A-B-3-Associations and dissociations of reading and arithmetic: Is domain-specific prediction outdated?

Reading and arithmetic are core domains of academic achievement with marked impact on career opportunities and socioeconomic status. While associations between reading and arithmetic are well established, evidence on underlying mechanisms is inconclusive. The main goal of this study was to reevaluate the domain-specificity of established predictors and to enhance our understanding of the (co-)development of reading and arithmetic. In a sample of 885 German-speaking children, standard domain-specific predictors of reading and arithmetic were assessed before and/or at the onset of formal schooling. Reading and arithmetic skills were measured at the beginning and end of second grade. Latent variables were extracted for all relevant constructs: Grapheme-phoneme processing (phonological awareness, letter identification), RAN (RAN-objects, RAN-digits), number system knowledge (number identification, successor knowledge), and magnitude processing (non-symbolic and symbolic magnitude comparison), as well as the criterion measures reading and arithmetic. Four structural equation models tested distinct research questions. Grapheme-phoneme processing was a specific predictor of reading, and magnitude processing explained variance specific to arithmetic. RAN explained variance in both domains, and it explained variance in reading even after controlling for arithmetic. RAN and number system knowledge further explained variance in skills shared between reading and arithmetic. Reading and arithmetic entail domain-specific cognitive components, and they both require tight networks of visual, verbal, and semantic information, as reflected by RAN. This perspective provides a useful background to explain associations and dissociations between reading and arithmetic performance.

Reliable and Valid Coding of Thin Slices of Video Footage: Applicability to the Assessment of Mother-Child Interactions.

When using behavioral-observation methods for coding video footage, it is unknown how much time of an interaction needs to be coded to gain results that are representative for the behavior of interest. The current study examined this problem using the INTAKT, a standardized observational measure for assessing the quality of mother-child interactions. Results from coding only 10 min of each video (i.e., thin slices) were compared with results from coding the remaining parts (averaging about 40 min) of the interaction. Inter-rater agreement for the short versions taken from the beginning or the middle, but not the end of the interactions indicated satisfactory observer accuracy. Coding results did not differ between short and long video sequences, when sequences were taken from the middle of the interactions. Importantly, characteristic differences between different interactive situations were equally well represented in the short and long video sequences. Therefore, our results show that coding only 10 min of an interaction is as reliable and valid as coding full-length videos, if those short sequences are taken from the middle of an interaction. Our findings support the idea that for every method, it is necessary to individually determine the window duration that is long enough to gain results that are reliable and valid.

Drawing and handedness of preschoolers: a repeated-measurement approach to hand preference.

This study investigated handedness and drawing by preschoolers. An observational method for repeated measurement of hand preference is presented. A sample of 381 children (191 girls, 190 boys) ranging in age from 48 to 71 mo. was tested for drawing and hand preference on 14 tasks. Consistent hand preference was defined as always using a particular hand (left or right) for the same task. Girls with consistent hand preference showed better drawing scores compared to girls with inconsistent hand preference. The results showed the importance of a reliable method for measuring hand preference within a single task as early as preschool age.

[The enhancement of development at nursery school age]. / Entwicklungsförderung im Kindergartenalter.

A scientifically based synthesis of diagnostic inventaries and intervention measures would be desirable for the practice of the enhancement of development. Recent research on preschool training, however, has hitherto tended to deal with the development and testing of the effectiveness of training programmes without linking them explicitly to a diagnosis of the abilities which are to be promoted. This article presents two studies that are part of a major project to connect the assessment and enhancement of development. The objective was to develop and empirically test intervention measures for two functional areas of the Wiener Entwicklungstest (WET, Kastner-Koller and Deimann 1998, 2002). Two training conditions were developed for the area of language, i.e. a specific encouragement of vocabulary and conceptualisation and general linguistic promotion. Similarly, two different promotion strategies were realized for the functional area Visual Perception, i.e. a conventional means of promotion using work sheets and a form of promotion utilizing games. According to area, these treatments were tested for their differential effectiveness in an experimental design (linguistic training N = 42; training of perception N = 51), using the Wiener Entwicklungstest (WET) for the pre- and posttests, the intermediate programme comprising 16 units and a control group meantime taking part in the educational programme of the nursery school in both studies. The results showed that both forms of linguistic training and the promotion of perception through games were highly effective in their areas, but that the effect of work sheets could not be definitively assessed. The different effects of the training programmes on children with and without a general developmental lag in the Wiener Entwicklungstest (WET) were particularly interesting.