Children who understand emotions become more attentive over time

What is going on in the minds of young children when it seems they are daydreaming or appear to be scatterbrained?

A study that my coauthor, Susanne A Denham, and I conducted recently shows that inattentive children may sometimes be absorbed in trying to figure out the emotions of their parents, siblings, teachers and friends.

Young children are vitally interested in which emotions these important people in their small social world are feeling in respect to them and others, why they are doing so and whether their emotional displays are “real” or “fake.”

We found that children who have a better knowledge of emotions have no need to ponder these questions. They become free to pay attention to their social partners, to play and to academic learning, among many other things.

Why emotion knowledge matters

The research project, named “Elefant” – short for “Emotional Learning is fantastic” – surveyed 261 children from 33 kindergartens in Lower Saxony, a state in northern Germany, as well as their teachers and parents.

Two separate surveys over an interval of 14 months were conducted. The study tested children’s “emotion knowledge”: that is, their ability to identify facial expressions of emotions and typical situations that give rise to emotions, such as happiness when receiving a birthday gift.

Students with autism need targeted attention – not a cage

A review has been announced into school policies in Canberra after it was reported that a school was restraining a child with autism in a cage-like structure. Former disability discrimination commissioner Graeme Innes said this was not an isolated incident, and my research and time spent in schools attests to this.

I worked with one child whose restraint had an innocent genesis, but over time the teacher was incapable of coping with the student with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the innocent mechanism became harmful.

A “time-out room” was provided for the child, which is important for children with ASD because they can suffer from sensory overload and need a place to calm down.

Initially he was invited to go to the room with the door open when he was feeling overwhelmed. As his behaviour escalated over time, due to a failure to understand his needs, he began to be sent to the room. After a time the door was closed and eventually the child was locked in the room.

One day his parent came to pick him up and found him in the room bloodied from hitting his head against the wall in frustration and anger.

Why are children being confined?

Keeping a child confined is clearly not an acceptable way of coping with students with special needs, so why does it continue to happen?

When a child is restrained at school, at home, or anywhere for that matter, it’s often a cry for help. It’s a sign of desperation, of not knowing. Teachers are often unsure what to do, needing to protect themselves, their assistants and the other students and to comply with disability legislation.

They often don’t have time to carefully plan and tailor an intervention for a particular child, so they take bits and pieces of what they have heard about the need for safe boundaries, reduction of sensory overload and inclusion of the child in the classroom.

Children’s attention problems at age seven linked to lower GCSE grades

As thousands of 15 and 16-year-olds prepare for their GCSEs, new research has found that children who display inattentive behaviours at age seven are at risk of worse academic outcomes in these examinations. This was the case even after their IQ and their parents’ social and educational backgrounds were taken into account.

The results of our study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, were based on analyses of behavioural and academic data of participants in Children of the 90s, a population-based study at the University of Bristol. The research team, from the universities of Nottingham and Bristol, studied more than 11,000 children.

Childhood behaviour problems can be apparent to parents and teachers during the early years of primary school. These include difficulties such as inattention, poor concentration, being easily distracted, losing interest easily, daydreaming, not listening or being disorganised. They can also include oppositional or defiant behaviours, such as frequent temper tantrums, arguing with adults and not doing as adults ask.

Few representative large-scale studies have assessed whether these behaviours pose an independent risk for educational achievement during adolescence. It has not been clear whether the risk of lower grades from increasing levels of inattention applies across the whole population, or only for those children with the most severe problems, such as those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

In the study, parents and teachers completed questionnaires about the child’s behaviour at age seven. These assessed a range of different behaviours including inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity and oppositional/defiant problems. This information was then compared with the children’s academic achievements by looking at their GCSE examination results at age 16. We also took the child’s IQ and parents’ education and socio-economic status into account as these are linked with both early behaviour problems and academic outcomes.

Real impact on grades

We looked at the impact on children’s GCSE results in two ways. First, we looked at how many had achieved five “good” GCSE grades – five A*-C grades including English and Maths. This is a minimum expected level to access further education and is a key indicator that is published in school league tables. We found that for each one-point increase in inattention symptoms (based on a full scale of 0-18) at age seven, there was a 6-7% increased likelihood, on average across the whole sample, of not achieving the minimum level of five “good” GCSE grades at age 16.

