Slow vocab growth associated with hyperactivity in kids

The relevant academic journal article is Vocabulary development and trajectories of inattention-hyperactivity and emotional symptoms via academic ability and peer problems" by Elizabeth Westrupp et al.

It's a very painstaking piece of research but is greatly impoverished theoretically.  They don't seem to have realized that all they did was to rediscover IQ.  Yes, that pesky IQ again that no respectable academic may mention these days. Low IQ is of course associated with slow language development and all sorts of health and behavioral problems in later life. The prisons are full of low IQ people.  So Elizabeth and her friends have just reinvented the wheel.  Sad

Political correctness is a plague on all research concerning human beings.  So much effort has been put into research that is inconclusive due to the failure to account for IQ differences. If IQ WERE controlled for, most of the brightly-reported "findings" would lapse into statistical non-significance or negligible significance

In science, political correctness is a great evil.  It is a relentless enemy of truth


Children whose vocabulary skills develop slowly are more likely to experience emotional and behavioural issues in adolescence, according to a new Deakin University study, published today in the journal Child Development.

The research, led by Deakin School of Psychology researcher Dr Elizabeth Westrupp, was the first to model how children’s language development influences changes in mental health problems over a 10 year period, from early childhood to adolescence.

“We found new evidence that lower growth in vocabulary over primary school was associated with increased child hyperactivity-inattention at eight to nine years, and more rapid increases in hyperactivity-inattention over early to middle teenage years, up to 14 to 15 years,” Dr Westrupp said.

“These findings show the importance of monitoring children through middle childhood and adolescence as they develop.”

As part of the study, data was gathered from almost 5000 Australian children, with children assessed six times between four and 15 years of age.

Dr Westrupp said the study also investigated possible reasons for the association between language development and behavioural issues.

“We found that children’s academic experiences in middle childhood explained the link between early vocabulary development and teenage emotional and behavioural problems,” she said.

“It may be that children with lower vocabulary skills struggle more in the classroom with reading and literacy, which then leads to the development of behavioural and emotional problems in teenage years.”

Dr Westrupp said early literacy-based interventions may alleviate declining academic, emotional and behavioural functioning in adolescence.

“There’s already some evidence to suggest that children with early language problems have higher rates of behavioural and emotional difficulties compared to other children,” Dr Westrupp said.

“However prior research only looked at children at one point in time, and we know that children's language ability and mental health are not static, they change as children grow.

“Understanding these associations will allow parents and teachers to better support children in preventing childhood mental health problems.”

Dr Westrupp said it was critical the focus was not just on kids who entered school with low language skills, but also kids who were dropping behind their peers in the first few years of primary school.

“We need to be aware that they are also at risk. Schools and parents must work together to identify and monitor children falling behind in language, that means having supportive and regular conversations about how a child’s language is developing,” she said.

“It also means oral language based interventions in the classroom may be important beyond just the first few years of primary school, and incorporating specialist oral language skills and interventions into the standard curriculum could be beneficial. So that’s working with children around the meaning of words, the structure of words, and using words in new contexts.

“There is some explicit language teaching in the first years of formal schooling, but there’s much less focus in older years. So a continued emphasis on these skills would help us to best support children to thrive.”

Media release by email from Elise Snashall-Woodhams -- e.snashallwoodhams@mediaunit.deakin.edu.au






America’s Public Schools Have Become Socialist Indoctrination Factories

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, wants to insert government into every aspect of your life, from education and health care to the kind of car you drive—and she’s not alone. Millions of other Millennials agree that the world would be a better place if government were empowered to dramatically increase taxes and regulations and create massive new federal programs that could take care of Americans from the womb to the tomb. In fact, a 2018 Gallup poll found more than half of Americans aged 18 to 29 now view socialism positively. Only 45 percent said they have a positive view of capitalism.

The real question isn’t whether these socialist tendencies exist, but rather why they exist. How is it that the same generation that has benefited more from capitalism than any other in human history is also the generation most willing to destroy it?

One of the most commonly expressed answers to these questions is that America’s higher education system has turned into a bastion for leftist thought. A 2018 study of more than 8,600 tenure-track professors by Brooklyn College professor Mitchell Langbert found registered Democrats outnumber Republicans at 51 of America’s leading liberal arts colleges by a ratio of 10.4 to one.

As important as bias on college campuses is, it’s only one piece of the puzzle. Much of the problem goes back much further, to K–12 schools, where only 27 percent of teachers identify as Republicans, according to a national survey by the Education Week Research Center. Not only are K–12 teachers more likely to vote for Democrats and favor left-wing causes, socialist ideas permeate nearly every aspect of government-run schools.

From their earliest days, young students are taught by modern state curriculum standards to be cogs in the societal wheel rather than independent thinkers. The educational focus is often placed on performing well on standardized tests and memorizing facts, not learning how to make difficult moral choices or cogent arguments with classmates. Young children are constantly told “sharing is caring,” and students routinely “earn” participation trophies for merely showing up. 

Influential education “experts” like Alfie Kohn denounce the use of rewards in education, even calling them “destructive.” In many schools, students don’t earn letter grades anymore. We wouldn’t want the poor-performers to feel badly!

Most children no longer extensively read the literary classics, which include a wealth of resources, and many high schoolers spend little time enrolled in civics or history courses compared to classes that focus on mathematics, science, or technology. And when they are in history classrooms, they are often bombarded with left-wing historical revisionism that turns American heroes like George Washington into racist moral monsters.

And these examples are just the subtle forms for educational socialism. In many public schools, teachers are outright hostile to conservative ideas and openly embrace radical left-wing positions like single-payer health care.

Given the state of the current educational system, it’s not surprising that many young people identify with the collectivist principles of the far left and not with the rugged individualism that has been the foundation of American life for centuries. Our children aren’t being taught the same principles the American Founders were taught when they were kids; children today don’t even read the same books the Founders read. Is it any wonder then that they don’t think the same way John Adams and Thomas Jefferson did?

In recent decades, millions of American families have bravely moved their children out of the government school system, often at great cost, to escape the increasingly radical nature of the public education system. More than 1.7 million kids are now homeschooled, significantly more than in the 1980s. These are undeniably positive developments, but the overwhelming majority of students are still trapped in left-wing schools, and unless parents have the financial means to move them out, they’re going to stay there.

All this isn’t to say that hope is lost, however. America has drifted to the left before—most notably in the progressive era of the early twentieth century—and then subsequently rediscovered its identity. But if we’re going to save Millennials from socialism, conservatives can’t stay sitting on the sidelines, hoping their children and millions of others suddenly realize socialism is a flawed idea.

One vitally important public policy solution is the passage of education savings accounts, which allow parents to use much of the taxpayer money that would have been spent on their child in a local government school on tuition and fees at another school, public or private. Parents could even use ESAs to homeschool their children.

ESAs are a good first step toward fighting back against socialism in public education, but it’s not enough to provide students with opportunities to change schools. Wealthy conservatives who believe in the power of free markets and individual liberty need to start building new K–12 schools and colleges as well, so that parents have options that extend beyond their local government-run school.

To rescue America from socialism, conservatives also need to devote significant resources—especially time and money—toward teaching Millennials about the dangers of socialism and the value of free markets. This can be achieved by launching new publications, creating videos and podcasts, and spending more time on college campuses—all of which we’re trying to accomplish at StoppingSocialism.com. We need a massive multi-faceted, multi-organization campaign against socialism, and everyone can play a part, especially student groups like Students for Liberty, Turning Point USA, and Young Americans for Liberty.

We can’t afford to continue closing our eyes to this growing problem and wishing for the best. We must act now. Time is running out.

