No description available.

The development of perceptual-cognitive processes during infancy has been traditionally studied using visual habituation and paired-comparison techniques. There has been extensive work within the field of infant attention that has focused on the development of visual attention. Within this field, it has been well established that there are two distinct classifications of infants' visual behavior; infants with short visual fixations who perform well in a recognition task following familiarization and infants with long visual fixation with impaired performance. There are two hypotheses for the differences underlying these groups. First, that visual fixation duration is reflective of the speed of information processing such that long-looking infants process information more slowly than short-looking infants. The second hypothesis is that infants who are long-looking have difficulty disengaging and shifting their attention to another location. There has not been any work exploring how these differences manifest themselves in other modalities. Thus, this project has three purposes: (1) to explore whether group differences emerge in an auditory recognition task similar to those found in the visual recognition phase of the paired-comparison task, (2) to better understand how performance differences in the visual task correspond to any observed differences in an auditory task, and (3) to identify any potential mechanisms which may account for the observed differences in group performance on an auditory task. / Ph. D.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 10, 2000." Also available in print.

Thesis--Göteberg. / Extra t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Includes bibliographical references (p. 186-195).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2006. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. "These investigations were supported in part by the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders ... and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences"--P. viii. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-152). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

The diploma thesis deals with pupils' possibilities of partial functions development in the first class of elementary school. The theoretical part defines the basic terms and it introduces the definitions in the field of specific dysfunctions of learning. It also deals with a possible diagnostics of the specific dysfunctions. The thesis describes crucial partial functions in the relation to school skills acquirement and it presents the partial function theory as one of the causes in difficulties in reading and writing acquirement. The practical part analyses the results of the diagnostics which was realized in the first grade at elementary school. This diagnostics was aimed to chosen partial functions and the results were taken before and after the exercises aimed to partial functions development.

The diploma thesis is focused on educator's function in development of nonspeech areas of children with communicative disability. The thesis consists of two main parts. The theoretical part is divided into four chapters which gradually introduce the development of the child at a younger school age, communicative disability, nonspeech areas of comunication and education of children with communicative disability. This information provides a basic insight into issues of work and makes it easier to be well informed about topic. The empirical part presents the qualitative research in which four pupils with communicative disability are involved. The aim of the research is to find out the difficulties in nonspeech areas and what influence the educator of the after-school club can have on their development. Sensory perception, cognitive processes and motor skills are analyzed in accoradance with these goals. Changes between investigations are also observed. The chapter contains case studies of pupils that include personal and family history, individual children's abilities, social interaction and information about speech therapy. Furthermore, the results of the entry and control examination are presented in detail. Based on evaluation of results, answers to research questions are formulated. The chapter...