The school with no rules that teaches the unteachable

Documentary goes beyond the school gates at Ian Mikardo high school, where boys deemed unteachable are making a fresh start.

Ian Mikardo High School, in London’s east end, is the end of the line, a special school for boys aged 11-16, who have been deemed unteachable.

The boys, who have severe social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, are among the most troubled and troubling children in the country and have been excluded from their previous, mainstream schools. They are also about to appear on television, as the subjects of the latest documentary tracing the everyday ups and downs of school-life, following the hugely popular Educating Yorkshire, Essex and now the East End.

The boys’ stories feature poverty and bereavement; they may have witnessed domestic violence or murder. Their homes are unstable, their accomodation is crowded and temporary. This week a new boy kicked in a window at school. It turned out his family were to be evicted the next morning and he didn’t know where he was going to live.

By the end of the two part documentary, which starts next week, it is hard not to appreciate the boys’ good fortune at having found themselves in the care of such an unorthodox institution, in one of the capital’s poorest boroughs, Tower Hamlets.

Here there are no uniforms, no rules, no physical restraint, no bars, no isolation rooms, no detentions, no punishment. Everyone is on first name terms – staff and students. If you swear (the boys do, a lot), you will be challenged (“Language please!”) but there are no sanctions; if you walk out of class no one will force you back in, if you get in to a fight, a member of staff will intervene if it looks like someone is going to get hurt, but you won’t get excluded.

The Guardian visits on the day Sir Michael Wilshaw publishes his Ofsted report on the damaging impact of low-level disruption in classrooms, in which he complains about unruly pupils humming and fidgeting. Headteacher Claire Lillis is scathing. “I can’t believe this is a national report. It’s a national disgrace.”

To help dyslexic pupils, go to the root of how children learn

Dyslexia isn't just about bad spelling – teachers need to try a variety of strategies to build confidence.

 

 

I have this issue with how I hear words, Gareth, a 31-year-old graphic designer, tells me.

"So for example, while I was growing up, it was really hard to tell the difference between the words 'girl' and 'grill' because the 'ir' and the 'l' kind of overlapped in time unless you spoke really slowly. My teachers were always just flabbergasted that I couldn't tell."

To most of us, it seems obvious that the "ir" sound in "girl" comes before the "l", but for Gareth, like many dyslexic sufferers, a dysfunction in the processing of neurological signals relative to each other in time, means that the letters tend to slip.

This problem snowballs when it comes to learning to read. It's vital to be able to hear the sounds of the words and associate them with a symbol before you can decode them on a page.

But like all neurological disorders, dyslexia is not a static condition. The brain has an astonishing capacity to adapt and overcome hindrances which may be present in our neurobiology when we're born – an ability referred to as neural plasticity.

This process works through a combination of repetition and feedback, in other words, practising. It's the same way a violinist gradually learns to find finger positions on the strings.

System is skewed against dyslexics

Through persistence, and repeatedly trying to hear the differences between words, Gareth says he's overcome many of the problems he faced when younger. But he feels that the education system is skewed against dyslexics.

A Child's View of Sensory Processing

Learn about sensory processing from a child's prospective.

Helping students with Asperger's prepare for university life

As the number of autistic students soars, universities are trying hard to help them with their social and life skills.

 

"I am quite a fussy eater. I only like avocado and boiled egg," Stefania Hanson explains, as her friend pushes a trolley past the frozen peas. They're navigating their way around Asda in Birmingham's Perry Barr, finding ingredients for a cookery session.

The activity is part of a three-day summer school for students with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) who are starting university this month. Run by Birmingham City University (BCU), the programme helps those who are academically very able, but may not have some of the social or life skills that university demands. "It's also a chance for the students – who can have very specific dietary or sensory needs – to have a practice run before the real thing," says Karin Qureshi, manager of counselling and mental health at BCU.
The number of autistic students going to university has soared in recent years, growing by more than 200% in five years – and this figure does not include students who haven't disclosed their disability. Academics believe the rise is driven by greater awareness of autism and better opportunities for those who have the condition to reach their potential at school.

"Although diagnosis can be problematic in certain parts of the country, it is generally easier than it was in the past," says John Harding, head of the disability resource centre at Cambridge University. It had 26 students with autism in 2009, and now has 122.

