Re-cap of March Show-and-Share Event - Lindsay Kojich

 Overview

The CISLL show and share event took place virtually and had over 30 attendees. Three dynamic speakers discussed their research as it relates to language and literacy. It was a fun and educational event which even included a raffle for a CISLL prize! Keep reading to find out more on each individual presentation.

Why those in the medical and allied health professions should read graphic novels

The first speaker, Dr. Knudson-Vilaseca PhD, is a speech language pathologist (SLP) student who presented about the utility of graphic novels in medical and allied health professions. Dr. Knudson-Vilaseca has a unique educational background which led her to find her passion at the intersection of health and humanities. Dr. Knudson-Vilaseca has a PhD in Spanish literature and Portuguese and after personal experiences with speech therapy, she decided to return to school to become an SLP. With her roots in the humanities, she researched ways to combine her interest areas and found resources to help individuals learn what it is like to live with a disease or disorder through fiction, movies, and more specifically, graphic novels.

In Dr. Knudson-Vilaseca’s show and share, she discussed the concept of narrative medicine, a term coined by Rita Charon, a pioneer in the medical humanities who paved the way for graphic medicine (Charon, 2001). Narrative medicine is described as a “fundamental tool to acquire, comprehend and integrate the different points of view of all the participants having a role in the illness experience” (Fioretti et al., 2016, p. 8). It shifts the focus away from the medical provider and places the emphasis on the story of the patient. Narrative medicine can give health care providers a deeper understanding of what the patient is experiencing, and while there is still much more research to be done, existing studies suggest that narrative medicine, particularly with art or visual images, can enhance diagnostic skills (Dolev et al., 2001; Naghshineh et al., 2008).

Dr. Knudson-Vilaseca’s talk specifically focused on the use of graphic novels. She explained that graphic novels have the advantages of incorporating both visual and narrative elements and have less time investment than a movie or novel. Additionally, graphic novels can be used in a variety of ways from helping students learn more about the patient’s perspective, to being used as a therapy tool. Dr. Knudson-Vilaseca referenced the website graphicmedicine.org, as a database of graphic novels she uses to find content written on a variety of topics. Some specific graphic novels mentioned in her talk included Aliceheimers and Tangles, graphic novels on dementia. Maria and Me, a graphic novel about a father and daughter with autism, and Us Two Together, a graphic novel about primary progressive aphasia. Dr. Knudson-Vilaseca ’s show and share was an eye-opening moment for attendees to learn about the important and growing field of narrative medicine and medical humanities.

Stakeholders’ Language Management and Ideologies

The second speaker at the show and share event was Dr. Mariana Alvayero Ricklefs PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at NIU. Dr. Alavayero Ricklefs presented her research “Politics at its finest”: language management and ideologies affecting the education of minoritized students”, published in the journal SN Social Sciences in 2022. Dr. Alavayero Ricklefs began by discussing the sociolinguistic model of language policy and the three main components in language policy analysis which include: practices, management, and ideologies. Dr. Alavayero Ricklefs focused specifically on language management and language ideologies of administrators and teachers in her study. Language management involves the use of policies, procedures, behaviors, and decisions to influence the use of language (Nekvapil & Sherman, 2015). Language ideology is the concept that our language is shaped by the society we live in and the people we surround ourselves by (Woolard, & Schieffelin, 1994). Language management and language ideologies can impact our interactions with others whether we are aware of it or not.

In the qualitative study, a group of Latinx emergent bilingual children were followed as they were moved between two K-5 public schools in the same school district. Both schools were predominately white, middle class, and the Latinx emergent bilingual children were bused into the schools. The stakeholders of the study were identified as female, white, and included teachers and superintendents. The language management and ideologies of the stakeholders were explored. Interviews, district reports, school board documents, and news articles were analyzed over a ten-year period (Alavayero Ricklefs, 2022).

Dr. Alavayero Ricklefs explained that during the study, the Latinx emergent bilingual students were removed from one school and sent to another school due to ‘overcrowding’. Dr. Alavayero Ricklefs found that two years later, at the new school, the teachers weren’t adequately trained to teach the Latinx emergent bilingual students. Furthermore, there were power struggles among the teachers, and the students were always excluded and perceived as “immigrants” who did not belong. The study ultimately found that there was a lot of injustice in place due to the stakeholders’ language management and language ideologies. Based on the findings of the study, Dr. Alavayero Ricklefs discussed recommendations for improving the problem. Dr. Alavayero Ricklefs shared that “ideologies are pervasive” and that advocacy is critical to help expose language ideologies. Additionally, minoritized parents and children need to be placed at the center of research and that there needs to be more teacher advocates to help support and educate other teachers in best practices for emergent bilingual students and education. Dr. Alavayero Ricklefs passion was evident in her show and share and the audience greatly enjoyed her talk.

