Purpose: Although the existing literature has explored the link between cognitive functioning and speech recognition in noise, the specific role of fluid intelligence still needs to be studied. Given the established association between working memory capacity (WMC) and fluid intelligence and the predictive power of WMC for speech recognition in noise, we aimed to elucidate the mediating role of fluid intelligence.

Method: We used data from the n200 study, a longitudinal investigation into aging, hearing ability, and cognitive functioning. We analyzed two age-matched samples: participants with hearing aids and a group with normal hearing. WMC was assessed using the Reading Span task, and fluid intelligence was measured with Raven's Progressive Matrices. Speech recognition in noise was evaluated using Hagerman sentences presented to target 80% speech-reception thresholds in four-talker babble. Data were analyzed using mediation analysis to examine fluid intelligence as a mediator between WMC and speech recognition in noise.

Results: We found a partial mediating effect of fluid intelligence on the relationship between WMC and speech recognition in noise, and that hearing status did not moderate this effect. In other words, WMC and fluid intelligence were related, and fluid intelligence partially explained the influence of WMC on speech recognition in noise.

Conclusions: This study shows the importance of fluid intelligence in speech recognition in noise, regardless of hearing status. Future research should use other advanced statistical techniques and explore various speech recognition tests and background maskers to deepen our understanding of the interplay between WMC and fluid intelligence in speech recognition.

PURPOSE: To develop and test an approach for assessing the risk of bias in four measurement-related domains key to the study of mental health problem trajectories in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD): (1) conceptual overlap between mental health problems and NDD diagnostic criteria, (2) over-reliance on a single informant, (3) unwarranted omission of the child's perspective, and (4) the use of instruments not designed for or adapted to the population.

METHODS: Building upon a previous systematic review, this study established supplementary criteria for assessing the risk of bias domains. Following this, the criteria were applied to measures used in 49 longitudinal studies of mental health problems in children with NDD.

RESULTS: The general risk of bias across domains was rated as high in 57.1% of the 49 included studies. The highest risk of bias was seen in domain four (rated as high in 87.8% of studies) and the lowest in domain three (24.5%).

CONCLUSIONS: The risk of bias items enhance our understanding of the quality of the evidence about mental health problem trajectories in children with NDD. The methodological quality of future research can be increased by selecting conceptually clear scales developed for the population - preferably in the form of cognitively accessible self-report scales - and adopting a multi-informant approach.

Objectives: Visual and contextual cues facilitate speech recognition in suboptimal listening conditions (e.g., background noise, hearing loss, hearing aid signal processing). Moreover, successful speech recognition in challenging listening conditions is linked to cognitive abilities such as working memory and fluid intelligence. However, it is unclear which cognitive abilities facilitate the use of visual and contextual cues in individuals with normal hearing and hearing aid users. The first aim was to investigate whether individuals with hearing aid users rely on visual and contextual cues to a higher degree than individuals with normal hearing in a speech-in-noise recognition task. The second aim was to investigate whether working memory and fluid intelligence are associated with the use of visual and contextual cues in these groups.

Design: Groups of participants with normal hearing and hearing aid users with bilateral, symmetrical mild to severe sensorineural hearing loss were included (n = 169 per group). The Samuelsson and Rönnberg task was administered to measure speech recognition in speech-shaped noise. The task consists of an equal number of sentences administered in the auditory and audiovisual modalities, as well as without and with contextual cues (visually presented word preceding the sentence, e.g.,: “Restaurant”). The signal to noise ratio was individually set to 1 dB below the level obtained for 50% correct speech recognition in the hearing-in-noise test administered in the auditory modality. The Reading Span test was used to measure working memory capacity and the Raven test was used to measure fluid intelligence. The data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects modeling.

Results: Both groups exhibited significantly higher speech recognition performance when visual and contextual cues were available. Although the hearing aid users performed significantly worse compared to those with normal hearing in the auditory modality, both groups reached similar performance levels in the audiovisual modality. In addition, a significant positive relationship was found between the Raven test score and speech recognition performance only for the hearing aid users in the audiovisual modality. There was no significant relationship between Reading Span test score and performance.

