99 MULTIPLE MEANING WORDS FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS AND WAYS TO TEACH THEM

The cumulative first grade word lists from three widely‐used basal series were combined and alphabetized through the use of a computer program. Of the 255 words common to all three lists, 228 (almost 90%) had multiple meanings. From these a basic list of 99 multiple meaning words was selected by applying three criteria: (a) all or most definitions of the word could be related to primary grade children's experiences; (b) the word was used as more than one part of speech; and (c) the word had four or more different definitions. Activities to develop children's knowledge of the multiple meanings of words are suggested through the use of pictures and objects, picture dictionaires and concept books, semantic mapping, and sentence context.     

Using Information from an Early Intervention Program to Enhance Literacy Goals on the Individualized Education Program (IEP)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that an Individualized Education Program (IEP) be developed for each child that receives special education services. To develop the most effective IEP, information is gathered from everyone who has worked with the child. In many schools the child receives early intervention services prior to referral to special education. One early intervention program that is utilized for first grade children falling behind in reading and writing is Reading Recovery®. The detailed information gathered as part of this program provides invaluable information that may facilitate development of appropriate literacy goals. This article discusses the information that is collected in the Reading Recovery program and provides an example of how this information can be utilized to support the development of IEP literacy goals.     

Cortisol,stress, and attentional bias toward threat

Abstract

Attentional bias toward threatening stimuli is a central characteristic of anxiety and acute stress. Recent small-scale studies have provided divergent perspectives on the association between the stress hormone cortisol and attentional bias toward threat cues. In a larger sample size than previous studies, we examined this association by investigating the impact of cortisol on attentional bias in two studies using a psychological stressor (N=35) and a physical stressor (N=65), respectively. Attentional bias and salivary cortisol were measured prior to and following the administration of a stressful task designed to increase cortisol levels. Results across these studies were equivocal relative to the association between baseline cortisol and baseline attentional bias. In addition, the association between acute change in cortisol and change in attentional bias appeared to differ as a function of the presence or absence of psychological stress. There was a trend toward a stronger negative association between acute cortisol change and attentional bias change among women relative to men. These results imply that the association between cortisol and attentional bias may be moderated by additional factors, such as gender or presence of stress.     

Revising Test Items to Increase Validity

Eight female interviewers varied their interview styles in interviewing 207 adults who had been involved in automobile accidents during a four-year period. A “professional” and a rapport or “interpersonal” style was used. Dependent variables consisted of reporting of events related to an automobile accident in which the respondent was the driver, and for which independent criterion data were available. In addition, the amount of health information reported was also analyzed. In spite of the respondents' more favorable attitudes towards the interpersonal interviews, accuracy was not significantly greater in these rapport interviews. In fact, significant interaction effects between interviewer style and recency of the accident were obtained. Respondents, however, reported more completely under rapport conditions. The results are interpreted within a cognitive, role-learning framework.     

The relation between teachers' math talk and the acquisition of number sense within kindergarten classrooms

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relation between teachers' math talk and the acquisition of number sense within kindergarten classrooms. The mathematical language input provided by 35 kindergarten teachers was examined with 9 different input categories. The results of this study indicate that the role of each of these math talk categories is not as straightforward as was hypothesized. Although significant positive relations were found for math talk categories such as cardinality and conventional nominatives, the relations between the categories' calculation and number symbols and children's score on specific number sense tasks were negative. Moreover, a large diversity in math talk was negatively related to kindergartners' number sense acquisition. These results suggest that teachers should be careful and selective with the amount of math talk that they offer to young children.     

To Value and Address Diversity: From Policy to Practice

A basic assumption of Target 3 of the National Agenda is that the rates of identification, placement, and achievement of children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED) are strongly correlated with dimensions of diversity, such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, and culture. A related assumption is that culturally competent and linguistically appropriate exchanges and collaborations among families, professionals, students, and communities will enable our school systems to achieve better educational outcomes for all children, including those with SED. We discuss these assumptions in the context of current policies and suggest ways of translating these policies into practices.     

Spectral and temporal degradation of speech as a simulation of morphosyntactic deficits in English and German

Spectral and temporal degradation of the speech stream is increasingly used to model receptive language deficits such as aphasia and developmental language disorders. As with results from patient studies, the specific pattern of receptive deficits can reveal underlying structural and processing characteristics of different languages. Here, we test English- and German-speaking college students' auditory comprehension of complex morphosyntactic structures under normal and 'dual-degradation' conditions. The resulting profiles of strength and vulnerability in the two languages highlight the cross-linguistic differences in reliability of syntactic and morphological cues, and closely resemble the deficits observed in previous studies of receptive aphasia.     

Executive functioning profiles from the BRIEF across pediatric medical disorders: Age and diagnosis factors

The objective of the study was to compare executive functioning (EF) profiles across several pediatric medical conditions and explore the influence of age of diagnosis and evaluation. A retrospective, cross-sectional study of 734 children aged 5 to 18 years was conducted across five medical groups (brain tumor, leukemia [ALL], epilepsy [EPI], neurofibromatosis type 1 [NF1], and ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency [OTC-D]), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) controls, and matched healthy controls. We compared groups across the scales of a parent-completed Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF) using a repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Separate ANOVAs were conducted to look at age factors. The results showed that the ADHD group differed from all other groups and had the highest level of reported EF problems. The NF1 and OTC-D groups differed significantly from the healthy comparison group for overall EF problems, while the EPI and cancer groups did not. Working memory was the most elevated scale across medical groups, followed by plan/organize. Children with medical disorders were two to four times more likely than healthy controls to have clinically significant problems in several EF domains. There was a main effect for age at diagnosis and age at evaluation. A subset of children with medical disorders were found to have parent-reported EF difficulties, with particular vulnerability noted in working memory and organizational/planning skills. This has relevance for the development of interventions that may be helpful across disorders. Children with particular diagnoses and earlier age of diagnosis and evaluation had greater reported EF problems.     

Failure‐to‐thrive is associated with disorganized infant–mother attachment and unresolved maternal attachment

This study provides further evidence for the co‐occurrence of atypical patterns of attachment and failure‐to‐thrive (FTT). Eighty‐three children with FTT and 130 normally growing comparison children were seen in Ainsworth's Strange Situation at ages 11 to 32 months. These subjects were highly diverse with respect to social, economic, and ethnic characteristics. Children with FTT were significantly less likely to show secure and more likely to show anxious, disorganized attachments than normally growing comparisons: only 34% of FTTs were secure, while 46% showed disorganized attachments. In contrast, 66% of comparisons were secure and 16% were disorganized. In addition, a subsample of 59 mothers (23 FTT and 36 comparison) were interviewed with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Mothers of FTTs were more than twice as likely as comparisons (65% versus 22%) to use discourse indicating unresolved loss or trauma. Similarly, mothers of FTTs were less likely to show autonomous (secure) discourse than mothers of well‐nourished children (13% versus 58%). There were no differences in infant or adult attachment classifications between organic and nonorganic FTT groups, further discrediting this as a psychologically meaningful distinction. These results support the notion that disturbed patterns of attachment are common in FTT, regardless of the etiology of growth failure. The findings suggest that evaluations and treatments of FTT should address psychological, as well as medical problems in these families. © 2000 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.