Effect of initial status and growth in pseudoword reading on Spanish reading comprehension at the end of first grade

This study analyzes the effect of initial status and growth in Spanish pseudoword reading in kindergarten and first grade on reading comprehension in Spanish at the end of first grade. One hundred and sixty-eight Spanish-speaking English learners who were learning to read in Spanish and English in the United States participated in the study. Results of hierarchical linear modeling indicate that students grew, on average, by 95 letter-sounds in Spanish from the middle of kindergarten to the end of first grade. Structural equation modeling indicated that 53% of the variance in Spanish reading comprehension at the end of first grade was explained by Spanish initial status on pseudoword reading, Spanish kindergarten overall reading performance, and growth in Spanish pseudoword reading. Findings are important in a Response to Intervention approach where screening and progress monitoring of pseudoword reading helps educators determine the level of support beginning readers need to acquire the alphabetic principle, an important skill that contributes substantially to Spanish reading comprehension.     

Statistical equating with measures of oral reading fluency

Recent research on curriculum-based measurement of oral reading fluency has revealed important issues in current passage development procedures, highlighting how dissimilar passages are problematic for monitoring student progress. The purpose of this paper is to describe statistical equating as an option for achieving equivalent scores across non-parallel reading passages. The psychometric and design properties of words-correct scores are examined, and the requirements of traditional equating methods are discussed. Simulated and empirical words-correct scores are used to demonstrate the steps in the equating process and the situations in which each method is most appropriate.     

The reading grade level of common measures in child and adolescent clinical psychology

The purpose of this article is to provide easily accessible readability information for 49 parent- and 35 child- and adolescent-report measures commonly used by clinicians and researchers. There is a great deal of variability in reading ability required across measures. The majority of parent-report measures (65%) required reading ability above the 8th grade level. The average child-/adolescent-report measure required reading ability above the 6th grade level. Given the potential contribution of readability to a measure's reliability, validity, and overall utility, examining and accounting for readability should be a more common practice in test construction and administration.     

How to define the accident risk level of car drivers by combining objective and subjective measures of driving style

Perceived risk can be defined as the expectation of being involved in a traffic accident. Traffic risk perception is often subjectively evaluated being risk perception as highly individual, and depending on experiences with accidents. For this reason, a subjective measure of risk level can be useful. On the other hand, accident risk level can be measured also through objective measures, consisting in kinematic parameters defining the driving style. At this aim, it is very important to analyse instantaneous and geo-referenced travelling kinematic parameters of the vehicle recorded by real tests on the road.The aim of this paper is to identify the accident risk level of each driver based on a methodology combining both subjective and objective parameters. Specifically, by using the proposed methodology the risk can be measured immediately by using only the kinematic parameters adopted when driving; we defined three levels of risk of being involved in a road accident (low, medium, and high risk). We retain that our research can give a contribution in terms of improvement of road safety, because the distorted perception of risk level is one of the main causes of road accidents. Very often, drivers are not aware of the risk taking; therefore, it is necessary to raise the awareness of drivers to have safer driving. The proposed method can be useful for informing the driver on the level of risk he/she assumes, so that he/she can take the necessary precautions next time that will cover that stretch of road.     

Barrier and penetration scores in relation to some objective and subjective somesthetic measures

Barrier and Penetration scores in relation to some variables, such as muscular tone at rest, sensitivity to tickle, and body perception were studied in a group of 35 female subjects. While no correlations appear within the whole group of subjects between Barrier scores and the other variables, on the left side of the body. Dividing subjects on the basis of Barrier scores, three groups with different characteristics appear: 12 subjects with high Barrier scores show an inverse relation of Barrier scores with sensitivity to tickle on the right side of the body; 12 subjects with middle Barrier scores show a direct relation of Barrier scores with muscular tone and an inverse one with both latency of tickle on the right half of the body and body perception; 11 subjects with low Barrier scores show an inverse relation of Barrier scores with durations of tickle on both sides of the body.     

Exploring "fringe" consciousness: the subjective experience of perceptual fluency and its objective bases

Perceptual fluency is the subjective experience of ease with which an incoming stimulus is processed. Although perceptual fluency is assessed by speed of processing, it remains unclear how objective speed is related to subjective experiences of fluency. We present evidence that speed at different stages of the perceptual process contributes to perceptual fluency. In an experiment, figure-ground contrast influenced detection of briefly presented words, but not their identification at longer exposure durations. Conversely, font in which the word was written influenced identification, but not detection. Both contrast and font influenced subjective fluency. These findings suggest that speed of processing at different stages condensed into a unified subjective experience of perceptual fluency.     

