Évaluation de l’orthographe des élèves dysphasiques en situation de narration communicative : variations selon le type d’orthographe,lexicale versus morphologique

IntroductionThe overall goal of the study was to draw, in French language, a complete picture of spelling abilities in young students with SLI, enrolling in ordinary classes.ObjectiveThe main aim was to show how the developmental trajectories of lexical spelling and the morphological spelling are different when a large age span is observed (7 to 18 years old).MethodsThe spelling abilities were evaluated through a narrative communicative. Two groups of students with SLI (7–11 years and 12–18 years) were compared with two groups of typical students matched on chronological age.ResultsThe lexical spelling was acquired before the morphological spelling for SLI and typical participants. At 12–18 of age, the SLI participants did not produce more lexical errors than the typical group. For the lexical spelling, at 7–11 years, the SLI participants had a specific difficulty with the segmentation of the words: they produced words that do not exist in the language and which by definition have no morphological markers.ConclusionThe SLI participants need more time to learn than the typical participants. At 7–11 years, before learning of morphology, they must be able to control segmentation the segmentation of words. The low number of morphological errors in the school SLI group of 7–11 years is not necessarily a sign of difficulty. The increase in the number of errors at 12–18 years is the sign that this problem has been exceeded and that the learning of the written morphological markers can really begin.     

The development of perceptual sensitivity to second-order facial relations in children

This study investigated children’s perceptual ability to process second-order facial relations. In total, 78 children in three age groups (7, 9, and 11 years) and 28 adults were asked to say whether the eyes were the same distance apart in two side-by-side faces. The two faces were similar on all points except the space between the eyes, which was either the same or different, with various degrees of difference. The results showed that the smallest eye spacing children were able to discriminate decreased with age. This ability was sensitive to face orientation (upright or upside-down), and this inversion effect increased with age. It is concluded here that, despite early sensitivity to configural/holistic information, the perceptual ability to process second-order relations in faces improves with age and constrains the development of the face recognition ability.     

Associations between cortical thickness and general intelligence in children,adolescents and young adults

Neuroimaging research indicates that human intellectual ability is related to brain structure including the thickness of the cerebral cortex. Most studies indicate that general intelligence is positively associated with cortical thickness in areas of association cortex distributed throughout both brain hemispheres. In this study, we performed a cortical thickness mapping analysis on data from 182 healthy typically developing males and females ages 9 to 24 years to identify correlates of general intelligence (g) scores. To determine if these correlates also mediate associations of specific cognitive abilities with cortical thickness, we regressed specific cognitive test scores on g scores and analyzed the residuals with respect to cortical thickness. The effect of age on the association between cortical thickness and intelligence was examined. We found a widely distributed pattern of positive associations between cortical thickness and g scores, as derived from the first unrotated principal factor of a factor analysis of Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) subtest scores. After WASI specific cognitive subtest scores were regressed on g factor scores, the residual score variances did not correlate significantly with cortical thickness in the full sample with age covaried. When participants were grouped at the age median, significant positive associations of cortical thickness were obtained in the older group for g-residualized scores on Block Design (a measure of visual-motor integrative processing) while significant negative associations of cortical thickness were observed in the younger group for g-residualized Vocabulary scores. These results regarding correlates of general intelligence are concordant with the existing literature, while the findings from younger versus older subgroups have implications for future research on brain structural correlates of specific cognitive abilities, as well as the cognitive domain specificity of behavioral performance correlates of normative gray matter thinning during adolescence.     

A Transformative Eucharistic Vision for the Entire Oikoumene

This article begins from the awareness that in a world of affluence, millions are hungry. It addresses the question as to whether this is merely an economic issue or whether it also poses an ethical and theological dilemma, considering ways in which the situation we are living in challenges our faith in the transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. It asks how, in the situation as it is, there is any possibility of believing in such a transformation. Finally it questions whether there is any relationship between hope for the transformation of hunger amidst affluence and belief in the transformation of bread into the body of Christ, and outlines a transformative eucharistic vision for the global Christian Church.     

Community Psychology and Quality of Life in Tanzania

The purpose of this study was to explore the status of community psychology and its contribution to the quality of life in Tanzania. The study was based on both literature review and interviews. First, social responses to problems such as malaria, food insecurity, domestic violence, environmental changes, and HIV/AIDS are discussed. This is followed by a report on the results of five face-to-face interviews of individuals working in the fields of psychology, sociology, social work, counseling and public health. The participants were predominantly from the Capital City of Dar es Salam and one hailed from the city of Mbeya, 850 km from Dar es Salaam. The interviews were exclusively conducted in English as all participants were fluent in English, though it was their second language. On the basis of the literature review and the interviews, it was concluded that although community psychology has made some progress in contributing to quality of life in Tanzania, it is a field of great potential which must be further explored for the benefit of Tanzanians.     

Development of behavioural problems in children adopted from Romania to the Netherlands,after a period of deprivation

A longitudinal study was conducted among 72 Romanian adoptive children (41 boys, 31 girls) in the Netherlands, who, according to the parents and medical records, had all experienced a period of some degree of deprivation before their adoption. The children were on average 2 years and 9 months old at adoption. Parents filled out the Child Behavioural Checklist twice. On average there was little change in scores between the two measurements, and correlations were high. Some children displayed a marked improvement, or worsening of problems. The change in CBCL scores was not related to age or health on arrival into the adoptive family. Children who received special education at the first measurement (31%) improved significantly more on Total Problems than children who didn't. The same applied to professional help, the 46 children (64%) for whom professional help was engaged improved significantly more than the other 26 children. It appears to be effective to engage educational and psychological help for these (severely) deprived children at an early stage.     

School enrolment and executive functioning: A longitudinal perspective on developmental changes,the influence of learning context,and the prediction of pre-academic skills

The present two-year longitudinal study addressed developmental changes in different aspects of executive functioning (i.e., inhibition, updating, and cognitive flexibility) in a sample of 264 children aged between 5 and 7 years. Of special interest were issues of developmental progression over time, the influence of learning context and the predictive power of executive functions and school context for emerging academic skills. The results revealed pronounced improvements in all executive measures, both over time and as a function of age. For the learning context, small and age-dependent effects on executive skills were found. Inhibition uniquely contributed to the prediction of aspects of emerging academic skills, over and above chronological age and language skills.     

Correlation of motor skill,mental rotation,and working memory in 3- to 6-year-old children

A relationship between motor processes and mental rotation has been suggested by current research; however, the influence of working memory on this relationship has not yet been determined. Therefore, a correlation between motor tests, paper–pencil and chronometric mental rotation tests, and working memory tests were conducted in 3- to 6-year-old children. A stepwise multiple-regression showed that 55.5% of the variance was explained by the working memory tests: digit span forward and Corsi forward. This indicates that working memory and executive functions may play an important role in mental rotation and motor processes.