Background Complex syntax is affected by developmental language disorder (DLD) during the school years. Targeting areas of syntactic difficulty for children with DLD may yield useful assessment techniques. Aims To determine whether wh‐movement can be measured in language samples from typically developing mono‐ and bilingual school‐aged children, and, if so, to provide preliminary evidence of validity by comparison with traditional measures of syntax in a cross‐sectional, known‐groups design. Methods & Procedures Participants were 48 typically developing children recruited from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia in four groups: monolingual English and bilingual French–English children in early (7–8 years of age) and late (11–12 years of age) elementary school. Language samples were collected and analysed with mean use of wh‐movement, mean length of utterance and clausal density. These measures were compared for effects of age, bilingual development and elicitation task. Outcomes & Results The results from all measures closely paralleled each other, providing preliminary evidence of validity. Wh‐movement‐based and traditional measures demonstrated similar age‐related and discourse genre effects. Neither demonstrated an effect of mono‐ versus bilingual development. Conclusions & Implications The results confirm research interest in syntactic movement as an area of language assessment. Further research is required to understand its application to clinical populations.

No abstract

Inclusive education is important to achieve high-quality education for all; however, there is an important gap in the literature surrounding inclusive education, namely representation of the perspectives of children and youth with disabilities and special needs. In this study, we used a meta-aggregative approach to qualitative evidence synthesis to bring together systematically the perspectives of these children and youth regarding their experiences in inclusive education, and to generate recommendations for action. After selecting and critically appraising the methodological quality of eligible qualitative studies, we extracted the findings from the results sections of 27 studies involving children and youth with various diagnoses and special needs. We aggregated the findings to develop 19 categories, which we further synthesized into six overarching statements pertaining to: (i) teachers’ and education workers’ support and attitudes; (ii) implementation of support and accommodations; (iii) need for safe and accommodating physical environment; (iv) preparation for high school transitions; (v) friendships and peer interactions; and (vi) participants’ own views of themselves. Implications of our findings include: (i) a need for strong leadership at the school level to support implementation of inclusive education; (ii) a need for leadership from government agencies and schools to provide opportunities for teachers to train and collaborate with other professionals; and (iii) a need for flexibility in curriculum and instruction, for which educators require training and experience. Most importantly, our findings show that children and youth with disabilities and special needs, when provided opportunities, demonstrate profound personal understandings of their strengths and needs, their conditions and how these impact their lives, leading to insightful information that can enhance inclusive education practice and policy.

No abstract

Summary Objective To evaluate the extent to which self‐esteem mediates the impacts of epilepsy‐specific and environmental factors on mental health outcomes in young people with epilepsy. Methods A prospective cohort of 480 young people with epilepsy and their families participated in five visits over 28 months. We collected data on clinical seizure burden, cognitive comorbidity, peer and parental support, self‐esteem, and self‐reported mental health symptoms. We used structural equation modeling to specify and test relationships among these constructs simultaneously. Direct, indirect, and total effects were estimated with confidence intervals constructed through bias‐corrected bootstrapping. Results Self‐esteem mediated the effects of clinical seizure burden (β = 0.23, 95% confidence interval [0.05, 0.42]) and peer support (β = −0.15, 95% CI [−0.28, −0.03]) on mental health. There were no mediating effects of parental support (β = −0.07, 95% CI [−0.14, 0.00]) or cognitive comorbidity (β = −0.01, 95% CI [−0.02, 0.01]) on mental health. Significance We found evidence that self‐esteem mediates the impact that both clinical seizure burden and peer support have on mental health outcomes, indicating that assessment of and interventions targeting self‐esteem may be appropriate for young people with epilepsy. Supporting self‐esteem could mitigate negative influences on mental health, whether from resistant epilepsy or low peer support.