This study addressed two main areas in the field of special education needs. First, it considered the concepts of MLD\Slow learning and the different ways to understand and recognise such terms in England and Kuwait. Second, it considered the stability of the social participation of children identified as having MLD\Slow learning in mainstream primary schools in both countries. The study utilized a cross-cultural design, which relies heavily on longitudinal and ethnographic approaches. In each country, two mainstream primary schools agreed to participate (i.e., four schools in total), comprising 22 children with MLD in England and 31 with slow learning in Kuwait. The results indicated that the concept of MLD was unclear to the participants, and that there was no procedurally objective way that could be followed to assess or recognise children with MLD in England. On one hand, this could lead to different assessment results for one child; on the other hand, it could also provide a flexible system through which MLD can be assessed in multiple ways. In contrast, slow learning in Kuwait is assessed objectively based solely on the IQ test as a main method, which could question the validity of the assessment. The results indicated that children with MLD in England were not found to be a homogenous group in terms of their social participation. Nonetheless, most of them displayed positive social participation with their typically developing children, as they were accepted to some extent by their peers and showed a good extent of friendship with their peers. Their social interactions were no different compared to that of their non-SEN peers. In contrast, the children with slow learning displayed no social interaction or friendship with their non-SEN peers who showed little acceptance of slow learning children. The results also indicated that the dimensions of friendship and peers’ acceptance levels were inter-related to some extent and could predict each other, albeit weakly with the dimension of social-self-concept.

The early identification of children who are "at risk" of experiencing learning problems is of interest to educators and policymakers. Conflicting evidence exists regarding the efficacy of screening measures for identifying children "at risk". The rationale for screening programs is that early identification of problems allows for treatment which may eliminate more severe problems from developing. If a student is identified as "at risk", school personnel may intervene with remedial programs. Subsequently, if the student succeeds, the earlier prediction is no longer valid. The identification of "at risk" would appear inaccurate because the intervention was successful in improving skills. Researchers often measure the prediction of "at risk" with a correlation coefficient. To the extent that the intervention is successful, the correlation of the identification of "at risk" with later measures of achievement is lowered. One of the problems with research on early prediction has been failure to control for the effects of the interventions which were implemented as a consequence of screening. An evaluation of "at risk" prediction is important because results of screening procedures are used to make decisions about retentions and the allocation of special services. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between kindergarten screening measures and grade three achievement for two entire cohorts enrolled in 30 schools in one school district. The analysis employs a two-level hierarchical linear regression model to estimate the average within-school relationship between kindergarten screening measures and grade three achievement in basic skills, and determine whether this relationship varies significantly across schools. The model allows for the estimation of the relationship with control for individual pupil characteristics such as age, gender and physical problems. The study examines the extent to which the relationship between kindergarten screening and grade three achievement is mediated by children receiving learning assistance or attending extended (4-year) primary schooling. The study also examines differences among schools in the kindergarten screen/achievement relationships and the achievement of "at risk" pupils by including school characteristics in the analysis. The results of this study indicate positive relationships between kindergarten screening measures and achievement outcomes, even after controlling for age, gender and physical conditions. The kindergarten screen/achievement relationship did not vary among schools. The study failed to demonstrate that controlling for interventions would improve the kindergarten screen/achievement relationship; in fact the effects were in the opposite direction. Levels of adjusted achievement of pupils who obtained scores at the cut-off point for risk status varied significantly among schools. The "at risk" pupils performed better on all four achievement measures in schools with high school mean-ability than similar pupils in schools with low school mean-ability. These results show that progress in the study of the predictive validity of screening measures can be made through the use of hierarchical regression techniques. Researchers need to give consideration to the effects of educational interventions and the contextual effects of schools. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

It is the goal of this program to identify these at-risk students, track their grades, and incorporate a tutorial program to motivate and build their self-esteem and ultimately, their academic performance. This program can succeed with the proper administrative support, teacher involvement and parent and community assistance.

