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This study examined the development of indirect addition as an alternative for solving multidigit subtractions, by means of two learning environments in traditionally schooled third-graders in Flanders (Belgium). Thirty-five third-graders, who did not demonstrate mastery of indirect addition, participated in an Explicit (n ¼ 20) or Implicit (n ¼15) learning environment that aimed to encourage the development of indirect addition. Over a period of six weeks, children participated in nine individual sessions: four practice sessions, three test sessions, one transfer session, and one retention session. The results revealed that throughout the study indirect addition was rarely used, even by the children in the explicit learning environment. However, when indirect addition was used, it was executed very efficiently. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developmental dyslexia is characterized by severe reading and spelling difficulties that are persistent and resistant to the usual didactic measures and remedial efforts. It is well established that a major cause of these problems lies in poorly specified representations of speech sounds. One hypothesis states that this phonological deficit results from a more fundamental deficit in auditory processing. Despite substantial research effort, the specific nature of these auditory problems remains debated. A first controversy concerns the speech specificity of the auditory processing problems: Can they be reduced to more basic auditory processing, or are they specific to the perception of speech sounds? A second topic of debate concerns the extent to which the auditory problems are specific to the processing of rapidly changing temporal information or whether they encompass a broader range of complex spectro-temporal processing. By applying a balanced design with stimuli that were adequately controlled for acoustic complexity, we show that adults with dyslexia are specifically impaired at categorizing speech and nonspeech sounds that differ in terms of rapidly changing acoustic cues (i.e., temporal cues), but that they perform adequately when categorizing steady-state speech and nonspeech sounds. Thus, we show that individuals with dyslexia have an auditory temporal processing deficit that is not speech-specific. ispartof: Proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america vol:107 issue:23 pages:10389-10394 ispartof: location:United States status: published

The use of binaural pitch stimuli to test for the presence of binaural auditory impairment in reading-disabled subjects has so far led to contradictory outcomes. While some studies found that a majority of dyslexic subjects was unable to perceive binaural pitch, others obtained a clear response of dyslexic listeners to Huggins' pitch (HP). The present study clarified whether impaired binaural pitch perception is found in dyslexia. Results from a pitch contour identification test, performed in 31 dyslexic listeners and 31 matched controls, clearly showed that dyslexics perceived HP as well as the controls. Both groups also showed comparable results with a similar-sounding, but monaurally detectable, pitch-evoking stimulus. However, nine of the dyslexic subjects were found to have difficulty identifying pitch contours both in the binaural and the monaural conditions. The ability of subjects to correctly identify pitch contours was found to be significantly correlated to measures of frequency discrimination. This correlation may be attributed to the similarity of the experimental tasks and probably reflects impaired cognitive mechanisms related to auditory memory or auditory attention rather than impaired low-level auditory processing per se.

Several studies have reported significant relationships between children’s season of birth and measures of their academic success (i.e., the ‘season of birth effect’). Whereas most of these studies were cross‐sectional, the current study uses growth curve modelling to analyse longitudinal data on 3,187 children in Flemish primary education. The results indicate season of birth effects on both grade retention and mathematics achievement during the first two years of primary school. Because the Flemish cut‐off date is 31 December, children born in the fourth quarter (October‐November‐December) invariably are among the youngest in their grade age group. Almost 20% of these children were found to have been retained or referred to special education by the end of Grade 2, whereas for children born in the first quarter (January‐February‐March), this was only 6.34%. First quarter‐born children also showed moderately higher mathematics achievement at the start of first grade. During the next two school years, this...

A proportion of children with visual impairments have specific reading difficulties that cannot be easily explained. This article reviews the data on problems with braille reading and interprets them from the framework of the temporal–processing deficit theory of developmental dyslexia.

This longitudinal study examined the development of phonology and literacy in Dutch-speaking children at family risk of dyslexia and in matched controls. Measures were administered in kindergarten (before the start of formal reading instruction), in first and in third grade. Children, diagnosed with dyslexia in third grade, showed impaired phonological awareness (PA), verbal short-term memory, and rapid automatic naming ability (RAN) at all time points, with the deficit in PA aggravating over time. These children also performed more poorly in letter knowledge, word and nonword reading accuracy and speed, and spelling at each time point. Children at family risk of dyslexia who did not fulfil criteria for dyslexia, scored more poorly than low-risk controls on the literacy and phonological measures that required the most fine-grained phonological representations. This suggests that the family risk of dyslexia is continuous rather than discrete. Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that PA and RAN were initially the most important instigators of reading accuracy and reading speed, respectively. After 2 years of reading instruction, only RAN predicted reading speed and accuracy. Letter knowledge, reading accuracy, and reading speed also contributed to the development of PA.

