Mathematics and reading difficulty subtypes: minor phonological influences on mathematics for 5-7-years-old.

Linguistic influences in mathematics have previously been explored through subtyping methodology and by taking advantage of the componential nature of mathematics and variations in language requirements that exist across tasks. The present longitudinal investigation aimed to examine the language requirements of mathematical tasks in young children aged 5-7 years. Initially, 256 children were screened for mathematics and reading difficulties (RDs) using standardized measures. Those scoring at or below the 35th percentile on either dimension were classified as having difficulty. From this screening, 115 children were allocated to each of the mathematical difficulty (MD; n = 26), MDRD (n = 32), RD (n = 22) and typically achieving (n = 35) subtypes. These children were tested at four time points, separated by 6 monthly intervals, on a battery of seven mathematical tasks. Growth curve analysis indicated that, in contrast to previous research on older children, young children with MD and MDRD had very similar patterns of development on all mathematical tasks. Overall, the subtype comparisons suggested that language played only a minor mediating role in most tasks, and this was secondary in importance to non-verbal skills. Correlational evidence suggested that children from the different subtypes could have been using different mixes of verbal and non-verbal strategies to solve the mathematical problems.

Spontaneous attention to faces in Asperger syndrome using ecologically valid static stimuli.

Previous eye tracking research on the allocation of attention to social information by individuals with autism spectrum disorders is equivocal and may be in part a consequence of variation in stimuli used between studies. The current study explored attention allocation to faces, and within faces, by individuals with Asperger syndrome using a range of static stimuli where faces were either viewed in isolation or viewed in the context of a social scene. Results showed that faces were viewed typically by the individuals with Asperger syndrome when presented in isolation, but attention to the eyes was significantly diminished in comparison to age and IQ-matched typical viewers when faces were viewed as part of social scenes. We show that when using static stimuli, there is evidence of atypicality for individuals with Asperger syndrome depending on the extent of social context. Our findings shed light on the previous explanations of gaze behaviour that have emphasised the role of movement in atypicalities of social attention in autism spectrum disorders and highlight the importance of consideration of the realistic portrayal of social information for future studies.

Strategic development in exact calculation: group and individual differences in four achievement subtypes.

This longitudinal study sought to identify developmental changes in strategy use between 5 and 7 years of age when solving exact calculation problems. Four mathematics and reading achievement subtypes were examined at four time points. Five strategies were considered: finger counting, verbal counting, delayed retrieval, automatic retrieval, and derived fact retrieval. Results provided unique insights into children's strategic development in exact calculation at this early stage. Group analysis revealed relationships between mathematical and/or reading difficulties and strategy choice, shift, and adaptiveness. Use of derived fact retrieval by 7 years of age distinguished children with mathematical difficulties from other achievement subtypes. Analysis of individual differences revealed marked heterogeneity within all subtypes, suggesting (inter alia) no marked qualitative distinction between our two mathematical difficulty subtypes.

Phonological awareness and mathematical difficulty: a longitudinal perspective.

The present longitudinal study sought to investigate the impact of poor phonology on children's mathematical status. From a screening sample of 256 five-year-olds, 82 children were identified as either typically achieving (TA; N = 31), having comorbid poor phonology and mathematical difficulties (PDMD; N = 31), or having only poor phonology (phonological difficulty, PD; N = 20). Children were assessed on eight components of informal and formal mathematics achievement at ages 5-7 years. PD children were found to have significant impairments in some, mainly formal, components of mathematics by age 7 compared to TA children. Analysis also revealed that, by age 7, approximately half of the PD children met the criteria for PDMD, while the remainder exhibited less severe deficits in some components of formal mathematics. Children's mathematical performance at age 5, however, did not predict which PD children were more likely to become PDMD at age 7, nor did they differ in terms of phonological awareness at age 5. However, those PD children who later became PDMD had lower scores on verbal and non-verbal tests of general ability.

Proofreading using an assistive software homophone tool: compensatory and remedial effects on the literacy skills of students with reading difficulties.

