Assistive Technology for Cognition (ATC) is employed by children with and without disabilities. However, how the ATC is used in everyday life has not been studied. The current study investigated ATC-usage in everyday planning in three groups: 1) children qualifying for Swedish habilitation centers (ID/ASD), 2) children with disability not qualifying for habilitation service (ADHD), and 3) children with typical development (TD). A parental survey was conducted (n = 192) and answers were analyzed with statistical tests and inductive thematic text analysis. Results showed that all groups used ATC, most in the Habilitation group and least in the TD group. According to parents, ATC supported cognitive functions in all groups, but it became evident that the parents were responsible for planning by setting up the ATC, whilst the children merely executed the plans. This was linked to several limitations, for example the design was not appropriately adapted for these groups. The implications for the practitioners are 1) evaluate the users? cognitive abilities and choose an ATC suitable for that individual rather focusing on the diagnosis, and 2) follow up usage to see if it is the parent or the child that are using the ATC.

Background: Externalising problems are among the most common symptoms of mental health problems in preschool children.

Aims: To investigate the development of externalising problems in preschool children over time, and the way in which conduct problems are linked to hyperactivity problems.

Method: In this longitudinal study, 195 preschool children were included. Latent growth modelling of conduct problems was carried out, with gender and hyperactivity at year 1 as time-invariant predictors.

Results: Hyperactivity was a significant predictor for the intercept and slope of conduct problems. Children with more hyperactivity at year 1 had more conduct problems and a slower reduction in conduct problems. Gender was a significant predictor for the slope of conduct problems.

Conclusions: Children with more initial hyperactivity have less of a reduction in conduct problems over time. It is important to consider the role of hyperactivity in studies of the development of conduct problems.

Declaration of interest: None.

Objective: The aim of the current study was to assess aided speech-in-noise outcomes and relate those measures to auditory sensitivity and processing, different types of cognitive processing abilities, and signal processing in hearing aids.

Material and method: Participants were 200 hearing-aid wearers, with a mean age of 60.8 years, 43% females, with average hearing thresholds in the better ear of 37.4 dB HL. Tests of auditory functions were hearing thresholds, DPOAEs, tests of fine structure processing, IHC dead regions, spectro-temporal modulation, and speech recognition in quiet (PB words). Tests of cognitive processing function were tests of phonological skills, working memory, executive functions and inference making abilities, and general cognitive tests (e.g., tests of cognitive decline and IQ). The outcome test variables were the Hagerman sentences with 50 and 80% speech recognition levels, using two different noises (stationary speech weighted noise and 4-talker babble), and three types of signal processing (linear gain, fast acting compression, and linear gain plus a non-ideal binary mask). Another sentence test included typical and atypical sentences with contextual cues that were tested both audio-visually and in an auditory mode only. Moreover, HINT and SSQ were administrated.

Analysis: Factor analyses were performed separate for the auditory, cognitive, and outcome tests.

Results: The auditory tests resulted in two factors labeled SENSITIVITY and TEMPORAL FINE STRUCTURE, the cognitive tests in one factor (COGNITION), and the outcome tests in the two factors termed NO CONTEXT and CONTEXT that relates to the level of context in the different outcome tests. When age was partialled out, COGNITION was moderately correlated with the TEMPORAL FINE STRUCTURE and NO CONTEXT factors but only weakly correlated with the CONTEXT factor. SENSITIVITY correlated weakly with TEMPORAL FINE STRUCTURE and CONTEXT, and moderately with NO CONTEXT, while TEMPORAL FINE STRUCTURE showed weak correlation with CONTEXT and moderate correlation with NO CONTEXT. CONTEXT and NO CONTEXT had a  moderate correlation. Moreover, the overall results of the Hagerman sentences showed 0.9 dB worse SNR with fast acting compression compared with linear gain and 5.5 dB better SNR with linear  gain and noise reduction compared with only linear gain.

Conclusions: For hearing aid wearers, the ability to recognize speech in noise is associated with both sensory and cognitive processing abilities when the speech materials have low internal context. These associations are less prominent when the speech material has contextual cues.

This study examined the development of phonological recoding in short-term memory (STM) span tasks among two clinical groups with contrasting STM and language profiles: those with Down syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS). Phonological recoding was assessed by comparing: (1) performance on phonologically similar and dissimilar items (phonological similarity effects, PSE); and (2) items with short and long names (word length effects, WLE). Participant groups included children and adolescents with DS (n = 29), WS (n = 25) and typical development (n = 51), all with average mental ages around 6 years. The group with WS, contrary to predictions based on their relatively strong verbal STM and language abilities, showed no evidence for phonological recoding. Those in the group with DS, with weaker verbal STM and language abilities, showed positive evidence for phonological recoding (PSE), but to a lesser degree than the typical group (who showed PSE and WLE). These findings provide new information about the memory systems of these groups of children and adolescents, and suggest that STM processes involving phonological recoding do not fit with the usual expectations of the abilities of children and adolescents with WS and DS. (c) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Haptics in the form of vibrations in game interfaces have the potential to strengthen visual and audio components, and also improve accessibility for certain populations like people with deafblindness. However, building vibrotactile game interfaces is difficult and time consuming. Our research problem was how to make a prototyping tool that facilitated prototyping of vibrotactile game interfaces for phones and gamepads. The results include a description of the prototyping tool we built, which is called VibEd. It allows designers to draw vibrotactile patterns, referred to as vibes, that can easily be tested on phones and gamepads, and exported to code that can be used in game development. It is concluded, based on user tests, that a haptic game interface prototyping tool such as VibEd, can facilitate haptic game interface design and development, and by that contribute to game accessibility for persons with deafblindness. 