Systematic differences in teacher perceptions of student social-emotional competencies

The third speaker was Dr. Kara Styck, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Northern Illinois University. Dr. Styck presented on her research about the use of direct behavior rating scales (with focus on disruptive behavior) and how teacher’s perceptions and rating effects can impact scoring. Direct behavior rating scales are commonly used to assess students in the classroom environment and scales can evaluate engagement, compliance, or disruptive behavior (Harrison et al., 2014). At the beginning of the talk, Dr. Styck showed the audience a video of “disruptive Dan”, a young boy who appears to have difficulty controlling his behavior in class. During the 2–3-minute clip, Dan is seen moving around, kicking his feet in his chair, getting up to talk to another classmate, hitting his head with his binder, and displaying some general disruption. The teacher in the video redirects Dan back to his chair to sit quietly, but ultimately Dan repeats the behavior throughout the clip.

After watching the video, Dr. Styck then had the audience rate Dan’s observed behaviors on the direct behavior rating scale (Volpe & Briesch, 2012). Behaviors that are considered disruptive on this scale include a student “calls out,” “noisy”, “clowns around,” “talks to classmates when inappropriate,” and “out of seat/area” (Volpe & Briesch, 2012, p. 249). After rating Dan on the single item scale, the audience then shared and explained the reasoning behind their evaluation score. The exercise revealed that audience members rated Dan’s behavior differently, even though everyone in the audience watched the same video clip of Dan’s behavior and used the same direct behavior rating scale.

Dr. Styck proposed some ideas for why the differences occurred. She explained that some audience members may have focused more on the frequency of Dan’s disruption, while other audience members may have concentrated on how severely Dan’s peers were impacted by his behavior. Dr. Styck identified that rater effects are a big consideration with behavior rating scales and that the schema of the rater is important to how students are scored. Dr. Styck explained that the most common rater effects that are seen on behavior rating scales include generosity error, halo/horns effects, and restriction of range effects. Generosity error occurs when a teacher is too generous in their rating of a student, causing scores to be inflated. The halo/horns effect occurs when one specific characteristic of an individual positively or negatively influences other ratings of behavior or performance. Restriction of range effects occurs when the sample is limited, restricting the possible range of scores. Dr. Styck continued emphasizing that the research in this area is important as socio-emotional behavioral ratings are the most common assessment instrument performed in the classroom and the rating is typically performed by the teacher.

The talk was concluded with Dr. Styck discussing the top five lessons learned from her research. She commented that the way raters use a scale is variable across raters and that raters significantly differ in their severity / leniency. Furthermore, raters’ levels of severity/leniency in scoring were not stable over time and were not stable across domains that were rated. Finally, training to help reduce rater effects may be one way to diminish the extreme differences in raters’ severity / leniency. Dr. Styck did a great job engaging the audience and displaying the impact of rater effects on behavioral rating scales in her show and share talk.

About the author: Lindsey Kojich is a doctoral student in Health Sciences and a CISLL affiliate.

References

Alvayero Ricklefs, M. (2022). “politics at its finest”: Language Management and Ideologies Affecting the Education of Minoritized Students. SN Social Sciences, 2(5). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-022-00359-y

Charon, R. (2001). Narrative medicine. JAMA, 286(15), 1897. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.286.15.1897

Dolev, J. C. (2001). Use of fine art to enhance visual diagnostic skills. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 286(9), 1020–1021. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.286.9.1020

Fioretti, C., Mazzocco, K., Riva, S., Oliveri, S., Masiero, M., & Pravettoni, G. (2016). Research studies on patients' illness experience using the Narrative Medicine Approach: A systematic review. BMJ Open, 6(7). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011220

Harrison, S. E., Riley-Tillman, T. C., & Chafouleas, S. M. (2014). Direct behavior rating. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 29(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573513515424

Naghshineh, S., Hafler, J. P., Miller, A. R., Blanco, M. A., Lipsitz, S. R., Dubroff, R. P., Khoshbin, S., & Katz, J. T. (2008). Formal art observation training improves medical students’ visual diagnostic skills. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 23(7), 991–997. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-008-0667-0

Nekvapil, J., & Sherman, T. (2015). An introduction: Language management theory in language policy and planning. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2015(232), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2014-0039

