The structure of executive functioning in 11 to 14 year olds with and without special educational needs.

The structure and development of executive functioning (EF) have been intensively studied in typically developing populations, with little attention given to those with Special Educational Needs (SEN). This study addresses this by comparing the EF structure of 132 adolescents (11-14 years-old) with SEN and 138 adolescents not requiring additional support (Non-SEN peers). Participants completed verbal and non-verbal assessments of key components of EF: inhibition, working memory and switching.

A randomised controlled trial of a computerised intervention for children with social communication difficulties to support peer collaboration.

An intervention aiming to support children with social communication difficulties was tested using a randomised controlled design. Children aged 5-6 years old (n=32) were tested and selected for participation on the basis of their scores on the Test of Pragmatic Skills (TPS) and were then randomly assigned to the intervention arm or to the delayed intervention control group. Following previous research which suggested that computer technology may be particularly useful for this group of children, the intervention included a collaborative computer game which the children played with an adult.

The behaviour of young children with social communication disorders during dyadic interaction with peers.

Children with social communication disorders are known to experience more problematic peer relations than typically-developing children. However, detailed observation of their behaviour and communication during interaction with peers has not previously been undertaken. Micro-analytic observational methods were used to analyse the audio-taped interaction of children (N = 112) selected from mainstream schools (ages 5-6 years-old) on a computerised dyadic collaborative task.

Children's patterns of reasoning about reading and addition concepts.

Children's reasoning was examined within two educational contexts (word reading and addition) so as to understand the factors that contribute to relational reasoning in the two domains. Sixty-seven 5- to 7-year-olds were given a series of related words to read or single-digit addition items to solve (interspersed with unrelated items). The frequency, accuracy, and response times of children's self-reports on the conceptually related items provided a measure of relational reasoning, while performance on the unrelated addition and reading items provided a measure of procedural skill.

Sensitivity to visual and auditory stimuli in children with developmental dyslexia.

This study considered the extent to which 23 children with dyslexia differed from 23 reading age (RA) and 23 chronological age (CA) matched controls in their ability to make temporal judgements about auditory and visual sequences of stimuli, and in the speed of their reactions to the onsets and offsets of visual and auditory stimuli. The children with dyslexia were slower (p = 0.039) than the CA controls in their reactions to non-verbal auditory onsets (tones), were less able to recognize the first stimulus of a sequence of tones (p = 0.

Physician and dentist tobacco use counseling and adolescent smoking behavior: results from the 2000 National Youth Tobacco Survey.

Objective: The present study describes patterns of tobacco use counseling among physicians and dentists as reported by adolescents and determines the association between provider advice to quit and cessation activities among current smokers.

Methods: Data were analyzed from the 2000 National Youth Tobacco Survey, an anonymous, self-administered, school-based survey. The National Youth Tobacco Survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of 35828 students in grades 6 to 12 in 324 schools.