This experimental study examined the validity of 3 underlying mechanisms that have been proposed in the research literature to explain the anxiety-reducing effect of coloring mandalas: distraction, structure, and centering. Four conditions were tested: (a) freely coloring a mandala, (b) coloring a mandala with preset colors, (c) freely drawing a…

The purpose of this study was to examine different hypotheses in relation to RAN deficits in dyslexia. Thirty university students with dyslexia and 32 chronological-age controls were assessed on RAN Digits and Colors as well as on two versions of RAN Letters and Objects (one with five items repeated 16 times and one with 20 items repeated four…

Background: Zorzi et al. (2012, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 109, 11455) found evidence that extra-large letter spacing aids children with dyslexia, but the evidence for the coloured overlays is contradictory (e.g., Henderson et al., 2013, "J. Res. Special Educ. Needs," 13, 57; Wilkins, 2002, "Ophthalmic Physiol. Opt.," 22,…

Variability is prevalent in early language acquisition, but, whether it supports or hinders learning is unclear; while target variability has been shown to facilitate word learning, variability in competitor items has been shown to make the task harder. Here, we tested whether background variability could boost learning in a referent selection…

A lack of numerical knowledge early on can impede a child's academic development. In past research, playing linear board games improved children's understanding of numerical relations, which the authors theorised could extend to children with autism spectrum disorder. For this pilot study, 10 children played a board game where they moved tokens…

The effects of prior encodings of manipulatives (red and blue plastic chips) on children's ability to use them as representations of quantity were tested. First graders (N = 73) were assigned to four conditions in which the encoding of plastic chips was experimentally manipulated. All children then participated in an addition activity that relied…

The purpose of this true experimental, posttest-only control-group design was to determine if the color coding of exterior letters affects the fluency and decoding ability among fourth grade students who were below grade level in reading. If color coding exterior letters is an effective intervention, then struggling readers could utilize this…

The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effects of Aerobic Exercise (AE), Resistance Exercise (RE), and a nonexercise (NE) control on measures of academic achievement (AA) and cognition in 10th grade males and females. This study utilized a randomized crossover design. Tenth grade males and females performed three exercise trials (AE,…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine differences in cognition between acute bouts of resistance exercise, aerobic exercise, and a nonexercise control in an untrained youth sample. Method: Ninety-four participants performed 30 min of aerobic exercise, resistance exercise, or nonexercise separated by 7 days each in a randomized…

Successful communication requires "Pragmatic Competence" or abilities to use appropriate language in transferring one's needs while maintaining a positive relationship with the interactant (Thomas, 1995; Leech, 1983). This study was an attempt to investigate the pragmatic competence of Thai Engineering students when making complaints and…

Students' misconceptions concerning colour phenomena and the apparent complexity of the underlying concepts--due to the different domains of knowledge involved--make its teaching very difficult. We have developed and tested a teaching device, the addition table of colours (ATC), that encompasses additive and subtractive mixtures in a single…

We researched the efficacy of an early literacy programme in enhancing immigrant children's phonological awareness (PA) and print knowledge, including transferring learning to numeracy. Participants were 294 Ethiopian-born immigrant children in Israel at kindergarten age and one of their parents. Parent-child dyads were randomly selected to…

We investigated whether preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI) exhibit the shape bias in word learning: the bias to generalize based on shape rather than size, color, or texture in an object naming context ("This is a wek; find another wek") but not in a non-naming similarity classification context ("See this?…

Adolescent cannabis use is associated with working memory impairment. The present randomized controlled trial assigned adolescents ages 14 to 21 enrolled in cannabis use treatment to receive either working memory training (experimental group) or a control training (control group) as an adjunctive treatment. Cognitive function, drug use, and other…

This research is a classroom case study to determine the effectiveness of a color-embedded writing strategy on the writing performance of adolescents with mild-moderate disabilities. Assessment and documentation of students' composition skills progress was made using the TOWL-4 writing assessments. Comparisons were made between those students who…