Statistical learning (SL), the ability to detect and extract regularities from inputs, has been considered as an early-maturing and domain-general mechanism that is critical for typical language development. However, recent evidence in neurotypical adults and children have found that individuals can vary in their SL abilities across linguistic and…

The domains of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) cover self-care, mobility and social function. Employing this inventory as an operational definition of functional performance of everyday life activities, this performance in an age-cohort of children with Down syndrome (DS) was measured at ages 5, 7 (n = 43) and 14 (n = 38).…

Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) programs in many Ontario colleges offer adult learners who have low literacy and basic skills with opportunities to improve their employment skills as well as results on prerequisite courses for entrance into post-secondary education. LBS students encounter many challenges and require extra interpersonal…

This study first found that an adaptation of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children exhibited construct validity and test-retest reliability in assessing preschool children's sensitivity to age-related differences in peers' developmental abilities. Second, children with disabilities were viewed as less…

The main hypotheses addressed in the research were (1) whether imprecision in the phonological representations of lexical items underlies the impaired expressive naming abilities of disabled readers, and (2) whether weak verbal memory might mediate the relationship between naming and reading skills. From samples of 93 first graders and 67 fourth…

This report uses data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS) of Special Education Students to identify specific influences on postschool outcomes of youth with disabilities. The first chapter describes the NLTS, summarizes key postschool outcomes for young people with disabilities, and presents a framework suggesting influential…