L. LUPTON -k V. LEWIS

discussion concerne les consiauenro ' s°ges emis par la mire. Laen oeuwedesprogrammes d-intervenuZ.

Key orde: In,=rv=„.,„ progra„,mes, Joint attention, Language acquisition, Prosody.

Received: May 1997

Uura L„p,„„. Department ofPsyehelogy, UnivemUy pf Waraviek, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K.Current theme of research:

Early language development; Children with special needs.Most relevant publications in the feld of Psychology of Education:Lupion, L., Collis, G,M., & Lewis V n90 \ rhoeee... •. .l rr

cd speech. Human Communication. 2.24-26. ' ° of mothers' child-direct-

Walton HairMiKe7n«^^ teaming. School of Education. The Open UniversityCurrent theme of research:Development ofchildren with disabilities; Assessment ofpretend play.

""'■''' "'P blicationslnihefieldofPsychologyofEducation:Lcwts. V. (1987). Development and handicap. Oxford: Blackwell

-™. -Wnrvt... wt>even.„ee,e,Uw,.. v.. . Boeeker, t. y„,

Boikt """'■ ° Wep„e„, ye.„p B.iee.,„: BPS

European Journal of Psychology ofEducation1997. Vol. XII. n'4. 4 ' \I4C 1 9 9 7 . 1 . S . P. A . f ^ '3 (4)Communication skills, educational achievementand biographic characteristics of children withmoderate learning difficulties

Susannah LambPeter BibbyDavid WoodGerv LeydenUniversity of Nottingham, U.K.

This paper examines aspects of wtelleclual, linguistic andacadem'ic abilities of 71 children with moderate learning difficulties. A profileof these abilities is presented and analysed. The profile provides arationale for mounting a long-term intervention study designed todevelop these children's communication abilities. It also provides uswith a baseline model against which the effects of the intervention canbe assessed. In addition, the profile explores the relationships betweenseveral aspects of academic achievement and biographical factors suchas age. gender, season of birth and JQ. Statistical analysis reveals significant relationships between several of the variables investigated. Theimplications of this analysis for educational practice are considered.

I n t r o d u c t i o n

The aim of the research reported in this paper is to explore the relations between communication skill and academic achievement in children with moderate to severe learning difficulties being educated in two special schools. This profile of abilities constitutes the initial stageof a long-term study designed to assess the effects of school-based interventions using st c- jtured communication activities on the le'amin icllTsand academic achievement of this popu-1lation of children. Before turning to the profile dfabilitierih any detail, the theoretical frame-

This project ls_supported by the E.S+R.C. a[ the Centre for Research in Development, instruction and Training,pie authon would like to thank Dr Eamonn Ferguson for his help in developing the LISREL models. Dr Phil Leatherfor the use of his computer and members of the Centre for their helpful comments and suggestions,

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S. LAMB, P, BIBBY, D, WOOD, & G. LEYDEN

\\ilst communication skill is associated with reading cc Prehension thcr. ic nrlat.on between communication and reading accuracy In the or .n no corre-skill describes the ability to transfer informfr- a . Present study, communication

xiH'iSSiHEHSl'—will exert no dir*ect influence on readfnl lrn S miprovements m communication skillany improyements in IQ or"-"nX'Sissues of gender and sfason^of cognitive factors.portion of males and summer-bom children in the sample is greate!'thrn''would b h'°"the normal population. At the same tim«. .u greater than would be expected mand summer-bom children are generally out-Dcrforr ina fS" of children, both malesintelligence. It is interesting to note that the effects of both standardised test ofing comprehension are mediated by IQ. ^ of birth on read- .boys and girls (e.g., T rllows ^ K lly an"bbetweennon-summer birthday children (eg Williams summer birthday andto deyelop behayiou; patterns aracri ed bvr difTiculties are likelymore likely .„ demons'ira.e deXrhavYouT toTcauses problems on two counts First it mav result in ? ' ' fc ence m behaviour•ion when rhcy presen. quite severe ^ 1°' ''""8 =duea -leanting dinicYL wdor ifoTheta rrV b"d"S;education. If these do occur then amont» the cn n i u , identified as requiring specialdemonstrate greater learning difficulties than boys xSislower IQ scores of the girls and by results shnwini th t tif t the present study by themeasures of communication and reading comprehenfion ootperformed the girls onmore PmSnHn'reX^L^c'llr they are alsoof birth" effect appears to be opSe ,o the cS eco communication. This "seasonchildren bom in the summer are reoorted to ht- Hie 1 T mainstream education whereinfant schooling and the fact that thev reman due to their later admittance toproblems which children f^ce as a ' that therisk of being identified as having learning difficuItieTlWeverin special schools, these children eeneraflv do bent ,k u ' suggssi that, onceand Wood (1996) suggest that these oenHp ° better than their peers. Bibby, Lamb, Leyden■ion bias operatinS\tlS^ ^ -ay be due to' a s lec-samplerange of 11 to 16 yia A poLlble explana comprehension, despite asample have reached a "plateau" in their readinu hv the t° children in the.hemomem.Howeyer,noHero;:^^^^ing ability (mediated by IQ) Secondly the nroni v. between communication skill and read-success of future intervLtion studijf ;; = baseline against which thechildren's communication abilities due to an intervenf L change infurther onto reading compreheS and read^ in IQ%ndtionships between biographic and cognitive facLs the omfile tors which may serve to heighten the Drobabilitv Yf i,°u ° identified several fac-referred to special education and identiLd diffe n l - § difficulties beingwith gender and season of birth. ^ performance associated

