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'. As part of a larger study, in which 242 British families completed a range of measures about their family's eating habits, child's food preferences and potential parent and child predictors of these (Masento et al., 2022), parents were invited to download a See & Eat ebook about a vegetable their child did not eat. Thirty-six families participated in the intervention, looking at the ebook with their child for two weeks and reporting on their child's willingness to taste, intake and liking of the vegetable targeted by the ebook and a matched control vegetable before and after the intervention period. Results showed significant increases in parental ratings of children's acceptance of the target vegetable. Willingness to taste and intake ratings improved for the target vegetable, but not the control vegetable, while liking was reported to increase for both vegetables. These results corroborate previous research demonstrating the benefits of familiarising children with vegetables before they are offered at mealtimes and suggest that ebooks can be added to the set of tools parents can use to support children's vegetable consumption.

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. It combined a carefully chosen word length effect method with a self-paced presentation time method to obtain behavioural indicators of verbal rehearsal. In addition, subsequent trial-by-trial self-reports were gathered. Word length effects in recall suggested that phonological recoding (converting images to names - a necessary precursor for rehearsal) took place, with evidence of more rehearsal among children with higher performance levels. According to self-paced presentation times, cumulative rehearsal was the dominant form of rehearsal only for children with higher spans on difficult trials. The combined results of self-paced times and word length effects in recall suggest that "naming" as simple form of rehearsal was dominant for most children. Self-reports were in line with these conclusions. Additionally, children used a mixture of strategies with considerable intra-individual variability, yet strategy use was nevertheless linked to age as well as performance levels.

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. Furthermore, performance of adults with dyslexia on non-verbal design fluency tasks has not been explored but would indicate whether deficits could be explained by executive control, rather than phonological processing, difficulties. Phonemic, semantic and design fluency tasks were presented to adults with dyslexia and without dyslexia, using fine-grained performance measures and controlling for IQ. Hierarchical regressions indicated that dyslexia predicted lower phonemic fluency, but not semantic or design fluency. At the fine-grained level, dyslexia predicted a smaller number of switches between subcategories on phonemic fluency, while dyslexia did not predict the size of phonemically related clusters of items. Overall, the results suggested that phonological processing problems were at the root of dyslexia-related fluency deficits; however, executive control difficulties could not be completely ruled out as an alternative explanation. Developments in research methodology, equating executive demands across fluency tasks, may resolve this issue. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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. Here, we investigate effects of HRL on serial order memory. The present research aimed to assess the reliability of new HRL measures and investigate their relationships with language and reading skills (vocabulary, grammar, word reading) in adolescents with intellectual disability (ID). A comparison group of children of similar mental age with typical development (TD) was also assessed. ID and TD groups were tested on HRL tasks, evaluating test-retest and split-half reliability. The relationship between HRL and language and reading was analysed after accounting for the influence of mental age and verbal short-term memory. The HRL tasks displayed moderate test-retest (and split-half) reliability, HRL tasks with different stimuli (verbal, visual) were related, and we identified issues with one method of HRL scoring. The planned regression analyses failed to show relationships between HRL and language/reading skills in both groups when mental age, a very strong predictor, was included. However, further exploratory regression analyses without mental age revealed HRL's predictive capabilities for vocabulary in the ID group and reading in the TD group, results which need further investigation and replication. HRL displays promise as a moderately reliable metric and exhibits varied and interpretable predictive capabilities for language and reading skills across groups.

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. Preliminary studies by the authors show that E-PLAYS can produce improvements in children with social communication difficulties on communication test scores and observed collaborative behaviours. The study described here is a definitive trial to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of E-PLAYS delivered by teaching assistants in schools. METHODS: The aim of the E-PLAYS-2 trial is to establish the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of care as usual plus the E-PLAYS programme, delivered in primary schools, compared to care as usual. Cluster-randomisation will take place at school level to avoid contamination. The E-PLAYS intervention will be delivered by schools' teaching assistants. Teachers will select suitable children (ages 5-7 years old) from their schools using guidelines provided by the research team. Assessments will include blinded language measures and observations (conducted by the research team), non-blinded teacher-reported measures of peer relations and classroom behaviour and parent-reported use of resources and quality of life. A process evaluation will also include interviews with parents, children and teaching assistants, observations of intervention delivery and a survey of care as usual. The primary analysis will compare pragmatic language scores for children who received the E-PLAYS intervention versus those who did not at 40 weeks post-randomisation. Secondary analyses will assess cost-effectiveness and a mixed methods process evaluation will provide richer data on the delivery of E-PLAYS. DISCUSSION: The aim of this study is to undertake a final, definitive test of the effectiveness of E-PLAYS when delivered by teaching assistants within schools. The use of technology in game form is a novel approach in an area where there are currently few available interventions. Should E-PLAYS prove to be effective at the end of this trial, we believe it is likely to be welcomed by schools, parents and children. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN 17561417, registration date 19th December 2022. PROTOCOL VERSION: v1.1 19th June 2023.

