Skills In School-age Children Research Articles

The Not-So-Slight Perceptual Consequences of Slight Hearing Loss in School-Age Children: A Scoping Review.

This study aimed to conduct a scoping review of research exploring the effects of slight hearing loss on auditory and speech perception in children. A comprehensive search conducted in August 2023 identified a total of 402 potential articles sourced from eight prominent bibliographic databases. These articles were subjected to rigorous evaluation for inclusion criteria, specifically focusing on their reporting of speech or auditory perception using psychoacoustic tasks. The selected studies exclusively examined school-age children, encompassing those between 5 and 18 years of age. Following rigorous evaluation, 10 articles meeting these criteria were selected for inclusion in the review. The analysis of included articles consistently shows that even slight hearing loss in school-age children significantly affects their speech and auditory perception. Notably, most of the included articles highlighted a common trend, demonstrating that perceptual deficits originating due to slight hearing loss in children are particularly observable under challenging experimental conditions and/or in cognitively demanding listening tasks. Recent evidence further underscores that the negative impacts of slight hearing loss in school-age children cannot be solely predicted by their pure-tone thresholds alone. However, there is limited evidence concerning the effect of slight hearing loss on the segregation of competing speech, which may be a better representation of listening in the classroom. This scoping review discusses the perceptual consequences of slight hearing loss in school-age children and provides insights into an array of methodological issues associated with studying perceptual skills in school-age children with slight hearing losses, offering guidance for future research endeavors.

Implementation and outcomes of a quality improvement project to systematically assess the gross motor skills in school-aged children with cystic fibrosis.

Limited data exist on the gross motor abilities of children with cystic fibrosis (CF). The objective of this research project was to implement a systematic gross motor assessment in children with CF ages 4-12 years. Secondarily, we aimed to assess demographic characteristics associated with gross motor delays. Physical therapists aimed to evaluate at least 50% of eligible children (4-12 years) at our CF Center over 1 year using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of motor Proficiency, second edition (BOT-2). Delays are defined by scores less than 18th percentile. Demographic and clinical data included body mass index, hospitalizations, genotype, and comorbidities. Basic descriptive statistics summarized patient information. Parametric and nonparametric methods compared groups of interest. Linear regression assessed associations between BOT-2 measures and clinical characteristics. The BOT-2 evaluation was successfully implemented with 69% of eligible patients being evaluated. Forty-five (62.5%) scored below average. Impaired strength (22.2%) was most common, followed by impaired balance (16.7%), running speed and agility (15.3%), and bilateral coordination (8.3%). 15.5% scored below average on their total motor composite score (TMC). Increased age, comorbidities and hospitalizations were associated with a lower TMC. The BOT-2 was successfully implemented as part of routine CF care to screen for gross motor delays in children. Results suggest that a high percentage of children with CF, especially older children with comorbid conditions or a history of hospitalization, have impaired gross motor function. These findings support the need for routine gross motor evaluations and physical therapy interventions within pediatric CF clinics.

Impact of the War in Ukraine on the Ability of Children to Recognize Basic Emotions.

This study assessed emotion recognition skills in school-age children in wartime conditions in Ukraine. An online survey based on the concept of basic emotions was administrated to a sample of 419 schoolchildren from Ukraine and a control group of 310 schoolchildren from the Czech Republic, aged 8 to 12. There is no difference in judging the intensity of anger and fear by Ukrainian children, compared with the control group. There is no evidence that the emotions of anger, fear, and sadness were better recognized in the Ukrainian group. Children from Ukraine were better at recognizing positive emotions than Czech children. Increased risks of threats and wartime experience do not impair the accuracy of identification of emotions like fear or the assessment of intensity of basic emotions by children who experience war in Ukraine. Still, it is important to continue studying the long-term consequences of military conflicts in order to deepen the understanding of their impact on human mental functioning.