a r v / 7 ^ s c - / ( ' c c Q j / / .

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Kennedy, L.P., & Elder. S.T. (1982). WISC-R: an abbreviated version. Journal of Clinical Psychology. J8, 174-178.Kruger, A.C. (1992). The effect of peer and adult-child transactive discussions on moral reasoning. Merril-Palmer

Quarterly. 38. I9I-2II.

Mortimore. P.. Sammons. P.. Lewis. D.. & Ecob, R. (1988). School Matters: The Junior Years. Wells: Open Books.

Mumpower, D. (1970). Sex ratios found in various types of exi cptional chiidfen. Exceptional Children. 36.621 -623.Pidgeon, D.A., & Dodds, E.M. (1961). Length of schooling and its effect on performance in the Junior school.

Educational Research. 3,214-221.

v - / ^ ^ S e p

4 0 8

Table 3

S. LAMB. P. BIBBY, D. WOOD, & 0. LEYDEN

Descriptive statistics: Means and standard deviations (in brackets)

I.Q.reading

a c c u r a c yreading

comprehensionc o m m u n i c a t i o n

(range 1-10)fema lem a l e

s u m m e r - b o mn o t s u m m e r - b o m

59.2 (9.79)67.5 (10.35)68.4(10.54)59.7 (9.30)

7.6(1.10)7.4(1.29)7.7(1.14)7.2(1.26)

8.0 (0.85)8.5 (0.95)8.6 (0.95)7.9 (0.79)

6.9(1.83)7.6(1.85)7.9(1.68)6.6(1.83)

Table 3 shows the means and standard de viations (in brackets) of all measures split bygender and season of birth. "Summer bom" describes those children bom between May andAugust. "Not summer bom" constitutes children bom in the months between September andApril, Reading scores are age equivalents.

T-tests carried out on the data shown in talile 3 demonstrated that the males and summer-bom children had significantly higher IQ scores than females and children not bom in thesummer (gender: r=3.31.p<0.0l; season of binh: r=3.66. p 0.01). Summer-born children alsoout-perform children bom during the rest of the year in reading accuracy (r=2.01 p<0.05)reading comprehension (r=3.10,p<0.01) and communication skill (/=»3.I9 p<(i 01)2The correlation matrix was subjected to a LISREL (Jdrsekog & Sorbom 1984) pathanalysis in order to assess the best fit to the data. A null model that specified no relationshipsbetween the variables was used as a comparison model. Four models were computed based onu correlation matrix. In each of these models a path was specified from season ofbinh to IQ. communication ability, reading comprehension and reading accuracy. Similarly allfour tnodels had paths from gender to IQ and from age to communication ability. The direction of the paths for the biographic variables was always from the biographic variable to themeyured variable. All four models included a direct path between communication ability andreading comprehension. Using these path specifications two pairs of LISREL models werecomputed. In the first pair of models it was hypothesised that IQ predicts communication abil-ity. In the second pair of models it was hypothesised that communication ability predicts IQ.Withm the model pairs, the models differed according to whether it was hypothesised thatreading comprehension predicted reading accuracy or vice versa.

