Benefits of Integrating an Explicit Self-Efficacy Intervention With Calculation Strategy Training for Low-Performing Elementary Students

This study examined the malleability of math self-efficacy (SE) among children with poor calculation fluency via an intervention that targeted four sources of SE (mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasions, and emotional and physiological states). The effect of pure strategy training was contrasted with an intervention that integrated strategy training and explicit SE support. Moreover, the changes in SE source experiences and their relation with math SE, as well as the relation between math-SE profiles and calculation fluency development, were examined. In a quasi-experimental design, 60 Finnish children with calculation fluency problems in Grades 2 to 4 participated in…

Resolving reading disability : Childhood predictors and adult-age outcomes

We examined frequency of adult-age reading disability (RD) and its childhood predictors among 48 adults (20 to 39 years) with documented childhood RD, and contrasted their cognitive skills, education, and employment with 37 matched controls. Among individuals with childhood RD, more than half had improved in their reading fluency to the level where the set criterion for adult-age RD was not met anymore. More fluent rapid naming, less severe childhood RD, and multiple support providers in childhood together predicted improvement of reading fluency. More fluent naming differentiated the childhood RD participants whose reading fluency had improved by adult-age from those participants whose RD …

sj-docx-1-ldx-10.1177_00222194221150230 – Supplemental material for A Register Study Suggesting Homotypic and Heterotypic Comorbidity Among Individuals With Learning Disabilities

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-ldx-10.1177_00222194221150230 for A Register Study Suggesting Homotypic and Heterotypic Comorbidity Among Individuals With Learning Disabilities by Tuija Aro, Reeta Neittaanmäki, Elisa Korhonen, Heli Riihimäki and Minna Torppa in Journal of Learning Disabilities

Psychosocial Functioning of Children with and without Dyslexia: A Follow-up Study from Ages Four to Nine

This longitudinal study compares developmental changes in psychosocial functioning during the transition into school of children with and without dyslexia. In addition, it examines the effects of gender and family risk for dyslexia in terms of the associations between dyslexia and psychosocial functioning. Children's psychosocial functioning (social skills, inattention and externalizing and internalizing problems) was evaluated by their parents at ages 4, 6 and 9, and diagnosis for dyslexia was made at age 8 (in grade 2). The findings indicated that children with dyslexia were already rated as having poorer social skills and being more inattentive than were typical readers before their entr…

Can reading fluency and self-efficacy of reading fluency be enhanced with an intervention targeting the sources of self-efficacy?

Abstract The first aim of the study was to analyze whether reading fluency and self-efficacy of reading fluency (SE-rf) are malleable for children (Grades 3–5) with deficits in fluent reading via a 12-week special education program targeting both reading fluency and the sources of SE-rf (SE-program). The second aim was to investigate whether changes in SE-rf are related to changes in reading fluency. The SE-program (n = 40) was contrasted with the SKILL-program (n = 42) providing training solely in reading fluency. The groups showed equal improvements in reading fluency. Positive change in SE-rf emerged only in the SE-group, and this change was associated with changes in fluency, but the as…

Koulujen henkilökunnan kokemukset oppilaiden hyvinvoinnista COVID-19-etäkouluaikana : "Osa puhkesi kukkaan. Muutamat pitivät rimaa alhaalla."

Koulun henkilökunnan kokemuksiin etäkouluajalta tulee perehtyä, jotta etäkoulu voidaan toteuttaa oppilaiden hyvinvointia ja oppimista tukien. Kyselytutkimuksella selvitimme Keski-Suomen koulujen henkilökunnan (270 vastausta 27 peruskoulusta) ajatuksia oppilaiden hyvinvoinnista etäkoulussa sekä sen myönteisistä ja kielteisistä puolista oppilaille. Temaattisen analyysin perusteella etäkoulu nähtiin uuden oppimisen ja kehittymisen ajanjaksona; monen oppilaan tietotekniset taidot ja itseohjaavuus kehittyivät. Sosiaalinen vuorovaikutus muutti muotoaan, mikä toi monista oppilaista esille uusia puolia. Oppilas-opettaja-vuorovaikutuksen koettiin kehittyneen erilaisten ja yksilöllisempien yhteydenpi…

Oppimisvaikeuksien arviointi ja tukeminen suomenruotsalaisissa kouluissa ja päiväkodeissa

Psychiatric Problems in Adolescence Mediate the Association Between Childhood Learning Disabilities and Later Well-Being

This follow-up study investigated the associations of childhood learning disabilities (LDs) with adult-age anxiety, depression, and unemployment. Psychosocial problems in childhood and psychiatric diagnoses and lack of education in adolescence were studied as potential mediators, and gender and mother’s education were studied as potential moderators of these associations. Data on childhood clinical neuropsychological assessments and lifelong register data on individuals with childhood LD ( n = 430; 301 [70%] males; 20–39 years of age) and matched controls ( n = 2,149) were applied. Mediation analyses were performed using structural equation modeling. Childhood LDs exerted a significant, bu…

Cognitive and non‐cognitive factors in educational and occupational outcomes : Specific to reading disability?