This study examined 25 university students' use of addition to solve large single-digit subtractions by contrasting performance in the standard subtraction format (12-9=.) and in the addition format (9+.=12). In particular, we investigated the effect of the relative size of the subtrahend on performance in both formats. We found a significant interaction between format, the magnitude of the subtrahend (S) compared to the difference (D) (S>D vs. S

A disproportionally high number of children with specific language impairment (SLI) develop dyslexia. Yet it is hard to predict which individual child is at risk. This article presents a longitudinal study of phonological and early literacy development of 18 Dutch-speaking children with SLI, compared to 18 typically developing controls over a period of 2 years. These matched pairs of children were followed from 1 year before until 1 year after the start of formal literacy instruction. Children with SLI had problems with phonological awareness (PA) and verbal short-term memory (vSTM) in kindergarten. PA and vSTM in kindergarten were not good predictors for dyslexia in children with SLI, but rapid automatized naming (RAN) measured in kindergarten was strongly correlated with reading and spelling in both groups. We can infer that only SLI children who additionally failed on RAN in kindergarten developed reading and spelling problems at the end of Grade 1.

Background. Subtraction problems of the type a2 b 1⁄4 ? can be flexibly solved by various strategies, including the indirect addition (IA) strategy ‘howmuch do I have to add to b to get a?’ Although rational task analyses indicate that IA is highly efficient especially on subtractions with small differences between the integers, little research has been done on the frequency and efficiency of this strategy on different types of subtractions.

Although it has been proposed that the ability to compare numerical magnitudes is related to mathematics achievement, it is not clear whether this ability predicts individual differences in later mathematics achievement. The current study addressed this question in typically developing children by means of a longitudinal design that examined the relationship between a number comparison task assessed at the start of formal schooling (mean age=6 years 4 months) and a general mathematics achievement test administered 1 year later. Our findings provide longitudinal evidence that the size of the individual's distance effect, calculated on the basis of reaction times, was predictively related to mathematics achievement. Regression analyses showed that this association was independent of age, intellectual ability, and speed of number identification.

This study investigates elementary school children’s flexible use of mental calculation strategies on additions and subtractions in the number domain 20–100. Sixty third-graders of three different mathematical achievement levels individually solved a series of 2-digit additions and subtractions in one choice and two no-choice conditions. In the choice condition, children could choose between the compensation (56 + 29 = ?; 56 + 30 = 86, 86 − 1 = 85) and jump strategy (56 + 29 = ?; 56 + 20 = 76, 76 + 9 = 85) on each item. In the two no-choice conditions, children had to solve each item with either the compensation or the jump strategy. The results demonstrated that children of all achievement levels spontaneously applied both the compensation and the jump strategy to solve the items from the choice condition. Furthermore, they all executed the compensation strategy equally accurately, but faster than the jump strategy in the no-choice conditions. Finally, children neither took into account the expected task nor individual strategy efficiency characteristics during the strategy choice process. Results are discussed in terms of recent models of adaptive strategy choices and instructional practices in the number domain 20–100.

Summer learning studies have been set up to investigate the evolution of initial group differences in academic achievement, for example, between low- and high-socioeconomic status (SES) children. Moreover, this approach has been used to demonstrate the absolute effect of going to school on children's learning. In the present study, we used multilevel piecewise linear growth modeling to analyze growth in mathematics skills throughout kindergarten and 1st grade. First, we added to the evidence of an absolute schooling effect by demonstrating that average learning rates were faster during both school years than during the intervening summer vacation. Second, mathematics achievement gaps between children from different socioeconomic, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds were found to remain stable during kindergarten and the summer vacation. During 1st grade, however, the ethnic and linguistic achievement gaps disappeared, whereas the SES achievement gap remained unchanged. Finally, we found no evidence for sch...

This longitudinal study examined the relationship between working memory and individual differences in mathematics. Working memory measures, comprising the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the central executive, were administered at the start of first grade. Mathematics achievement was assessed 4 months later (at the middle of first grade) and 1 year later (at the start of second grade). Working memory was significantly related to mathematics achievement in both grades, showing that working memory clearly predicts later mathematics achievement. The central executive was a unique predictor of both first- and second-grade mathematics achievement. There were age-related differences with regard to the contribution of the slave systems to mathematics performance; the visuospatial sketchpad was a unique predictor of first-grade, but not second-grade, mathematics achievement, whereas the phonological loop emerged as a unique predictor of second-grade, but not first-grade, mathematics achievement.

Subtraction problems of the type a – b = ? can be flexibly solved by various strategies, including the indirect addition strategy ("how much do I have to add to b to get at a?"). Little research has been done on the use of the indirect addition strategy with multi-digit numbers. The present literature review entails a summary of three recent and closely related studies conducted by the authors on this issue. The results of our first study revealed that young adults efficiently and flexibly applied indirect addition on 3-digit subtractions. The results of our second and third study showed that elementary school children seldom used indirect addition on 2-digit subtractions, despite its computational efficiency. This held true even in children who received school-based instruction in the strategy. We end with a discussion of some theoretical, methodological, and educational implications of the studies being reviewed.

