No description available.

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / The child finds himself in an educational situation. Numerous factors can lead to a problematic educational situation. The child then does not meet with specific moral-normative, affective and cognitive norms that are expected of him. The child becomes noticeable as a result of his behaviour, and both child and educator require specialized help in order to normalise the educational situation, the educational dynamic and the selfactualization of the problematic educational situation. Above mentioned implies orthopedagogical intervention. The research in question is aimed at the child experiencing a disharmonious educational situation as a result of a learning disability and negative self-concept. The focus of the study is an effort to apply pedotherapeutic and orthodidactical assistance in the form of story-telling in order to address both the learning deficiencies and the affective problems of the learning disabled (Group B) pupil younger that 9 years. The following issues regarding self-esteem building in learning disabled children are considered: repeated failures, labelling and expectations. The pedotherapeutic situation must be seen as an educational situation (Dumont, 1969: 54) and thus one must not lose sight of the educational essence during therapy. The aim of the pedotherapeutic intervention is to support the child to the changing of unfavourable meanings and restoring of the disharmonic educational dynamics. The aim of the orthodidactical intervent~on is to support the child in the process of overcoming his learning disabilities. Since the beginning of time, language has been used as a communication medium. People communicate their thoughts and their desires and expose their deepest feelings through the medium of language. Language can thus be seen as an expressive and projective means. It is often by means of language that therapy can take place. In therapy children often find it threatening to express their feelings and problems verbally.

Sildenafil citrate (SC) is a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor that is used to treat pulmonary hypertension (PH) in paediatric patients. The purpose of these studies was to develop a formulation and manufacture an orodispersible tablet (ODT) that can be easily administered to neonates and children with PH. The advantages of ODT dosage forms include ease of administration, rapid dissolution of the API, SC. Furthermore the dosage form can be taken without water which is beneficial to patients without immediate access to potable fluids. A simple, rapid, accurate, precise and selective reversed-phase HPLC method was developed and validated in accordance with International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines and was successfully used for the analysis of SC as raw material and in SC containing pharmaceutical dosage forms. Preformulation studies were performed on SC, alone and in combination with potential excipients that could be used to make tablets. Investigations into potential interactions between SC and the excipients were performed using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Infrared Spectroscopy (IR). DSC results revealed that SC was compatible with all potential excipients except mannitol and magnesium stearate. However these interactions were not observed with IR and therefore it was concluded that the interactions were induced by the high temperatures that DSC operates at. Particle size and shape was also established by use of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and flow properties were monitored by calculating Carr’s Index (CI) and the Hausner Ratio (HR). Direct compression was used as the method of manufacture for SC tablets as this approach is simple and the most economic production approach. The powder blends were assessed for bulk and tapped density and the CI and HR were used to determine the flowability of the blends. The quality attributes of the resultant tablets that were monitored included uniformity of weight, friability, crushing strength, tensile strength, disintegration, wetting and in vitro dispersion times. Design of Experiments is an efficient statistical approach that has become a popular tool used in the pharmaceutical industry to optimize formulation compositions, as it allows for the investigation of several input factors at the same time whilst not using the tedious and traditional “ modification of one variable at a time” approach. A Central composite experimental design was chosen as the most appropriate means to optimize the formulation as it produces more accurate results as opposed to other experimental designs approaches as input factors are investigated at five different levels. Through the use of mathematical modelling, optimum concentrations of disintegrant(s) and an appropriate blending time were established. Analysis of the data from the experimental design and mathematical modelling studies reveal that no changes in disintegrant concentration or blending time altered the disintegration time of the formulation to any significant extent. This result is most likely due to the fact that the critical disintegrant concentration has been reached and increasing the disintegrant concentration further has no effect on disintegration time. It was also established that a change in the concentration of CMS and CRP altered the wetting time of the tablet significantly. Finally it was noted that there was a linear relationship between blending time and the uniformity of content of the tablets produced in these studies. The optimized product was a white tablet with a diameter of 7.31 mm with a thickness of 2.80mm.The dosage form had no visible cracks or evidence of picking or sticking. The tablet exhibits suitable friability and tensile strength while exhibiting a disintegration time of only 8s. Therefore an orodispersible tablet containing SC intended for paediatric use has been successfully developed, manufactured and optimized through the use of preformulation studies, appropriate quality control monitoring and mathematical modelling. These formulations require further optimization in respect of addition of flavours and or additional sweetening agents.

The causal effects of the skills of attending and obtaining task-relevant information on the pre-reading ability of one hundred and twenty-three preschool-age Head Start children were studied. Attending and obtaining task-relevant information (OTRI) were conceptualized as latent variables. Performance on a path-referenced test entitled Social Skills in the Classroom (SSITC) provided data which were observable indicators of these latent variables. Pre-reading ability was also conceptualized as a latent variable, with performance on another path-referenced test, the Reading Dimension, providing the observable indicators of this variable. Convariance structure analysis procedures were utilized to (1) link the observable indicators to their respective latent variable, through a confirmatory factor analysis model, and (2) to examine the causal effects of the latent variables on each other. A model representing the hypotheses that age, attending, and OTRI would be causally related to reading ability, that age would be causally related to attending and OTRI, and that no reciprocal relationships between these latent variables would be found was tested. This model provided a good overall fit with the data. T-values obtained under this model, however, suggested that the causal relationship between OTRI and reading ability was not significant. A second model in which this relationship was assumed to be zero was then tested and was found to provide a good overall fit with the data. A difference of chi-square test suggested that this was the preferred model. This model supported the original hypotheses that age and attending were causally related to pre-reading ability, and that age was causally related to attending and obtaining task-relevant information. The significance of the causal relationship between attending and pre-reading ability is discussed in terms of its implications for future research into the effectiveness of instruction in skills similar to those investigated in the present study.