Low education and unemployment are common adult‐age outcomes associated with childhood RD (c‐RD). However, adult‐age cognitive and non‐cognitive factors associated with different outcomes remain unknown. We studied whether these outcomes are equally common among individuals with c‐RD and controls and whether these outcomes are related to adult‐age literacy skills or cognitive and non‐cognitive factors or their interaction with c‐RD. We examined adult participants with c‐RD (n = 48) and their matched controls (n = 37). Low education was more common among c‐RD than the controls, whereas long‐term unemployment was equally common in both groups. Moreover, adult‐age literacy skills, cognitive sk…

The development of phonological abilities and their relation to reading acquisition: case studies of six Finnish children.

The relation between phonological abilities and reading acquisition and the interindividual variation in the development of different phonological manipulation skills were assessed for six 7-year-old Finnish nonreaders. Intensive time series data were collected by following the children for 13 months. Assessments were conducted every 4 weeks with five phonological manipulation tests. The results indicated gradual progress at the group level. However, analysis of the individual profiles indicated large interindividual variation in the rate of improvement and in the relation between different manipulation skills and reading acquisition.

Developmental Underpinnings of the Association of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Its Subtypes to Neuropsychological and Academic Weaknesses

Caron and Rutter (1) and Pennington (2) recently published excellent conceptual and methodological reviews and analyses of comorbidity in child psychopathology, and a special issue of Developmental Neuropsychology (3) reviewed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-learning disabilities (LD) comorbidity in particular. None of these reviews, however, focused on the association of dimensions of ADHD and cognitive development, which are included in this chapter. Moreover, relatively little empirical data exist from early development. It is very likely that language-related impairments and extreme temperament traits contribute to the emergence of developmental problems and/or the accum…

Resolving reading disability : Childhood predictors and adult-age outcomes

We examined frequency of adult‐age reading disability (RD) and its childhood predictors among 48 adults (20 to 39 years) with documented childhood RD, and contrasted their cognitive skills, education, and employment with 37 matched controls. Among individuals with childhood RD, more than half had improved in their reading fluency to the level where the set criterion for adult‐age RD was not met anymore. More fluent rapid naming, less severe childhood RD, and multiple support providers in childhood together predicted improvement of reading fluency. More fluent naming differentiated the childhood RD participants whose reading fluency had improved by adult‐age from those participants whose RD …

Adolescent reading and math skills and self-concept beliefs as predictors of age 20 emotional well-being

This study examines longitudinal associations among reading skills, math skills and emotional well-being in a Finnish sample (n = 586) followed from the end of comprehensive school (Grade 9, age 15–16) to age 20. In particular, we determine whether the associations between skills and well-being are mediated by self-concept beliefs. In Grade 9, the participants’ reading fluency, PISA reading comprehension and math skills were assessed in classrooms, and questionnaires were used to assess self-concept (global and skill-specific) and internalising problems. At age 20, questionnaires were used to self-report emotional well-being and educational attainment. The results showed no direct predictiv…

Continuity of Communication and Language Development (M����tt�� et al., 2016)

Purpose: This longitudinal study examined the development of prelinguistic skills and the continuity of communication and language from the prelinguistic stage to school age. Method: Prelinguistic communication of 427 Finnish children was followed repeatedly from 6 to 18 months of age (n = 203���322 at ages 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 months), and its associations with language ability at ages 2;0 (n = 104), 3;0 (n = 112), 4;7 (n = 253), 5;3 (n = 102), and 7;9 (n = 236) were examined using latent growth curve modeling. Results: Prelinguistic development across several skills emerged as a rather stable intraindividual characteristic during the first 2 years of life. Continuity from prelinguistic de…

Does Multi-Component Strategy Training Improve Calculation Fluency Among Poor Performing Elementary School Children?

The aim of the present study was to extend the previous intervention research in math by examining whether elementary school children with poor calculation fluency benefit from strategy training focusing on derived fact strategies and following an integrative framework, i.e., integrating factual, conceptual, and procedural arithmetic knowledge. It was also examined what kind of changes can be found in frequency of using different strategies. A quasi-experimental design was applied, and the study was carried out within the context of the school and its schedules and resources. Twenty schools in Finland volunteered to participate, and 1376 children were screened in for calculation fluency pro…

sj-docx-1-ldx-10.1177_00222194221150230 – Supplemental material for A Register Study Suggesting Homotypic and Heterotypic Comorbidity Among Individuals With Learning Disabilities

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-ldx-10.1177_00222194221150230 for A Register Study Suggesting Homotypic and Heterotypic Comorbidity Among Individuals With Learning Disabilities by Tuija Aro, Reeta Neittaanmäki, Elisa Korhonen, Heli Riihimäki and Minna Torppa in Journal of Learning Disabilities

Cognitive Skills, Math-Related Emotions, and Beliefs Explaining Response to Arithmetic Fluency Intervention

We examined the associations of cognitive skills, math-related emotions and beliefs, and gender with responses to an arithmetic fluency intervention. Elementary school children with dysfluent arithmetic skills (N=69) participated in an arithmetic fluency intervention (with and without self-efficacy support) implemented in small groups in schools for 12 weeks. Hierarchical regression models including cognitive skills or math-related emotions and beliefs predicted 21% to 50% of the variation in the intervention response, i.e., improvement in arithmetic fluency. Cognitive skills were associated with the response mainly among boys, whereas math-related emotions and beliefs explained more among …