This article discusses the characteristics of the indirect addition strategy (IA) in the domain of multi-digit subtraction. In two studies, adults' use of IA on three-digit subtractions with a small, medium, or large difference between the integers was analysed using the choice/no-choice method. Results from both studies indicate that adults spontaneously apply IA on three-digit subtractions, and use IA with the same frequency as direct subtraction (DS) strategies. Furthermore, IA resulted in faster responses – without any loss in accuracy – than DS. Finally, adults flexibly applied IA and DS strategies on the basis of task and individual strategy performance characteristics. Our results support theoretical models on adaptive strategy choices, and question instructional practices focusing on the routine mastery of only DS.

This study aimed at analysing traditionally taught children’s acquisition and use of shortcut strategies in the number domain 20–100. One-hundred-ninety-five second, third, and fourth graders of different mathematical achievement levels participated in the study. They were administered two tasks, both consisting of a series of two-digit additions and subtractions that maximally elicit the use of the compensation $$\left( {45 + 29 = \_;45 + 30 - 1 = 75 - 1 = 74} \right)$$ and indirect addition strategy ( $$71 - 68 = \_;\,68 + 2 = 70,\,70 + 1 = 71$$ , so the answer is 2 + 1 or 3). In the first task, children were instructed to solve all items as accurately and as fast as possible with their preferred strategy. The second task was to generate at least two different strategies for each item. Results demonstrated that children of all grades and all achievement levels hardly applied the compensation and indirect addition strategy in the first task. Children’s strategy reports in the second task revealed that younger and lower achieving children did not apply these strategies because they did not (yet) discover these strategies. By contrast, older and higher achieving children appeared to have acquired these strategies by themselves. Results are interpreted in relation to cognitive psychological and socio-cultural perspectives on children’s mathematics learning.

The general magnocellular theory postulates that dyslexia is the consequence of a multimodal deficit in the processing of transient and dynamic stimuli. In the auditory modality, this deficit has been hypothesized to interfere with accurate speech perception, and subsequently disrupt the development of phonological and later reading and spelling skills. In the visual modality, an analogous problem might interfere with literacy development by affecting orthographic skills. In this prospective longitudinal study, we tested dynamic auditory and visual processing, speech-in-noise perception, phonological ability and orthographic ability in 62 five-year-old preschool children. Predictive relations towards first grade reading and spelling measures were explored and the validity of the global magnocellular model was evaluated using causal path analysis. In particular, we demonstrated that dynamic auditory processing was related to speech perception, which itself was related to phonological awareness. Similarly, dynamic visual processing was related to orthographic ability. Subsequently, phonological awareness, orthographic ability and verbal short-term memory were unique predictors of reading and spelling development.

It has been suggested that high levels of prenatal testosterone exposure are implied in the aetiology of dyslexia and its frequently cooccurring sensory problems. This study examined 2D : 4D digit ratio (a marker of fetal testosterone exposure) in dyslexic and normal reading children. No group diierences in 2D : 4D were observed. Digit ratio did not show the postulated relation with reading, spelling, phonological ability, speech perception, auditory processing and visual processing. These ¢ndings challenge the validity of theories that allocate a prominent role to fetal testosterone exposure in the aetiology of dyslexia and its sensory impairments. NeuroReport 18:1487^1491 � c 2007 Lippincott Williams &W ilkins.

More than a decade has passed since Rwanda was plunged into the most atrocious genocide of our time. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost and many more were left in desperate conditions. The ec...

This study investigates whether the core bottleneck of literacy-impairment should be situated at the phonological level or at a more basic sensory level, as postulated by supporters of the auditory temporal processing theory. Phonological ability, speech perception and low-level auditory processing were assessed in a group of 5-year-old pre-school children at high-family risk for dyslexia, compared to a group of well-matched low-risk control children. Based on family risk status and first grade literacy achievement children were categorized in groups and pre-school data were retrospectively reanalyzed. On average, children showing both increased family risk and literacy-impairment at the end of first grade, presented significant pre-school deficits in phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, speech-in-noise perception and frequency modulation detection. The concurrent presence of these deficits before receiving any formal reading instruction, might suggest a causal relation with problematic literacy development. However, a closer inspection of the individual data indicates that the core of the literacy problem is situated at the level of higher-order phonological processing. Although auditory and speech perception problems are relatively over-represented in literacy-impaired subjects and might possibly aggravate the phonological and literacy problem, it is unlikely that they would be at the basis of these problems. At a neurobiological level, results are interpreted as evidence for dysfunctional processing along the auditory-to-articulation stream that is implied in phonological processing, in combination with a relatively intact or inconsistently impaired functioning of the auditory-to-meaning stream that subserves auditory processing and speech perception.

