Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-119). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Despite many studies report a high prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading disability (RD) among young delinquents, it is still not clear how the two disorders connect with delinquency. The main aim of this thesis was to understand the origin and progression of juvenile delinquency in groups of Chinese adolescents with ADHD, RD or comorbidity ADHD+RD. Three studies were conducted and reported in this thesis.In Study 1, executive functions(EF) and severity of delinquency were examined. Participants with ADHD only (n=29), RD only (n=24) and comorbidity ADHD+RD (n=35) were recruited from juvenile institutions in Hong Kong. Typically developing controls (n=29) were recruited from local schools. Assessment batteries on EF and self-reported questionnaire on delinquency were administered. Results of Study 1 showed that participants with ADHD were characterized with impairment in inhibition whereas participants with RD were characterized with impaired processing speed and visual memory. Compared to the pure groups, participants in the comorbid condition exhibited unique deficit in interference control. Importantly, the current study showed that the comorbid group had the highest severity of delinquency, and interference control; theunique deficit exhibited in the comorbid group was found to be a significant predictor of the severity of delinquency. In Study 2, psychosocial characteristics of the same juvenile sample of Study 1 were compared with typically developing control. A psychosocial questionnaire covering domains of academic orientation, parental relationships and victimization was administered. Results of Study 2 suggested that participants with RD wereassociated with negative effect across all psychosocial domains whereas participants with ADHD were mainly associated with poor academic orientation. Moreover, the comorbid group did not report having poorer psychosocial outcomes than the pure groups. The current data suggested that academic orientation was a significant factorpredicting onset of delinquency whereas direct victimization and poor father-child relationships marginally predicted severity of delinquency. In Study 3, the role of decision making at risk-taking events was investigated among the four study groups. Participants with ADHD only (n=37), RD only (n=35), comorbidity ADHD+RD (n=35), and control (n=36) were recruited from normal schools with varying levels of delinquency. A risk-taking simulated task, the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) and a teacher-reported questionnaire on delinquency were administered. Results of Study 3 showed that participants with ADHD, despite their great risk-taking propensity, were motivated by the prospect of immediate feedback. In contrast, participants with RD were found to display normal risk-taking propensity, yet were less sensitive to punishment, suggesting a failure to switch between approach and avoidance behaviours for risky situations. Importantly, the comorbid group had the highest teacher-reported delinquency score, and exhibited the greatest risk taking and least sensitivity to punishment which further supported that comorbid condition might have a stronger impact on risk taking or even delinquency than pure groups. The present study increased knowledge about the unique delinquency pathways and important correlates associated with ADHD, RD and their comorbidity. The practical implications for intervention measures and early identification of at-risk adolescents with ADHD, RD and comorbidity were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Not available / text

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

No description available.

This research consisted of three individual studies, examining intra- and inter-modal haptic and visual processing in able learners and reading disabled children spanning the elementary school grades. / Performance was measured in terms of: accuracy scores, haptic exploration scores, and exploration times. Higher scores were obtained on the intra-modal visual condition than on any of the conditions involving a haptic component. Increasing the exploration times for haptic stimuli did not significantly improve performance on tasks involving a haptic component. / Performance scores of poor readers were depressed on all tasks, suggesting a general deficit in sensory processing rather than an inter-sensory processing deficit. Poor readers further employed less sophisticated haptic exploration strategies than able readers, suggesting use of less efficient task strategies.

The last decade has seen enormous transformation in public schools in South Africa. One of the greatest changes is the increase in the diversity in the classroom. Since 2000, education policies emphasize the development of quality education in inclusive settings meeting the needs of all learners. The concept of inclusive education places emphasis on changing the system rather than the child, thereby requiring transformation of traditional approaches to teaching and learning. The factor that has the greatest impact on diversity is the movement towards including learners experiencing barriers to learning and development in the general education classroom in mainstream settings. This study is an attempt to explore and describe the experiences of grade 6 learners, particularly with reading difficulties, and the challenges faced by them in being included in the inclusive classrooms. A qualitative approach was employed in conducting this research. Purposive sampling was used to select participants. The data was obtained by means of unstructured interviews from individual learners. The recorded interviews were then transcribed and analyzed. The findings indicate that learners encountered negative and positive experiences and that it is important to listen to the often 'hidden' voices of learners experiencing barriers to learning and development. Therefore it is important for both educators and all learners to value differences in an inclusive classroom in order to accept and promote learning for the learners with barriers to learning and development. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

