scholarly journals Language and Reading Outcomes in Fourth-Grade Children With Mild Hearing Loss Compared to Age-Matched Hearing Peers

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Walker ◽  
Caitlin Sapp ◽  
Margaret Dallapiazza ◽  
Meredith Spratford ◽  
Ryan W. McCreery ◽  
...  

Purpose There is ambiguity in the clinical and research communities regarding whether children with mild bilateral hearing loss (MBHL) are at risk for delays. The goal of the current article is to expand the evidence base surrounding outcomes for the current generation of children with MBHL. Method Using independent-samples t tests, we compared children with MBHL to same-age peers with normal hearing (NH) on measures of vocabulary, morphological awareness, listening comprehension, and reading. We completed regression analyses to explore the foundational linguistic skills that influenced reading abilities in both groups. For the children with MBHL, we examined whether hearing aid (HA) dosage was associated with individual differences in language scores. Results Group comparisons indicated that children with NH significantly outperformed children with MBHL on tests of morphological awareness and listening comprehension. There were no differences in vocabulary size or reading achievement; however, children with MBHL displayed significant differences in the factors that accounted for variability in reading scores compared to children with NH. HA dosage was significantly associated with variation in listening comprehension scores, but not vocabulary, reading, or morphological awareness. Conclusions The current results provide evidence that children with MBHL are at risk for persistent language deficits by 4th grade, particularly in aspects of language that involve form. Reading skills in children with MBHL appear to be commensurate with same-age hearing peers. Consistent use of well-fit HAs supports listening comprehension, although the amount of benefit from HAs may be reduced for children with higher unaided hearing levels.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariel Ne'eman ◽  
Shelley Shaul

Many studies have attempted to identify measures that predict reading abilities. The results of these studies may be inclined to over-identification of children considered at risk in kindergarten but who achieve parity in reading by the end of first grade. Therefore, the current study sought to analyze the specific cognitive and linguistic predictors of reading accuracy and reading speed separately. Additionally, the study examined if it is possible to use empirically validated measures to distinguish between children who are not ready to learn how to read in kindergarten but manage to acquire reading skills by the end of first grade, and those who continue to exhibit difficulties. The study followed 98 kindergarteners (43 boys and 55 girls) aged 4 years 10 months to six years from three different schools, who were taught how to read in kindergarten. Multiple measures of general cognitive skills, linguistic abilities, and reading abilities were measured at three different points in time: the beginning of kindergarten, the end of kindergarten, and the end of first grade. The study found that most of the children with good literacy and cognitive abilities learned how to read by the end of kindergarten. The analysis revealed a significant difference in cognitive abilities, such as executive functions and memory, which distinguished between the ability to acquire fluent reading and accurate reading. The study was able to successfully distinguish between “children with difficulties” and “un-ready” children. These results have various implications, especially in regard to the identification of and intervention with kindergarten children at risk for reading disabilities.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Brignoni-Perez ◽  
Sarah Dubner ◽  
Michal Ben-Shachar ◽  
Shai Berman ◽  
Aviv A. Mezer ◽  
...  

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) studies find differences in associations between reading and white matter fractional anisotropy (FA) in children born full term (FT) versus preterm (PT). Use of complementary neuroimaging modalities may reveal neurobiological factors driving these associations. We used two MRI methods to interpret associations of reading abilities and white matter properties in FT and PT children. Participants (N=79; 36 FT; 43 PT) were administered Gray’s Oral Reading Test at age 8 years. We segmented two dorsal and two ventral white matter tracts associated with reading skills and quantified (1) FA from dMRI and (2) R1 from quantitative relaxometry, as a proxy for myelin content. We examined correlations between reading scores and imaging metrics, assessing trajectories along the tracts. Mean reading scores fell in the typical range in both groups. Reading positively correlated with FA in segments of the left arcuate and the left and right superior longitudinal fasciculi, but only in FT children, not in PT children. Reading positively correlated with R1 in segments of the left superior longitudinal, right uncinate, and left inferior longitudinal fasciculi, but only in PT children, not in FT children. The significantly different patterns of associations between reading abilities and white matter properties across FT and PT groups suggest variations in the neurobiology of typical reading abilities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara Contreary ◽  
Todd Honeycutt