Current neurocognitive theories of number processing [Dehaene, S., Piazza, M., Pinel, P., & Cohen, L. (2003). Three parietal circuits for number processing. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 20, 487-506] state that mathematical performance is made possible by two functionally and anatomically distinct subsystems of number processing: a verbal system located in the angular gyrus, which underlies the retrieval of arithmetic facts, and a quantity system located in the intraparietal sulcus, which subserves operations that involve semantic manipulations of quantity. According to this model, subtypes of math disability (MD) should be traceable to differential impairments in these subsystems. The present study investigated MD in children with velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS) and aimed to verify which of these subsystems of number processing is impaired in these children. Eleven children with VCFS and 11 individually matched controls, selected from the same classes, completed a large battery of mathematical tests. Our data revealed that children with VCFS had preserved number reading abilities and preserved retrieval of arithmetic facts, both of which indicate that the verbal subsystem is not impaired in VCFS. By contrast, children with VCFS showed difficulties in number comparison, the execution of a calculation strategy and word problem solving, all of which involve the semantic manipulation of quantities. This provides evidence for a specific deficit in the quantity subsystem in children with VCFS, suggesting underlying abnormalities in the intraparietal sulcus.

Mathematical difficulties have been documented following pediatric mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), yet a precise characterization of these impairments and their neural correlates is currently unavailable. We aimed to characterize these impairments by comparing behavioral and neuroimaging (i.e. diffusion tensor imaging or DTI) outcomes from children with subacute mTBI to typically developing controls. Twenty subacute pediatric mTBI patients and 20 well-matched controls underwent cognitive assessment and DTI examination. DTI tractography was used to detect white matter abnormalities in the corpus callosum (CC) and superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculi; these tracts are involved in mathematical performance and they are often damaged after mTBI. Behavioral results revealed that children with mTBI performed significantly more poorly on rapid apprehension of small numbers of objects (or ‘subitizing’), processing of non-symbolic numerosities and procedural problem solving. These group differences were explained by differences in visuospatial working memory, which suggests that the observed mathematical difficulties may be a consequence of impairments in visuospatial abilities. DTI analysis revealed subtle group differences in the CC genu and splenium, i.e. higher fractional anisotropy and lower mean and radial diffusivity in children with mTBI, but the observed white matter abnormalities of the CC were not significantly associated with the observed mathematical difficulties in the mTBI patients. ispartof: Journal of Neurotrauma vol:32 issue:20 pages:1567-1578 ispartof: location:United States status: published

This study examines the role of morphological awareness (MA) in literacy achievement and compensation in word reading of adults with dyslexia through an exploration of three questions: (1) Do adult dyslexics demonstrate a deficit in MA, and how is this potential deficit related to phonological awareness (PA)? (2) Does MA contribute independently to literacy skills equally in dyslexics and control readers? and (3) Do MA and PA skills differ in compensated and noncompensated dyslexics? A group of dyslexic and normal reading university students matched for age, education and IQ participated in this study. Group analysis demonstrated an MA deficit in dyslexics; as well, MA was found to significantly predict a greater proportion of word reading and spelling within the dyslexic group compared with the controls. Compensated dyslexics were also found to perform significantly better on the morphological task than noncompensated dyslexics. Additionally, no statistical difference was observed in MA between the normal reading controls and the compensated group (independent of PA and vocabulary). Results suggest that intact and strong MA skills contribute to the achieved compensation of this group of adults with dyslexia. Implications for MA based intervention strategies for people with dyslexia are discussed.

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies have shown that left temporoparietal white matter is related to phonological aspects of reading. However, DTI lacks the sensitivity to disentangle whether phonological processing is sustained by intrahemispheric connections, interhemispheric connections, or projection tracts. Spherical deconvolution (SD) is a nontensor model which enables a more accurate estimation of multiple fiber directions in crossing fiber regions. Hence, this study is the first to investigate whether the observed relation with reading aspects in left temporoparietal white matter is sustained by a particular pathway by applying a nontensor model. Second, measures of degree of diffusion anisotropy, which indirectly informs about white matter organization, were compared between DTI and SD tractography. In this study, 71 children (5–6 years old) participated. Intrahemispheric, interhemispheric, and projection pathways were delineated using DTI and SD tractography. Anisotropy indices were extracted, that is, fractional anisotropy (FA) in DTI and quantitative hindrance modulated orientational anisotropy (HMOA) in SD. DTI results show that diffusion anisotropy in both the intrahemispheric and projection tracts was positively correlated to phonological awareness; however, the effect was confounded by subjects’ motion. In SD, the relation was restricted to the left intrahemispheric connections. A model comparison suggested that FA was, relatively to HMOA, more confounded by fiber crossings; however, anisotropy indices were highly related. In sum, this study shows the potential of SD to quantify white matter microstructure in regions containing crossing fibers. More specifically, SD analyses show that phonological awareness is sustained by left intrahemispheric connections and not interhemispheric or projection tracts. Hum Brain Mapp 36:3273–3287, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

DIESEL-X is a computer game that was developed to detect a high risk for developing dyslexia in preschoolers. The game includes three mini-games that test the player on three skills that are considered to yield outcome measures that predict the onset of dyslexia: the detection threshold of frequency modulated tones, a test on phonological awareness in which the player has to identify words that have the same phonetic ending, and a test on letter knowledge. In order to keep the motivation of the player high during testing, these tests are embedded in a computer game. We discuss the participatory design process that was adopted to design and develop the game, the rationale behind the design decisions, and we describe the resulting games.