Daar bestaan nie duidelike riglyne waarvolgens Afrikaanse leesreekse wat in die grondslagfase gebruik word, geëvalueer kan word nie. Hierdie studie was verkennend van aard met die doel om kriteria te identifiseer wat aangewend kan word om Afrikaanse leesreekse in die grondslagfase te evalueer. Ek het ʼn interpretivistiese metateoretiese paradigma gevolg aangesien ek diepgaande kennis wou verkry oor die onderwerp. Daarvoor het ek gebruik gemaak van ʼn gevallestudie gerig deur Chall (1990) se model van leesontwikkeling. Daarby het ek uit die literatuur ʼn rubriek ontwikkel wat ek aangewend het om die drie leesreekse wat in die studie ondersoek is, se teoretiese onderbou te bepaal. Die literatuur het my ondersteun om vrae te onwikkel wat ek tydens drie fokusgroeponderhoude gevra het. Die fokusgroeponderhoude het by drie Afrikaanse laerskole binne die Tshwane-metropool in verskillende sosio-ekonomiese gebiede plaasgevind. Twaalf onderwysers het deelgeneem (n=12; vroue=12). Die deelnemende onderwysers is doelgerig geselekteer. Om my data te versterk, het ek ook gebruik gemaak van observasienotas verkry van 57 studente in die Vroeë Kinderontwikkeling en Grondslagfaseprogram, aan die Universiteit van Pretoria. Ek het die data gedokumenteer as oudio-opnames, verbatimtranskripsies en veldnotas. Verder het ek tematiese analise gebruik om die verbatimtranskripsies te analiseer, waarvolgens temas en subtemas geïdentifiseer is. Die volgende vier temas is geïdentifiseer: (i) relevansie van leesreekse, (ii) belangrike aspekte by die gebruik van leesreekse, (iii) onderwysers se gebruik van leesreekse tydens leesonderrig, (iv) wetenskaplike ontwikkeling van leesreekse vir grondslagfaseleesonderrig. Ek het inhoudsanalise gebruik om die leesreekse en observasienotas te analiseer. Bevindinge uit die studie dui daarop dat van die deelnemende skole verouderde leesreekse gebruik waarvan die inhoud nie relevant is vir die hedendaagse leerder se leefwêreld nie. Dit blyk ook dat onderwysers moontlik ʼn gebrekkige kennis van leesteorieë het. Verder het ek bevind dat onderwysers hul eie stories skryf om persepsie en fonologiese bewustheid te integreer, aangesien leesreekse nie dié leesvaardighede aanspreek nie. Ek het ook bevind dat onderwysers sekere aspekte belangrik ag by leesreekse, naamlik (i) leesreekse moet binne die leerder se leefwêreld wees, (ii) illustrasies moet die leerder uitnooi om te lees, (iii) progressie moet voorkom, (iv) herhaling van sigwoorde is belangrik, (v) uitgewers moet die volgorde van die aanleer van klanke in gedagte hou tydens die skryf van leesreekse, (vi) uitgewers moet die skriftipe, woordkeuses en korrekte spelling in ag neem, (vii) die behavioristiese benadering word algemeen aangewend tydens leesonderrig en (viii) slegs een leesreeks (leesreeks C) het voldoen aan meeste van die kriteria. <ul> “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark” Victor Hugo</ul> ENGLISH : No definite guidelines exist which can be used to evaluate Afrikaans graded readers in the foundation phase. The main goal of this study was to identify criteria which can be implemented within the foundation phase to evaluate graded readers. I made use of an interpretative metatheoretical paradigm, since I anticipated gaining in-depth knowledge regarding the subject by means of this method. Chall’s Model of Reading Development (1990) was used as a basis for this case study. I developed a rubric, which was used to identify the theoretical aspects related to the three graded readers used in the study. The literature furthermore supported me in the formation of questions which were posed to the focus groups. The focus group meetings took place at three Afrikaans primary schools within the Tshwane Metropole in different socio-economic areas. Twelve teachers participated (n=12; women=12). The participating teachers were selected using stratified sampling. In order to enhance the validity of the data, I made use of observation notes, obtained from 57 students in the Early Childhood Development and Foundation Phase programme at the University of Pretoria. The data was documented as audio-recordings, transcriptions and field notes. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the transcriptions, whereafter themes and sub-themes were identified. The following four themes were identified: (i) The relevance of graded readers; (ii) important aspects related to the use of graded readers; (iii) the use of graded readers by teachers during reading instruction; and (iv) scientific development of graded readers for use during foundation phase reading instruction. The graded readers and observation notes were analysed by means of content analysis. The findings indicated that participating schools used graded readers of which the content is not relevant for the learner of today. It would also seem that teachers possibly lack knowledge of reading theories. In addition, teachers are writing their own stories in order to integrate perception and phonological awareness, since graded readers do not incorporate it. The findings further illuminated the fact that teachers value certain aspects in graded readers as important, namely: (i) Graded readers must fall within the context of the child’s world; (ii) illustrations must invite the learner to read, (iii) there must be progression, (iv) repetition of sight words are vital, (v) when publishers write graded readers, the range pertaining to how sounds are learned must be borne in mind, (vi) publishers must pay attention to the font type, word selection and spelling in readers, (viii) the behaviouristic approach is frequently used during reading instruction, and (viii) only one graded reader (graded reader C) met most of the set criteria. <ul>“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark” Victor Hugo</ul> / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted