Self-harm thoughts among postpartum women - associated factors.

BACKGROUND: Even though in many countries suicide is the leading cause of maternal deaths during the postpartum period, the prevalence of thoughts of self-harm (SHTs), an important risk factor for suicide attempts, is still not well documented. AIM: We aimed to investigate the prevalence of SHTs in a Polish cohort of postpartum women and identify socio-demographic and maternal mental health factors associated with experiencing SHTs. METHOD: 1545 women took part in a midwife-led postpartum depression (PPD) screening. 337 of them reported SHTs. The Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) was administered. Specifically, we used an abbreviated 5-item version to assess depression symptoms, item 10 to assess SHTs, a composite score of items 1 and 2 - anhedonia, and a composite score of items 3, 4, and 5 - anxiety. Logistic regression analyses were performed to examine associations between variables. RESULTS: Approximately 2% (n = 337) of women self-reported experiencingSHTs. Within the group of postpartum mothers who self-reported SHTs, 65.60% (n = 221) manifested the symptoms of PPD, and 56.40% (n = 190) - of anxiety. The symptoms of PPD, a mood disorder diagnosed in the past, and younger age were predictors of SHTs. CONCLUSION: The results of this study can contribute to the development of prevention strategies: analysing separately items from PPD screening questionnaires focusing on SHTs can be an important part of prevention. The lack of the symptoms of PPD and anxiety risk does notexclude experiencing SHTs.

WordSword: An Efficient Online Word Reading Assessment for Global English.

The development of efficient and reliable online assessments has become increasingly important in the digital era. We developed a 10-min online word reading assessment of global English based on the existing paper-and-pencil version of our English silent word reading test. The test includes two parts, namely, random word recognition and contextual word reading. A total of 889 participants (437 children and 392 adults; 62.7% female) took part in the study. They were from various regions including mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Poland, the United States, and the Philippines. Reliability and validity analyses on various demographics samples (by age and country/region of origin) demonstrated that the WordSword Test is highly reliable and valid (e.g., the correlation of this test with other English reading measures were above .80). Education level was positively correlated with test performance, while the correlations between age and test performance were not consistent. Ninety-seven children participants also took the paper-and-pencil version of the WordSword Test. The correlation between performances on the online and paper-and-pencil versions of the test was .879, one year apart. With more children and adults taking the WordSword Test, we ultimately hope to establish norms by area, grade level, and age.

Heterogeneity of cognitive profiles in students with borderline intellectual functioning. / Heterogenicznosc profili poznawczych uczniów z inteligencja nizsza niz przecietna.

OBJECTIVES: Borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) is aclinical entity of polyetiological nature which manifests in heterogeneity of cognitive deficits. The aim of this study was to identify groups of homogenous cognitive profiles within a heterogeneous population of students with BIF. METHODS: Cognitive profiles of 114 participants with borderline intellectual functioning were assessed based on different patterns of their performance on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Revised. RESULTS: Through a hierarchical cluster analysis we identified four distinct cognitive profiles: a) children with severe verbal skills deficits and average visual-spatial abilities; b) children with short-term memory and attention deficits; c) children with ACID profile, typical for learning disabilities; d) children with 'flat' cognitive profile where all verbal and performance skills were on borderline IQ level. CONCLUSIONS: Identifying strengthsand limitations of distinct cognitive profiles among students with borderline intellectual functioning has important implications for further assessment strategies and distinctive approach in designing educational and developmental interventions.

Decoding and word recognition in English as a native and a foreign language in students with and without dyslexia (English vs. Polish students).

We aimed to investigate the relationship between reading difficulties in native language (NL: Polish) and English as a foreign language in dyslexia in English and Polish students, respectively, and to develop a model of relations between NL phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, verbal short-term memory, and reading in English. Thirteen English students with dyslexia (ED), 15 without (END) and 16 Polish students with dyslexia (PD) and 16 without (PND) participated. We found that dyslexic deficits and different phoneme-to-grapheme correspondence rules between Polish and English interfered with the accuracy and fluency of word and nonword decoding and word recognition. Whereas END scored higher than PD and PND in all reading measures, ED did not, despite a NL advantage. When compared with PND, ED performed equal in nonword decoding, which depends to a higher degree on phoneme-to-grapheme conversion rather than lexical access. When compared with PD, ED performed equally in nonword fluency, which is most likely a nonscript-dependant skill. More variance in reading was explained by NL than FL factors, even if analogical NL/FL skills predicted a given variable. While in ED and END, these relationships agreed with the literature; in PD and PND, NL phonological awareness was not beneficial for English as a foreign language reading.

NL reading skills mediate the relationship between NL phonological processing skills and a foreign language (FL) reading skills in students with and without dyslexia: a case of a NL (Polish) and FL (English) with different degrees of orthographic consistency.

The aim of our study was to examine the relationship between NL (Native Language: Polish) phonological processing skills (verbal and phonological short-term memory, phoneme segmentation and blending, rapid automatised naming (RAN)) and the accuracy and fluency of NL and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) word and nonword decoding and word recognition skills of Polish students with and without dyslexia. Sixty-three (45%) high school and junior high school students with and 78 (55%) without dyslexia participated. We found that dyslexia, years of studying EFL at school and privately, NL phoneme blending and RAN predicted word reading accuracy in EFL, and dyslexia, years of studying EFL privately, and NL RAN predicted EFL word reading fluency. Dyslexia and NL phoneme blending predicted the accuracy, and NL RAN-the fluency of EFL nonword decoding. These findings confirm that difficulties in FL acquisition result from NL phonological processing deficits, characteristic of dyslexia. Our results also showed relationships between NL phonological processing and EFL reading that were analogical to the ones observed for NL. The pattern of relations between NL phonological processing, NL reading, and EFL reading was similar for reading fluency, but not for reading accuracy in the compared groups. Both NL phonological processing and NL reading facilitated EFL reading, though it was more conspicuous in the control group, which suggests that readers with dyslexia benefit less from their NL reading skills when learning to read in FL.