© 2014 Elsevier Inc. The present longitudinal study investigated whether children's numerical processing skills at the start of formal schooling predict subsequent development in single-digit arithmetic and fact retrieval. At the start of first grade, we administered measures of numerical processing (digit naming, symbolic numerical magnitude comparison, nonsymbolic numerical magnitude comparison) as well as measures of intellectual ability, preschool mathematical abilities, working memory and processing speed. Our longitudinal data indicate that children's numerical processing skills at primary school entrance were predictively related to their future competence in single-digit arithmetic and their reliance on arithmetic fact retrieval. This association was not explained by children's intellectual ability, preschool mathematical abilities, verbal working memory, visual-spatial short-term memory and processing speed. These findings indicate that numerical processing skills precede children's development in single-digit arithmetic. publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Does numerical processing uniquely predict first graders’ future development of single-digit arithmetic? journaltitle: Learning and Individual Differences articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2014.12.004 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ispartof: Learning & Individual Differences vol:37 pages:153-160 status: published

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Paediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been associated with acute and long-term mathematical difficulties. Little is known about the recovery of these impairments in children with mild TBI (mTBI) and their underlying pathophysiology, such as white matter abnormalities. RESEARCH DESIGN: A prospective longitudinal study followed the recovery of mathematical abilities and white matter in children with mTBI from the sub-acute (1 month post-injury) to chronic stage (6-8 months post-injury) of recovery. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Twenty children with mTBI and 20 matched controls completed mathematics tests. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) metrics of white matter pathways corpus callosum (CC), superior and longitudinal fasciculi were examined with DTI-tractography. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Mathematical difficulties and white matter abnormalities in the CC observed shortly after the injury resolved after 6-8 months of recovery. Children with mTBI continued to show working memory deficits. Longitudinal DTI data suggest continued maturation of the CC in controls, but little maturation of the damaged CC in children with mTBI. CONCLUSIONS: Children with mTBI recovered in terms of mathematical abilities and white matter. These children continued to show working memory deficits, which might interfere with learning at school. peerreview_statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope. aims_and_scope_url: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=ibij20 ispartof: Brain Injury vol:29 issue:13 pages:1701-1710 ispartof: location:England status: published

This paper first presents a critical analysis of an existing game (APEX), designed by researchers in psychoacoustics only, to measure psychoacoustic thresholds in preschoolers. Next it presents another game (DIESEL-X), designed by dyslexia researchers and game designers, to remediate the shortcomings of the former game. Via a repeated measures experiment (n = 95), the game experience, attention, and psychoacoustic thresholds are compared. It is shown that the children prefer the game experience of DIESEL-X over APEX. Moreover, the former game was able to measure lower frequency-modulation thresholds than APEX. These results demonstrate that when it comes down to game-based assessment of children’s perceptual capabilities, not all games are equal, and that the quality of game design not only has an effect on game experience, but equally on the scientific measurements obtained via such a game-based assessment. no ISSN ispartof: pages:331-341 ispartof: Proceedings of ACM CHIPLAY conference 2015 pages:331-341 ispartof: CHIPLAY location:London status: published

Objective: Currently, there is no up to date speech perception test available in the Estonian language that may be used to diagnose hearing loss and quantify speech intelligibility. Therefore, based on the example of the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Audiologie (NVA)-lists (Bosman, 1989; Wouters et al., 1994) an Estonian words in noise (EWIN) test has been developed. Design: Two experimental steps were carried out: 1) selection and perceptual optimization of the monosyllables, 2) construction of 14 lists and an evaluation in normal hearing (NH) subjects both in noise and in quiet. Study sample: Thirty-six NH native speakers of Estonian (age range from 17 to 46 years). Results: The reference psychometric curve for NH subjects was determined, with the slope and speech reception threshold being well in accordance with the respective values of the NVA lists. The 14 lists in noise yielded equivalent scores with a high precision. Conclusion: The EWIN test is a reliable and valid speech intelligibility test, and is the first of its kind in the Estonian language. peerreview_statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope. aims_and_scope_url: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=iija20 ispartof: International Journal of Audiology vol:54 issue:8 pages:573-578 ispartof: location:England status: published

The aim of the study was to analyze the development of children's adaptive expertise in computing sums and differences up to 100.We defined the adaptive nature of children's strategy choices on the basis of problem (addition, subtraction), achievement, and strategy performance (accuracy, speed). Sixty-nine 2nd graders of high, above-average, or below-average mathematical achievement level solved 4 types of additions and subtractions before and after regular classroom instruction in the topic. In both assessments, children answered the problems in a choice condition, in which they could choose between the jump strategy (45 + 28 = __; 45 + 20 = 65, 65 + 8 = 73) and the split strategy (45 + 28 = __; 40 + 20 = 60, 5 + 8 = 13, 60 + 13 = 73) on each problem, and in two no-choice conditions, where they had to solve all problems with either the jump or the split strategy. Our results revealed differences in children's strategy choices on both assessments. The choices of high achievers indicated that they fit thei...