This research focuses on answering the question of whether a child with a learning problem, or more specifically, a learning disability, functions at a lower cognitive level than the non-learning disabled child. Performance on certain memory tasks and tasks that require the withholding of attention from distractors is measured and compared. In the literature study, an overview of the neurological, the cognitive and the ecological approaches to remediation is given. The concepts of attention deficits and memory problems are investigated, as well as the theories of cognitive development as propounded by Piaget and Santostefano. No significant difference in the cognitive functioning, as measured by the test used in this research, was found between these two groups of children. The implication of this is that where children experience learning problems, the explanation for this difficulty is possibly at an ecological level. More specifically, it may relate to a lack of stimulation during the pre-school years. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

Research indicates that there are numerous factors related to dual language proficiency. Furthermore, research suggests that the language skills of bilingual children are very heterogeneous. In this study, we will focus on four outcomes for those receiving dual language input. Those four patterns of outcome are as follows: bilingual children can have high levels of skills in English and Spanish, high skills in English and low skills in the Spanish or vice versa, or low levels of skills in English and Spanish. The present study focused on the prevalence of these four patterns and their concurrent correlates amongst 30 month old (N = 87, 48 females) and 48 month old (N = 74, 40 females) simultaneous English-Spanish bilinguals with special emphasis on the distinguishing factors for those with high dual language skills. Overall, for those with high dual scores, the findings reveal that gender, birth-order, and maternal level of education are predictive of high dual language scores so that members of this group are largely first-born females of mothers with an average 15.8 years of education. English dominant scores were predicted by percent English input in the home and birth-order so that children in this group were mostly later-born children with 65% English input in the home. Spanish dominant scores were predicted by percent English input in the home and Spanish bookreading behaviors as children in this group received 23% of their in-home input in English and were read to for more than one hour per week in Spanish. Low dual scores were marginally predicted by gender and Spanish book-reading behaviors, children in this group were mostly male and received less than an in hour of Spanish reading per week. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

No description available.

This research focuses on answering the question of whether a child with a learning problem, or more specifically, a learning disability, functions at a lower cognitive level than the non-learning disabled child. Performance on certain memory tasks and tasks that require the withholding of attention from distractors is measured and compared. In the literature study, an overview of the neurological, the cognitive and the ecological approaches to remediation is given. The concepts of attention deficits and memory problems are investigated, as well as the theories of cognitive development as propounded by Piaget and Santostefano. No significant difference in the cognitive functioning, as measured by the test used in this research, was found between these two groups of children. The implication of this is that where children experience learning problems, the explanation for this difficulty is possibly at an ecological level. More specifically, it may relate to a lack of stimulation during the pre-school years. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / This study was an investigation into the problem of the anxiety pre-adolescents experience in a pre-diagnostic context. It was based on the supposition that such anxiety has a negative effect on the performance of pre-adolescents in a diagnostic evaluation. The question was posed whether children are prepared for such a diagnostic experience in South Africa, since preparation could help to familiarize them with the relatively unknown experience of diagnostic evaluation, in order that they would be enabled to derive the maximum benefit from it, not only with regard to the possible solution of their problems, but also with regard to their development. The study included literature surveys of the development of the pre-adolescent', as well as of anxiety and factors that influence anxiety. Subsequently Bandura's theory of self-efficacy was considered in some detail, since it was regarded as relevant for a better understanding of the various factors that have ~bearing on an evaluation situation, especially multi-disciplinary evaluation. In order to identify factors that influence children's anxiety in an evaluation context, fifteen therapists and two secretaries were interviewed at five major clinics in Johannesburg where children with problems are evaluated. On the basis of the information so gleaned it was concluded that the evaluation context in South Africa is loaded in a negative direction, and recommendations were made which could improve the situation. One such recommendation is that evaluation should be conceived within the developmental context of the children to be evaluated so that evaluation could be a meaningful experience, contributing to the testee's growth. In the addendum there are the recommendations made during the interviews by the secretaries and therapists. These are recommendations for. a more meaningful role for the secretary at such a clinic, and specific suggestions as to how children' who are to be evalued and their parents could be helped in order that evaluation might become a more meaningful experience.

D.Litt.et Phil. (Psychology) / This study took place within the field of cognitive psychology, at the interface between the differential and experimental traditions, thereby contributing towards an emerging trend of theoretical synthesis. A structural model of problem solving processes was developed and a methodological design strategy for the measurement of cognitive processes followed. Indications for further research in the area were made. The major predictions of the model were tested empirically with a multitrait-multimethod design. This required the development of a battery of psychometric tests based on task analytic procedures. These tests were administered to a sample of 117 white middle class, school-Ieavers. The data obtained was statistically analysed according to a linear structural equation modeling technique using confirmatory factor analytic procedures. The results show support for the construct validity of the processing tests in terms of convergent and discriminant validity and therefore also for the proposed structural model of problem solving processes and the underlying hypothesis that the structure of information processing can be differentiated.