Skills In School-age Children Research Articles

The phonological awareness skills of school-aged children who are bilingual in Samoan and English

This study investigated the phonological awareness skills of Samoan children who were bilingual in Samoan and English. Ten Samoan children attending mainstream primary schools in New Zealand and receiving education in an English medium participated in the study. These children, aged between 5;06 and 7;03, were assessed on phonological awareness measures at the syllable, onset-rime and phoneme level in English and in Samoan. The results indicated that at a group level the participants' phonological awareness skills at the phoneme level were comparable in both languages and suggested that phoneme awareness skills learned in English following formal literacy instruction transferred to their development of phonological awareness in Samoan. This finding is consistent with previous research, which indicates children learning two alphabetic languages demonstrate similar levels of phonological awareness skills across languages. Differences were found at the onset-rime level. The results also indicated that when c...

A prosodically controlled word and nonword repetition task for 2- to 4-year-olds: evidence from typically developing children.

An association has been found between nonword repetition and language skills in school-age children with both typical and atypical language development (C. Dollaghan and T. F. Campbell, 1998; S. Ellis Weismer et al., 2000; S. E. Gathercole and A. D. Baddeley, 1990; J. W. Montgomery, 2002). This raises the possibility that younger children's repetition performance may be predictive of later language deficits. In order to investigate this possibility, it is important to establish that elicited repetition with very young children is both feasible and informative. To this end, a repetition task was designed and carried out with 66 children between 2 and 4 years of age. The task consisted of 18 words and 18 matched nonwords that were systematically manipulated for length and prosodic structure. In addition, an assessment of receptive vocabulary was administered. The repetition task elicited high levels of response. Total scores as well as word and nonword scores were sensitive to age. Lexical status and item length affected performance regardless of age: Words were repeated more accurately than nonwords, and 1-syllable items were repeated more accurately than 2-syllable items, which were in turn repeated more accurately than 3-syllable items. The effect of prosodic structure was also significant. Whole syllable errors were almost exclusive to unstressed syllables, with those preceding stress being most vulnerable. Performance on the repetition task was significantly correlated with performance on the receptive vocabulary test. This repetition task effectively elicited responses from most of the 2- to 4-year-old participants, tapped developmental change in their repetition skills, and revealed patterns in their performance; and thus it has the potential to identify deficits in very early repetition skills that may be indicative of wider language difficulties.

The development of basic reading skills in children: a cross-language perspective

This chapter reviews recent empirical evidence for universal and orthography- or language-specific processes in the development of basic reading skills in school age children, suggesting that universal and orthography- or language-specific processes should be considered in tandem. The review focuses on three different aspects of reading, phonological processing, rapid naming, and morphosyntactic complexity, targeted in recent research on development of word recognition skills. Studies on L1 school children and studies of children who learn to read concurrently in their L1 and/or in a second language (L2) are examined within the context of variations in orthographic transparency. When children learn to read, characteristics of the spoken language interact with characteristics of the orthography. The chapter concludes that (a) individual differences in phonological processing skills, verbal memory, and rapid naming predict the development of reading in L1 and L2 children in various alphabetic and nonalphabetic languages; and (b) individual differences on such prerequisite skills can indicate smooth or problematic acquisition of L2 reading skills in children, regardless of oral language proficiency. However, task demands associated with learning to read in different orthographies vary and yield steeper or more moderate learning slopes. Regardless of the language and orthography combinations under study, children can develop reading strategies that help them read.

Lessons from an evaluation of the effectiveness of an asthma day camp.

To evaluate the effectiveness of applied teaching methodologies in a camp setting on asthma self-management skills in school-age children. This was a descriptive pilot study using a one-group pretest-posttest design. Thirty-four subjects, ages 6 to 12 years, representing a typical clinical population of children with asthma. Children's asthma knowledge, symptoms, behavior, and mastery, as well as peak-flow technique, were measured 2 to 3 weeks before camp and then again on the last day of camp. Baseline measures of parents' asthma knowledge and family stress related to asthma were obtained. Outcomes specific to asthma management, such as missed school days, emergency room visits, and hospitalizations, were evaluated by parent report the year before and after the intervention. Significant improvement in peak-flow technique and a reported reduction in emergency room visits and missed school days after camp were found. In this pilot study, the use of an applied teaching format for school-age children in an asthma day camp resulted in some learning. More rigorous design and instrumentation are important for better evaluation of programs such as this. Nurses working with these populations should plan structured evaluations of the programs so they can best meet the children's needs.