OTs Should Be Using Video Modeling to Teach Self-Care to Children with NDDs

ABSTRACT An evidence-based project aimed at finding whether utilizing video modeling as an occupational therapy (OT) intervention increased basic self-care skills in school-aged children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). A total of 11 pediatric outpatient OT clients, 6–12 years old, with one or more NDDs, participated in this project. Pre- and post-intervention surveys completed by their parents garnered information regarding parental views on their children’s self-care skills, parental stress, and quality of life. Real-time data gathered during the intervention revealed the efficacy of video modeling, showing an overall increase in the completion of basic self-care skills from 16.1% at baseline to 96.4%. Meaningful gains were achieved in all eight self-care skills addressed and with all participants, elucidating a combined mean percentage of 79.3% improvement using video modeling. Post-intervention, qualitative data showed resultant perspectives of less parental stress, improved quality of life for the children and their parents, and improved independence with basic self-care skills. Considering the increasing diagnosis of NDDs, the call for evidence-based interventions from both payers and NDD-related organizations, and the future socioeconomic ramifications of not addressing basic self-care skills, this project reveals the efficacy of video modeling as a viable, accessible, cost-effective intervention which can be utilized across environments to address these concerns.

Story Comprehension Skills in School-Aged Children According to Text Type and Story Modality

Objectives: This study aimed to examine school-aged children’s story comprehension skills according to text type and story modalities.Methods: A total of 348 elementary school children from grades 1 to 6 participated in this study. Participants answered the story comprehension questions after performing the story comprehension task according to the three- story modalities. One child read two fictional and one nonfictional texts, or two nonfictional and one fictional texts, and were randomly assigned according to text type and story modality. Story comprehension questions consisted of both factual and inference questions.Results: A significant difference was found in story comprehension performance according to the grade, text type, and story modality. As children get older, the performance of a story comprehension task increased significantly. Regarding the text type, the comprehension of fiction was significantly higher than the nonfiction comprehension. Comparing the story comprehension performance task according to the story modality, the performance was high in the order of reading-while-listening, listening, and reading. In fiction, there was a significant difference between listening and reading modality, whereas no significant difference was found between text modalities in nonfiction.Conclusion: The findings suggest that presenting text as a complex form of listening and reading to schoolaged children can aid in information processing and help children improve their story comprehension. Also, children’s age and text type need to be considerd for assessment and interventions aimed at children’s successful story comprehension.

Age of Onset of High Transcranial Doppler Measurements Predicts Discrepant Cognitive Profiles in Children with Sickle Cell Disease

Background: Children with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) have documented compromises in neurocognitive functioning, with notable weaknesses in executive functioning. There is limited published research to define the impact of SCD on the development of visual spatial processing, which is the brain's ability to use and interpret visual stimuli and then apply it to novel situations. We hypothesized that the risk for deficits in visual spatial processing is correlated to high velocity transcranial dopplers (TCD) measurements and the age at which a high TCD velocity first occurred. Our team hypothesized that younger age at time of initial high TCD is associated with a larger impact on visual spatial skills in school aged children. Methods: This review includes data from standard of care practices within our pediatric multidisciplinary sickle cell program. Our clinic began offering neurocognitive screenings in January 2023 to patients who are school entry age (between 5 to 6 years old) or older. Children are identified to participate in screening based on age, parental interest, and provider recommendation. Patients ranging in age from 5 to 15 years of age were screened using either the Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, fourth edition (WPPSI-IV) or the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, fifth edition (WISC-V). Retrospective chart reviews were performed to identify relevant data including TCD and MRI results. The Visual Spatial Index (VSI) is a primary index obtained from the Wechsler standard batteries. VSI assesses a child's ability to construct designs utilizing visual spatial reasoning, attention to visual detail, and visual-motor integration. The average child can demonstrate these skills at age 5 by mentally rotating an object such as a block and matching it with a picture or into a shaped hole. This requires the appropriate development of the basal ganglia, thalamus, parietal lobe, and temporal lobe. The Mean Index Score (MIS) is a broad representation of all cognitive domains measured on the assessment. The difference between the obtained VSI score and a child's MIS is used to determine whether a statistically significant difference exists within the Wechsler assessment system. The difference between the VSI and MIS is compared to a critical value, and if the difference of the VSI and MIS is greater than the critical value then we can say with confidence (p<0.05) that the difference in scores is not due to chance. Chi-square was then used to explore the relationship between the presence of a high TCD before age 5 (the age at which primary visual spatial skills are onboard) and the presence of a statistically significant visual spatial skill weakness. Results: 11 children (mean age 9.73 years; 82% Hemoglobin SS and 18% Hemoglobin SC) were assessed during the first 6 months of this new protocol. 27% (3) of the children had both a high TCD prior to age 5 and a statistically significant (p<0.05) visual spatial weakness, 9% (1) had only high TCD before age 5 but not VSI weakness, and 64% (7) had neither. Due to the small sample size, we used Fisher's exact to test the hypothesis that these two categorical variables (high TCD velocity before age 5 and VSI weakness) were related (P<0.05, P=0.024). We rejected the null hypothesis and found evidence to support a relationship between the presence of high velocities in early childhood and visual spatial skills deficit. Therefore, there is clinical indication that high TCD velocities in early childhood impact the development of visual spatial skills. Conclusion: The impact of sickle cell disease on brain development has been explored, but most published data focus on broad executive functioning skills. Our data yields evidence that the presence of high velocities in the brain before age five may be predictive of future visual spatial abilities as measured using standardized measures (i.e., Wechsler Assessments). It is anticipated that further data exploration will inform the optimization of standard of care practices within our clinic. This may include medical practices such as neuroimaging, changing how we communicate with children and their families, and enhanced practices for supporting students at school through IEPs.