Phonological awareness is known to be associated with reading disorder. Intervention for specific reading disorder that focuses on training to improve phonological processing abilities has been found an effective means of addressing reading difficulties experienced by children. However, little is known as to what happens to other neurocognitive abilities associated with the process of reading but that are not causally linked to it. Some of these cognitions include attention, executive functions and verbal and visual memory. A series of three studies explored the relation between neuropsychological skills and phonological abilities in children with specific reading disorder. The first step in the studies involved establishing deficits in associated cognitive abilities in children with specific reading disorder. Children attending the Literacy Clinic, Department of Communication Disorders, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, are screened for the presence of specific reading disorder. They are routinely assessed on reading and phonological processing measures before an intervention programme is initiated. Four such children who were assessed and identified as having specific reading disorder without speech language difficulties were chosen for the study. These children, who ranged in age from 7 to 15 years, referred to as the RD group, were assessed during the week before the onset of the intervention for the neuropsychological functions of attention, executive functions, verbal and visual learning, and memory. After the assessment (termed pre-intervention assessment), they were provided with phonological processing intervention. The intervention programme was carried out by trained speech-language therapists and lasted for 10 weeks. Two sessions a week were conducted, giving a total of 20 sessions. The week after completion of the intervention, the children were assessed once again on the same neuropsychological, reading and phonological awareness tests used before the intervention (termed post-intervention assessment). The results of the pre-intervention assessment were compared with the assessment of a group of typically developing group of children without reading disorder (N = 4; age range 8 to 10 years; referred to as the NRD group). Results indicated that, at pre-intervention assessment, the specific reading disorder (RD) group had deficits in verbal fluency and inhibitory control whereas the typically developing (NRD) group did not. The RD group also differed significantly from the NRD group in reading accuracy and comprehension. After the intervention, the RD group was assessed on reading, phonological processing, and neuropsychological tests. The group showed an improvement in reading accuracy and phonological processing. Of all the neuropsychological functions, only set shifting and visuo-spatial working memory scores showed a significant change in response to intervention. Deficits in executive functions and reading comprehension difficulties persisted. It was hypothesised that the RD group improved in reading accuracy in response to the phonological awareness intervention. However, the persistent reading comprehension difficulties were hypothesised as attributable to the presence of the executive function deficits noticed in the RD group. The exploratory study helped identify the presence of neuropsychological deficits in children with specific reading disorder in addition to their reading and phonological deficits. The study also established that phonological awareness intervention brought about a change in some neuropsychological function while other deficits persisted. The phonological awareness intervention used in the first study was developed for children in New Zealand. The second study hypothesised that, if effective, this intervention would help address reading deficits found in other populations. Children from a culture outside New Zealand accordingly the same intervention as the New Zealand children received in the first study. Children in Bangalore, India, 10 to 12 year of age and under-performing in their class, were screened for the presence of specific reading disorder. From this screening, 20 children with specific reading disorder (the RD group), with average to above average intelligence and without co-morbid psychiatric conditions were chosen to participate. Twenty children were randomly allotted to one of two treatment conditions. The first group of 10 children (the PA group) received phonological awareness intervention. The second group of 10 children (the NP group) received neuropsychological intervention. All 20 children were assessed on reading, phonological awareness tests and neuropsychological tests before and after intervention. Phonological measures included, Queensland University Inventory of Literacy (QUIL, ) Sthal and Murray, Phonological awareness probes of tracking speech sounds and non-word reading tests. Neuropsychological measures included Controlled Word Association test (COWA), Digit Span, Spatial Span, Stroop Colour-Word Test Coulor trails (A & B), Ray Auditory verbal learning test, Rey Osterriech Complex figure test and block design. The scores from the pre-intervention assessment were compared to the assessment data for 20 typically developing, non-reading-disabled children (referred to as the control group). The control group was assessed once on neuropsychological tests and reading and phonological awareness measures (QUIL only). The results indicated that the 20 children with reading disorder (the RD group) differed significantly from the control group on reading abilities. In addition, the two groups differed significantly on neuropsychological measures of attention (Colour Trail, Form A), set-shifting (Colour Trail, Form B), word reading and interference control (Stroop Colour-Word Test) and phonological awareness measures of