Kathleen A. Liberty

Early school-based learning difficulties in children born very preterm

BACKGROUND Educational underachievement is a major morbidity associated with very preterm (VPT) birth. However, few studies have examined early school outcomes with most employing global, clinic based measures. OBJECTIVE To examine the early school achievement in a cohort of children born VPT and studied to age 6 years. METHODS A regional cohort of 102 VPT children (</=33 weeks GA) were followed prospectively alongside a comparison group of 108 full term (FT) children born during the same period (1998-2000). At 6 years corrected age, all children underwent a comprehensive neurodevelopmental evaluation that included the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement (WJ-III), teacher report and national numeracy and literacy test results. Rates of specific learning disabilities (LD) were also examined. RESULTS VPT children performed less well than FT children on WJ-III subtests (ps<.05), national tests (ps<.01), and in all curricular areas rated by teachers (ps<.01) except expressive language. Even VPT children without severe neurodevelopmental impairment scored lower on the WJ-III math, national tests (ps<.05) and were 2-3 times more likely to show delays (ps<.02) in math (43% vs. 19%), written language (36% vs. 22%), language comprehension (26% vs. 14%), handwriting (36% vs. 17%), spelling (38% vs. 30%) and physical education (33% vs. 11%). They were also twice as likely as FT children to have math LD (47% vs. 21%). CONCLUSIONS By age 6, a substantial proportion of VPT children are lagging behind their FT peers across multiple curriculum areas, with difficulties being most prominent in math. Findings highlight the need for early identification and educational supports to help maximise VPT childrens learning opportunities during the transition to school.

Beginning School With Asthma Independently Predicts Low Achievement in a Prospective Cohort of Children

BACKGROUND Concerns about the achievement of children with asthma and respiratory conditions are especially important in New Zealand, which has one of the worlds highest rates of childhood asthma. The present study evaluated whether entering school with asthma was associated with low achievement after the first year. METHODS A child cohort was recruited to a prospective study at time of first enrollment into randomly selected schools in Christchurch. Parent interviews covered demographics and respiratory status. Physician reports were sought for children with asthma, and all respiratory information was clinically reviewed. The childrens achievement in reading and math was individually assessed at school entry and reassessed after 12 months. Schools reported absences. Intelligence subtests were administered. RESULTS Two hundred ninety-eight children were recruited, including 55 (18.5%) with current asthma. At 1-year follow-up, retention was 93.7%. Children who entered school with asthma were more likely to be ≥ 6 months behind other participants in reading words (P = .023) and books (P = .026), but not in math (P = .167) at the end of the first year of school. Achievement was not related to asthma severity. Entering school with asthma reliably predicted low reading achievement independent of other known covariates of low achievement (high absenteeism, minority status, male gender, single-parent family, poor academic skills at school entry, and low socioeconomic status). CONCLUSIONS Entering school with asthma was a significant predictor of low achievement in reading at 12-month follow-up, independent of asthma severity, high absenteeism, or other covariates of low achievement.

Teaching New Skills to the Severely Handicapped

This paper focuses on teaching strategies specifically designed to facilitate the acquisition of new skills by severely and profoundly handicapped learners in instructional programs. Strategies are discussed in terms of their functional relationship to independent performance in nonschool environments, and emphasis is placed on the avoidance of synthetic teaching and consequating procedures and events.

Introduction to Decision Rule Systems

Decision rule systems may be used to assist special educators who must make timely, numerous, and complicated decisions. This paper defines decision rule systems and discusses their critical features and the advantages and disadvantages of their use in order to assist special educators in understanding decision rule systems. Further, the paper examines practical considerations and steps in selecting decision rule systems for use in classroom decision making.

Sensitivity to differences between enjoyment and non-enjoyment smiles in children with autism spectrum disorder

The sensitivity of male children (5-15 years) with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to the affective state of others was tested using an emotion recognition task. Only children without ASD could reliably differentiate between enjoyment and non-enjoyment smiles. Results are considered in terms of the social impairments of children with ASD.