BACKGROUND: The U.S. government has implemented several programs to reduce federal expenditures on Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) and help beneficiaries return to work, but the limited success of these efforts has raised interest in approaches that help workers with disabilities remain in the workforce. OBJECTIVE: This paper provides information on individuals at risk of applying for DI benefits to help build the evidence base for policies that provide workers with disabilities support to eliminate the need to apply for and receive DI benefits. METHODS: Using three panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation matched to SSA administrative data, we describe the employment characteristics of seven groups at risk of applying for DI benefits before and after application, as well as the outcomes of their DI applications. RESULTS: New private disability insurance recipients were more likely to apply for and receive DI than members of other at-risk groups. However, individuals with high healthcare expenditures made up the largest proportion of successful applicants across the at-risk groups considered here. CONCLUSION: While it seems plausible that individuals within an at-risk group who are likely to apply for DI benefits can be identified and provided supports to help them maintain employment, focusing on a specific group to promote employment over DI benefits may have a limited effect on the DI program because applicants come from multiple groups.


Author(s):  
Regan C. Manayan ◽  
Olivia H. Ladd-Luthringshauser ◽  
Alison Schlothauer ◽  
Kathryn Tribulski ◽  
Audrey Winans ◽  
...  

1981 ◽  
Vol 75 (5) ◽  
pp. 215-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Wood

This study compared the developmental patterns of listening and reading skills of 71 visually handicapped students in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades of four residential schools for the blind. Grade level, chronological age, intelligence, mode of reading, sex, socioeconomic status, and degree of visual impairment, were treated as predictor variables. Subjects were tested with the adapted version of the Durrell Listening-Reading Series. The results indicated that tested verbal intelligence accounted for most of the variance in listening and reading scores and had greater predictive value for listening than for reading. The other variables had little or no predictive value for either listening or reading. Furthermore, the development of listening skills was found to be stronger than reading skills at each grade level, and listening remained the superior mode across the age range.


Author(s):  
V.B. Pankova ◽  
◽  
М.F. Vilk ◽  
◽  
◽  
...  

Annotation. On the example of railway and air transport, a number of new issues of occupational hearing loss are shown, requiring study and subsequent implementation in practical health care, as new etiological factors in the development of hearing loss. This concerns the factor of labor intensity, which has a potentiating, pathogenetic significance, along with noise, in the development of hearing loss due to the formation of chronic stress, leading to additional ischemia of the vascular stria and damage to the neuroepithelium of the inner ear. There is a need, along with the development of a methodology for assessing the factor of labor intensity for SOUT of workplaces, to determine the criteria for its negative action when used for the examination of the connection between the disease of the organ of hearing and the profession. In the «List of occupational diseases» in clause 2.4.2. indicated diseases associated with exposure to infrasound (IZ), among the manifestations of which, called sensorineural hearing loss bilateral. However, IZ, as well as low-frequency noise (LFN), were not previously considered as significant adverse factors in relation to the hearing organ in mass clinical trials, therefore, there are no expert criteria for the relationship between hearing loss and their impact, which could be applied in practice, which requires accumulation of evidence base for the subsequent substantiation of an independent nosological form of a disease of the organ of hearing, associated with mechanoacoustic exposure.


