The impact of ever breastfeeding on children ages 12 to 36 months: A secondary data analysis of the standardization study of the Dominican system for evaluating early childhood development.

Extensive research has shown that breastfeeding offers many benefits to children, including advantages in lifelong health, physical development, cognitive function, behavior, and brain development, compared to those not breastfed. In the Dominican Republic, the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among infants aged 0-6 months remains low, and the lack of a surveillance system has made it challenging to measure the impact of breastfeeding on early childhood development (ECD). This study aims to address the effect of ever breastfeeding on ECD. We conducted secondary data analysis from the Dominican System for Measuring Early Childhood Development (SIMEDID), a screening tool adapted and validated to the Dominican context that measures four areas of development: gross-motor, fine-motor, language, and socioemotional development. The data from SIMEDID can be cross-analyzed with other datasets generated by the National Institute for Early Childhood Comprehensive Care (INAIPI) that include information about breastfeeding. The children were evaluated during the standardization study of SIMEDID. To determine the breastfeeding impact, we: 1) conducted an analysis of covariance using ECD scores as dependent variables and ever breastfed as the independent variable, with age and sex as covariates (previously confirmed with an analysis of variance indicating the relevance of age and sex at birth in ECD); 2) analyzed the relative risk (RR) of developmental delay by breastfeeding status. We studied a sample of 699 Dominican children aged 12-36 months who receive services at INAIPI (the government institution responsible for administering comprehensive early childhood services). The results show that ever breastfed children had higher scores in overall ECD than those who were not; higher scores in language and fine motor development primarily drove this effect. The never breastfed group had a greater risk of developmental delay in fine motor and socioemotional development. These findings underscore the importance of promoting and supporting breastfeeding to improve child neurodevelopmental outcomes. This is particularly relevant in low-resource settings, where mothers may need additional support. Moreover, the study's results provide evidence of SIMEDID's validation, which can help inform future research and evidence-based decision-making toward optimal ECD in similar contexts.

Cognitive decline monitoring through a web-based application.

Cognitive decline usually begins after individuals reach maturity, which is more evident in late adulthood. Rapid and constant cognitive screenings allow early detection of cognitive decline and motivate individuals to participate in prevention interventions. Due to accelerated technological advances, cognitive screening and training are now available to the layperson using electronic devices connected to the internet. Large datasets generated by these platforms provide a unique opportunity to explore cognitive development throughout life and across multiple naturalistic environments. However, such data collection mechanisms must be validated. This study aimed to determine whether the data gathered by commercial visuospatial and phonological working memory tests (CogniFit Inc., San Francisco, USA) confirm the well-established argument that age predicts cognitive decline. Data from 3,212 participants (2,238 females) who were 45 years old or older were analyzed. A linear regression analysis explored the relationship between age and working memory while controlling for gender, sleep quality, and physical activity (variables that are known to affect working memory). We found that age negatively predicts working memory. Furthermore, there was an interaction between age and gender for visuospatial working memory, indicating that although male participants significantly outperformed females, the relationship between age and working memory differs for females and males. Our results suggest that the computerized assessment of visuospatial and phonological working memory is sensible enough to predict cognitive functions in aging. Suggestions for improving the sensitivity of self-reports are discussed. Further studies must explore the nature of gender effects on cognitive aging.

Validation of the Dominican system for measuring early childhood development.

Background: The purpose of the study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Dominican System for Measuring Early Childhood Development (SIMEDID, for its Spanish acronym), to adjust the sequence of item presentation, and to provide age-standardized norms for each item, to enable policy and program managers to make decisions based on specific and structured data. Methods: After approval from an ethics committee, a total of 948 children from 0 to 60 months participated in this study. Participants were evaluated on four early childhood development domains (gross motor, fine motor, language development, and socio-emotional development). The data were collected from November 2021 to February 2022, either at early childhood care centers or at home, using mobile devices that guided the evaluators through the screener. Data were later synced to a global database. Psychometric properties were calculated using Cronbach's alpha and split-half parallel reliability. For reorganizing item presentation and to obtain age-standardized norms, we conducted a logistic regression analysis for each item on dependent variable item success, and independent variable age. Results: The instrument showed excellent reliability and additional evidence of validity. The item presentation order was rearranged according to the probability of item success progression. In addition, the study characterized the expected evolution of item success probability across participants' age. Conclusions: SIMEDID is a valid and reliable instrument for depicting childhood development in national evaluations. Its integration with electronic platforms for national monitoring represents a cost-effective, time-efficient screening tool adapted to the Dominican sociocultural context. This represents a promising tool to strengthen strategies that support early childhood development.

Intervención logopédica en trastornos del aprendizaje de la lectura en población infantil bilingüe / Speech therapy intervention in reading learning disabilities in bilingual children

ANTECEDENTES Y OBJETIVO: Con la mitad de la población mundial expuesta a más de una lengua, la escasez de estudios sobre la eficacia de intervenciones específicamente dirigidas a niños bilingües con trastorno del aprendizaje de la lectura (TAL) puede llevar al profesional a emitir recomendaciones precipitadas para su abordaje. El presente trabajo pretende aportar orientaciones para el diseño de intervenciones adaptadas a este tipo de usuarios. PACIENTES: Las orientaciones de intervención propuestas se dirigen a niños o adolescentes que evolucionan en contextos multilingües (con dos o más lenguas en su entorno familiar, escolar o social, que se juzguen relevantes para el desarrollo del individuo). RESULTADOS: Partiendo de la evidencia sobre la eficacia de las intervenciones fundamentadas en el desarrollo fonológico y de las correspondencias grafema-fonema con población multilingüe con trastorno del aprendizaje de la lectura, se proponen orientaciones para adaptar estos componentes del tratamiento a dicha población. Se incorporan asimismo recomendaciones de trabajo sobre componentes complementarios, tomando en cuenta su pertinencia en distintos tipos de lengua. CONCLUSIONES: La evidencia sugiere que es pertinente intervenir en más de una lengua con pacientes con trastorno del aprendizaje de la lectura, siempre y cuando se tengan en cuenta determinados aspectos específicos en el diseño del programa de intervención. No obstante, es necesario seguir generando estudios longitudinales de intervención o de caso con niños de distintos contextos multilingües, en función de la transparencia de cada una de sus lenguas, su momento de adquisición y el papel que desempeñan en la vida del niño

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: With half of the world's population exposed to more than one language, the lack of studies on the effectiveness of interventions specifically aimed at bilingual children with reading learning disorder can lead professionals to issue hasty recommendations on how to approach the issue. This paper aims to provide guidance for the design of interventions adapted to this type of users. PATIENTS: The proposed intervention guidelines are aimed at children or adolescents who evolve in multilingual contexts (with two or more languages in their family, school or social environment, deemed relevant for the development of the individual). RESULTS: Using the evidence of the effectiveness of interventions based on phonological development and grapheme-phoneme correspondences with multilingual population with reading learning disorder, guidelines are proposed to adapt these components of the treatment to said population. Recommendations for work on complementary components are also incorporated, taking into account their relevance in different types of language. CONCLUSIONS: The evidence suggests that it is pertinent to intervene in more than one language with patients with reading learning disorder, as long as certain specific aspects are taken into account in the design of the intervention programme. However, it is necessary to continue generating longitudinal intervention or case studies with children from different multilingual contexts, depending on the transparency of each of their languages, their moment of acquisition and the role they play in the child's life