Effectiveness of educational guidelines about social media misuse and electronic extortion on knowledge, attitudes and digital skills of school age children

Effectiveness of educational guidelines about social media misuse and electronic extortion on knowledge, attitudes and digital skills of school age children

The Effect of Otitis Media with Effusion on Language and Cognitive Skills in School Age Children

The Effect of Otitis Media with Effusion on Language and Cognitive Skills in School Age Children

Pragmatic Skills in School-Age Children With Primary Language Impairment and Language-Learning Disabilities

We conducted a scoping review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses to map the available research describing verbal pragmatic skills development and problems in school-age children with primary language impairments and children with language-learning disabilities. A total of 112 reports met inclusion criteria for our review. Many studies were published in journals focused on communication disorders between the years 2000 and 2019 and targeted K-12 children in the United States or the United Kingdom with developmental language disorder who were most often compared with age-matched typically developing peers using a group comparison research design. Over 60% of the studies had fewer than 25 participants in the target group. Nearly two thirds of study participants were boys, and most were Caucasian from middle- to upper-income families. The majority of studies used multiple outcome measures in data analyses, most often norm-referenced and researcher-designed tests, language sample analysis, and rating scales. A third of studies omitted information about outcome measure reliability and nearly all studies omitted validity data. Several studies are described in detail as examples and a summary of the major findings from the reviewed studies is presented.

Precision Teaching for maths: An academic critique

This critique briefly summarises the evolution of the Precision Teaching (PT) approach, exploring what PT is, who it can be used with and its theoretical underpinnings. The results of a systematic literature search exploring the question ‘Is Precision Teaching effective at improving maths skills in school aged children and young people?’ are then discussed.Based on the five publications reviewed, the interventions that involved PT generally showed greater performance gains than the control or comparison group. Given the highly specific conditions of these interventions however, it is not possible to generalise the intervention effects beyond these studies. It must therefore be concluded that based on these five papers, it is not possible to say whether PT is an effective way to support maths skills.The implications for professional practice suggest a need to establish an evidence base, built around formalised and structured evaluations of PT, that use a control or comparison group. It is suggested that more teachers be involved in this process rather than it being the role of academics. This would enable teachers and Educational Psychologists to speak with more certainty of the efficacy of PT at improving maths skills in school aged children and young people.