.u'" statistics, all four models were appreciably better than the null model.At the ""le time the final model was the best fitting model with respect to all the fit statistics(see Table 4). The first two models which embody the hypothesis that IQ predicts communica-uon ability do not successfully reproduce the correlation matrix. The statistic shows thatthese models produce a pattern of covariance that is significantly different to the zero-ordercorrelations to be explained. The second pair of models in which communication ability predicts Q are not significantly different from the zero-order model. In other words, both thesemodels are able to reproduce the original comilation matrix. The best fit overall is obtainedwhen communication ability predicts IQ and reading comprehension predicts reading accura-

Not all the specified path coefficients for the best fitting model are significant. Withrespect to the biographic variables, the paths between season of birth and both reading comprehension and reading accuracy are not significant. The path between communication skillsand reading comprehension is not significant either. The effects of gender, season of birth andcommunication skills on reading comprehension are all mediated by IQ. Age has a directeffect on communication ability and reading comprehension ho- direct effect on readingaccuracy. Figure I shows the significant standardised path coeffi> Js.

C H I L D R E N W I T H M O D E R A T E L E A R N I N G D I F F I C U L T I E S 4 0 9

Tab le 4

Fit statistics for the LISREL models

M o d e l P G F I T L I R N I / J d f

N u l l M o d e l 67.22(12) 0.001 0 . 8 2

IQ Communication; 'Accuracy -> Comprehension 32.32(16) 0.001 0 . 8 7 0 . 7 8 0 . 7 0 3 4 . 9 0 4

IQ Communication;Comprehension Accuracy 32.44(16) 0 . 0 0 9 0 . 8 9 0 . 7 8 0 . 7 0 3 4 . 7 8 4

Communication -> IQ;Accuracy -* Comprehension 25.48(16) 0 . 0 6 4 0 . 9 0 0 . 8 7 0 . 8 3 4 1 . 7 4 4

Communication -* IQ;Comprehension —> Accuracy 18.59(16) 0 . 2 9 0 0 .93 0 . 9 6 0 .95 4 8 . 6 3 4

Note. GF/"goo<Iness-or-fit index; TL/ TiJcker-Lewls index; /?/Vt=relallve noncentrality index. For further details refer toGerbing and Anderson (1993).

R E A D I N GA C C U R A C Y

G E N D E R0 , 4 1 "

0 . 4 4 '

SEASON OFB I R T H

•p<0.05 :

.

0 . 4 1 *

C O M M U N I C A T I O N. S i m . T. ' ?

0 .40*

A O E

0.50*

0 .46*

R E A D I N GC O M P R E H E N S I O N

Figure J. Standardised Path Coefficients {N-7\)

D i s c u s s i o n

Building up a profile of children's abilities has enabled the development of a modelwhich accounts for the inter-relations of various biographical factors with aspects of the children's academic achievement. In the best fitting model the expectation that communicationskill would predict educational performance receives support. It was hypothesised that communication skill would be related to reading and this relationship is demonstrated though it ismediated by intelligence.

The association of communication skill with reading comprehension is consistent withthe premise underlying the work of Ann Brown and her colleagues which was reviewed in theintroduction. Their claim Is that children who use spoken language effectively to describe,question and clarify, are able to achieve higher levels of reading comprehension. The presentstudy offers some support for their position and for Vygotsky's claims about the effects ofcommunication on the development of self-regulation. To date we have used a simple performance measure of joint achievement to assess communication skill. It is now necessary toextend such -oalyses to examine the individual contributions of the participants in both givingand receivi Jhfbrmation and in controlling the interactional process.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ° - ^ E Y D E N

Pumfrey, P.D. (1975). Season of birth, special educational treatment and sclectiM procedures within an LEA. Researchin Education, 14,55-76.

Rurtcr, M., Tizard. J.. & Whitmore, K. (1970). Education. Health and Behaviour. London: Longman.Schools Council Publications (1972). Concept Seven-Nine: Unit 3 Communciation. Leeds: E.J. Arnold.Shayer, M., & Adey, P.S. (1993). Accelerating the developntcnt of formal thinking in middle and high-school students.

Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 1993, 30,351-366.