"Most autistic university students have high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome – rather than classic autism," explains Vicky Neale, the National Autistic Society's student support coordinator for London. Students with Asperger's aren't all replicas of The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper, Neale adds – though the highly intelligent, socially aloof character is seen as a hero by some.

Asperger's is associated with people of average or above-average intelligence. They tend to have fewer problems with speech than those with classic autism, but may still have difficulties with understanding and processing language. This could mean they find it harder to understand instructions from lecturers, or to cope with living in student halls.

As more students are identified as autistic, academics are finding new ways to help them – from pet therapy to training for academics. An increasing number of institutions – including Bath, Cambridge and Aberystwyth – offer summer schools to help students adjust to university life.

What is Sensory Processing Disorder?

What is Sensory Processing Disorder? Can a person have SPD but not have Autism? How can we help students/people with SPD? You can find answers to these (and more questions) in the following video.

How to teach ... the transition

Whether it’s a new school or moving into secondary education, transition is unavoidable. Here are some resources for teachers to help students cope with change.

 

 

Making sure that any period of change for your students goes smoothly can make a huge difference to their progress. So this week, at the start of a new school year, we have a range of resources to help you tackle the challenges.

For pupils moving from pre-school to primary, it’s important to ensure that the more “formal” curriculum and teaching style isn’t detrimental to their enjoyment of learning. Circle Time is great for creating a supportive environment. This activity, which sets out instructions on how to set up a circle, is a really nice way for pupils to introduce themselves to one another.

For pupils changing class, this All about me passport is good for sharing likes and dislikes, while this giant jigsaw template will help you create a quick and easy display about your class. Find Someone Who is a fun mixer activity that will get pupils talking about what they did on their summer holidays, while this Superhero Transitions resource encourages children to think about things that they are good at, things that they could improve on and their hopes for the future.

One of the hardest transitions is the move from primary to secondary school. INTOFILM has put together a guide to help students adjust to their new surroundings. The films are about young people fitting in, working together and believing in themselves. The aim is to help pupils identify and address any challenges they might face at their new school. The guide is accompanied by a selection of warm-up activities and games that are available on the INTOFILM website. In one of these, students are asked to create a short trailer for a film about their first day at secondary school. In another, they take part in a treasure hunt that leads to different areas of the school.

Good vibrations bring braille into the 21st century

Even in a world of digital devices, braille continues to be a vital part of life for blind people. For nearly 200 years, this versatile writing system has allowed them to learn, work and live in a more independent way.

Technology undoubtedly has a role to play in enabling blind people to live independent lives. The news that the world’s first braille mobile phone has gone on sale is a step in the right direction but it is also clear that more people need to learn braille in the first place.

A 1998 study of 74 blind adults found that among those who had not learnt braille, 77% were unemployed while the figure dropped to only 44% among braille readers.

Despite this, a report by the National Federation of the Blind in 2009 revealed that fewer than 10% of legally blind people in the US are braille readers.

We are looking at how learners can make use of the touchscreen and keyboard devices that have become part of most people’s daily lives to learn braille, which, in turn, could help them gain better access to work and education.

Autism research isn’t helping people live with daily reality

In the summer of 2010 as England was being knocked out of the World Cup in South Africa, something all together more hopeful was happening in London. A group of scientists, social researchers, parents and autistic people got together to join a discussion at the Institute of Education on research into autism.

The enthusiasm for the chance to debate and discuss complicated and emotionally charged issues like the “cure” and “prevention” of autism versus notions of autistic differences and what some call “neurodiversity” was astonishing – despite, and perhaps even because of, widely opposing views.

It led colleagues and me at the Centre for Research in Autism and Education to consider the need to find out what people with autism and their families thought about the current direction of research.

In a project called A Future Made Together, funded by the charity Research Autism, we conducted the most comprehensive review of UK research into autism ever undertaken.

We consulted with more than 1,700 autistic people, their families, practitioners and researchers to understand what they thought of current autism research in the UK and where the funds towards autism research should be prioritised.

Differentiation for SEN students: tips for boosting attainment

Special educational needs experts present three common scenarios where a learning difficulty could be stifling progress – and explain how you can adjust classwork.

 

Over recent years there have been plenty of innovations aimed at addressing the needs of Special Educational Needs (SEN) students: among them is the radical shift from "sage on the stage" to "guide on the side".

