The Impact of School Strategies and the Home Environment on Home Learning Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Children With and Without Developmental Disorders.

Using the Opportunity-Propensity Model (Byrnes in Dev Rev 56:100911, 2020; Byrnes & Miller in Contemp Educ Psychol 32(4);599-629, 2007), the current study investigated which factors helped predicting children's home learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby examining differences between children with (DD; n = 779) and without (TD; n = 1443) developmental disorders. MANCOVA results indicated more negative experiences for DD children and their parents. SEM-results revealed the alignment between different teachers and autonomous motivation in children as the most important predictors for the outcome variables. Less predictors were significant for DD as compared to TD children which suggests other factors are at play in the DD group. Limitations, strengths and suggestions for future research are being discussed, together with some implications for classroom practices and remote learning approaches.

Mathematical (Dis)abilities Within the Opportunity-Propensity Model: The Choice of Math Test Matters.

This study examined individual differences in mathematics learning by combining antecedent (A), opportunity (O), and propensity (P) indicators within the Opportunity-Propensity Model. Although there is already some evidence for this model based on secondary datasets, there currently is no primary data available that simultaneously takes into account A, O, and P factors in children with and without Mathematical Learning Disabilities (MLD). Therefore, the mathematical abilities of 114 school-aged children (grade 3 till 6) with and without MLD were analyzed and combined with information retrieved from standardized tests and questionnaires. Results indicated significant differences in personality, motivation, temperament, subjective well-being, self-esteem, self-perceived competence, and parental aspirations when comparing children with and without MLD. In addition, A, O, and P factors were found to underlie mathematical abilities and disabilities. For the A factors, parental aspirations explained about half of the variance in fact retrieval speed in children without MLD, and SES was especially involved in the prediction of procedural accuracy in general. Teachers' experience contributed as O factor and explained about 6% of the variance in mathematical abilities. P indicators explained between 52 and 69% of the variance, with especially intelligence as overall significant predictor. Indirect effects pointed towards the interrelatedness of the predictors and the value of including A, O, and P indicators in a comprehensive model. The role parental aspirations played in fact retrieval speed was partially mediated through the self-perceived competence of the children, whereas the effect of SES on procedural accuracy was partially mediated through intelligence in children of both groups and through working memory capacity in children with MLD. Moreover, in line with the componential structure of mathematics, our findings were dependent on the math task used. Different A, O, and P indicators seemed to be important for fact retrieval speed compared to procedural accuracy. Also, mathematical development type (MLD or typical development) mattered since some A, O, and P factors were predictive for MLD only and the other way around. Practical implications of these findings and recommendations for future research on MLD and on individual differences in mathematical abilities are provided.