SOURCE 









Abrupt closure of Boston Language Institute spurs review by state Attorney General’s office

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office is reviewing the abrupt closure earlier this month of the Boston Language Institute, a Kenmore Square school that for nearly 38 years helped students learn Spanish, Vietnamese, and dozens of other languages, along with teaching English-language learners.

The school lost its bankruptcy protection in mid-January, allowing creditors, including the bank, to seize its accounts. On Jan. 16, the school’s owner and president, Siri Karm Singh Khalsa, informed students and staff that the school would “terminate operations immediately.”

But students have complained about failing to get refunds, and former employees say they are owed weeks and in some cases months of back pay. Some former employees said their paychecks have bounced or the bank has warned them against cashing the checks, because the school’s account has no funds.

A few of the institute’s teachers are in the United States on work visas or are permanent residents, and the way Khalsa handled the closure and withheld their taxes has left them concerned about their status in the country, former employees said.

“Our office is aware of this closure and has received several complaints,” Attorney General Maura Healey’s office said in a statement on Monday. “We have reached out to get more information.”

The institute’s closure was first reported by the Boston Business Journal.

Khalsa said he has not yet heard from Healey’s office, but believes that the company has handled its payroll appropriately and that the closure was a surprise to him too. Other Boston language schools have agreed to take some of the institute’s students for free, Khalsa said.

But he could not say when employees would be paid. “I am committed to making it work, I don’t have the answers at this point,” Khalsa said. “I have been doing this for 38 years. Businesses go through ups and downs, I’ve always been able to pull it out. . . . It never occurred to me that we would not prosper.”

Khalsa had previously assured the seven full-time administration employees, along with dozens of full- and part-time language instructors, of an orderly closure.

But employees said that is far from the reality.

“There was not a lot of transparency,” said Darlene Madera, an associate director who oversaw English language programs. Madera worked at the institute for almost eight years and said she assumed the school would downsize but wasn’t expecting a shutdown.

Just days before the closure she reviewed plans to house the institute in a smaller space in Chinatown, she said.

Madera and other employees said they have not been paid for their final weeks on the job. Several former workers also said they are concerned that their earnings reported for tax purposes don’t seem to match their actual pay.

One former part-time employee, who declined to be named, said she has informally consulted an attorney because she is worried that any tax discrepancies could jeopardize the renewal of her permanent residency card.

The institute, which opened in 1981, had experienced financial problems in the past.

Elizabeth Starr, who worked at the institute for three years until early December, remembered Khalsa asking her and other employees to take pay cuts. But as a single mother, Starr said she couldn’t afford to do that; Khalsa eventually backed off that proposal.

And checks to teachers would occasionally be delayed, Starr said.

In 1991, Khalsa sought bankruptcy protection after accumulating nearly $300,000 of debt, including back taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service. At the time, employees rebelled and locked him out of the building.

But Khalsa prevailed. He outbid an employee-backed group to purchase the institute out of US Bankruptcy Court and regained control of the school.

Last summer, Khalsa returned to bankruptcy court, this time over a dispute with the institute’s landlord, Related Beal. Khalsa was fighting to remain in the Beacon Street property even as Related Beal, which had bought the building from Boston University, made plans for an extensive renovation with higher rents.

According to court documents, Khalsa had failed to pay his attorney about $45,000 between June and October. Then in late December, his attorney withdrew, citing “irretrievable breakdown.”

Khalsa had until Jan. 14 to find a new attorney, which he failed to do. As a result, the bankruptcy judge dismissed the case and the institute lost its bankruptcy protections, allowing creditors to seize its assets.

Former employees said Khalsa should have known that the school’s finances were dire, yet a new crop of students started their classes on Jan. 14. Tuition at the institute varied depending on the length of the coursework. Some students paid $187 for a one-week sessions, while others spent more than $4,400 for three months of classes.

Madera said many staff feel betrayed by the recent financial upheaval and are heartbroken that the school is shut. “It was a labor of love for a lot of teachers there,” she said. “It was a really special environment that was really international.”

SOURCE