Volpe, R. J., & Briesch, A. M. (2012). Generalizability and dependability of single-item and multiple-item direct behavior rating scales for engagement and disruptive behavior. School Psychology Review, 41(3), 246–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/02796015.2012.12087506

Woolard, K. A., & Schieffelin, B. B. (1994). Language ideology. Annual Review of Anthropology, 23(1), 55–82. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.23.100194.000415

Does Academic “Redshirting” Help Cognitive Development? - Faith Whitfield

Although a definitive answer is dependent upon the specific child and their individual needs, research has shown that there is no cognitive benefit to giving a child an extra year before entering Kindergarten, otherwise known as academic redshirting. During this time in a child’s developmental process, they benefit most by being in an environment that encourages creativity, play, social interaction, and fundamental academic skills. While redshirting has no proven cognitive benefit, many parents still do it. But why? A parent’s decision to redshirt their child(ren) can be dependent on numerous factors including young for their grade, not emotionally ready, not academically prepared, being small for their age and feelings of their school experience or another child’s experience. Interestingly enough, Bassok and Reardon, have found that their parent’s decision is driven more by their child’s age and physical development in comparison to other children in the classroom, rather than by their cognitive or behavioral development. In addition, research has shown, the choice to redshirt a child varies across gender, race and socioeconomic status. 

The effects of redshirting a child can at first appear to be positive. A child who has been given an extra year to enter kindergarten, has had 17-20% more time to mature physically, grow emotionally and socially and been allowed more time to experience new things. At this early time in a child’s life, this can be viewed as a huge benefit. However, by the 9th grade, that percentage has diminished to 7%. Younger children can learn from older peers. Numerous studies have shown that students who have older classmates may have elevated reading and math achievement, but these same students, if redshirted, lose the opportunity of receiving an early diagnosis of a learning disability or medical diagnosis of ADD/ADHD. Professors Graue and Diperna found that redshirted students, compared to on-time students, had a higher probability of being placed in a special education program. This could be due to multiple factors including, but not limited to demotivation or a lack of stimulation within the classroom. 

However, redshirting has become more common with children who have been diagnosed with a medical condition such as ADD/ADHD, speech and language delays or children born with low birth weight or other maturational delays. One might assume “giving them time” to grow and mature will be a benefit to the child, but the research findings presented in Contemporary Educational Psychology (2015), students with learning disabilities or challenging behaviors benefit most by being in school as soon as possible. Educational Psychologists Barnard-Brak and Albright, found that for those who were already diagnosed with learning disabilities, redshirting does not appear to be especially beneficial. Entering school on time allows children to receive the benefits that the school resources can provide, whether it be through a 504, an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), or other supportive interventions. 

Other research suggests that a parent’s choice to allow their child an extra year can have negative effects on other children in the class. Professors Graue and DiPerna point out that when the range of students is widened by some having more advanced levels of knowledge, teaching can be more challenging. They must accommodate for a wider range of skills and maturity. Educators often replace basic kindergarten concepts with more advanced curriculum. This will quickly create an inequity within the classroom. It may also lead to increased pressure for other parents to redshirt, due to concerns their child may not be ready to work at the pace or be able to reach the increased demands of kindergarten and thus a vicious cycle emerges. One 2008 article, published in the journal of Economic Perspectives has shown the negative effects of redshirting on low SES students due to kindergarten being referred to as “the new first grade”. Children develop at different rates; and as Elkind (2001) argued, when children are pushed to achieve beyond their developmental abilities, they may experience school failure or behavioral symptoms. Therefore, teachers and school administrators should partner with parents to decide when a child will begin school based on individual social, emotional, and academic needs. 

There is research to show that older children may be more prepared to enter kindergarten, but there is also contradicting research to show that there are no longterm positive effects from redshirting young children cognitively. Deming and Dynarski’s research shows in the early grades there is a strong, positive relationship between a child's age in months and his performance relative to his peers. But there is little evidence that being older than your classmates has any long-term, positive effect on adult outcomes such as IQ, earnings, or educational attainment. By contrast, there is substantial evidence that entering school later reduces educational attainment (by increasing high school dropout rates) and depresses lifetime earnings (by delaying entry into the labor market). Overall, redshirting kindergarteners does not increase a child’s cognitive ability. 

About the author: Faith Whitfield teaches middle-school math at Heritage Grove Middle School in Plainfield District 202 and is a CISLL affiliate. 

References

Barnard-Brak, Lucy & Stevens, Tara & Albright, Evan. (2015). Academic red-shirting and academic achievement among students with ADHD. Contemporary Educational Psychology. 50. 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2015.10.001. 