Latent Profile Analysis of Digital Communication Ability and Mediation on Digital Use Among Families with Elementary School Children

Objectives: This study sought to identify families’ digital communication abilities through latent profile analysis (LPA) and examine how such profiles would be associated with parents’ mediation of the internet and smart devices.Methods: The analysis included 284 families with elementary school children (284 fathers, 284 mothers, and 284 children) from the Media Panel Survey by the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) in 2020.Results: A total of three latent classes of digital communication ability among family members were identified(Class 1 = consistently low digital communication abilities within the family; Class 2 = consistently high digital communication abilities within the family; Class 3 = incongruent digital communication abilities within the family). Parents’ mediation of their children’s use of smart devices was associated with being in a class with consistently low digital communication ability, rather than with consistently high digital communication ability and incongruent digital communication abilities. Parents’ mediation of how long they allowed their children to use smart devices was associated with being in a class with consistently high digital communication ability within the family, rather than with consistently low digital communication ability.Conclusion: Findings suggest that families tend to exhibit different patterns of digital communication abilities and that such patterns are significantly linked to different forms of digital mediation. Findings shed light on ways to improve the family environment for digital use and how parents may best support the development of digital communication skills in school-aged children.

Exploring individual differences in musical rhythm and grammar skills in school-aged children with typically developing language

A growing number of studies have shown a connection between rhythmic processing and language skill. It has been proposed that domain-general rhythm abilities might help children to tap into the rhythm of speech (prosody), cueing them to prosodic markers of grammatical (syntactic) information during language acquisition, thus underlying the observed correlations between rhythm and language. Working memory processes common to task demands for musical rhythm discrimination and spoken language paradigms are another possible source of individual variance observed in musical rhythm and language abilities. To investigate the nature of the relationship between musical rhythm and expressive grammar skills, we adopted an individual differences approach in N = 132 elementary school-aged children ages 5–7, with typical language development, and investigated prosodic perception and working memory skills as possible mediators. Aligning with the literature, musical rhythm was correlated with expressive grammar performance (r = 0.41, p < 0.001). Moreover, musical rhythm predicted mastery of complex syntax items (r = 0.26, p = 0.003), suggesting a privileged role of hierarchical processing shared between musical rhythm processing and children’s acquisition of complex syntactic structures. These relationships between rhythm and grammatical skills were not mediated by prosodic perception, working memory, or non-verbal IQ; instead, we uncovered a robust direct effect of musical rhythm perception on grammatical task performance. Future work should focus on possible biological endophenotypes and genetic influences underlying this relationship.

Not only motor skill performance but also haptic function is impaired in children with developmental language disorder

BackgroundPrevious studies have found an association between motor immaturity and developmental language impairment in children. However, systematic investigations of somatosensory dysfunctions that might be linked to motor deficits in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) are lacking. AimsExamined haptic perception and motor skills in school-age children with DLD and typically-developing (TD) children. MethodsSixteen children with DLD and sixteen age-matched TD children performed a curvature detection task measuring haptic sensitivity and a curvature discrimination task measuring haptic acuity. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children, 2nd edition (MABC-2) was also conducted to evaluate children’s motor ability. ResultsThe results revealed elevated thresholds of both haptic detection (67.5%) and haptic discrimination (67.9%) in the DLD group when compared to the TD group. In addition, the children with DLD performed significantly less well on the manual dexterity of MABC-2. Finally, a lower haptic acuity was associated with poorer manual dexterity scores of MABC-2. ConclusionsThis study demonstrates for the first time that not only motor skills, but also haptic function is altered in children with DLD. The observed association between manual dexterity and haptic acuity suggests a close relationship between haptic and motor skills in school-age children.

Visual Perception and Attentional Skills in School-age Children: A Cross-Sectional Study of Reading Proficiency in the Hearing Impaired.