Revealing children's implicit spelling representations.

Conceptualizing the underlying representations and cognitive mechanisms of children's spelling development is a key challenge for literacy researchers. Using the Representational Redescription model (Karmiloff-Smith), Critten, Pine and Steffler (2007) demonstrated that the acquisition of phonological and morphological knowledge may be underpinned by increasingly explicit levels of spelling representation. However, their proposal that implicit representations may underlie early 'visually based' spelling remains unresolved. Children (N = 101, aged 4-6 years) were given a recognition task (Critten et al., 2007) and a novel production task, both involving verbal justifications of why spellings are correct/incorrect, strategy use and word pattern similarity. Results for both tasks supported an implicit level of spelling characterized by the ability to correctly recognize/produce words but the inability to explain operational strategies or generalize knowledge. Explicit levels and multiple representations were also in evidence across the two tasks. Implications for cognitive mechanisms underlying spelling development are discussed.

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. To assist future research on this topic, we discuss each of these three issues and provide recommendations about what we believe to be the best course of action. To provide a comprehensive review of the methodological issues, we draw on research beyond the topic of early language acquisition. Our overall aim is to contribute to research that considers questions about delay or differences in development patterns of development and about identifying potentially causal variables.

Executive functioning in children with specific language impairment.

BACKGROUND: A limited range of evidence suggests that children with specific language impairment (SLI) have difficulties with higher order thinking and reasoning skills (executive functioning, EF). This study involved a comprehensive investigation of EF in this population taking into account the contributions of age, nonverbal IQ and verbal ability. METHODS: Ten separate measures of EF were assessed in 160 children: 41 had SLI; 31 had low language/cognitive functioning but did not fulfil the criteria for SLI (low language functioning or LLF); and 88 were typically developing with no language difficulties. Group differences in performance were assessed after controlling for age, nonverbal IQ and verbal ability in a series of regression analyses. RESULTS: Children with SLI and LLF had significantly lower performance than typical children on 6 of the 10 EF tasks once age and nonverbal IQ had been controlled (verbal and nonverbal executive-loaded working memory, verbal and nonverbal fluency, nonverbal inhibition and nonverbal planning). Performance on these EF tasks remained lower for those in the SLI group even when verbal IQ was entered in the regressions. CONCLUSIONS: Children with language impairments showed marked difficulties on a range of EF tasks. These difficulties were present even when adjustments were made for their verbal abilities.

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 (n = 24) or an active control group (n = 23). A pre-test/intervention/post-test/9-month-follow-up design was used. Outcome measures included assessments of language (to evaluate far transfer of the training) and working memory (to evaluate near transfer of the training). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for pre-intervention performance and age found the group to be a significant predictor of sentence comprehension and of performance on six untrained working-memory measures at post-intervention and 9-month follow-up. Children in the intervention group showed significantly higher language comprehension and working-memory scores at both time points than children in the active control group. The intervention programme showed the potential to improve working memory and language comprehension in children with DLD and demonstrated several advantages: it involved short sessions over a short period, caused little disruption in the school day, and was enjoyed by children.

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. Confirmatory Factor Analysis on each group tested one-, two- and three-factor models of EF. In both groups, there was statistical support for the fit of one- and two-factor models with no model being clearly better than the others; there was little support for three-factor models. Parsimony suggests that the one-factor model best represents the structure of EF. In light of our results, the implications for the nature of EF in early adolescence in both SEN and Non-SEN groups are discussed.

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. METHODS: Two immediate serial recall Hebb repetition learning tasks using verbal and visuospatial materials were presented to 47 adolescents with intellectual disabilities (11-15 years) and 47 individually mental age-matched children with typical development (4-10 years). RESULTS: Both groups showed Hebb repetition learning effects of similar magnitude, albeit with some reservations. Evidence for Hebb repetition learning was found for both verbal and visuospatial materials; for our measure of Hebb learning the effects were larger for verbal than visuospatial materials. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggested that adolescents with intellectual disabilities may show implicit long-term serial-order learning broadly commensurate with mental age level. The benefits of using repetition in educational contexts for adolescents with intellectual disabilities are considered.