non-word reading, syllable identification, visual rhyme, spoonerism, phoneme detection and phoneme deletion. After intervention, the RD group was again assessed on reading, phonological awareness and neuropsychological measures. Both the intervention groups (PA and NP) showed improvements on reading. Both groups also made significant gains on neuropsychological measures and phonological awareness measures. The PA group showed significant changes in verbal fluency, visual scanning and attention (Colour Trails, Form A), word reading (Stroop Colour-Word Test, verbal memory (Auditory Verbal Learning Test), immediate visual memory (Complex Figure Test) and visuo-construction abilities (Block Design Test). Phonological measures that showed significant increase in response to intervention in this group included non-word reading, phoneme detection, phoneme segmentation, phoneme deletion and tracking of syllable sound changes via use of coloured blocks and letter tiles. The NP group showed significant change in neuropsychological functions such as verbal fluency, word reading and interference control (Stroop Colour-Word Test), verbal learning (Auditory Verbal Learning Test), immediate visual memory (Complex Figure Test) and visuo-construction ability (Block Design Test). The NP group also improved significantly on phonological awareness measures such as syllable identification, spoken and visual rhyme, spoonerism, phoneme detection, phoneme deletion and tracking of syllable sound changes via use of coloured blocks. This second study established that the two interventions helped improve reading abilities equally. However, the interventions differentially affected neuropsychological and phonological awareness functioning in the participants. The third study explored the changes seen in the second study’s two treatment groups (Group PA and Group NP) three months after the conclusion of the intervention programme. During the three-month period between the post-intervention assessment and the follow-up assessment, all 20 children attended regular school. They received no special help or input for their reading and spelling difficulties during this period. The follow-up assessment consisted of the same tests of reading and neuropsychological measures used at the pre- and post-intervention assessments. The results showed that the groups had maintained the gains evident at the time of the post-intervention assessment on reading measures. The PA group’s performance on the neuropsychological measures and phonological measures showed significant changes in digit span and interference control. In addition, a significant increase from the pre-intervention measures, not observed at the post-treatment assessment, was observed for set-shifting, verbal learning and memory and now-word reading. Visuo-spatial working memory showed a trend towards significance for the NP group on the follow-up assessment. Most other neuropsychological functions did not differ significantly from those evident at the time of the post-intervention assessment. The NP group, like the PA group, showed a significant increase between pre-assessment and follow-up assessment on non-word reading, visual scanning, verbal learning and visual perception. The increase noticed in these measures at the time of the post-treatment assessment, however, was not significant. Comparisons between the PA and NP group at follow-up revealed that the PA group’s performance was significantly better than the NP group’s on digit backward and interference control, while the NP group performance was significantly better than the PA group’s on verbal fluency. The two groups were comparable on all other neuropsychological, phonological awareness and reading measures. The improvements noticed in both groups immediately after the intervention and then three months after intervention were hypothesised to have occurred because the interventions addressed reading along with other cognitive abilities (e.g., executive functions, attention, verbal learning and memory, visual learning and memory) addressed in the study. The improvements noticed in both groups after three months after intervention was hypothesised to be the outcome of improvements in the neuropsychological functions. The series of three studies conducted as part of this research work has helped identify neuropsychological deficits in children with reading disorder that persisted after phonological awareness intervention. The provision of two different interventions to children with reading difficulties showed that these had positive outcomes not only for reading and phonological awareness but also for neuropsychological functioning. The most important conclusion drawn from the findings of the three studies that form this doctoral research is that intervention for reading disorder is most likely to be effective when it addresses the reading and other associated cognitive skills that underlie the reading process. The two interventions used in the study had a similar effect on reading. Both helped the participating children improve their reading scores and both helped maintain those improvements over time. It is hypothesised that the improvement observed was probably sustained over time because both interventions could have addressed the associated deficits (in addition to reading difficulties) known to occur in children with reading disorder. The efficacy of the phonological awareness intervention documented in the studies is strengthened by the finding that it was effective in treating reading disorders in children from different cultural and educational settings (New Zealand and India).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 1996. / Adviser: Maryanne Wolf. Submitted to the Dept. of Child Development. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 233-257). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;