PROBLEM BEHAVIOR DURING PREFERENCE ASSESSMENTS: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS AND PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Preferences of 2 children with developmental disabilities, whose functional analyses indicated that their problem behavior was maintained by access to tangible items, were assessed using three formats (i.e., paired stimulus [PS], multiple‐stimulus without replacement [MSWO], and free operant [FO]). The experimenter administered each format five times and compared levels of problem behavior across formats in a multielement design. Both participants exhibited problem behavior in PS and MSWO formats but not in the FO format. Results are discussed in terms of recommendations for practitioners.     

汉语儿童英语语音意识与拼写的关系

对92名二到四年级的汉语儿童进行英语语音意识和英语拼写测试,探索汉语儿童英语拼写的发展特点以及语音意识中的不同成分对其拼写的影响作用。结果发现：（1）汉语儿童的英语拼写成绩随着年级和学习经验的增多而提高,其中二年级到三年级是英语拼写能力发展的关键时期,女生的拼写成绩优于男生。（2）语音意识中的首音韵音意识对汉语儿童的英语拼写有较强的影响作用,此外,拼音和工作记忆也是影响汉语儿童英语拼写的重要因素。     

Maternal expectations about infant development of pre‐term and full‐term infants: a cross‐national comparison

In three European regions (The Netherlands, Northern Italy and Southern Italy) we investigated whether mothers of healthy pre‐term infants (n=92) adjust their expectations for the timing of developmental milestones in the first years of life as compared to mothers of full‐term infants (n=140). We examined whether these adjustments could be seen as reflecting a pessimistic view, as would be predicted from the ‘prematurity stereotype’ perspective. Partial corrections for prematurity were regularly made, but no indications were found for an overly pessimistic view. Moreover, the differences between the regions in the anticipated timing of mastery of milestones were larger than the effects of prematurity. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using deferred imitation to understand the process of change in infant memory development

In their commentaries, Carver, Richmond and DeBoer pose several challenging and insightful questions in response to our target article. Two key themes emerged from their commentaries, which are important in the field of infant memory research. The first concerns the use of deferred imitation as a paradigm, and its relationship to other methods of assessing infant cognition. The second concerns understanding the process of change observed in infant memory. How do maturation and experience interact to produce developmental change, and what theories can best account for changes in representational flexibility in early infancy? We will address each area and the implications these questions have for the direction of future research. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Maternal sensitivity and behaviour problems in young children with developmental delay

Children with developmental delay are at increased risk for behaviour problems, but little is known about risk and resilience factors. Previous research has established links between maternal sensitivity and behaviour problems in typically developing children, but no studies have examined maternal sensitivity in the development of behaviour problems in children with developmental delay. In this study, we coded videotaped interactions of 30 2‐year‐olds with developmental delay and their mothers using the maternal behaviour Q‐sort and a child behaviour coding system. Mothers completed the child behaviour checklist when their children were 2 and 3 years old. Results revealed significant inverse relations between maternal sensitivity and concurrent and later externalizing problems, and significant positive relations between maternal sensitivity and concurrent observed appropriate behaviour (compliance and social engagement). This study informs developmental theory and identifies an important maternal variable that may reduce the risk of behaviour problems in children with developmental delay. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

WISC-R Subtest But No Overall VIQ–PIQ Difference in Dutch Children with PDD-NOS

VIQ–PIQ differences have been studied in children with autism and Asperger syndrome but have not been studied in a separate group of children with PDD-NO, although, PDD-NOS has a much higher prevalence rate than autism and deficits in communication and social interaction are severe. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) was administered to 100 children, aged 6–12 years, with PDD-NOS (n = 76), autism (n = 13), and Asperger syndrome (n = 11). PDD-NOS was diagnosed using explicit research criteria. No overall differences between VIQ and PIQ were found in PDD-NOS and autism. Peaks in the subtest scores on Information, Similarities, Picture Arrangement, and Mazes, and troughs in the subtest scores on Comprehension, Digit Span, and Coding were demonstrated in children with PDD-NOS. Their score on the Freedom from Distractibility factor was lower than the scores on the Verbal Comprehension factor and the Perceptual Organization factor. Children with PDD-NOS seemed to have a similar VIQ–PIQ profile as children with autism, and on the subtest level children with PDD-NOS showed some similarities to children with Asperger syndrome or autism. It was not possible to distinguish PDD-NOS from autism or Asperger syndrome by using IQ scores.     

幼儿加减法运算中的策略发展特点

本研究随机选取北京市三所普通幼儿园小、中、大班儿童共90名,采用实物操作的非言语任务,考察3-5岁幼儿在加减法运算中的策略发展特点。结果表明:随着年龄的增长,儿童使用的策略由模仿、交换向内化、相反数策略转化;3、4岁幼儿在相反数题中,更多使用模仿和交换策略,而5岁幼儿更多使用模仿、相反数策略;在标准型题中,儿童一般较多使用模仿和内化策略;最大表征对儿童策略选择存在影响。     

Specific conditions for a selective deficit in memory for order in children with dyslexia

Short-term memory (STM) models distinguish between item and order memorization. The present study aims to explore how item and order STM are affected by the nature of the stimuli, the sequential versus simultaneous mode of presentation, the visual versus auditory presentation modality, the possibility of verbal recoding. A total of 20 children with dyslexia were matched one-by-one with 20 typically reading children on sex, age (8–14 years), and grade. Computerized STM tasks were administered while manipulating type (item vs. order), stimuli (letters vs. colors), sequentiality, input and output modality, as well as the presence/absence of articulatory suppression and distractors. General Linear Model analyses were conducted on accuracy scores for item and order STM. Both item and order recall scores were lower for children with dyslexia. Although order STM in the visual input condition turned out to be more impaired than item STM in the dyslexic group, both item and order memory impairments become evident when verbal recoding is prevented through articulatory suppression. Moreover, dyslexic children, unlike typical readers, were not facilitated by the linguistic nature of the stimuli to be remembered. The present findings suggest that the often-reported selective impairment of serial memory in dyslexia is restricted to stimuli that are verbal in nature or can be verbally recoded, whereas both item and order memory impairments become evident when verbal recoding is prevented through articulatory suppression. The presence of distractors is particularly detrimental to STM in the dyslexic group. The sensitivity to distractors, suppression, and stimuli in STM is predictive of reading performance.     

Effects of inter-character spacing on saccade programming in beginning readers and dyslexics

The present study investigated the impact of inter-character spacing on saccade programming in beginning readers and dyslexic children. In two experiments, eye movements were recorded while dyslexic children, reading-age, and chronological-age controls, performed an oculomotor lateralized bisection task on words and strings of hashes presented either with default inter-character spacing or with extra spacing between the characters. The results of Experiment 1 showed that (1) only proficient readers had already developed highly automatized procedures for programming both left- and rightward saccades, depending on the discreteness of the stimuli and (2) children of all groups were disrupted (i.e., had trouble to land close to the beginning of the stimuli) by extra spacing between the characters of the stimuli, and particularly for stimuli presented in the left visual field. Experiment 2 was designed to disentangle the role of inter-character spacing and spatial width. Stimuli were made the same physical length in the default and extra-spacing conditions by having more characters in the default spacing condition. Our results showed that inter-letter spacing still influenced saccade programming when controlling for spatial width, thus confirming the detrimental effect of extra spacing for saccade programming. We conclude that the beneficial effect of increased inter-letter spacing on reading can be better explained in terms of decreased visual crowding than improved saccade targeting.