Previous studies of the development of phonological similarity and word length effects in children have shown that these effects are small or absent in young children, particularly when measured using visual presentation of the memoranda. This has often been taken as support for the view that young children do not rehearse. The current paper builds on recent evidence that instead suggests that absent phonological similarity and word length effects in young children reflects the same proportional cost of these effects in children of all ages. Our aims are to explore the conditions under which this proportional scaling account can reproduce existing developmental data, and in turn suggest ways that future studies might measure and model phonological similarity and word length effects in children. To that end, we first fit a single mathematical function through previously reported data that simultaneously captures absent and negative proportional effects of phonological similarity in young children plus constant proportional similarity effects in older children. This developmental function therefore provides the benchmark that we seek to re-produce in a series of subsequent simulations that test the proportional scaling account. These simulations reproduce the developmental function well, provided that they take into account the influence of floor effects and of measurement error. Our simulations suggest that future empirical studies examining these effects in the context of the development of rehearsal need to take into account proportional scaling. They also provide a demonstration of how proportional costs can be explored, and of the possible developmental functions associated with such an analysis.

There are well-known age-related declines in hearing, cognition and social participation. Furthermore, previous studies have shown that hearing loss is associated with both cognitive decline and increased risk for social isolation and that engagement in social leisure activities is related to cognitive decline. However, it is unclear how the three concepts and age relate to each other. In the current study, behavioral measures of hearing and memory were examined in relation to self-reported participation in social leisure activities. Data from two different samples were analyzed with structural equation modeling. The first consisted of 297 adults from Umeå, Sweden, who participated in the Betula longitudinal study. The second consisted of 273 older adults who volunteered for lab-based research on aging in Toronto, Canada. Structural equation modeling yielded two models with similar statistical properties for both samples. The first model suggests that age contributes to both hearing and memory performance, hearing contributes to memory performance, and memory (but not hearing) contributes to participation in social leisure activities. The second model also suggests that age contributes to hearing and memory performance and that hearing contributes to memory performance, but that age also contributes to participation in social leisure activities, which in turn contributes to memory performance. The models were confirmed in both samples, indicating robustness in the findings, especially since the samples differed on background variables such as years of education and marital status. Few participants in both samples were candidates for hearing aids, but most of those who were candidates used them. This suggests that even early stages of hearing loss can increase demands on cognitive processing that may deter participation in social leisure activities.

There are well-known age-related declines in hearing, cognition and social participation. Furthermore, previous studies have shown that hearing loss is associated with both cognitive decline and increased risk for social isolation and that engagement in social leisure activities is related to cognitive decline. However, it is unclear how the three concepts and age relate to each other. In the current study, behavioral measures of hearing and memory were examined in relation to self-reported participation in social leisure activities. Data from two different samples were analyzed with structural equation modeling. The first consisted of 297 adults from Umeå, Sweden, who participated in the Betula longitudinal study. The second consisted of 273 older adults who volunteered for lab-based research on aging in Toronto, Canada. Structural equation modeling yielded two models with similar statistical properties for both samples. The first model suggests that age contributes to both hearing and memory performance, hearing contributes to memory performance, and memory (but not hearing) contributes to participation in social leisure activities. The second model also suggests that age contributes to hearing and memory performance and that hearing contributes to memory performance, but that age also contributes to participation in social leisure activities, which in turn contributes to memory performance. The models were confirmed in both samples, indicating robustness in the findings, especially since the samples differed on background variables such as years of education and marital status. Few participants in both samples were candidates for hearing aids, but most of those who were candidates used them. This suggests that even early stages of hearing loss can increase demands on cognitive processing that may deter participation in social leisure activities.

Working memory (WM) training has been increasingly popular in the last years. Previous studies have shown that individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) have low WM capacity and therefore would benefit by this type of intervention. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of WM and cognitive training for individuals with ID. The effects reported in previous studies have varied and therefore a meta-analysis of articles in the major databases was conducted. Inclusion criteria included to have a pretest posttest design with a training group and a control group and to have measures of WM or short-term memory. Ten studies with 28 comparisons were included. The results reveal a significant, but small, overall pretest posttest effect size (ES) for WM training for individuals with ID compared to controls. A mixed WM approach, including both verbal and visuo-spatial components working mainly on strategies, was the only significant training type with a medium ES. The most commonly reported training type, visuo-spatial WM training, was performed in 60 percent of the included comparisons and had a non-significant ES close to zero. We conclude that even if there is an overall effect of WM training, a mixed WM approach appears to cause this effect. Given the few studies included and the different characteristics of the included studies, interpretations should be done with caution. However, different types of interventions appear to have different effects. Even if the results were promising, more studies are needed to better understand how to design an effective WM intervention for this group and to understand if, and how, these short-term effects remain over time and transfer to everyday activities.