Conclusions: Both participants with normal hearing and hearing aid users benefitted from contextual cues, regardless of cognitive abilities. The hearing aid users relied on visual cues to compensate for the perceptual difficulties, reaching a similar performance level as the participants with normal hearing when visual cues were available, despite worse performance in the auditory modality. It is important to note that the hearing aid users who had higher fluid intelligence were able to capitalize on visual cues more successfully than those with poorer fluid intelligence, resulting in better speech-in-noise recognition performance.

Background: Early numeracy interventions including basicarithmetic are crucial for young students at risk for earlymathematics difficulties (MDs), yet few studies have evalu-ated numeracy interventions in second grade with a rand-omized controlled design.Aim: This pre- and post-test randomized controlled studyevaluated the effects of an intensive 9-week numeracy andarithmetic programme for second-grade students at risk forearly MDs. The focus of the programme was students’ foun-dational understanding of numbers and mathematical con-cepts and procedural fluency with arithmetic tasks.Sample: A total of 753 first-grade students from 21 schoolsin Sweden were screened for low achievement in numberknowledge and arithmetic.Methods: Students considered at risk for MDs (≤25 per-centile on two consecutive first-grade mathematics screen-ings) were individually randomized to an intervention group(n = 32) or control group (n = 30) at the beginning of secondgrade (7–8 years old). Trained teachers administered theone-to-one, explicit programme to intervention group stu-dents in elementary school settings. The intervention groupreceived numeracy instruction emphasizing foundationalmathematics concepts and procedures. Controls receivedteaching as usual with potential special education supportprovided by their schools.Results: The intervention group demonstrated significantlygreater improvements in conceptual knowledge, arithmeticcalculations and problem-solving compared to the controlgroup, with medium size effects observed.

BACKGROUND: Disabilities can hinder children's and youths' participation (frequency of attendance and engagement) and independence in everyday life.

AIMS: To identify factors that predict levels of participation and independence in everyday activities in Swedish children and youths with disabilities.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study, including 131 participants, utilised instruments about child and environmental factors. LASSO regression analyses were conducted to identify predictors of participation and independence.

RESULTS: An item screening for comprehension difficulties was the strongest predictor of attendance, engagement, and independence in daily activities. Other influential child factors included the presence of seizures, speech abilities, age, pain levels, and motor functions. None of the studied environmental factors were retained as predictors in the models.

CONCLUSIONS: Difficulties in intellectual functioning need to be evaluated and considered in planning interventions to improve participation and independence. Likewise, multifaceted nature of challenges found in this study underscores the need for diversity of interventions tailored for individual needs.

SIGNIFICANCE: The result underscores the critical role of comprehension and intellectual functioning in predicting and enhancing participation and independence in children and youths with disabilities, advocating for comprehensive assessments and sustained support.

BackgroundFUNDES-Child-SE is a proxy rating questionnaire for measuring participation and independence in children with disabilities in a Swedish context. It includes the components of frequency of attendance, engagement and independence. The original, Taiwanese FUNDES-Child 7.0, has previously been found to have a four-factor structure for frequency of participation and a two-factor structure for independence. The aim of this study was to test the factor structure in FUNDES-Child-SE. The factor structure is an important part of construct validity.MethodsCaregivers of 163 children with disabilities aged 6-18 years participated in this cross-sectional study. Exploratory factor analysis was used to find the factor structure for Engagement. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the factor structure for all three components.ResultsThe proposed factor structure for frequency of participation (daily living participation frequency, mobility participation frequency, learning participation frequency and community participation frequency) and independence (daily living independence and social participation independence) fit with data from FUNDES-Child-SE after excluding three to five items and adding two to five covariances of residuals. In the engagement component, two factors, named engagement in informal activities and engagement in formal activities, were found. After excluding one item and adding 10 covariances of residuals, the factor structure had an acceptable fit to data.ConclusionsDifferences in components' factor structure indicate that attendance and engagement are separate aspects of participation. Before using numeric scores from FUNDES-Child-SE in clinical settings, responsiveness and interpretability should be evaluated.

Background: Age-related changes in auditory and cognitive functions are well-documented, with increased hearing thresholds (e.g., Wiley et al., 2008) and reduced working memory capacity (WMC; e.g., Wingfield et al., 1988) among older adults. Moreover, aging has been linked to poorer speech recognition in noise (e.g., Marsja et al., 2022), highlighting the multifaceted impact of age on auditory and cognitive domains. Our study examined the dynamic relationship between auditory and cognitive changes over time to shed light on the direction of influence between the two. To this aim, we employed change score modeling.

