Understanding the Diverse Literacy Needs of Profoundly Deaf Sign-Dominant Adults in Australia

This review explores the literacy difficulties experienced by prelingual, profoundly deaf, sign-dominant adults. A critical overview of the existing literature identifies the importance of understanding their language experiences and word-coding preferences. Findings challenge the notion that a permanent lack of audition from birth prevents individuals from developing efficient strategies for the lexical processing of words and raises the possibility that sign-based word coding could play a central role in proficient word reading for those adults who cannot learn to read by way of the auditory perceptual route. The unique resources needed to assist in the development of the literacy skills of this minority group are discussed.     

Phonological Awareness and Reading Proficiency in Adults with Profound Deafness

This study investigated differences in the phonological knowledge and reading skill of deaf adults using three experimental conditions that tested sensitivity to syllables, rhyme, and phonemes. Analysis of response latencies and accuracy in the three awareness tasks demonstrated that skilled deaf readers had superior phonological awareness skill to that of less-skilled readers and showed less reliance on orthography when making their phonological judgments. Rhyme had greater independent predictive strength than syllable or phoneme awareness for reading comprehension. Phoneme awareness did not contribute independently to either reading comprehension or word reading, but it did independently predict application of grapheme-phoneme correspondences.     

A Systematic Review of Suicide Prevention Programs for Military or Veterans

Military personnel and veterans have important suicide risk factors. After a systematic review of the literature on suicide prevention, seven (five in the U.S.) studies of military personnel were identified containing interventions that may reduce the risk of suicide. The effectiveness of the individual components was not assessed, and problems in methodology or reporting of data were common. Overall, multifaceted interventions for active duty military personnel are supported by consistent evidence, although of very mixed quality, and in some cases during intervals of declines in suicide rates in the general population. There were insufficient studies of U.S. Veterans to reach conclusions.     

Suicide Ideations,Suicide Attempts,and Completed Suicide in Persons with Pathological Gambling and Their First‐Degree Relatives

We examined the relationship between suicidal ideations and attempts in 95 probands with pathological gambling (PG), 91 controls, and 1075 first‐degree relatives. The results were analyzed using logistic regression with generalized estimating equations. Thirty‐four PG probands (35.8%) and 4 controls (4.4%) had attempted suicide (OR = 12.12, p < .001); in 13 probands, the attempt occurred before PG onset. Lifetime suicidal ideations occurred in 60 PG probands (63.2%) and 12 controls (13.2%) (OR = 11.29, p < .001). Suicidality in PG probands is a marker of PG severity and is associated with greater psychiatric comorbidity. Offspring of PG probands had significantly higher rates of suicide attempts than control offspring.     

Presentation- and test-trial effects on acquisition and retention of distance and location

Acquisition and retention effects of presentation and test trials on movement distance (Experiment 1) and location (Experiment 2) were examined under three multitrial training methods. Three groups of 15 government employees performed three training trial cycles consisting of six trials each. Training methods emphasized either presentation-trial repetition, test-trial repetition, or presentation- and test-trial alternation within cycles. After training, both short- (3 min.) and long-term (24 hr.) retention scores were recorded. Absolute error revealed that (a) presentation-trial repetition promoted acquisition of both distance and location but resulted in extensive short- and long-term forgetting; (b) test-trial repetition produced error increases within cycles, potentiated presentation-trial effectiveness during acquisition, and enhanced long-term retention of both distance and location; (c) presentation- and test-trial alternation promoted distance and location acquisition and produced distance retention intermediate to that of the other two methods. Experiment 3 provided data to support the interpretation that test-trial retention benefits are a function of movement execution mode.     

Stable same‐sex friendships with higher achieving partners promote mathematical reasoning in lower achieving primary school children

This study was designed to investigate friend influence over mathematical reasoning in a sample of 374 children in 187 same‐sex friend dyads (184 girls in 92 friendships; 190 boys in 95 friendships). Participants completed surveys that measured mathematical reasoning in the 3rd grade (approximately 9 years old) and 1 year later in the 4th grade (approximately 10 years old). Analyses designed for dyadic data (i.e., longitudinal actor‐partner interdependence model) indicated that higher achieving friends influenced the mathematical reasoning of lower achieving friends, but not the reverse. Specifically, greater initial levels of mathematical reasoning among higher achieving partners in the 3rd grade predicted greater increases in mathematical reasoning from 3rd grade to 4th grade among lower achieving partners. These effects held after controlling for peer acceptance and rejection, task avoidance, interest in mathematics, maternal support for homework, parental education, length of the friendship, and friendship group norms on mathematical reasoning.