Ara J. Schmitt

A Preliminary Study of Bully and Victim Behavior in Old-for-Grade Students: Another Potential Hidden Cost of Grade Retention or Delayed School Entry

Mounting evidence suggests that being an old-for-grade student, as a result of grade retention or delayed school entry, is related to negative outcomes across various domains of functioning. No known study has examined the relations between old-for-grade status and specific childhood/adolescent bully and victim behaviors. The first purpose of this preliminary study was to determine whether old-for-grade students engage in significantly more relational bullying, verbal bullying, and physical bullying compared with age-appropriate-for-grade peers. The second purpose was to establish whether old-for-grade students are more likely to play passive or aggressive/provocative victim roles compared with age-appropriate-for-grade students. A total of 16 public and private school teachers completed a bullying behavior questionnaire regarding each of their students. The authors analyzed data from 276 students; of these, 67 were old-for-grade students and 209 were age-appropriate-for-grade students. Findings suggest that old-for-grade status is related to significantly more bullying behavior and victim behavior compared with age-appropriate-for-grade peers. In addition, the authors discuss the critical implications of these research findings.

Use of Reading Pen Assistive Technology to Accommodate Post-Secondary Students with Reading Disabilities

ABSTRACT Reading pens are a form of assistive technology that may be used to bypass weak word decoding and vocabulary skills of students with reading disabilities. Only two known studies have examined the effects of reading pens on the comprehension of school-aged students, and no known studies have been published regarding post-secondary students. The present study investigated the effects of reading pen assistive technology on the comprehension accuracy and rate of three post-secondary students with university-recognized reading disabilities. An alternating treatments design was implemented to compare the effects of (1) a reading pen decoding accommodation, (2) concurrent reading pen decoding and vocabulary accommodations, and (3) a no-accommodation control condition on the comprehension of the three participants when provided college level difficulty reading passages. Results indicate that use of a reading pen did not uniformly improve the comprehension of the post-secondary students. However, the student with the poorest reading skills benefitted the most. Discussion focuses on explanations for the results, practical implications for post-secondary students with reading disabilities, and future directions for study.

Comparing the Efficiency of Repeated Reading and Listening-While-Reading to Improve Fluency and Comprehension

An alternating treatments design was used to compare the effects of two reading fluency interventions on the oral reading fluency and maze accuracy of four fourth-grade students. Also, by taking into account time spent in intervention, the efficiency of the two interventions was compared. In the adult-mediated repeated reading (RR) condition, students read a grade-level passage aloud to an adult. The adult provided the students with error correction of oral reading miscues. In the listening-while-reading (LWR) condition, students read along aloud with audio recorded readings of passages using an MP3 player. The RR and LWR conditions had similar effects on reading fluency for three participants and the RR was more effective for one participant. When accounting for instructional time, the LWR condition was more efficient at improving reading fluency for three of the four participants. The same pattern of results was evident in Maze comprehension data. Discussion will emphasize the need to consider instructional time when selecting interventions.

Relational, social, and overt aggression among aggressive and nonaggressive female adolescents

In this study, researchers wished to further study the differentiation among forms of aggression in a diverse sample of adolescent females. Specifically, the self-reported use of relational, social, and direct verbal and physical aggression was measured in Caucasian and non-Caucasian typically developing versus overtly aggressive adolescent females. No statistically significant differences were found between typically developing and overtly aggressive adolescent female samples in the use of social or relational aggression; however, overtly aggressive adolescents reported using direct verbal or physical aggression significantly more than typically developing adolescents. Caucasian adolescents reported using significantly more relationally aggressive behaviors than non-Caucasian adolescents. No statistically significant differences were found in socially aggressive behaviors between Caucasian and non-Caucasian adolescent female samples. Implications for these findings are discussed.

An Exploratory Investigation of the Relations Among Annual School Absences, Reading Curriculum-Based Measurement, and a High-Stakes State Reading Assessment

This study investigated the relations among annual school absences, data obtained from triennial reading curriculum-based measurement (R-CBM) screenings, including R-CBM slope, and a high-stakes state reading assessment. Participants included 106 third- and fourth-grade students for whom attendance and reading achievement data were available across the entire school year. Results of this exploratory study indicated that the number of annual absences was not significantly related to fall, winter, or spring R-CBM performance, annual R-CBM slope, or state reading assessment scores. When the participants were broken into groups with low (10 or fewer days) and high (more than 11 days) absence rates, no significant group differences were found for any reading achievement indicator. Consistent with previous research, triennial R-CBM data was robustly associated with performance on the state reading assessment. Furthermore, annual absence rate did not explain additional variation in state reading assessment scores beyond winter R-CBM performance. Limitations of this exploratory study and implications for future investigations and practice are discussed.