Bassok, D., & Reardon, S. F. (2013). “Academic Redshirting” in Kindergarten: Prevalence, Patterns, and Implications. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 35(3), 283–297. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373713482764 

Deming, D., & Dynarski, S. (2008). The lengthening of childhood. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 22, 71–92. doi:10.1257/ jep.22.3.71 

Elkind, D. (2001). The hurried child: Growing up too fast too soon. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo. 

Elder, T. E., & Lubotsky, D. H. (2009). Kindergarten entrance age and children’s achievement: Impacts of state policies, family background, and peers. The Journal of Human Resources, 44(3), 641-683. 

Frey, N. (2005). Retention, social promotion, and academic redshirting. Remedial and Special Education. 26(6), 332-346. 

Graue, M. E., & DiPerna, J. (2000). Redshirting and early retention: Who gets the “gift of time” and what are its outcomes? American Educational Research Journal, 37(2), 509- 534 

Lincove, J. A., & Painter, G. (2006). Does the age that children start kindergarten matter? Evidence of long-term educational and social outcomes. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 28(2), 153-179. 

Sands MM, Monda-Amaya L, Meadan H. Kindergarten Redshirting: Implications for Children with Disabilities. Disabilities. 2021; 1(1):30-46. https://doi.org/10.3390/disabilities1010003

Confident Parents and Teachers Make Successful Students – Julia Ogg

What does it take for a child to be successful in school, and what do children need from adults to help them be successful? 

According to Dr. Julia Ogg, Associate Professor and School Psychologist, children need to develop “academic enabling” classroom behaviors to be successful. These are behaviors that support learning, like motivation, engagement, and interpersonal skills. The ability to work in a group or ask for help are prime examples of academic enabling behaviors.

“These behaviors are especially important for children with externalizing behavior”—such as self-regulation difficulties—“to learn, because such children may struggle managing their behavior in the classroom,” says Ogg.

As a school psychologist, Ogg’s research has often bled into her practice. She specifically became interested in understanding the experiences and needs of children with externalizing behaviors while doing practicums in schools. “I noticed that a lot of young kids struggled in school with self-regulation, attention, and hyperactivity,” she shared. “Often, it was difficult to know how to best support these students.”

During her training to become a school psychologist, Ogg had the opportunity to consult with preschool teachers using an evidence-based program to support positive behaviors. This experience ignited her interest in supporting adults as they help children develop academic enabling behaviors. “What I learned from the preschool teachers is that when they were supported and given the tools to support students, there was significant improvement in students’ behavior,” reflected Ogg. “There was also an improvement in the student-teacher relationship, and teachers felt more confident in their work.”

Ultimately, Ogg hopes to develop a universal academic-enabler intervention for schools to provide this kind of support to teachers and students. As a first step, she and her colleagues are collecting focus group data from teachers to get their perspectives on which academic enablers they think kids need in the classroom. They are also asking teachers what tools they are currently using and what kinds of resources they would like to have.

While she is just getting started analyzing the data, Ogg has noticed a couple of emerging themes. “One, teachers are more worried about this than ever before,” she stated. Ogg also mentioned that teachers don’t have a lot of materials for teaching children academic enabling behaviors, “so they are seeing a big need for it.”

Supporting children with attention difficulties means working with their caregivers. Accordingly, Ogg also studies parenting attitudes and behaviors that support the development of academic enabling classroom behaviors in children.

In a recent “daily diary study”, Ogg and her colleagues examined the associations between a child’s ADHD symptoms and parents’ home-based involvement in their child’s education. They found that parents who rated their children as having attention difficulties tended to doubt their parenting skills and feel that the quality of their involvement in their child’s education was low. Interestingly, statistical analyses showed that parental self-efficacy—parents’ confidence in their parenting skills—seemed to drive the perception of low-quality involvement, rather than the other way around.

 “It really highlights the important role of parents feeling confident and knowing what to do. When parents feel efficacious in helping their child, they are more likely to engage in involvement behaviors in a positive way,” explained Ogg.

Self-efficacy is important for supporting all caregivers, whether that’s parents or teachers. “We need to feel confident and know what to do in order to do it effectively,” emphasized Ogg. She hopes that her research will lead to evidence-based interventions that build parents’ confidence in helping their children academically and provide teachers with tools for supporting academic enabling behaviors in their classrooms.

About the author: Melissa Clucas Walter is on CISLL’s executive board and is an Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences at NIU.