Language is the way in which individuals are able to express ideas, feelings, needs, expectations, and form relationships with others in their surrounding environment. A disruption in language development may negatively impact a child's social development. Research shows that children with language delays or disorders tend to have increased social and behavioral difficulties (Cantwell & Baker, 1977; Caulfield, Fischel, DeBaryshe, & Whitehurst, 1989). However, research has not examined temperament differences in young children with language delays or disorders. The question this study sought to answer was: Is there a significant difference in the dimensions of temperament between children with a history of slow expressive language development and their peers with normal language development? The subjects in this study ranged in age from 64 to 74 months. They included 33 children with a history of slow expressive language development (SELD) and 27 children with normal language development. The temperamental characteristics of each of the subjects was assessed by ratings provided by their parents, utilizing the Parent Temperament Questionnaire for Children (Thomas, Chess, & Korn, 1977), a questionnaire to assess the way a child behaves during everyday situations. The question was analyzed by calculating the means and standard deviations for the nine temperament dimensions for· the two groups. To determine if there were significant differences among the two groups, two tailed t-tests were computed at the .05 level of significance. The Parent Temperament Questionnaire for Children (Thomas et al., 1977) showed the children with a history of slow expressive language development to have significantly different scores in the dimensions of approach-withdrawal and intensity of reaction than the subjects with normal language development at 5 years of age.

Many young children develop language over a broad range of ages yet present as having normal language development. When language development lags behind what is considered a normal time line, it is important to consider the various factors that may contribute to the delay in development. The purpose of the current study was to examine various aspects of temperament among three groups of children with varying language histories. The specific question to be answered was, do significant differences occur on parent and clinician questionnaires of temperament among three groups of first grade children demonstrating varying levels of language development: those with normal language (NL), those with a history of expressive language delay (HELD), and those with chronic expressive language delay (ELD)? Subjects for this study included 23 subjects in the NL group, 22 subjects in the HELD group, and 6 subjects in the ELD group. The groups were compared utilizing the Temperament Assessment Battery for Children (TABC) on six variables of temperament on Parent Forms and five variables of temperament on Clinician Forms. The data were analyzed to see if significant differences existed among the language diagnostic groups. On the Parent Forms, a trend towards low approach/withdrawal characteristics was observed between the NL and ELD groups. On the Clinician Forms, a significant difference was observed on the variable, approach/withdrawal, between the NL group and HELD group. Both parametric and non-parametric analyses were in agreement on this finding. The suggestion that low approach/withdrawal tendencies exist within late talking children may be the long term result of interaction between expressive language delayed children and the communication environment. These results must be viewed tentatively because the sample groups were of unequal numbers. If all diagnostic groups had been of equivalent size, the results may have been yielded stronger significance.

Research suggests that the linguistic environment of the expressive language delayed child is different from that of his peers. Does this difference actually exist and if so, what are its characteristics? The purpose of this study was to describe the linguistic characteristics of mothers' input to children with normal language acquisition and those of mothers of expressively delayed toddlers; and to identify any differences between these groups. Though considerable research exists in this area, few studies have dealt specifically with large groups of expressively delayed toddlers.

People use language to communicate their needs and intentions, to express emotions, and to form relationships. It seems likely that a disruption in children's language development would have a negative impact on their social development. There is extensive research that shows that school age children with delayed language are "at risk" for increased maladaptive behaviors (Cantwell and Baker, 1977). Whether this is also true for children in the earliest stages of language development is not yet known. The questions this study sought to answer were: 1) Is there a significant difference in the severity and frequency of maladaptive behaviors seen in language delayed children, children who were "late talkers," or children with normal language? and 2) Is there a significant difference among the three subject groups in terms of which behaviors parents are the most concerned about·?

This investigation compared maternal remarks to language delayed offspring and maternal remarks to normal language developing offspring in an attempt to determine if and where differences occurred. The following questions were asked: 1) Do mothers of language delayed children present their children with a significantly different percentage of verbal constraints (commands and question) than do mothers of normal language developing children in a play situation? 2) Do mothers of language delayed children present their children with an equal number of utterances as mothers of normal language developing children in a play situation? 3) Is the maternal mean length of response equal? 4) Do mothers of language delayed children present their children with a significantly different percentage of types of remarks than mothers of normal language developing children?

The purpose of this study was to compare the frequency and range of communication intentions in normally developing toddlers and ELD toddlers. Data were gathered from ten minute video tapes of low structured parent/child interaction by coding twelve communication intentions commonly acquired in the first two years of life and expressed with five modes of communication.

No description available.