A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Relational and Social Aggression in Female College Students from Puerto Rico and the United States

Researchers compared scores on a self-report measure of relational and social aggression using 2 groups, European American female university students (M = 20.23 years, SD = 3.88) from the mid-Atlantic region of the United States and Hispanic females from Puerto Rico (M = 19.34 years, SD = 1.26). Results indicate that cultural differences were evident in the use of relational and social aggression. The exclusively Hispanic Puerto Rican sample reported being more socially aggressive than the European American, mid-Atlantic sample. In contrast, the European American sample identified as being more relationally aggressive in their relationships than the Hispanic Puerto Rican sample. This distinction allows us to consider potential cultural differences in interpersonal relations in college-age females.

Ego Identity and Relational and Social Aggression Mediated by Elaborative and Deep Processing

Abstract: In this investigation, late adolescents’ (N = 629) ego identity status (e.g., identity achievement, identity diffusion, identity moratorium, and identity foreclosure), cognitive processing style, and self-reported use of relational aggression and social aggression were measured in order to assess potential relationships among these constructs. Four separate models were used to test these hypotheses, and the results showed support for some but not all the four hypotheses. In this sample, it appears that individuals with high levels of cognitive sophistication who lack social maturity by which to resolve relationship problems were more likely to use social aggression than those with lower levels of cognitive processing skills or with higher levels of emotional maturity.

Relational Aggression in Preschool Students: An Exploration of the Variables of Sex, Age, and Siblings

In this study, researchers wished to ascertain whether there were age (three- and four-year old), sibling (with or without older siblings), and sex (male and female) differences in the use of relational aggression in preschool students as rated by peers and teachers. Inordertoanswerthisresearchquestion,two2 ×2 ×2factorialANOVAprocedureswiththerelationalaggressioncompositescore as the dependent variable on the PSBS-P and PSBS-T were used for peer and teacher assessment, respectively, of relational aggression. Results revealed that in the peer ratings of preschool students’ relationally aggressive behavior, there was an disordinal age by sibling interaction, in which four-year-old children with siblings were significantly more likely to be rated by their peers as using relational aggression than three-year-old children without siblings. In the teacher ratings of preschool students’ relationally aggressivebehavior,amaineffectforagewasobserved.Teachersratedfour-yearoldchildrenasevidencingsignificantlyhigherlevelsofrelational aggression as compared to three-year-olds. No sex differences were observed in the use of relational aggression either at age three or age four in this sample. Implications for these findings are presented.

Test Reviews: Reynolds, C., & Voress, J. K. (2007). Test of Memory and Learning: Second Edition. Austin, TX: PRO-ED

Visual Memory. Unlike the Facial Memory subtest which taps recognition of meaningful, nonverbal information, this subtest measures recognition of abstract stimuli. Examinees are presented with a single geometric figure on an easel page and then the examinee must recognize the figure among a series of six abstract stimuli. Testing is discontinued when two of three consecutive items are missed. Visual Sequential Memory. Examinees are horizontally presented abstract designs and are then required to indicate the order in which they were presented on a separate easel page when given the same designs in a random order. Start item and number of stimuli differ by age range (5 to 8 or 9 to 59); most examinees are administered eight items. Scoring of this subtest particularly requires examiner attention as the correct position of each design within the series is awarded a point across all items. Memory for Location. This subtest assesses spatial memory by requiring examinees to recall the location of dots dispersed across a picture book page. After viewing the initial stimulus, examinees must then place plastic chips on a grid representing locations on which the dots were presented. Each item is awarded one point and correct placement of all chips on the item is required. This subtest is discontinued after failing three of five consecutive items. Test Reviews 159

The effects of two assistive technologies on reading comprehension accuracy and rate

ABSTRACT This study compared the effectiveness of two assistive technologies to accommodate the word reading skills of four middle school students with reading learning disabilities. Kurzweil 3000 is a continuous text-to-speech (TTS) computer software program that allows students to follow along on a computer monitor while passages are read aloud. A reading pen is a discontinuous TTS assistive technology (AT) device that allows students to scan and hear selected words read aloud. An adapted alternating treatments design was implemented to compare the effects of listening-while-reading using continuous TTS AT, discontinuous TTS AT, and silently reading without accommodation on reading comprehension accuracy and rate. Results indicate that in three of the four participants, continuous TTS technology led to the greatest improvements in both comprehension accuracy and rate when compared to silent reading with effect sizes reaching 0.70 and 0.99, respectively. The fourth participant demonstrated the highest comprehension accuracy and rate in the discontinuous TTS condition. The discontinuous TTS condition led to the lowest comprehension rates across all four students. Additionally, participants generally found the continuous TTS AT to be the more acceptable of the two accommodations. Discussion focuses on possible theoretical explanations for the results and implications for future research.