tenckhoff. Material y métodos: Estudio prospectivo aleatorizado sobre las complicaciones de la implantación de catéteres de Tenckhoff, por cirugía abierta vs cirugía mínimamente invasiva en 30 pacientes del sexo femenino, operadas en el departamento de Cirugía Pediátrica del Hospital Roosevelt entre julio del año 2018 a junio del 2019. El objetivo fue analizar las complicaciones de la implantación de catéter Tenckhoff para el inicio de diálisis peritoneal. Resultados y discusión: Se determinó un OODS RATIO de 0.2857 y un VALOR P de 0.1743 para la asociación entre las técnicas quirúrgicas para la colocación de un catéter de Tenckhoff y las complicaciones del catéter. Conclusión: Se determinó que las pacientes intervenidas por cirugía mínimamente invasiva, son más propensas a que presenten más complicaciones en comparación con las pacientes que son intervenidas por cirugía abierta, pero estadísticamente no hay valor significativo para recomendar una técnica quirúrgica para la colocación de un catéter de diálisis. Por lo tanto, la técnica quirúrgica a utilizar para tener un acceso peritoneal en pacientes pediátricos del sexo femenino con enfermedad renal crónica que inician con diálisis peritoneal, queda a criterio del cirujano y de los recursos hospitalarios disponibles

Study of Impacts of Technology on the Future Workforce at the MDOT SHA

SHA/TU/3-01 SPR22B43Artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, natural language processing and virtual collaboration technologies are transforming the landscape of the office and administrative workforce by automating non-value added, repetitive tasks and processes, as well as supporting remote and flexible work. The scope of this study is to provide recommendations on how administrative assistants (AA) and business analyst (BA) jobs may be redesigned to better meet MDOT SHA\u2019s needs in function areas where there is a strong need for AAs and BAs. The study reviews related literature and analyzes job data provided by MDOT SHA and information collected from focus group meetings and one-on-one interviews with MDOT SHA\u2019s AAs and their managers. The study conducts job analysis and identifies gaps after assessing MDOT SHA\u2019s existing capabilities in terms of office technology infrastructure, AA and BA workforces, and related processes against its mission and strategic plan. Based on the People, Process and Technology model, the study recommends that MDOT SHA consider a digital office of the future when managing its AA workforce and adopt a Center of Excellence model managing its BA workforce. Additionally, the research team recommends that the MDOT SHA carefully consider whether additional AA staff will be needed over the next few years when conducting its strategic workforce planning. Many administrative tasks will be at least partially, if not fully, automated over the next few years. Any hours or other resources saved by a reduced need for AA services could be reallocated toward other, more pressing personnel needs. The digital office of the future offers the opportunity for more flexible work schedules, allows for work from anywhere, supports a hybrid work environment, automates repetitive tasks, reduces menial activities for human workers, and provides more opportunities for higher-value tasks such as relationship management, customer engagement, team building, innovation, creative activities, and high-level data analysis. Anticipated results include a motivated AA workforce with high productivity, efficiency and retention rate and a capable BA workforce which integrates with the functional areas and offices and supports MDOT SHA\u2019s critical mission. Implementation of recommendations, including challenges and risks, is discussed