Author(s):  
Kee Jiar Yeo ◽  
Othman Md. Johan

Belajar membaca ialah suatu proses perkembangan yang berlaku secara berterusan dan kesediaan merupakan konsep yang wujud dalam pelbagai peringkat belajar membaca tersebut. Kesediaan membaca pula biasanya dikatakan sebagai peringkat paling awal dalam kemahiran membaca secara tidak formal yang membabitkan kanak-kanak. Kesediaan membaca melibatkan tret asas umum yang dapat membantu kanak–kanak memulakan alam akademiknya tanpa banyak menghadapi masalah. Sebagai usaha mengkaji kebolehan aspek kognitif dalam kemahiran membaca, ujian kesediaan membaca dalam bahasa Melayu telah dibangunkan. Ujian ini merangkumi enam aspek, iaitu diskriminasi visual, kesedaran fonologi, huruf dan hubungan huruf–bunyi, melengkapkan ayat berpandukan huruf, kata pandang–sebut, dan pemahaman lisan. Ujian ini telah diberikan kepada 130 orang kanak–kanak tadika yang dipilih secara rawak daripada enam buah tadika untuk menentukan kestabilan psikometrik ujian tersebut. Analisis uji–uji semula yang dijalankan menunjukkan bahawa ujian yang dibangunkan mempunyai kebolehpercayaan yang agak tinggi, iaitu lebih daripada 0.80, justeru menunjukkan kegunaan pragmatis ujian ini. Diharapkan ujian ini dapat membantu pihak tadika dalam mengenal pasti kanak–kanak yang memerlukan penumpuan khusus dalam proses pembelajaran merkea, terutamanya dalam aspek membaca. Kata kunci: Kesediaan; kesediaan membaca; ujian kesediaan membaca Learning to read is an on–going developmental process and readiness is just a concept in the various stages of learning to read. Reading readiness is often referred as the earliest stage of informal reading skills that involve young children. It is the basic common traits which would help a child to begin his academic endeavour without much difficulties. To study the ability of cognitive aspect on reading, a reading readiness test in bahasa Melayu was developed. This test consists of six aspects, namely visual discrimination, phonological awareness, letter and letter–sound relationship, aural cloze with letter, sight words, and listening comprehension. This test was given to 130 kindergarten children randomly selected from six kindergartens to determine its psychometric stability. A test–retest analysis shows that the test has a fairly high reliability of more than 0.80, hence suggests its pragmatic utility. It is hoped that the test would enable kindergarten authority in identifying students who need special attention in their learning process, specifically in reading. Key words: Readiness; reading readiness; reading readiness test


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-61
Author(s):  
Vera B. Pankova ◽  
Irina N. Fedina ◽  
Pavel V. Serebpyakov ◽  
Leonid L. Volokhov ◽  
Natalya G. Bomshteyn

Objectives - to present a step-by-step algorithm for diagnosis, examination and assessment of professional suitability in noise-induced hearing loss. Material and methods. A group of experts analysed the evidence base, consisting of more than 200 cases of primary diagnosed occupational sensorineural hearing loss (OHL), registered by various institutes for occupational safety and health. Also, the methodological instructions on the main issues of occupational hearing loss examination were regarded. Results. The methodological and regulatory documents were developed and put in practice, allowing the hygienic and clinical specialists to follow the step-by-step diagnostic and examination algorithms for OHL. Conclusion. All specialists, involved in the diagnosis, in the expertise of the occupational impact, the assessment of professional suitability, the OHL prophylaxis, should use the unified step-by-step algorithms, presented in the regulatory and methodological documents of federal and professional significance.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margo Hilbrecht ◽  
Sally M. Gainsbury ◽  
Nassim Tabri ◽  
Michael J. A. Wohl ◽  
Silas Xuereb ◽  
...  

This report supports an evidence-based approach to the prevention and education objective of the National Strategy to Reduce Harm from Gambling. Applying a public health policy lens, it considers three levels of measures: universal (for the benefit of the whole population), selective (for the benefit of at-risk groups), and indicated (for the benefit of at-risk individuals). Six measures are reviewed by drawing upon a range of evidence in the academic and grey literature. The universal level measures are “Regulatory restriction on how gambling is provided” and “Population-based safer gambling/responsible gambling efforts.” Selective measures focus on age cohorts in a chapter entitled, “Targeted safer gambling campaigns for children, youth, and older adults.” The indicated measures are “Brief internet delivered interventions for gambling,” “Systems and tools that produced actual (‘hard’) barriers and limit access to funds,” and “Self-exclusion.” Since the quantity and quality of the evidence base varied by measure, appropriate review methods were selected to assess publications using a systematic, scoping, or narrative approach. Some measures offered consistent findings regarding the effectiveness of interventions and initiatives, while others were less clear. Unintended consequences were noted since it is important to be aware of unanticipated, negative consequences resulting from prevention and education activities. After reviewing the evidence, authors identified knowledge gaps that require further research, and provided guidance for how the findings could be used to enhance the prevention and education objective. The research evidence is supplemented by consultations with third sector charity representatives who design and implement gambling harm prevention and education programmes. Their insights and experiences enhance, support, or challenge the academic evidence base, and are shared in a separate chapter. Overall, research evidence is limited for many of the measures. Quality assessments suggest that improvements are needed to support policy decisions more fully. Still, opportunities exist to advance evidence-based policy for an effective gambling harm prevention and education plan.


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