In this study, we examine to what extent psychosocial student outcomes in primary school children vary between classes, and whether elements of teaching can explain some of this variation. Starting with a sample of 379 kindergarten children out of 24 classes, academic achievement and behaviour problems were assessed in 2 consecutive years. Additionally, a set of teaching characteristics was measured in the first grade. Academic as well as behavioural adjustment variables displayed around 20% of class-level variance. The teaching variables seemed to explain more of the variance in psychosocial adjustment than they did in academic achievement. The findings emphasise the importance of psychosocial educational effectiveness for research as well as for teaching.

Although the impact of parent characteristics and parenting practices on the development of behavioural problems in childhood is often recognised, only a few research programmes have assessed the unique contributions of negative parenting as well as the parent personality characteristics in the same study. Using the Five Factor Model, we examined the extent to which mothers' and father's personality characteristics were related to parenting and children's externalising behaviour in a proportional stratified sample of 599 nonclinical elementary school-aged children. Path analysis indicated that negative parenting practices and parents personality characteristics operate together to predict children's externalising problem behaviour. Consistent with past research (Patterson & Dishion, 1988; Patterson, Reid, & Dishion, 1992), parent personality traits were indirectly related to children's externalising problem behaviour. Their effect was mediated by negative parenting practices. But in addition and in contrast to Patterson's theoretical model, parent personality traits also contributed directly to children's externalising problem behaviour. For the mother data, as well as for the father data, the personality dimensions Emotional Stability and Conscientiousness were negatively and Autonomy was positively related to children's externalising problem behaviours.

In this study, we investigated the fluency with which first graders of different mathematical achievement levels applied multiple, school-taught strategies for finding arithmetic sums over 10. We characterized children's strategies with the 4 parameters of Lemaire and Siegler's (1995) model of strategy change (strategy repertoire, distribution, efficiency, and selection) using the choice/no-choice method (Siegler & Lemaire, 1997). Eighty-three first graders who had been taught 2 reasoning strategies (decomposition-to-10 and tie) solved a series of near ties over 10 (such as 8 + 7 = .) in 4 different conditions. In the choice condition, children could choose between the decomposition-to-10 and the tie strategy on each near tie. In the 3 no-choice conditions, they had to solve all sums with decomposition-to-10, tie, and retrieval strategies, respectively. High-achieving first graders applied these strategies more efficiently but not more adaptively than did their lower achieving peers. We interpret these re...

In this concluding article we discuss how the different contributors of this special issue deal with the methodological challenges in special needs education research. The shift from an individual perspective towards an interactional and systemic point of view in special educational needs research has introduced research methods that are able to describe the complexity and the recursiveness of the social reality under study. The different studies presented in this issue provide interesting illustrations of some of these methods. The discussion of these studies makes it clear that social cultural theory is a useful framework for research on special needs education. It is suggested that in their investigations researchers should attach importance to the meaning of discourse and keep their minds open to change and new challenges.

Research on special needs education is often very complex and puts specific demands on the methodology used. Data‐triangulation, at the very least, is required. In most of our recent research projects on the development of special needs education in Flanders (the Dutch speaking part of Belgium), we have made use of qualitative case studies to describe and understand the complex reality of the innovations taking place in our schools. In this article we discuss some methodological aspects of qualitative case study designs, illustrated with a study on the implementation of inclusive education in Flemish primary schools.

This study investigated ability-related differences in strategy use and development in the domain of simple arithmetic, in terms of the model of strategic change, using the choice/no-choice method and the chronological-age/ability-level-match design. Twenty-six second-graders with strong mathematical abilities (MA), 25 second-graders with weak MA, and 20 third-graders matched on MA with the strong second-graders solved 36 additions and subtractions with the bridge over 10 in 4 conditions. In the choice condition, children could choose between retrieval, decomposition to 10, and counting on. In the three no-choice conditions, they had to solve all problems with retrieval, decomposition to 10, or counting on. Results revealed differences in strategy use between strong and weak second-graders, but not between strong second-graders and matched third-graders, which indicates that the strategy development of children with weaker MA is marked by a delay. The theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of the study are discussed in detail.