Tamowski, K.J.. Drabman, R.S.. Anderson. D.F.. & Kelly. P.A. (1990). Disproportionate referrals for childacemic/bcTiaviour problems: replication and extension. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58,

Tomlinson, S. (1982). A Sociology of Special Education. London: Routlcdge and Kegan Paul.Tudge, J.. & Rogoff. B. (1989). Peer innuenccs on cognitive development: Piagetian and Vygotskian perspectives. In

M.H. Bomstein & J.S. Bniner (Eds.). Interaction in Human Development (pp. 17-40). Hillsdale. NJ: LawrenceEarlbaum Assoc.

^ o f t h e U a r n i n g

Vincent. D., & de la Marc. M. (1985a). Macmillan Individual Reading Analysis. Basingstoke: Macmillan Education Ltd.Vincent, D., & de la Mare, M. (1985b). Macmillan New Reading Analysis. Basingstoke: Macmiiian Education Ltd.Vogel S. (1990). Gender differences In intelligence, language, visual-motor abilities, and academic achievement in stu

dents with learning disabilities: A review of the literature. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 25,44-52.Vygotsky. L.S. (1978). Mind in Society.- The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard

University Press.

CoIiratioT' ohsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised. New York: Psychological 'in Vygotsky's account of the genesis of higher mentalfunctions. In J. Wertsch (Ed.). Culture, Communication and Cognition; Pygotskian Perspectives (pp. 162-179)

Cambndge: Cambridge University Press.Williams, P. (1964). Date of birth, backwardness and educational organisation. British Journal of Educational

rsychoiogy, 34^ 247-255.

^ " s n i ' i v e d e v e l o p m e n t . N a t u r e . 2 2 8 ,

' SnfillmJaTlrf sys'em in the USA and as such is likely to refer to children with

2 A Multivariate Analysis of Variance performed on these data revealed no interaction between gender and season of

ft concerne certains aspects des competences intellectu-elles, linguutiques et scolaires de 71 enfants presentant des difficultesmoderees d apprenttssage. On presente et on analyse le profit de cescompetences, Ce profit fournit un rationnel pour mettre en place uneintervention de tongue duree destinee a devetopper les competencescommumcatives de ces enfants. II fournit egalement un module de basepermettant d evatuer ies effets de f intervention. De plus, le profit

CHILDREN WITH MODERATE LEARNING D IFF ICULT IES

explore les relations entre plusteurs aspects de la riussite scolaire etdes caractiristiques indivUIuelles comme I'age, le sexe, la saison denaissance et le Ql. Les analyses statistiques mettent en Evidence I'exis-tence de relations signi/icatives entre piusieurs variables itudiies. Lesauteurs exafninent les implications de lews analyses pour les pratiquesiducatives.

Key words: Communication, Intervention, Moderate learning difficulty, Reading.

Revision: May 1997

Susaititah Jane Lamb. ESRC Centre for Research in Development, Instruction & Training, Departmentof Psychology, University of Nottingham, Univetsity Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, U.K.

Current theme of research:

Reading and communication skills of children with moderate teaming difllculties.

Most relevant publications In the field ofPsychology ofEducailon:

Bibby, P.A., Lamb, SJ., Leyden, G., & Wood, D. (1996). Season of Birth and Gender Effects in Children attendingModerate Learning Difficulty Schools. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 66,159-168.

Lamb, S.J.. & Wood, D.J. (1994). Peer Interaction and Communication Skills in Children with Moderate LearningDifTiculties. In H.C. Foot, CJ. Howe, CJ. Howe, A. Anderson, A.K. Tolmie, & D.A. Warden (Eds.), Group andInteractive Learning (pp. 351-356). Southampton:\Computational Mechanics Publications.

Peter Bibby. Department of Psychology, University of Nottingham. University Park, Nottingham NG72RD, U.K.

Current theme of research:

Children with learning difficulties.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Bibby, P.A., Lamb, SJ., Leyden, G.. & Wood, D. (1996). Season of Birth and Gender Effects in Children AttendingModerate LeamingDifTtcuity Sdiools. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 66, 159-168.

David James Wood. Department of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, NottinghamN G 7 2 R D . U . K .

Current theme of research:Instructional science and learning processes.

Most relevant publications in the field ofPsychology ofEducation:

Wood, D., Wood. H.. Ainsworth. SJ.. & O'Malley, C. (199;i). On becoming a tutor: Toward an ontogenetic model.Cognition and Instruction. 13,565-5 81.

Wood, D.. & Wood. H. (1996). Commentaiy. Contingency in tutoring and learning. Learning and Instruction, 6, 391--397 .

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