Few studies provide information on the reliability and validity of parental report instruments when assessing the language skills of pre-school-aged children. This study investigates the internal consistency and concurrent validity of the parental report instrument, the Finnish version of the Communicative Development Inventory III (FinCDI III),…

Background: We aimed to ascertain the average age at death (AD) in the intellectual disability population for each gender and compare them to those of the general population during 1970-2012. Methods: By analysing medical records, we calculated the ADs of all deceased clients (N = 1236) of two district organizations responsible for intellectual…

This research details a pilot study of Finnish college students and their views on the academic ethics (cheating). Finland is an unexamined population on this issue. In the current project, we surveyed students (n = 119) in the spring of 2014. We found unethical behavior is common on projects but less common on exams. We also found students are…

Success in complex and holistic engineering practices requires more than problem-solving abilities and technical competencies. Engineering education must offer proficient technical competences and also train engineers to think and act ethically. A technical "engineering-like" focus and demand have made educators and students overlook the…

Gender differences in reading seem to increase throughout schooling and then decrease or even disappear with age, but the reasons for this are unclear. In this study, we explore whether differences in the way "reading literacy" is operationalised can add to our understanding of varying gender differences in international large-scale…

While policy debate is often focused on the whole teaching profession, primary and secondary teachers differ in more ways than one. While all countries require teachers to have at least a bachelor degree to enter the profession in primary or lower secondary education, the structure and content of the programmes vary and are less geared towards…

Fragmented sleep is common in infancy. Although night awakening is known to decrease with age, in some infants night awakening is more persistent and continues into older ages. However, the influence of fragmented sleep on development is poorly known. In the present study, the longitudinal relationship between fragmented sleep and psychomotor…

Saccade latency is widely used across infant psychology to investigate infants' understanding of events. Interpreting particular latency values requires knowledge of standard saccadic RTs, but there is no consensus as to typical values. This study provides standard estimates of infants' (n = 194, ages 9 to 15 months) saccadic RTs under a range of…

Background: Children with unilateral cochlear implants (CIs) may have delayed vocabulary development for an extended period after implantation. Bilateral cochlear implantation is reported to be associated with improved sound localization and enhanced speech perception in noise. This study proposed that bilateral implantation might also promote…

This study investigates the quality of the critical thinking skills of applicants (n = 77) seeking entry to the faculty of educational sciences in a Finnish university and how these skills are associated with the applicant's age, previous higher education experience, and matriculation and entrance examination scores. The data consist of the…

The present population-based study examines associations between epilepsy and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The cohort includes register data of 4,705 children born between 1987 and 2005 and diagnosed as cases of childhood autism, Asperger's syndrome or pervasive developmental disorders--not otherwise specified. Each case was matched to four…

Early attachment has both protective and risk factors as regards later mental health. In Finland, insecure-avoidant-type attachment is overrepresented. Does this indicate a risk for emotional and behavioural problems at preschool age? In this study, we examined and compared the association between attachment and mental health in Finnish singletons…

The Finnish national school curriculum, effective from 2004, does not include any topics related to Computer Science (CS). To alleviate the problem that school students are not able to study CS-related topics, the Department of Computer Science at the University of Helsinki prepared a completely online course that is open to pupils and students in…

This study followed the development of reading speed, reading accuracy, and spelling in transparent Finnish orthography in children through Grades 2, 3, and 8. We compared 2 groups of children with familial risk for dyslexia--1 group with dyslexia (Dys _FR, n = 35) and 1 group without (NoDys_FR, n = 66) in Grade 2--with a group of children without…

This article seeks to make sense of the seeming contradiction that the number of degrees awarded annually and the attainment rate of the adult population in the US have both grown, even as the country has fallen behind many global competitors on the latter indicator. Two reports issued in 2012---one by the Pew Research Center, the other by the…