Negative discipline has been linked to childhood externalizing behaviour. However, relatively little attention has been given to the potential effect of individual personality characteristics of children and parents. Using the Five Factor Model, we examined the extent to which parents' and children's personality characteristics were related to parenting and children's externalizing behaviour in a proportional stratified general population sample (N=599) of elementary‐school‐aged children. Based on Patterson's macromodel of parenting, an initial model was built, hypothesizing that the impact of parents' and child's personality dimensions on externalizing problems was fully mediated by negative discipline. Results supported a modified model that added direct pathways between parent and child personality characteristics and externalizing problem behaviour. For the mother data, as well as for the father data, children's Extraversion and Imagination were positively related to children's externalizing problem behaviours. Children's Benevolence and Conscientiousness and parents' Emotional Stability were negatively related to externalizing problem behaviours. For the mother data, maternal Agreeableness was positively related to externalizing problem behaviours too. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this paper, similarities and differences are outlined between adults with self reported learning disabilities (SRLD) drawn from the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) data on adult literacy in The Netherlands and Flanders. These results are discussed in terms of striking differences in the educational context within which the adults developed. The literacy skills of SRLD adults in The Netherlands are superior to SRLD adults in Flanders. This is interpreted in terms of societal acceptance of disability. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article describes a limited longitudinal European study of young children’s early numeracy development within three testing cycles, onaverage, at the mid-point and towards the end of their fifth to sixth year and again at the mid-point of their sixth to seventh year. Assessment was carried out using the Utrecht Early Numeracy Test (ENT) (Van Luit, Van de Rijt and Pennings, 1994). The multilevel modelling method of analysis used for the study provided an extension of multiple regression to incorporate the hierarchical structure of the data collected, with boys and girls of different social-economic status, nested within different institutions within different countries. The results showed that the ENT was a useful tool for international comparison. The finding that differences between countrieswere negligible was surprising bearing in mind that the English pupils werein formal schooling throughout the testing cycle, the Belgian, German, Greek and Dutch children from the mid-point, and the Slovene children, not at all.

Parenting practices have been previously linked to childhood externalizing behaviour. However, little attention has been given to the potential effect of individual personality differences among children on this relation. The current study assesses the additive effects of children's personality characteristics and explores the moderating effects of children's personality on relations between parenting practices and childhood externalizing behaviour using a proportional stratified sample of 599 nonclinical elementary‐school‐aged children. Multiple regression analyses reveal that in the mother data as well as in the father data, dysfunctional parenting and the children's personality characteristics Benevolence, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion were directly related to outcomes consistent with an additive model of their effects. Significant interactions indicate that children with low scores on Benevolence who were exposed to overreactive discipline practices exhibited higher levels of externalizing behaviour. Children characterized by low scores on Conscientiousness who were exposed to coercive parenting behaviour showed elevated levels of externalizing behaviour. These results suggest that integrating children's personality characteristics within parenting models can improve the understanding of the aetiology of childhood externalizing problem behaviour. The implications of such integrations for intervention are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article describes a research project about the development of early numeracy in 5- to 7-year-old Flemish children compared to their Dutch peers. A group of Flemish children was tested 3 times by means of a slightly adapted Flemish version of the Utrecht Early Numeracy Test, and their results were compared to the development of those of a comparable group of Dutch children. The first and the second assessment took place, respectively, at the middle and at the end of the last year of preprimary education, and the third assessment at the middle of the first year of primary education. The results indicate that the Early Numeracy Test is a moderately reliable and construct valid instrument to assess the general early numeracy. At the time of the first assessment Flemish children scored worse on the test than their Dutch peers. However, they showed a faster progression between the first and the third assessment, resulting in a catch up with their Dutch peers at the third assessment. The results are interpr...

In this study we investigated the variability, frequency, efficiency, and adaptiveness of young children’s strategy use in the domain of simple addition by means of the choice/no-choice method. Seventy-seven beginning second-graders, divided in 3 groups according to general mathematical ability, solved a series of 25 simple additions in 3 different conditions. In the first condition, children could choose whatever strategy they wanted to solve each problem. In the second and third condition, the same children had to solve all problems with one particular strategy, respectively adding up to 10 and retrieval. The results demonstrate that second-graders as a whole choose adaptively between retrieval, decomposition, and counting strategies when solving simple additions, and that they use these strategies neither equally frequently nor equally efficiently. Furthermore, our results indicate that children with different mathematical ability use generally the same strategies to solve these problems, but differ in the frequency, accuracy and adaptiveness with which they apply these strategies. Finally, this study documents the value of the choice/no-choice method to assess the adaptiveness of young children’s strategy use in the domain of early arithmetic.

This paper presents the results of a qualitative multiple-case study on the implementation of inclusive education and the factors that support or hinder this innovation process in Flemish primary schools. Semi-structured interviews with all persons concerned have been analysed making use of an innovation process model. This resulted in a detailed description of the innovation process in 10 mainstream primary schools. The results of a cross-site analysis show that in the sample schools the first steps had been taken towards inclusive education but that the initiatives were on a very limited scale and the results were variable. Internal and external cooperation and consultation seem to be important positive factors in this implementation process. The fact that teachers still consider children with special educational needs to be a special ('defective') group hinders the development of a truly inclusive vision and practice.

In the brain, the temporal analysis of many important auditory features relies on the synchronized firing of neurons to the auditory input rhythm. These so-called neural oscillations play a crucial role in sensory and cognitive processing and deviances in oscillatory activity have shown to be associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. Given the importance of neural auditory oscillations in normal and impaired sensory and cognitive functioning, there has been growing interest in their developmental trajectory from early childhood on. In the present study, neural auditory processing was investigated in typically developing young children (n = 40) and adults (n = 27). In all participants, auditory evoked theta, beta and gamma responses were recorded. The results of this study show maturational differences between children and adults in neural auditory processing at cortical as well as at brainstem level. Neural background noise at cortical level was shown to be higher in children compared to adults. In addition, higher theta response amplitudes were measured in children compared to adults. For beta and gamma rate modulations, different processing asymmetry patterns were observed between both age groups. The mean response phase was also shown to differ significantly between children and adults for all rates. Results suggest that cortical auditory processing of beta develops from a general processing pattern into a more specialized asymmetric processing preference over age. Moreover, the results indicate an enhancement of bilateral representation of monaural sound input at brainstem with age. A dissimilar efficiency of auditory signal transmission from brainstem to cortex along the auditory pathway between children and adults is suggested. These developmental differences might be due to both functional experience-dependent as well as anatomical changes. The findings of the present study offer important information about maturational differences between children and adults for responses to theta, beta and gamma rates. The current study can have important implications for the understanding of developmental disorders which are known to be associated with deviances in neural auditory processing. publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Theta, beta and gamma rate modulations in the developing auditory system journaltitle: Hearing Research articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2015.06.011 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ispartof: Hearing Research vol:327 pages:153-162 ispartof: location:Netherlands status: published

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relation between two dimensions of parenting (Positive Parenting and Negative Behavioral Control) and child psychosocial functioning, such as self-worth and prob- lem behavior. We investigated (a) whether socioeconomic status moderates the relationship between parenting and child psychosocial outcomes, (b) whether parenting mediates the relation between socioeconomic status and psychosocial functioning in a Peruvian context and finally, (c) whether there are interaction effects between positive parenting and negative behav- ioral control. Information was gathered on 591 Peruvian children and their families from the normal population in urban zones of Metropolitan Lima. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to investigate di- rect and indirect effects (mediation and moderation). Results revealed a significant mediation effect of positive parenting and negative behavioral control in the relationship between socioeconomic status and self-worth. Implications about the role played by context are discussed.

The current longitudinal study tried to capture profiles of individual differences in children’s arithmetic fact development. We used a model-based clustering approach (Banfield & Raftery, 1993) to delineate profiles of arithmetic fact development, based upon empirically derived differences in parameters of arithmetic fact mastery repeatedly assessed at the start of three subsequent school years, i.e. third, fourth and fifth grade. This cluster analysis revealed three profiles in a random sample – slow and variable (n = 8), average (n = 24) and efficient (n = 20) ‒ that were marked by differences in children’s development in arithmetic fact mastery from third to fifth grade. These profiles did not differ in terms of age, sex, socioeconomic status and intellectual ability. We, additionally, explored whether these profiles varied in cognitive skills that have been associated with individual differences in single-digit arithmetic. The three profiles differed in nonsymbolic and symbolic numerical magnitude processing as well as phonological processing, but not in digit naming or working memory. After cluster differences in general mathematics achievement and reading ability were additionally controlled for, only differences in symbolic numerical magnitude processing remained significant. Taken together, our longitudinal data reveal that symbolic numerical magnitude processing represents an important variable that contributes to subject variability in children’s acquisition of arithmetic facts. publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Profiles of children’s arithmetic fact development: A model-based clustering approach journaltitle: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2015.01.003 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ispartof: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology vol:133 pages:29-46 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is thought to arise from difficulties in the ability to process numerical magnitudes. Most research relied on IQ-discrepancy based definitions of DD and only included individuals with normal IQ, yet little is known about the role of intelligence in the association between numerical magnitude processing and mathematical difficulties (MD). The present study examined numerical magnitude processing in matched groups of 7- to 8-year-olds (n=42) who had either discrepant MD (poor math scores, average IQ), nondiscrepant MD (poor math scores, below-average IQ) or no MD. Both groups of children with MD showed similar impairments in numerical magnitudes processing compared to controls, suggesting that the association between numerical magnitude processing deficits and MD is independent of intelligence. publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Numerical magnitude processing deficits in children with mathematical difficulties are independent of intelligence journaltitle: Research in Developmental Disabilities articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2014.06.022 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ispartof: Research in Developmental Disabilities vol:35 issue:11 pages:2603-2613 ispartof: location:United States status: published

The main focus of this article is to develop a better understanding of the developmental trajectories of literacy and phonological skills within Dutch-speaking children. Children at high and low risk for dyslexia were followed and compared at four different moments: kindergarten and first, third and sixth grades. Three groups were then compared: (1) dyslexic readers; (2) normal readers at high risk for dyslexia; and (3) normal readers at low risk for dyslexia. Children diagnosed with dyslexia scored lower than high-risk normal readers on phonological awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), verbal short-term memory and literacy skills. Normal readers at high risk scored between both groups, confirming that dyslexia is to be considered as a continuum rather than an all-or-none condition. Growth analyses showed that the three groups evolved similarly on all measures except for phoneme deletion and literacy measures. Finally, solely PA and RAN explained a significant amount of variance in the evolution of reading skills.