Effects of Parent-Administered, Home-Based, High-Probability Request Sequences on Compliance by Children with Developmental Disabilities

ABSTRACT In the high-probability request sequence (high-p) procedure, a requester presents a rapid sequence of requests a child is known to be likely to comply with, followed by a request to perform a response for which there is a low probability of compliance (low-p request). To extend previous research from institutional and research settings to home settings, parents of three developmentally-delayed children who were noncompliant were taught to use the high-p procedure at home using a manual, supplemented by only brief therapist instruction. In addition they were taught to use a fading procedure to enhance the maintenance of any gains in compliance. The manual-based, high-p procedure, implemented in a multiple-baseline across behaviors replicated across children design, increased compliance with at least one targeted low-p response in all children, and two thirds of the targeted responses maintained gains in compliance at follow-up, after fading of the high-p procedure.

Reforming Learning for Children with Learning Differences in New Zealand

This chapter discusses concepts that underpinned a progressive reform of educational provision for children with disabilities and learning difficulties in New Zealand. Reform involved increasing options for parent choice in education and allocation of resources to schools for individual children concurrent with a push for full inclusion of children with learning differences alongside typical children in state primary classrooms. The chapter explores the development and impact of the reform and critically reflects on problems and issues arising from its implementation to date.

Collaborative Partnerships in Evaluation and Experimental Rehabilitation Research.

Changes in rehabilitation and clinical practice, the recognition of the role of clients in achieving rehabilitation goals, and client participation in decision-making and administration of service delivery have contributed to the development of new methodologies for research and evaluation. In this paper, the traditional relationship between researchers and subjects in traditional rehabilitation evaluation and research is contrasted with relationships between researchers and clients-consumers in newer methodologies. The limitations and challenges to these models are discussed. Collaborative research, characterized by shared power and non-hierarchical authority between client-consumers and researchers, is described as an alternative model for experimental and evaluative research. Collaborative relationships provide a structure for building upon the knowledge and expertise of each research partner. The authors draw upon their own experience of collaborative research partnerships and models of research partnerships are described. Research developed and conducted in a collaborative partnership can include quantitative and qualitative approaches, maintain traditional scientific perspectives of objectivity, reliability and replicability, and improve participation rates, continuity of involvement for longitudinal studies and utilization of researched methods into practice.

Behavior Problems and Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms in Children Beginning School: A Comparison of Pre- and Post-Earthquake Groups

Introduction: Literature reviews caution that estimating the effects of disasters on the behavior of children following a disaster is difficult without baseline information and few studies report the effects of earthquakes on young children. In addition the relationship between age at the time of disaster and consequential behavior problems have not been reported for young children who experience disaster-related stress during a developmentally sensitive period. Methods: Behavior problems and symptoms of post-traumatic stress (PTS) were reported for two groups of children from nearby neighborhoods during their first term at school, using the Behavior Problem Index by teacher report, following approved informed consent procedures. Data on one group, “Pre-EQ” (N=297), was collected four years before the beginning of the earthquakes on children born 2001-2002. Data on the second group, “Post-EQ” (N=212), was collected approximately three to four years after the beginning of the earthquakes on children born 2007-2009 and living in heavily damaged neighborhoods. The Post-EQ group had significantly more children from high socioeconomic neighborhoods but no other significant differences on main demographic characteristics. Results: The mean behavior problem score was significantly higher in the Post-EQ group (Mean =6.11) as compared to the Pre-EQ group (Mean = 3.78). PTS symptoms were also significantly higher in the Post-EQ group (Mean =2.91) as compared to the Pre-EQ group (Mean=1.98) and more children had high PTS scores (20.9% v. 8.8%, OR= 2.73, 95%CI =1.57, 4.76). Model testing identified that a younger age at the time of exposure was the only significant predictor of high numbers of PTS symptoms in the Post-EQ group. Discussion: Rates of teacher-reported behavior problems in young children more than doubled following the Christchurch earthquakes. Younger children may be more vulnerable to the effects of earthquakes that occur during a developmentally sensitive period. Additional research is needed to consider the effects of age and duration of disaster effects to better understand the effects of disasters on children, their families and communities.

Data Dilemma: Response and Measurement Units for Teachers of the Severely Handicapped

Systems for data collection and analysis have been developed to help teachers systematically specialize and individualize their instruction for special children. The appearance of severely and profoundly handicapped children as regular members of the school population has led to questions concerning the applicability of traditional response and measurement units to this population. A review of units used by researchers with the severely handicapped was conducted. A discussion of the applicability of the various response units (e.g., percent) in reference to the desired effects of instruction or intervention and in regard to the specific learning stage are discussed. The author concludes that a careful application of traditional units with some reservations may prove effective for teachers of the severely handicapped.