The reliability of Hebb repetition learning and its association with language and reading in adolescents with intellectual disabilities.

Hebb repetition learning (HRL) refers to neurodevelopmental processes characterised by repeated stimulus exposure without feedback, which result in changes in behaviour and/or responses, e.g., long-term learning of serial order.

Enhancing Pragmatic Language skills for Young children with Social communication difficulties (E-PLAYS-2) trial: study protocol for a cluster-randomised controlled trial evaluating a computerised intervention to promote communicative development and collaborative skills in young children.

Background: A number of children experience difficulties with social communication and this has long-term deleterious effects on their mental health, social development and education. The E-PLAYS-2 study will test an intervention ('E-PLAYS') aimed at supporting such children. E-PLAYS uses a dyadic computer game to develop collaborative and communication skills.

The Perfect Match! A Review and Tutorial on Issues Related to Matching Groups in Investigations of Children with Neurodevelopmental Conditions.

Research concerned with children and young people who have neurodevelopmental disabilities (ND) in relation to early language acquisition usually involves comparisons with matched group(s) of typically developing individuals. In these studies, several important and complex issues need to be addressed. Three major issues are related to: (1) the choice of a variables on which to carry out group matching; (2) recruiting children into the study; and (3) the statistical analysis of the data.

See and Eat! The impact of repeated exposure to vegetable ebooks on young children's vegetable acceptance.

Vegetable consumption in young children in the UK is well below the recommended five child-sized portions per day. Effective and practical strategies are therefore needed to encourage vegetable consumption in young children. In this exploratory study, we examine the effects of visual familiarization to foods via See & Eat ebooks, which show vegetables on their journey from 'field to fork'.

Parent, child, and environmental predictors of vegetable consumption in Italian, Polish, and British preschoolers.

This study compared the vegetable intake of preschool children from three European countries [Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom (UK)] and explored the parent, child, and environmental factors that predicted intake in each country. A total of 408 parents of preschoolers (Italy: = 61, Poland: = 124, and UK: = 225; child mean age = 32.2 months, = 9.

A Short and Engaging Adaptive Working-Memory Intervention for Children with Developmental Language Disorder: Effects on Language and Working Memory.

Recent research has suggested that working-memory training interventions may benefit children with developmental language disorder (DLD). The current study investigated a short and engaging adaptive working-memory intervention that targeted executive skills and aimed to improve both language comprehension and working-memory abilities in children with DLD. Forty-seven 6- to 10-year-old children with DLD were randomly allocated to an executive working-memory training intervention ( = 24) or an active control group ( = 23).

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.

Hebb repetition learning in adolescents with intellectual disabilities.

Background: Hebb repetition learning is a form of long-term serial order learning that can occur when sequences of items in an immediate serial recall task are repeated. Repetition improves performance because of the gradual integration of serial order information from short-term memory into a more stable long-term memory trace.

Aims: The current study assessed whether adolescents with non-specific intellectual disabilities showed Hebb repetition effects, and if their magnitude was equivalent to those of children with typical development, matched for mental age.

Decoding Abilities in Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities: The Contribution of Cognition, Language, and Home Literacy.

Decoding abilities in individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) are substantially lower than for typical readers. The underlying mechanisms of their poor reading remain uncertain. The aim of this study was to investigate the concurrent predictors of decoding ability in 136 adolescents with non-specific ID, and to evaluate the results in relation to previous findings on typical readers.

Investigating Reading Comprehension in Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities: Evaluating the Simple View of Reading.

Reading comprehension difficulties are common in individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID), but the influences of underlying abilities related to reading comprehension in this group have rarely been investigated. One aim of this study was to investigate the Simple View of Reading as a theoretical framework to describe cognitive and linguistic abilities predicting individual differences in reading comprehension in adolescents with non-specific ID. A second aim was to investigate whether predictors of listening comprehension and reading comprehension suggest that individuals with ID have a delayed pattern of development (copying early grade variance in reading comprehension) or a different pattern of development involving a new or an unusual pattern of cognitive and linguistic predictors.

Spatial Cognition in Children With Physical Disability; What Is the Impact of Restricted Independent Exploration?

Given the developmental inter-relationship between motor ability and spatial skills, we investigated the impact of physical disability (PD) on spatial cognition. Fifty-three children with special educational needs including PD were divided into those who were wheelchair users ( = 34) and those with independent locomotion ability ( = 19). This division additionally enabled us to determine the impact of limited independent physical exploration (i.

Evaluating 'Enhancing Pragmatic Language skills for Young children with Social communication impairments' (E-PLAYS): a feasibility cluster-randomised controlled trial.

Background: This article reports the results from a feasibility study of an intervention ('E-PLAYS') aimed at supporting children who experience difficulties with social communication. E-PLAYS is based around a dyadic computer game, which aims to develop collaborative and communication skills. A pilot study found that when E-PLAYS was delivered by researchers, improvements on communication test scores and on collaborative behaviours were observed.

Evaluating 'enhancing pragmatic language skills for young children with social communication impairments' (E-PLAYS): protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial study.

Background: A number of children experience difficulties with social communication and this has long-term deleterious effects on their mental health, social development and education. The proposal presented in this article describes a feasibility study for a trial to test an intervention ('E-PLAYS') aimed at supporting children with social communication impairments. E-PLAYS harnesses technology in the form of a novel computer game in order to develop collaborative and communication skills.

How to do the bottle suction method for removal of a silicone gel breast implant.

There is a growing prevalence of silicone breast implant rupture and need for removal. This article identifies a novel method of removing silicone gel breast implants which addresses issues identified with the current methods. Our technique is an efficient and effective method but most importantly complies to strict Therapeutic Goods Administration guidelines for equipment used in surgery.

The Modified Lateral Intercostal Artery Perforator Flap.

Background: The main surgical options for treatment of breast cancer are breast-conserving surgery and mastectomy. BCS aims to achieve complete excision of the tumor while achieving a pleasing cosmetic result. Excision of tumors in the lateral aspect of the breast has been associated with issues such as contour deformities and asymmetry.

Do children use different forms of verbal rehearsal in serial picture recall tasks? A multi-method study.

Use of verbal rehearsal is a key issue in memory development. However, we still lack detailed and triangulated information about the early development and the circumstances in which different forms of rehearsal are used. To further understand significant factors that affect children's use of various forms of rehearsal, the present study involving 108 primary school children adopted a multi-method approach.

Delays in the reading and spelling of children with cerebral palsy: Associations with phonological and visual processes.

Background: This investigation addresses the question of whether there exists a significant discrepancy in the cognitive abilities of children with cerebral palsy (CP) who, despite the presence of age appropriate communication and language, have reading and spelling delays.

Aims: We wanted to discover whether there was a relationship between the phonological and visual perceptual abilities of children with CP and their progress in reading and spelling.

Methods And Procedures: Fifteen children with CP (aged between 6:9 years and 11:6 years) were assessed on reading and spelling; communication and language; non-verbal reasoning; phonological processing; and visual perception.

An Exploration of the Factor Structure of Executive Functioning in Children.

There has been considerable debate and interest in the factor structure of executive functioning (EF). For children and young people, there is evidence of a progression from a single factor to a more differentiated structure, although the precise nature of these factors differs between investigations. The purpose of the current study was to look at this issue again with another sample, and try to understand possible reasons for previous differences between investigations.

Visual perception, visual-spatial cognition and mathematics: Associations and predictions in children with cerebral palsy.

Background: Previous research suggests that children with cerebral palsy (CP) have impairments in visual-spatial and mathematics abilities, although we know very little about the association between these two domains.

Aims: To investigate the extent of visual-spatial and mathematical impairments in children with CP and the associations between these two domains.

Method And Procedure: Thirty-two children with predominantly quadriplegic spastic and/or athetoid (dyskinetic) CP (13 years 7 months) and a group of typically developing (TD) children (8 years 6 months) matched by receptive vocabulary were given a battery of visual-spatial and mathematics tasks.

Neoadjuvant systemic therapy for breast cancer: the Westmead experience.

Background: Neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NAST) can be used to treat breast cancer. Pathologic complete response (pCR) is a surrogate marker for improved survival. This study examined response in the breast and axilla to NAST and identified features associated with pCR.

Verbal and Non-verbal Fluency in Adults with Developmental Dyslexia: Phonological Processing or Executive Control Problems?

The executive function of fluency describes the ability to generate items according to specific rules. Production of words beginning with a certain letter (phonemic fluency) is impaired in dyslexia, while generation of words belonging to a certain semantic category (semantic fluency) is typically unimpaired. However, in dyslexia, verbal fluency has generally been studied only in terms of overall words produced.

The relation between executive functioning, reaction time, naming speed, and single word reading in children with typical development and language impairments.

Background: Few investigations have examined the relationship between a comprehensive range of executive functioning (EF) abilities and reading.

Aims: Our investigation identified components of EF that independently predicted single word reading, and determined whether their predictive role remained when additional variables were included in the regression analyses. This provided information about the EF processes that are related to reading, and the unity and diversity of EF.

Developmental delays in phonological recoding among children and adolescents with Down syndrome and Williams syndrome.

This study examined the development of phonological recoding in short-term memory (STM) span tasks among two clinical groups with contrasting STM and language profiles: those with Down syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS). Phonological recoding was assessed by comparing: (1) performance on phonologically similar and dissimilar items (phonological similarity effects, PSE); and (2) items with short and long names (word length effects, WLE). Participant groups included children and adolescents with DS (n=29), WS (n=25) and typical development (n=51), all with average mental ages around 6 years.