How different are parents and educators? A comparative study of interactive differences between parents and educators in a collaborative adult-child activity.

Involving children in collaborative tasks supports their cognitive, motor and social development. This study, performed in Portugal, aims to describe and compare early childhood educators and parents regarding their collaborative and interactive behavior when working with children. For that purpose, 55 educators (of both genders) with a child from their class and 45 parents (of both genders) with their children, participated in an everyday-like quasi-experimental situation for 20 minutes. The participants were invited to build an object of their choice, using a range of available materials and tools. The children included 47 boys and 48 girls, between 3 and 5 year-old. In comparison with the parents, the educators encouraged the children more to explore and find their own solutions. Conversely, the parents helped their children by offering demonstrations and directions. When the educators and the parents were grouped by gender ("men" versus "women"), different opportunities were offered to boys and girls by male and female adults. Our study suggests that educators and parents serve as diverse, but complementary educational role models and provide different learning opportunities.

Early Predictors of Learning a Foreign Language in Pre-school - Polish as a First Language, English as a Foreign Language.

When a foreign language (FL) acquisition begins in preschool, at which time young learners are particularly linguistically sensitive, it allows for a higher FL competence in future. Moreover, a second language learning depends on a learner's aptitude. The aim of our study was to assess the early predictors of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Polish pre-school students who had not yet started formal literacy instruction, and to characterize the level of their oral receptive and active skills in English. 30 children aged between 3 years 5 months and 5 years 10 months who attended two private and one state kindergarten, participated in the study. All were native speakers of Polish, and apart from English classes, communicated in their first language at kindergarten and in their everyday life. Non-verbal intelligence, emerging literacy, phonological awareness in Polish, and knowledge of English were assessed. We found that in Polish pre-school children emerging letter identification from their first language alphabet, phonological awareness in their first language, and non-verbal intelligence were related to the achievements in learning EFL, despite the differences in transparency between the two languages. Moreover, the children's passive color vocabulary was larger than their active vocabulary, and they were used to repetition tasks. The participants in our study attempted to communicate in English during the assessment, which suggests that even at a pre-school age they were able to differentiate between first language and FL discourse. We also identified some problems possibly stemming from linguistic transfer, like articles omissions. Therefore, teachers should pay more emphasis to the differences between the first and the second language, in terms of: syntax, morphology, phonetics, phonology, and orthography, to prevent later consolidation of early errors. The automatisation of correct linguistic habits in young learners would equip them with skills for their later FL educational success.

Non-word reading test vs anaesthesia. How do anaesthetised patients decode the contents without referring to the meaning?

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine the phonological functioning (reading speed and accuracy) of hospital patients under general anaesthesia administered during colonoscopy. METHODS: In this study the 'Latysz' non-word reading test was used to measure the impact of selected anaesthetics on the phonological aspect of language processing (defined as decoding without referring to the meaning) in a group of 22 anaesthetised patients compared to 23 non-anaesthetised patients from university clinics. RESULTS: Compared to the preoperative performance, a decrease in reading accuracy and reading speed was observed only in the Anaesthesia Group - AG (in the subjects aged ≥ 35 years) 1.5 h after the administration of anaesthetics. Postoperatively, the AG were significantly slower and less accurate than the Control Group - CG - after 1.5 h. After 3 h, the AG had regained their baseline values both in reading accuracy and reading speed. During the last assessment session, the AG pronounced 82% of the words correctly, while the CG pronounced 74% correctly. Moreover, subjects aged ≥ 35 years performed worse than younger subjects in their reading accuracy and speed. CONCLUSIONS: The patients who underwent colonoscopy under general anaesthesia manifested impaired phonological functioning shortly after the procedure, both in the speed and accuracy of reading non-words. However, the accuracy problems subsided relatively quickly.

Characteristics of cognitive deficits and writing skills of Polish adults with developmental dyslexia.

The present study was aimed at analysing cognitive deficits of dyslexic adults, and examining their written language skills in comparison with their peers. Our results confirm the presence of a certain profile of symptoms in adult dyslexics. We noticed deficits in: phonological (verbal) short-term memory, phonological awareness, rapid automatised naming (speed, self-corrections), visual perception and control, and visual-motor coordination. Moreover, the dyslexic participants, as compared with their nondyslexic peers, produced more word structure errors whilst writing an essay. However, there were no significant differences between the two groups in the length of the essay, the number of linguistic and punctuation errors, the number of adjectives, and stylistic devices.

Psychological resources of adults with developmental dyslexia.

The aim of our study was to describe specific psychological resources of adults with developmental dyslexia and compare them with psychological resources of adults without developmental dyslexia. Potential differences were analyzed in visual-spatial, creative, and motivational abilities. No evidence was found for either creative, or visuospatial superiority in adults with developmental dyslexia. The results suggest, however, that visual-spatial processing of nonverbal material by adults with developmental dyslexia allows them to efficiently execute tasks that are based on sequential material. Moreover, the participants with specific difficulties in reading and writing exhibited a significantly higher level of aspirations than their peers without such difficulties with a comparable level of educational achievement. These results suggest that succeeding in different fields by highly functioning adult dyslexics may depend on personality and motivational factors, rather than cognitive factors.