Auditory impairment is one of the common sensory deficits that occur in humans. Hearing loss affects students' ability to communicate and read, which eventually causes social and scholastic stigma. Reading relies heavily on phonics as well as visual attention. Students with normal hearing read by transforming phonic sounds into words. Hearing impaired has little to no phonic ability, making them visual readers who rely on visual cues while reading. Present study sought to investigate factors that affect reading skills in hearing-impaired children. A cross-sectional study was conducted in hearing- and hearing-impaired schools of Ludhiana, Punjab, India. After vision screening among all students, sixty students were enrolled via convenient sampling. Higher order of visual perception, attention, and reading ability was investigated. A total of 60 students were evaluated (30 hearing impaired and 30 age-matched hearing). The hearing group was statistically better than the hearing impaired (p = 0.001), Hearing impaired were better in visual attention (p = 0.001), whereas a correlation was found between reading ability and visual perception, attention skill of hearing- and hearing-impaired students (r = 0.80, P = 0.001). Present study concludes that hearing-impaired students exhibit issues with visual-motor integration, visual-spatial relationships, and visual sequential memory. Higher visual attention was demonstrated by hearing-impaired students. The results of the current investigation revealed a correlation between visual perception and attention skills and reading competency. Thus, the present study demands that the newly enrolled hearing-impaired students must undergo a thorough ocular evaluation.

Task-specificity and transfer of skills in school-aged children with and without developmental coordination disorder

AimTo compare the effects of two Active Video Game (AVG) protocols on transfer of learning in children with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). MethodsFifty children, aged 6–10 years were randomly allocated to either group A or B. Children in group A participated in a set of Nintendo Wii ball games whereas group B played agility games (8 DCD and 17 typically developing children (TD) per group). Participants in each group practiced Wii games for 20 min twice a week for 10 weeks. All children also practiced ball and agility games in real-world settings, once per week. ResultsBoth protocols yielded positive effects with the largest effect sizes shown on agility and balance items of the PERF-FIT and KTK tests. No interaction was found on learning real-world games and the virtual protocol, except for a Ping-Pong game. A significant interaction of time by protocol group indicated that the Ball group improved more on BOT-2-Upper-Limb Coordination than the Agility group. Importantly, children with DCD improved comparably with TD peers in virtual and real-world games. ConclusionIndependent of training protocol, both children with DCD and TD children performed better on trained and non-trained ball, balance and agility tasks after 10 weeks of training.

Changes in emotion regulation skills of school age children from the eyes of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey: A cross-sectional study.

While health workers were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic on an individual and professional basis, their families and especially their children were directly or indirectly exposed to similar factors. This study aims to compare the emotion regulation competencies of school-age children of healthcare workers in Turkey, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and to investigate their emotion regulation competencies during the pandemic in terms of care conditions, daily life activities and overall health. This study used the purposeful sampling technique and was designed as a cross-sectional and relational survey study. To conduct this study, permission was received from the Ministry of Health Directorate-General for Health Services, COVID-19 Research Evaluation Commission, and İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee (Date/Decision no: 04.03.2021/0090). The data-collection process was carried out online between March and July, 2021. A total of 106 healthcare workers who serve in pandemic clinics or fields participated in this study. In addition to the information forms prepared by the researchers of this study, the Emotion Regulation Scale (ERS), which was adapted into Turkish, was used. One-way analysis of variance for independent samples was used for the analysis of variables, and paired samples t-test was used to compare emotion regulation competencies before and during the pandemic. The children's total ERS scores increased during the pandemic (47.70 ± 8.35) when compared with their pre-pandemic scores (44.86 ± 9.25), and furthermore this difference was found to be statistically significant (p = 0.000). The total mean ERS score of children with a healthcare worker parent increased significantly during the pandemic compared with the scores before the pandemic, which revealed that emotion regulation occurred at a lower level for these children. The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emotion regulation competencies of children whose parents are healthcare workers is evident.

The P300 event related potential predicts phonological working memory skills in school-aged children.

The P300 event related potential (ERP) has been cited as a marker of phonological working memory (PWM); however, little is known regarding its relationship to behavioral PWM skills in early school-aged children. The current study investigates the P300 ERP recorded in response to native and non-native (English and Spanish) phoneme contrasts as a predictor of PWM skills in monolingual English-speaking first and second grade children. Thirty-three typically developing children, ages 6–9, completed a battery of phonological processing, language, and cognitive assessments. ERPs were recorded within an auditory oddball paradigm in response to both English phoneme contrasts (/ta/, /pa/) and Spanish contrasts (/t̪a/, /d̪a/). The P300 ERP recorded in response to English phoneme contrasts significantly predicted standard scores on the Nonword Repetition subtest of the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, Second Edition. Spanish contrasts did not elicit a P300 response, nor were amplitude or latency values within the P300 timeframe (250–500 ms) recorded in response to Spanish contrasts related to English nonword repetition performance. This study provides further evidence that the P300 ERP in response to native phonemic contrasts indexes PWM skills, specifically nonword repetition performance, in monolingual children. Further work is necessary to determine the extent to which the P300 response to changing phonological stimuli reflects PWM skills in other populations.

Parent-Reported Social-Communicative Skills of Children with 22q11.2 Copy Number Variants and Siblings.

22q11.2 deletion (22q11.2DS) and 22q11.2 duplication (22q11.2Dup) confer risk for neurodevelopmental difficulties, but the characterization of speech-language and social skills in 22q11.2Dup is still limited. Therefore, this study aims to delineate social-communicative skills in school-aged children with 22q11.2Dup (n = 19) compared to their non-carrier siblings (n = 11) and age-matched children with 22q11.2DS (n = 19). Parents completed two standardized questionnaires: the Children’s Communication Checklist (CCC-2), screening speech, language, and social skills, and the Social Responsiveness Scales (SRS-2), assessing deficits in social behavior. Parents report that both children with 22q11.2Dup and 22q11.2DS show more social-communicative deficits than the general population; children with 22q11.2Dup seem to take an intermediate position between their siblings and children with 22q11.2DS. Compared to 22q11.2DS, they demonstrate less frequent and less severe problems, and more heterogeneous social-communicative profiles, with fewer restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. In siblings of 22q11Dup, milder social-communicative difficulties and equally heterogeneous profiles are reported, which might indicate that-in addition to the duplication-other factors such as the broader genetic context play a role in social-communicative outcomes.

Fundamental Motor Skills Intervention for School-age Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a motor intervention program on the improvement of fundamental motor skills (including motor skills and object control skills) in school-aged children through a meta-analysis system based on the US Gross Motor Development Test to determine further the effects of motor intervention on fundamental motor skills in school-aged children. A comprehensive search of relevant literature in PubMed and Web of Science databases was conducted to include trials on motor interventions published up to October 2021, examining the effects of motor intervention programs on fundamental motor skills in school-aged children. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool identified studies of acceptable methodological quality. Meta-analyses showed that motor interventions had an effect on children's overall fundamental motor skills (N=1197, SMD=0.94, 95% Cl:0.81-1.07, p<0.00001, I²=79%, random-effects model) and object control skills (N=1380, SMD=0.83, 95% Cl:0.45-1.21, p<0.0001, I²=89%, random-effects model) improved by a larger effect size. In contrast, the effect size for improvement in motor skills (N=1380, SMD=0.57, 95% Cl:0.29-0.85, p<0.0001, I²=80%, random-effects model) was moderate. The combined analyses suggest that motor intervention programs can improve children's performance of fundamental motor skills to some extent. However, the optimal type of motor intervention needs to be further determined in subsequent studies. Considering the limitations of this study, the findings need to be interpreted and applied with caution.

Development of Landmark Use for Navigation in Children: Effects of Age, Sex, Working Memory and Landmark Type

The use of landmarks for navigation develops throughout childhood. Here, we examined the developmental trajectory of egocentric and allocentric navigation based on landmark information in an on-screen virtual environment in 39 5–6-year-olds, 43 7–8-year-olds, and 41 9–10-year-olds. We assessed both categorical performance, indicating the notion of location changes based on the landmarks, as well as metrical performance relating to the precision of the representation of the environment. We investigated whether age, sex, spatial working memory, verbal working memory, and verbal production of left and right contributed to the development of navigation skills. In egocentric navigation, Categorical performance was already above chance at 5 years of age and was positively related to visuo-spatial working memory and the production of left/right, whereas metrical performance was only related to age. Allocentric navigation started to develop between 5 and 8 years of age and was related to sex, with boys outperforming girls. Both boys and girls seemed to rely more on directional landmark information as compared to positional landmark information. To our knowledge, this study is the first to give insight into the relative contribution of different cognitive abilities to navigation skills in school-aged children.