Search results for "Fluency"

Cluttering: specific communication disorder

2016

The article presents cluttering as understood as a specific communication disorder. Cluttering has received less coverage in the subject literature than stuttering and is comparatively poorly understood. Defining cluttering presents us with a problem due to differences of opinion as to which of the behaviours associated with the disorder are crucial to its diagnosis and which are rather peripheral. Modern approaches to the understanding of cluttering should be based on a neurodevelopmental concept, which has pointed out the importance of understanding the whole symptom formation from genes to behavior. This model has microgenetic theory itself in the backround. It includes distal interactiv…

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

2021

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…

Is There Hope for First Graders at the Lowest Percentiles? : The Roles of Self-Efficacy, Task Avoidance, and Support in the Development of Reading Fl…

2022

Self-efficacious children are expected to be more task-focused in challenging achievement situations and consequently have better chances of overcoming learning difficulties than children who have lower self-efficacy. The present study investigates this presumption with Finnish-speaking first graders struggling with reading acquisition ( N = 285). The development of the children’s reading fluency, self-efficacy, and task avoidance was followed from the middle of Grade 1 to the end of Grade 2, and a 6-week mobile game-based intervention was administered to those who exhibited the greatest risk for reading disabilities (≤ 5th percentile). Exploratory structural equation modeling was used to …

Readers’ Theater Projects for Special Education : A Randomized Controlled Study

2022

A randomized controlled trial was conducted to study the effectiveness of two readers’ theater (RT) programs in promoting reading skills and motivation of dysfluent readers in Grades 3–4. One program (RT Goal) included a goal of preparing a performance for an audience (n = 50), while another program (RT Practice) did not include such a goal (n = 49). A group of dysfluent readers receiving traditional oral reading intervention (Control group; n = 59) and a group of classroom peers (Mainstream group; n = 159) served as controls. The results indicate that both RT groups and the Control group developed at a higher rate in oral reading speed during the intervention period than the Mainstream gro…

Cutting edge : using the media to enrich the teaching of oral skills

2011

Vaikka suullisen kielitaidon opetus on saanut huomiota osakseen, jää se usein muiden kielitaidon osa-alueiden varjoon. Oppikirjoissa olevat suulliset harjoitukset eivät aina motivoi oppilaita luontevaan keskusteluun, josta syystä heille on tärkeää tarjota mahdollisuuksia käydä mielekkäitä, ajatuksia herättäviä keskusteluja. Teknologian käyttö luokkahuoneessa on myös pinnalla oleva puheenaihe, jonka hyödyntämiseen ei opettajille kuitenkaan ole tarjottu tarpeeksi käytännön välineitä. Tämän oppimateriaalin pyrkimyksenä on kuroa kiinni kuilua, joka voidaan nähdä koulun ja oppilaiden jokapäiväisen elämän välillä. Tarkoituksena on nykyaikaistaa suullisen kielitaidon opettamista sekä luoda luokkah…

Rapid automatized naming and reading fluency in children with learning difficulties

2015

Preventive Support for Kindergarteners Most At-Risk for Mathematics Difficulties: Computer-Assisted Intervention

2015

Weaknesses in early number skills have been found to be a risk factor for later difficulties in mathematical performance. Nevertheless, only a few intervention studies with young children have been published. In this study, the responsiveness to early support in kindergarteners with most severe difficulties was examined with two different computer programs. Two intervention groups were matched by age, visuo-spatial, and phonological working memory, as well as early number skills. After a short and intensive computerized intervention, the results indicated significant intervention effects for verbal counting Wilcoxon ES (r) = 0.46, and dot counting fluency, r = 0.52, when practiced with Grap…

Assessing reading and online research comprehension: Do difficulties in attention and executive function matter?

2021

This study evaluated the relation between sixth graders' (N = 426) teacher-rated difficulties in attention and executive function (EF) and their comprehension skills. Reading comprehension was assessed with a multiple-choice task and online research and comprehension (ORC) with a problem-solving task. The analyses were controlled for gender, reading fluency and nonverbal reasoning. To investigate differences in students' performance between the tasks, comprehension skills in the multiple-choice task were also controlled for in the ORC task. Structural equation models showed that teacher-rated attention and EF difficulties were related to students' performance more in the problem-solving tas…

Verbal counting skill predicts later math performance and difficulties in middle school

2019

This study examined the role of verbal counting skill as an early predictor of math performance and difficulties (at or below −1.5 standard deviation in basic math skills) in middle school. The role of fourth-grade level arithmetical skills (i.e., calculation fluency, multi-digit arithmetic i.e. procedural calculation, and word problem solving) as mediators was also investigated. The participants included 207 children in central Finland who were studied from kindergarten to the seventh grade. Path modeling showed that verbal counting in kindergarten is a strong predictor for basic math performance in seventh grade, explaining even 52% of the variance in these skills after controlling for th…

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

2018

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…