The present study investigated the effects of using an assistive software homophone tool on the assisted proofreading performance and unassisted basic skills of secondary-level students with reading difficulties. Students aged 13 to 15 years proofread passages for homophonic errors under three conditions: with the homophone tool, with homophones highlighted only, or with no help. The group using the homophone tool significantly outperformed the other two groups on assisted proofreading and outperformed the others on unassisted spelling, although not significantly. Remedial (unassisted) improvements in automaticity of word recognition, homophone proofreading, and basic reading were found over all groups. Results elucidate the differential contributions of each function of the homophone tool and suggest that with the proper training, assistive software can help not only students with diagnosed disabilities but also those with generally weak reading skills.

Individual differences in trajectories of arithmetical development in typically achieving 5- to 7-year-olds.

The arithmetical performance of typically achieving 5- to 7-year-olds (N=29) was measured at four 6-month intervals. The same seven tasks were used at each time point: exact calculation, story problems, approximate arithmetic, place value, calculation principles, forced retrieval, and written problems. Although group analysis showed mostly linear growth over the 18-month period, analysis of individual differences revealed a much more complex picture. Some children exhibited marked variation in performance across the seven tasks, including evidence of difficulty in some cases. Individual growth patterns also showed differences in developmental trajectories between children on each task and within children across tasks. The findings support the idea of the componential nature of arithmetical ability and underscore the need for further longitudinal research on typically achieving children and of careful consideration of individual differences.

Confounds in pictorial sets: the role of complexity and familiarity in basic-level picture processing.

Complexity is conventionally defined as the level of detail or intricacy contained within a picture. The study of complexity has received relatively little attention-in part, because of the absence of an acceptable metric. Traditionally, normative ratings of complexity have been based on human judgments. However, this study demonstrates that published norms for visual complexity are biased. Familiarity and learning influence the subjective complexity scores for nonsense shapes, with a significant training x familiarity interaction [F(1,52) = 17.53, p < .05]. Several image-processing techniques were explored as alternative measures of picture and image complexity. A perimeter detection measure correlates strongly with human judgments of the complexity of line drawings of real-world objects and nonsense shapes and captures some of the processes important in judgments of subjective complexity, while removing the bias due to familiarity effects.

Changing levels of numeracy and other core mathematical skills among psychology undergraduates between 1992 and 2002.

Teaching statistics and research methods to psychology undergraduates is a major pedagogic challenge. Knowledge of students' conceptual problems in mathematics is important in the current climate of widening access, a burgeoning interest in psychology, and fears about declining standards of numeracy and other quantitative skills. This study compared the mathematical knowledge of two cohorts of undergraduates who entered psychology a decade apart--one in 1992, the other in 2002. Six broadly defined components of mathematical thinking relevant to the teaching of statistics in psychology were examined--calculation, algebraic reasoning, graphical interpretation, proportionality and ratio, probability and sampling, and estimation. Both cohorts were also compared with a 1984 cohort on a subset of items reported in a study by Greer and Semrau (1984). Results revealed highly significant differences between the two cohorts on all six components, with 1992 students outperforming their 2002 counterparts. Males were also found to perform significantly better than females on a majority of components. Level of qualification in mathematics was found to predict overall performance. Comparison with Greer and Semrau's (1984) sample revealed an alarming decline in performance across the two decades on a selection of test items.

Incident-related stressors, locus of control, coping, and psychological distress among firefighters in Northern Ireland.

This study was an investigation into the associations between incident-related stressors, locus of control, coping, and psychological distress in firefighters in Northern Ireland during the time of political violence. Among 248 male firefighters, greater psychological distress was associated with greater frequency of incident-related negative emotions, external locus of control, less task- and emotion-focused coping, and greater avoidance coping. It was also found that the frequency of exposure to incident-related stressors moderated the association between locus of control and psychological distress and that avoidance coping mediated the relationship between locus of control and psychological distress. Avoidance coping accounted for most of the explained variance in psychological distress. These results point to the potential value of coping-skills training in emergency personnel.