Rather than having a one-size-fits-all approach, where a teacher simply imparts knowledge, schools have become more focused on differentiated teaching, which focuses on addressing the individual needs of students.
The New Code of Practice for SEN, for example, states that schools must teach students of all abilities in a mainstream setting by personalising and carefully structuring lessons. Under the code, both tutors and subject teachers will be expected to work alongside the special educational needs co-ordinator (Senco). Previously, the Senco might have identified students with learning difficulties and then, with other SEN staff and outside agencies, provided strategies for teachers to follow in order to help particular students access the curriculum. But now teachers will need to regularly assess and develop students' progress and identify the point at which they should receive additional support.

Given these new requirements, how can teachers improve their lesson personalisation? The key to excellent differentiation lies in observation. Here are three easily identifiable characteristics that may suggest a need for further investigation:

How to teach … autism awareness

To mark World Autism Awareness Day here are some lesson resources and teaching tips to help teachers support those directly affected and ensure all students understand the disorder.

 

  

Autism is a disability that affects how a person communicates and socially interacts. Since it has no physical signs, some students can find it hard to understand.

Autism affects millions of people around the world, including more than 700,000 in the UK, and early diagnosis and intervention are essential.

Ahead of World Autism Awareness Day on Wednesday 2 April, we have a collected a range of useful resources to help teachers ensure all students understand the disorder and help support those directly affected.

The autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-friendly classroom presentation by Humans Not Robots raises awareness of some of the needs and difficulties presented by students with autism. The presentation explains what ASD is and how it affects communication, social and thinking skills.

The guide stresses the need for an individualised approach when working with ASD students but includes some "catch-all" strategies such as starting lessons with short, fun and factual activities that provide immediate structure and awarding points for meeting pre-agreed targets. Suggested changes to the classroom environment include: reducing background noise, using natural lighting and avoiding "busy" displays or posters.

Also from Humans Not Robots is this strategy bank for students with ASD. Ideas include: following very clear classroom routines; supporting oral presentations with charts, diagrams and pictures; setting tasks with clear goals; and using short, simple instructions.

Dyslexic pupils not helped by reading method

Up to 400,000 dyslexic children may be hampered in learning to read by the Government’s insistence on the use of synthetic phonics to teach them, says a report to be published today.

A poll of more than 500 literacy teachers reveals that more than half (52 per cent) believe that the Government’s approach is either “ineffective” or “not very effective” in helping dyslexic pupils.

They believe that children with other disabilities and the most able pupils could also be held back. The poll, carried out by ReadingWise UK – designers of online literacy materials – casts doubt on the Government’s favoured strategy for improving reading.

“Literacy support needs to be tailored to the learning pace, experience and needs of the individual child – delivered by teachers with the appropriate specialist training to identify those who might struggle,” said Dr Tilly Mortimore, senior lecturer at Bath Spa University’s School of Education.

“Neither children who are fluent readers, nor those at risk of Special Learning Difficulties/dyslexia or other reading disabilities are likely to find a ‘one size fits all’ intensive synthetic phonics programme helpful. Furthermore, the Government’s punitive testing regime risks undermining both teachers and learners.”

Brain scans are fascinating but behaviour tells us more about the mind

This is good, talking to people is better. Peter Byrne/PA

Imagine you’ve suddenly been given a job as a car mechanic but there’s a slight hitch: you know nothing whatsoever about cars, there are no books to help you, no internet and no-one who is willing to tell you anything. You’ve got some cars that work perfectly and a handful that seem not to work so well or are behaving differently. What do you do?

You will probably come to the conclusion that the easiest way to find out how cars work is to look at the engines of the ones that won’t start, are making an unusual noise, or won’t drive in a straight line, and see how they are different from the cars that are working normally. This same principle can be applied to understanding how the mind works.

In 1861, a doctor named Paul Broca was working with a patient “Tan”, a name bestowed upon him because it was one of the only things he could say. Tan had gradually lost his speech over a 21-year period, yet he was still able to understand what was said to him and had no obvious loss of intellectual function. Broca was an astute man and when this patient died he made a request to look at Tan’s brain. As he suspected, he found that a specific area of the brain had been damaged, a part of the frontal lobe, so he concluded that this area must be vital for speaking but not so for understanding speech.

Should we do away with ‘dyslexia’?