Growth on sublexical fluency progress monitoring measures in early kindergarten and relations to word reading acquisition

Fluency with skills that operate below the word level (i.e., sublexical), such as phonemic awareness and alphabetic knowledge, may ease the acquisition of decoding skills (Ritchey & Speece, 2006). Measures of sublexical fluency such as phoneme segmentation fluency (PSF), letter naming fluency (LNF), and letter sound fluency (LSF) are widely available for monitoring kindergarten reading progress, but less is known about the relative importance of growth in each skill across the early months of formal reading instruction and their relation to subsequent decoding acquisition. With a sample of kindergarten students at risk for reading difficulties, this study investigated the extent to which initial status and growth in PSF, LNF, and LSF, administered on a progress-monitoring basis during the fall of kindergarten, were differentially predictive of word reading fluency skills at mid-year and growth across the second half the school year. We used two different fluency-based progress monitoring measures of word reading across the spring, one consisting entirely of phonetically regular consonant-vowel-consonant words, and the other that included phonetically regular and irregular words that varied in length. Results indicated that although initial status and fall growth in all sublexical fluency measures were positively associated with subsequent word reading, LSF across the fall of kindergarten was the strongest overall predictor of mid-year level and growth on both word reading measures, and unique in its prediction over the effects of LNF and PSF. Results underscore the importance of letter-sound knowledge for word reading development, and provide additional evidence for LSF as a key index of progress for at-risk learners across the early months of formal reading instruction.     

Validation of physical activity habit strength with subjective and objective criterion measures

ObjectivesA German version of the Self-reported Habit Strength Index (SRHI) for both sports and everyday physical activity (PA) was validated against subjective and objective criterion measures of PA.Design and methodData were obtained from 260 participants (21.4% women) in study 1 and 86 participants (58.1% women) in study 2. Both studies assessed habit strength for PA (sports and everyday PA) by the SRHI and PA by the Baecke Questionnaire (Sport, Leisure and Work Index) as subjective criterion measure, as well as by accelerometry (Step Activity Monitor or GTM1 Actigraph) as objective criterion measure. Bivariate correlations as well as path analyses were computed for the associations between the SRHI scores and subjective and objective criterion measures of PA.ResultsHighest associations for subjective criterion measure were found for habit strength for sports and the Sport Index in both studies. The Leisure Index was predicted by habit strength for sports and everyday PA. For objective criterion measures, habit strength for sports was most significantly associated with total PA in study 1 and moderate intense PA in study 2. Habit strength for everyday PA was a significant predictor of moderate intense and total PA in study 1 and low intense PA in study 2.ConclusionThe present studies replicated high internal consistencies of the SRHI for sports and everyday PA and could partially confirm their validity with subjective and objective criterion measures. The SRHI for sports seems to be more robust than the SRHI for everyday physical activity.     

The end of the reading age: grade and age effects in early schooling

During the school years, psychological test norms may be indexed by age or by grade. A number of studies have shown that using age-based norms appears to produce biases associated with grade assignment. Cahan and Cohen [Child Dev. 60 (1989) 1239-1249] showed that the effect of one grade was over twice the effect of 1 year of age for most verbal cognitive ability subtests in Grades 4-6. A higher ratio might be expected for more curriculum-related areas such as reading tests. Analysis of a representative sample of 4257 Grade 1 and 2 children in Tasmanian government schools (which use relatively strict age assignment to grades) for three subtests of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test—Revised (WRMTR): Word Identification, Word Attack, and Passage Comprehension, showed that the grade effect is about twice the age effect. This data shows that using age-based norms instead of grade-based norms for reading and other verbal ability tests may produce bias in the early school years. Psychologists should thus be primarily concerned with children's educational history, as once children have entered school other developmental factors indexed by age have less influence on children's verbal performance.     

Effects of classroom organization on letter-word reading in first grade

Teacher organization is a crucial part of classroom functioning; however, its relation to student achievement has not been investigated as extensively as that of instruction. In this study, organization is defined as the amount of time teachers spend explaining the purpose and procedures of learning activities and daily routines. Data from first-grade classrooms (N = 44) observed three times during the school year (fall, winter, and spring) are analyzed, along with students' (N = 108) literacy skills at fall and spring. Hierarchical Linear Modeling reveals that, controlling for students' fall word reading and vocabulary skills, as well as amount of language arts instruction they receive, both amount and change in amount over time in classroom organization significantly predicts spring word reading skills. Specifically, children in classrooms observed in higher amounts of classroom time in organization at the beginning of the school year, followed by sharp decreases over the school year, demonstrated stronger letter and word reading skills by spring, and this was a main effect (p < .05). Practical and research implications are discussed.     

Examining the core: Relations among reading curricula, poverty, and first through third grade reading achievement

Policy changes at the federal and state level are endeavoring to improve student achievement at schools serving children from lower-SES homes. One important strategy is the focus on using evidence-based core reading curricula to provide a consistent framework for instruction across schools. However, rarely have these curricula undergone rigorous comparative testing. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the effects of six core reading curricula on oral reading fluency growth, while appraising whether these effects differ by grade level and for children living in lower socioeconomic (SES) households. Over 30,000 students in first through third grade Florida Reading First classrooms comprise this academically and economically diverse cross-sectional. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to model latent growth curves for students' reading fluency scores over the school year. Growth curves revealed differences across curricula as well as between students of lower and higher SES, suggesting that reading fluency growth trajectories for curricula varied depending on student SES and grade level. Findings indicate that while there are similarities among curricula, they sometimes differ in their ability to promote reading skill growth. Differences by grade level and SES were also detected. However, many of these differences were small. Implications for the use of curriculum as a conduit for improving reading instruction are discussed.     

Sleep among presentations of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Analysis of objective and subjective measures

Background/ObjectiveTo examine subjective and objective sleep patterns in children with different Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) presentations. Method: We assessed 92 children diagnosed with ADHD (29 ADHD-Inattentive [ADHD-I], 31 ADHD-Hyperactive/Impulsive [ADHD-H/I], and 32 ADHD-Combined [ADHD-C)]) aged 7–11 years. The Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ), Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale (PDSS), and a sleep diary were used as subjective sleep measures, and polysomnography was used to objectively assess sleep quantity, quality, and fragmentation. Results: Subjective data showed impaired sleep in 12.7% of the sample. No significant differences were found between ADHD presentations in any objective and subjective sleep variable. Nevertheless, data on sleep fragmentation suggested a worse sleep continuity for the ADHD-H/I group, and correlation analyses confirmed that sleep is affected by age. Conclusions: Children with ADHD may suffer from sleep breathing problems and daytime sleepiness, as reported by their parents, even when their total sleep time and sleep efficiency are not affected. It seems that sleep in this population does not largely vary as a function of the ADHD presentation. Sleep in children with ADHD evolves with age.     

An experiential thinking style: its facets and relations with objective and subjective criterion measures

In Study 1, an experiential factor divided into the following 3 factors when 3 or more factors were extracted: intuition, emotionality, and imagination; whereas a rational factor retained its coherence. In Study 2, an experiential but not a rational thinking style was positively associated with performance measures of creativity, humor, aesthetic judgment, and intuition and with self-report measures of empathy and social popularity. A rational thinking style was associated with several measures of adjustment. Both thinking styles were positively related to personal growth. Support was provided from several sources for the discriminant validity of the experiential facets. In a third study, the independence of the 2 thinking styles and of gender differences in self-reported data were verified by observations by others of participants' thinking styles. The importance of identifying facets of an experiential thinking style and of discovering previously unrecognized favorable attributes of this thinking style was discussed.     

Evaluating the effect of parent reading interventions on improving reading fluency of students with reading difficulties

The current study examines the effect of parent reading interventions on the reading fluency of students with reading disabilities. The experimental procedure was carried out in two stages. In the first stage, the Brief Experimental Analysis procedure was followed to determine the most effective reading fluency intervention for all participants, and in the next step, the parental delivery of the selected intervention procedure took place. Brief experimental analysis was used to identify appropriate reading fluency intervention for each participant. Parents were trained to use the intervention strategies with their children. They implemented the procedures during parent‐tutoring sessions at home and results were measured continuously to determine whether generalization occurred. Parent and child satisfaction with the interventions was assessed. Results demonstrated generalized increases in reading fluency in both high‐word‐overlap and low‐word‐overlap passages as a function of parent tutoring. Also, acceptability ratings by children and their parents indicated that they viewed the interventions as acceptable and effective.     

The relative contributions of subjective and objective measures of body shape and size to body image and disordered eating in women

This research explored the relative contributions of subjective perceptions of body weight and body shape/proportion, as well as objective measures of body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) to disordered eating, exercise involvement, and body image. One hundred and fifty-eight female university students completed questionnaires and provided body measurements for this study. Although an interaction between BMI and WHR was found for some measures (i.e., Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire total and subscale scores), results indicated that BMI was consistently the better objective predictor of disordered eating and body image. Subjective perceptions of body weight and, to a lesser extent, body shape, were found to account for the greatest proportion of variance in the dependent measures (disordered eating, body esteem, and body dissatisfaction). Overall, these results offer more support for sociocultural theories emphasizing the importance of thinness for women, than evolutionary theories emphasizing the role of WHR.