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: N = 61, Poland: N = 124, and UK: N = 225; child mean age = 32.2 months, SD = 9.47) completed an online survey comprising a set of standardised questionnaires. For all three countries, the questionnaires included measures of children's vegetable intake (VegFFQ), child eating behaviour (CEBQ-FF), parents' mealtime goals (FMGs), and sociodemographic questions about family background and environment. In the UK and Italy, additional questionnaires were used to assess child temperament (EAS-T) and parents' feeding practices (CFPQ). The results showed that the number of child-sized portions of vegetables consumed per day varied significantly across countries; Polish children consumed the most (∼3 portions) and Italian children the least (∼1.5 portions). Between-country differences were seen in parents' goals for family mealtimes; compared to Italian parents, Polish and UK parents were more motivated to minimise mealtime stress, increase family involvement in meal preparation, and share the same foods with family members. British and Italian parents also adopted different feeding practices; parents in the UK reported more use of healthy modelling behaviours and more use of foods to support their child's emotion regulation. In terms of child factors, Italian children were reported to be more emotional and more sociable than British children. Analyses of the relationships between the parent, child, and environmental factors and children's vegetable intake revealed both similarities and differences between countries. Negative predictors of vegetable intake included child food fussiness in the UK and Poland, child temperament (especially, shyness) in Italy, and the use of food as a reward and child emotionality in the UK. Positive predictors included the parental mealtime goal of 'family involvement' in the UK. These results highlight differences in the extent to which European preschoolers achieve recommended levels of vegetable intake, and in the factors that influence whether they do. The results suggest a need to develop healthy eating interventions that are adopted to meet the specific needs of the countries in which they are implemented.

Family characteristics and long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse.

OBJECTIVES. This study investigated the role of family variables in the development of psychological problems in childhood sexual abuse (CSA) survivors, contributing to the debate between the 'abuse related' perspective, which assumes a direct causal link between abuse and later problems, and the 'family dysfunction' perspective, which assumes that these problems are caused by the dysfunctional nature of families in which abuse occurs. The two questions of central concern were: (1) whether maladaptive family dynamics and CSA were each associated with later adjustment; and (2) whether these associations acted independently of one another. DESIGN. A retrospective cohort study comparing sexually abused and non-abused participants matched one-to-one on demographic variables. METHODS. The 64 clinical participants were recruited by sending questionnaires to clients on a psychological therapy waiting list, and 44 students were recruited from questionnaires made available at University Health Centres. Participants completed measures of psychological and sexual adjustment, family functioning, and construing. Multiple linear regression models investigated overall and independent associations between abuse, family circumstances, and adjustment in adulthood. RESULTS. There was only weak evidence for the influence of CSA, independently of family environment, on later psychological distress and sexual adjustment, but strong evidence for the influence of aspects of family environment, independent of abuse, on later psychological distress, sexual adjustment, self-esteem, body image, and sexual attitude. CONCLUSIONS. The findings provide support for the 'family dysfunction' perspective on the long-term effects of CSA.

Lexical access and literacy in children with word-finding difficulties.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: In order to understand better the lexical access abilities in children with word-finding difficulties, the extent of serial naming speed difficulties in these children as well as the degree to which serial and discrete naming tasks are related to one another and to literacy abilities was investigated. This enabled some of the predictions made in the double-deficit hypothesis of Wolf and Bowers to be tested. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Eighteen children with word-finding difficulties completed naming and literacy tasks at 8;6 years and literacy tasks at 9;8 years. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Children with word-finding difficulties had very slow serial naming, despite their non-verbal and literacy abilities often being in the typical range. Serial and discrete naming speeds were not closely related. The performance on serial naming tasks that involved alphanumeric items provided the strongest correlations with decoding and reading comprehension. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Discrete and serial naming tasks appear to assess different aspects of lexical access, and only partial support was obtained for the double-deficit hypothesis. The findings also suggest that a reason for the correlation between the children's serial naming speed for letters/digits and their literacy could be because both are structurally similar tasks.

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 (n = 34) and those with independent locomotion ability (n = 19). This division additionally enabled us to determine the impact of limited independent physical exploration (i.e., required wheelchair use) on spatial competence. We compared the spatial performance of children in these two PD groups to that of typically developing (TD) children who spanned the range of non-verbal ability of the PD groups. Participants completed three spatial tasks; a mental rotation task, a spatial programming task and a desktop virtual reality (VR) navigation task. Levels of impairment of the PD groups were broadly commensurate with their overall level of non-verbal ability. The exception to this was the performance of the PD wheelchair group on the mental rotation task, which was below that expected for their level of non-verbal ability. Group differences in approach to the spatial programming task were evident in that both PD groups showed a different error pattern from the TD group. These findings suggested that for children with both learning difficulties and PD, the unique developmental impact on spatial ability of having physical disabilities, over and above the impact of any learning difficulties, is minimal.

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. The study included a broad range of cognitive and language measures as predictors of decoding ability. A LASSO regression analysis identified phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming (RAN) as the most important predictors. The predictors explained 57.73% of the variance in decoding abilities. These variables are similar to the ones found in earlier research on typically developing children, hence supporting our hypothesis of a delayed rather than a different reading profile. These results lend some support to the use of interventions and reading instructions, originally developed for typically developing children, for children and adolescents with non-specific ID.

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. A sample of 136 adolescents with non-specific ID was assessed on reading comprehension, decoding, linguistic, and cognitive measures. The hypotheses were evaluated using structural equation models. The results showed that the Simple View of Reading was not applicable in explaining reading comprehension in this group, however, the concurrent predictors of comprehension (vocabulary and phonological executive-loaded working memory) followed a delayed profile.

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. The aim of this study was to ascertain the feasibility of running a full-scale trial to test the effectiveness of E-PLAYS in a National Health Service (NHS) setting with delivery by speech and language therapists and teaching assistants. METHODS: The study was a two-arm feasibility cluster-randomised controlled trial of the E-PLAYS intervention with a treatment as usual control arm. Data relating to recruitment and retention, treatment fidelity, acceptability to participants, suitability of outcomes and feasibility of collecting health economic measures and of determining cost-effectiveness were collected. Speech and language therapists selected suitable children (ages 4-7 years old) from their caseload. E-PLAYS intervention (experimental group) was then delivered by teaching assistants overseen by speech and language therapists. The control group received usual care. Assessments included blinded language measures and observations, non-blinded teacher-reported measures of peer relations and classroom behaviour and non-blinded parent-reported use of health and education resources and quality of life. RESULTS: Planned recruitment was for 70 children, in the event, 50 children were recruited which was sufficient for feasibility purposes. E-PLAYS was very highly rated by children, teaching assistants and speech and language therapists and treatment fidelity did not pose any issues. We were able to collect health economic data which suggests that E-PLAYS would be a low-cost intervention. CONCLUSION: Based on recruitment, retention and adherence rates and our outcome measures, a full-scale randomised controlled trial estimated appears feasible and warranted to assess the effectiveness of E-PLAYS for use by the NHS and schools. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN 14818949 (retrospectively registered).

Television alcohol advertising: do children really mean what they say?

Few studies have investigated children's responses to television alcohol advertising. Two separate studies evaluated the appeal of alcohol advertisements on children aged 7-10. An exploratory interview study (N = 17) was carried out to assess children's verbal responses to both alcohol and non-alcohol advertisements and to elicit vocabulary to be used in the second study. Whilst the 7- 8-years-old children were very positive about the alcohol advertisements, older children did not like them, nor did they perceive them to be effective. The second study was designed to assess children's implicit knowledge, in view of developmental theory that knowledge is not always available for verbal report. This study (N = 179) used a simple categorization programme on computer. Using this methodology, children of all ages liked the alcohol advertisements and perceived them as effective. Advertising styles affected popularity with humour, cartoon format or the inclusion of an animal, or character increasing the appeal of an advertisement. The discussion draws attention to the importance of multiple methodologies in eliciting valid and accurate information from children, and to policy matters with regard to alcohol advertising regulation.

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. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Ten of the children had very weak reading and spelling skills. Five children had (mostly) age appropriate scores of reading and spelling. No differences were found between these two groups in non-verbal reasoning or communication and language. However, phonological abilities, visual sequential memory and perception of visuospatial relationships were found to be related to reading and spelling. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The findings suggest that children with CP are at risk for reading and spelling delays when they have poor phonological processing, visual sequential memory and perception of visuospatial relationships. The implications of the findings for classroom practice are discussed.