Mother-child teaching strategies and learning disabilities

Implementation processes associated with a home-based phonological awareness intervention for children with specific language impairment

The implementation processes associated with a home-based phonological awareness intervention were observed for mothers and their 4-year-old children with specific language impairment (SLI). Mother-child dyads (n = 13) read books four times per week over 12 weeks; each book contained nine embedded phonological awareness (PA) tasks. Four hundred and ninety-eight book reading sessions were coded for three variables of interest: maternal support of concept development, quantity of maternal instructional support, and accuracy of children's responses to the PA tasks. Using growth curve modelling, results indicate that maternal support of concept development decreased over the course of the 12-week program, and the quantity of maternal supports changed considerably reflecting intra-individual differences among mothers. Both support of concept development and quantity of support decreased over the course of a given week. In addition, children's responses to the phonological awareness tasks significantly increased over the 12-week intervention. Overall, mothers did not provide support that consistently supported children's learning over time, and the increases in children's correct responses, although significant, were less than anticipated given the length of the intervention. These findings indicate that mothers may need additional supports when implementing emergent literacy programs with their children.

Knowledge about and preoccupation with reading disabilities: a delicate balance

This study investigated the extent to which children's knowledge about reading disabilities, preoccupation with their own reading disability, and anxiety predicted reading comprehension in fifth and sixth grade children with reading disabilities (N=85). Participants provided rich and accurate information about reading disabilities and the academic and emotional implications of having a reading disability. Children's knowledge about the characteristics of reading disabilities was positively associated with reading comprehension, and preoccupation with their own disability was negatively associated with reading comprehension. Girls reported higher levels of preoccupation and anxiety than boys did. In addition to gender, children's reading comprehension, trait anxiety, and perceptions of their mothers' worry about their reading disabilities predicted their preoccupation with their own disability. Children with the most adaptive profile in terms of reading comprehension and anxiety were those who had high levels of knowledge and low levels of preoccupation with their disability.

Parents and youth with learning disabilities: perceptions of relationships and communication

The study examined perceptions of family relationships and communication in 52 families who have an adolescent child diagnosed with learning disabilities (LD) with a matched group of 52 families who have a child without LD. Parents and youth completed a self-reported Family Relations and Communication Scales assessment. Findings revealed parents perceived their child as either overinvolved or underinvolved with their parents and not sharing the same values and norms as their parents. Findings indicated that parents of youth with and without LD share similar perceptions of both the openness and problematic aspects of family communication. Youth with and without LD reported higher levels of problematic maternal involvement than perceived by the mothers; youth without LD rated their mothers' affective expression higher than reported by their mothers; both groups of youth perceived their mothers' and their fathers' communication as less open and more problematic than reported by their parents.

Language problems in children with learning disabilities: do they interfere with maternal communication?

In this study, parent-child interaction in two carefully matched subgroups-school-age boys with learning disabilities (LD) who showed a discrepancy between their verbal IQ and performance IQ and had more extensive difficulties in higher-level language abilities (VIQ < PIQ, n = 8) and boys with LD who did not manifest a discrepancy between verbal IQ and performance IQ (VIQ = PIQ, n = 8), were investigated. The effects of the child's language problems on child task performance and on the quality of maternal communication were analyzed in a mother-child problem solving task. Children in the VIQ < PIQ group were found to be less successful on the task than children in the VIQ = PIQ group, and their mothers exhibited lower communication clarity in their instructions than the mothers of the children in the VIQ = PIQ group. An interesting interaction effect was found for communication deviances. For mothers in the VIQ < PIQ group the extent of deficient communication increased from the monologue to the dialogue situation, whereas communication deviances decreased for mothers in the VIQ = PIQ group. Three possible models are discussed in light of the differences between the subgroups.