Beginning readers' reading latencies increase as words become longer. This length effect is believed to be a marker of a serial reading process. We examined the effects of visual and phonological skills on the length effect. Participants were 184 second-grade children who read 3- to 5-letter words and nonwords. Results indicated that reading…

Teens and young adults with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) meet the criteria of teen and adult learners chronologically, but may be deficient in many other areas of teen and adult learning. The spectrum of intellectual and adaptive capabilities among teens and adults with ID is vast, with each individual being unique. There are specific teaching…

Positive outcomes have been reported for university preparation courses for students without disabilities. Little is known about whether these courses can offer the same benefit to students with learning disabilities and whether the inclusion of psychosocial factors, in addition to academic skills, would benefit both groups. First-level students…

The role of student attention for predicting kindergarten word reading was investigated among 432 students. Using "Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD Symptoms and Normal Behavior Rating Scale" behavior rating scores, the authors conducted an exploratory factor analysis, which yielded three distinct factors that reflected selective…

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and mathematics ability are associated, but little is known about the genetic and environmental influences underlying this association. Methods: Data came from more than 6,000 twelve-year-old twin pairs from the UK population-representative Twins Early Development Study. Parents…

Self-regulation ability is an important component of children's academic success. Physiological reactivity may relate to brain activity governing attention and behavioral regulation. Saliva samples collected from 186 preschool children (101 boys, mean age = 53 months, 34% minority) before and after a series of mildly challenging games and again 30…

Many children with specific language impairment (SLI) show impairments in discriminating auditorily presented stimuli. The present study investigates whether these discrimination problems are speech specific or of a general auditory nature. This was studied using a linguistic and nonlinguistic contrast that were matched for acoustic complexity in…

Objective: The current study examined the impact of the gender of children with ADHD on teachers' perceptions toward inattentive, hyperactive, or oppositional behaviors, and how these perceptions relate to teachers' ratings of children's impairment and referral recommendations. Method: Teachers read eight vignettes depicting boys and girls with…

Background: Deficits in joint attention (JA) and joint engagement (JE) represent a core problem in young children with autism as these affect language and social development. Studies of parent-mediated and specialist-mediated JA-intervention suggest that such intervention may be effective. However, there is little knowledge about the success of…

Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that typically lasts throughout a person's lifetime. Autism does not discriminate; it occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups and is four times more likely to strike boys than girls. It can impair a person's ability to communicate and relate to others, and symptoms can range from very mild to…

The present study compares the effects of providing choice between activities or between materials for completion of activities on the on-task behavior of 4 boys with autism spectrum disorders. Results showed that the participants displayed higher levels of on-task behavior during the choice conditions than in the no-choice condition. However, the…

Earlier research established that preschool children pay less attention to television that is sequentially or linguistically incomprehensible. The authors of this study determined the youngest age for which this effect can be found. One hundred and three 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-month-olds' looking and heart rate were recorded while they watched…

The aim of this prospective study was to identify preschool factors that are associated with children's classroom engagement during their 1st school year. The study was guided by a social-motivational process model that highlights the importance of parent-child and teacher-child relationships in promoting engagement. In preschool, parents and…

In this article, the author offers a summary of the major research assignment she has developed for HIST 100, as well as the successes and struggles she has had along the way. The project requires students to experience research as a difficult process that demands their patience, perseverance, and assiduousness. Group work in class clearly plays…

Objective: To evaluate the reliability and validity of the English and Spanish versions of the Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD-symptom and Normal-behavior (SWAN) rating scale. Method: Parents of preschoolers completed both a SWAN and the well-established Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) on two separate occasions over a span of 3…