Development of memory and learning skills in school-aged children: a neuropsychological perspective

Development of memory and learning skills in school-aged children: a neuropsychological perspective

Depression and maltreatment as predictors of social competence and social problem-solving skills in school-age children

Childhood depression and child maltreatment have been shown to be important predictors of childhood adjustment problems, including difficulties in the spheres of home, school, and peer relationships. In this study, depression and maltreatment were used to predict social competence and social problem-solving skills, as rated by self, parent, and teacher. The total sample contained 68 children (35 girls, 33 boys), most of whom were at high-risk either due to poverty, physical abuse and neglect (as determined by substantiated Protective Services reports), or exposure to negative life events. Hierarchical multivariate regression analyses were used to identify the contribution of depression and maltreatment to social competence and social problem-solving skills. Depression predicted parents' and teachers' ratings of social competence and parents' ratings of peer rejection. Additionally, depression predicted children's ratings of social competence and both measures of social problem-solving skills. Maltreatment predicted parents' and teachers' ratings of social competence. Gender predicted teachers' ratings of peer rejection and social competence. An additive effect of depression and maltreatment was found such that children who are depressed and maltreated have the lowest social competence as rated by parents and teachers. These children are, therefore. doubly at risk for problems in future relationships.

Reviews & Comments: Social Skills in School-Age Children

Reviews & Comments: Social Skills in School-Age Children

Social skills in school-age children and youth

Social skills allow individuals to develop positive relationships with others; cope successfully with the behavioral demands of specific settings; and communicate desires, needs, and preferences effectively. They also provide a foundation for competent performance in a range of academic, personal, v

Assessment and Management of Listening Skills in School-Aged Children

Assessment and Management of Listening Skills in School-Aged Children

The development of thinking skills in school age children.

The development of thinking skills in school age children.

Social competence in the schools: Toward an integrative developmental model for intervention

The promotion of social problem-solving skills in school-age children has been only partially successful in improving their social adjustment. The design and evaluation of training programs has been hindered by the inadequacies of most current models of social competence and its relation to social cognition. In this paper, we delineate the necessary components of a coherent model and review the shortcomings of previous approaches. We then describe a model of the development of a specific form of social competence—namely, interpersonal negotiation strategies (INS)—and its social-cognitive underpinnings. The INS model embodies several conceptual advances compared to previous models linking social cognition to social behavior: It integrates functional (information-processing) and structural (cognitive-developmental) approaches, specifies a linkage between social cognition and action within a particular domain of social interaction, and provides for developmental, individual, and contextual variations in the expression of behavior in that domain. The implications of the INS model for social problem-solving training in the schools are reviewed, together with an example of the implementation of the model in a specific educational context. The INS model may help provide a more coherent basis for the school-based delivery of developmentally appropriate interventions designed to foster children's social skills.

The development of affective skills in school-aged children

Over the last several years, a number of programs have been developed to teach children social and affective skills that will presumably enhance their social and emotional adjustment. One component of many of these programs involves training in skills relating to the understanding and expression of affect. The major objectives of this study were to determine the extent to which a number of affective skills are present at different age levels, to examine the relationship between children's affective and cognitive skills, and to identify those affective skills that are most highly related to emotional adjustment. One hundred twenty children in Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 were administered measures of affective and cognitive skills and emotional adjustment. The results indicated that 4 of the 5 affective skills assessed increase with age, with the greatest change occurring between Grades 4 and 5. Moreover, children's affective skills were significantly correlated with their cognitive skills. While affective skills did not relate to emotional adjustment across all grade levels, there was some indication that affective skills are related to emotional adjustment at the Grade 4 level. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for programming in the affective domain.

Story grammar skills in school-age children

Story grammar skills in school-age children

Standardization of the Auditory Comprehension Test for Sentences (ACTS) with Children

The majority of assessment tests measuring auditory processing abilities are designed for younger children. With an increasing focus in education and speech-language pathology on the older language and learning-disabled child, a standardized tool for measuring auditory comprehension skills is needed. The Auditory Comprehension Test for Sentences (ACTS) (Shewan, 1979) examines three parameters (length, vocabulary, and syntax) of auditory comprehension at three levels of difficulty. It was administered to 180 normal school children aged 7–12 years. Internal consistency, temporal reliability and validity characteristics of the ACTS are reported. Descriptive statistics on performance for each age level and developmental trends across age levels are reported. Preliminary standardization data indicated that the ACTS is a viable tool for assessing auditory comprehension skills of school-age children.

Functional-Pragmatic Evaluation of Communication Skills in School-Aged Children

Five receptive and five expressive considerations are presented which serve as guidelines for the selection of informal evaluation tasks. The resulting procedure provides descriptive data on a student's auditory processing skills and his/her ability to use language for various purposes.

Facilitating Class-Inclusion Skills in School-Age Children

Summary This study examined the effects of training the class-inclusion reasoning of 160 children (20 boys and 20 girls from each of grades 1, 2, 4, and S) on previously examined and previously unexamined subordinate and superordinate classes. With the use of Sigel's questioning paradigm, the children were asked to describe and note similarities and/or differences between subordinate classes. On previously examined classes boys performed better than girls; older children performed better than younger children; and children exposed to descriptive, similarities, and difference questions performed better than children exposed to either descriptive and similarities or descriptive and difference questions. For unexamined classes, the young children transferred the partial variants of the questioning paradigm most effectively, whereas the older children were able to transfer the total paradigm strategy most effectively.