Many children have difficulty reading, but should we label this dyslexia? shutterstock

In their recently published book, The Dyslexia Debate, Joe Elliott and Elena Grigorenko controversially call for the term “dyslexia” to be abandoned. They argue it is an imprecise label that does nothing to assist the children to whom it is applied.

So what is wrong with the term “dyslexia”?

No-one is denying the reality of children’s reading difficulties, or that these need to be identified and treated as early as possible. What is in question is whether we should give the label of “dyslexia” to children with reading difficulties.

It is important to note that reading ability falls on a continuum in the population; it is normally distributed like height or weight. Thus, deciding whether a child does or does not have dyslexia will always involve applying an arbitrary cut-off.

In this sense, a diagnosis of dyslexia is similar to a diagnosis of obesity. It is quite different from a diagnosis of, say, measles where it is clear when someone has it and when they do not.

Autism and intellectual disability incidents linked with environmental factors

An analysis of 100 million U.S. medical records reveals that autism and intellectual disability (ID) rates are correlated at the county level with incidence of genital malformations in newborn males, an indicator of possible congenital exposure to harmful environmental factors such as pesticides.

Autism rates—after adjustment for gender, ethnic, socioeconomic and geopolitical factors—jump by 283 percent for every one-percent increase in frequency of malformations in a county. Intellectual disability rates increase 94 percent. Slight increases in autism and ID rates are also seen in wealthier and more urban counties.

The study, published by University of Chicago scientists in the March 13 issue of PLOS Computational Biology, confirms the dramatic effect of diagnostic standards. Incidence rates for autism and ID on a per-person basis decrease by roughly 99 percent in states with stronger regulations on diagnosis of these disorders.

“Autism appears to be strongly correlated with rate of congenital malformations of the genitals in males across the country,” said study author Andrey Rzhetsky, professor of genetic medicine and human genetics. “This gives an indicator of environmental load and the effect is surprisingly strong.”

Superior Visual Thinking May Be Key to Independence for High Schoolers With Autism

Researchers at UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) and UNC’s School of Education report that teaching independence to adolescents with autism can provide a crucial boost to their chances for success after high school.

“We explored many factors that contribute to the poor outcomes people with autism often experience,” said Kara Hume, co-principal investigator of FPG’s Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (CSESA). “It’s clear that teaching independence to students with autism should be a central focus of their activities in high school.”

According to Hume, independence is the biggest indicator of which students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are likely to live on their own, have a job, and participate in their communities after high school. “However, adolescents with ASD have trouble observing their peers and picking up on skills important for developing independence,” she said.

Hume also said students with ASD experience difficulties with communication that inhibit their ability to ask questions and express preferences, and many have trouble dealing with new situations. This resistance to change can create problems when teachers and caregivers try to reduce their roles.

Autism: Why it’s not “Rain Woman”

Women have fewer cognitive disorders than men do because their bodies are better at ignoring the mutations which cause them

 

AUTISM is a strange condition. Sometimes its symptoms of “social blindness” (an inability to read or comprehend the emotions of others) occur alone. This is dubbed high-functioning autism, or Asperger’s syndrome. Though their fellow men and women may regard them as a bit odd, high-functioning autists are often successful (sometimes very successful) members of society. On other occasions, though, autism manifests as part of a range of cognitive problems. Then, the condition is debilitating. What is common to those on all parts of the so-called autistic spectrum is that they are more often men than women—so much more often that one school of thought suggests autism is an extreme manifestation of what it means, mentally, to be male. Boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls are. For high-functioning autism, the ratio is seven to one.

New strategy needed for deaf children with reading difficulties

Jumbled up in silence. Lyn Lomasi, CC BY-SA

There has been huge investment into research seeking to understand dyslexia in recent years. This has led to the development of tests that can be used to diagnose dyslexia and interventions to help children overcome their reading difficulties.

Research into dyslexia has focused exclusively on children and adults with normal hearing. However, many deaf children at school in the UK also have reading difficulties.

Reading is based on spoken language, which deaf children often struggle to acquire. Problems they have with reading are generally attributed solely to their deafness. Yet given the genetic basis of dyslexia, it is possible that some deaf children will also be dyslexic.

A key challenge when trying to diagnose dyslexia in a deaf child is the lack of suitable tests. There is also little information about typical reading profiles of deaf children. How do you decide if a deaf child has dyslexia if you do not know what is typical for their age group?