Dennis L. Molfese

Developmental variations in learning : applications to social, executive function, language, and reading skills

Contents: Preface. V.J. Molfese, T.B. Martin, Intelligence and Achievement: Measurement and Prediction of Developmental Variations. J.M. Holahan, B.A. Shaywitz, V. Chhabra, A. Shneider, K. Marchione, S.E. Shaywitz, J. Fletcher, Developmental Trends in Teacher Perceptions of Student Cognitive and Behavioral Status as Measured by the Multigrade Inventory for Teachers: Evidence From a Longitudinal Study. L. Waterhouse, Social Interaction Impairments. S.H. Landry, C.L. Miller-Loncar, K.E. Smith, Individual Difference in the Development of Social Communication Competency in Very Low Birthweight Children. K.A. Espy, P.M. Kaufmann, Individual Differences in the Development of Executive Function in Children: Lessons From the Delayed Response and A-not-B Tasks. M.C. Welsh, Developmental and Clinical Variations in Executive Functions. D.L. Molfese, D.B. Narter, A. Modglin, The Relation Between Language Development and Brain Activity. R.D. Morris, L. Lazarus-Benbenisty, N. Krawiecki, M. Wolf, Naming Abilities in Children With Brain Tumors. M.A. Romski, R.A. Sevcik, Patterns of Language Development Through Augmented Means in Youth With Mental Retardation. V.W. Berninger, R.D. Abbott, Modeling Developmental and Individual Variability in Reading and Writing Acquisition: A Developmental Neuropsychological Perspective. M.W. Lovett, R.W. Barron, The Search for Individual and Subtype Differences in Reading Disabled Childrens Response to Remediation.

Hemisphere Processing of Phonological Information

Publisher Summary This chapter presents an overview of hemisphere processing of phonological information. The review of speech perception, based on behavioral measures from dichotic, same-different, and phoneme identification tasks, and on electrophysiological measures, has provided several insights into hemisphere functioning. The different, perceptually important cues for speech perception seem to be subserved by different regions of the brain. Analysis of the electrophysiological responses indicates that each cue is processed by a number of distinct mechanisms, some of which are bilaterally represented, and some of which are lateralized to one cortical region. These findings suggest that there is some degree of redundancy in the cortical mechanisms involved in speech perception. This redundancy may be responsible for the relatively small ear differences reported with the dichotic technique and the abilities of brain-damaged populations to perform speech perception tasks with some competency even after left-hemisphere damage. Clearly, then, given the findings to date, it would appear that language perception for even relatively simple discriminations must depend on multidimensional and complex processes rather than on solely left or right-hemisphere processing.

Estimating Child Sleep From Parent Report of Time in Bed: Development and Evaluation of Adjustment Approaches

OBJECTIVEnTo develop and evaluate adjustment factors to convert parent-reported time in bed to an estimate of child sleep time consistent with objective measurement.nnnMETHODSnA community sample of 217 children aged 4-9 years (mean age = 6.6 years) wore actigraph wristwatches to objectively measure sleep for 7 days while parents completed reports of child sleep each night. After examining the moderators of the discrepancy between parent reports and actigraphy, 3 adjustment factors were evaluated.nnnRESULTSnParent report of child sleep overestimated nightly sleep duration by ∼24 min per night relative to actigraphy. Child age, gender, and sleep quality all had small or nonsignificant associations with correspondence between parent report and actigraph. Empirically derived adjustment factors significantly reduced the discrepancy between parent report and objective measurement.nnnCONCLUSIONSnSimple adjustment factors can enhance the correspondence and utility of parent reports of child sleep duration for clinical and research purposes.