Methods: We analyzed data from 111 normally hearing individuals from the n200 study (https://2024.speech-in-noise.eu/proxy.php?id=81). At Time 1 (T1), their mean age was 61.2 years (SD = 8.00), and at Time 2 (T2), their mean age was 67.0 years (SD = 8.06). We used Latent Change Score modeling to explore the changes in WMC and speech recognition in noise. To measure speech recognition in noise, we used signal-to-noise ratios from the Hearing in Noise Test during speech-shaped noise. The reading span test was used as a measure for WMC.

Results and Conclusion: Preliminary results showed a decline in WMC, signified by the negative relationship between Reading Span at T1 and changes in Reading Span at T2. This negative relationship indicates that individuals with higher initial WMC experienced subsequent declines in their cognitive abilities. Furthermore, our analysis revealed a negative relationship between changes in speech recognition in noise at T2 and Reading Span at T1. This relationship suggests that individuals with higher initial WMC experienced less decline in their speech recognition in noise over time. Further research with additional time points may be needed to fully elucidate the complex relationship between cognitive and auditory changes over time.

Public transportation in urban environments should be inclusive and accessible to offer this service for all people. This research aims to identify issues in the development of autonomous shuttle services in future public transportation systems for children with intellectual disabilities. An issue-based information system (IBIS) analysis was retrospectively conducted based on a concept generation phase. Four concepts were evaluated by five experts. The findings show that the main tensions in this context can be categorized as interaction, physical, and independence. Interactive elements can both create value and lead to confusion for the target group. The physical design of concepts affects feasibility, viability, and perception. Independence is a desired quality for the target group but often comes at a price of less independence for other stakeholders such as family members. Finally, the study suggests that there are tensions between the qualities of integrity, cognition, and user experience.

Research Findings: This study examined the engagement of 494 preschool children in Sweden (M = 53.44 months, SD = 10.64) using both teacher questionnaires to measure global engagement (trait) and observations to measure momentary engagement (state). Using a person-oriented approach with cluster analysis, we identified five distinct profiles of global and momentary engagement, with four of them showing discrepancies between global and observed engagement levels. We found that age, hyperactivity, and second language learner (SLL) status were related to a specific engagement profile. Specifically, children high in hyperactivity tended to be in clusters with higher momentary engagement than global engagement, whereas second language learners were overrepresented in clusters with lower momentary engagement. Practice or Policy: The findings suggest that global and observed measures of engagement capture different aspects of children’s engagement and should not be used interchangeably. Children with low engagement ratings on both measures of engagement are more likely to have an extreme score on the global engagement measure, indicating that difficulties they experience will be more noticeable in their global engagement. On the other hand, displays of high levels of momentary engagement could signal children’s inherent potential, prompting tailored encouragement and support within Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings and promoting their overall engagement levels.

Hebb repetition learning (HRL) refers to neurodevelopmental processes characterised by repeated stimulus exposure without feedback, which result in changes in behaviour and/or responses, e.g., long-term learning of serial order. Here, we investigate effects of HRL on serial order memory. The present research aimed to assess the reliability of new HRL measures and investigate their relationships with language and reading skills (vocabulary, grammar, word reading) in adolescents with intellectual disability (ID). A comparison group of children of similar mental age with typical development (TD) was also assessed. ID and TD groups were tested on HRL tasks, evaluating test-retest and split-half reliability. The relationship between HRL and language and reading was analysed after accounting for the influence of mental age and verbal short-term memory. The HRL tasks displayed moderate test-retest (and split-half) reliability, HRL tasks with different stimuli (verbal, visual) were related, and we identified issues with one method of HRL scoring. The planned regression analyses failed to show relationships between HRL and language/reading skills in both groups when mental age, a very strong predictor, was included. However, further exploratory regression analyses without mental age revealed HRL's predictive capabilities for vocabulary in the ID group and reading in the TD group, results which need further investigation and replication. HRL displays promise as a moderately reliable metric and exhibits varied and interpretable predictive capabilities for language and reading skills across groups. (c) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC