Supporting children’s language development, particularly oral language, is crucial as it constitutes the basis for the further development of literacy skills. This study explored patterns of primary school children’s expressive language productivity over time in relation to a professional development (PD) program designed to further teachers’ use of communication-supporting strategies to promote child talk. Framed by a Tier 2 response to intervention model, teacher-child verbal interactions were observed during structured small-group conversations. The participants were 36 children (M age 8;2  years old), with and without speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) attending three mainstream classes in two Swedish municipalities. Two teachers followed a 10-week PD program, and a third teacher participated for comparison purposes. We  measured the children’s expressive language productivity in relation to the teachers’ strategy use pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at a two-month follow-up. In the results, we found a tendency that when the teachers used the strategies frequently, the children’s expressive language productivity seemed suppressed. Although the results showed a large variation in the children’s expressive language productivity, a tentative conclusion is that the children with SLCN may also be stimulated and willing to participate verbally during this type of small-group conversation. This finding suggests support for an inclusive Tier 2 approach of mixed groups with both children with and without SLCN. Based on our findings, we also suggest stressing in the PD program the need for teachers to balance their strategy use in the interactions with the children to provide ample opportunities for the children to talk and express themselves.

Background: Survivors of pediatric brain tumors are at high risk of late complications that may affect their daily life in both short- and long-term perspectives.

Methods: In this nationwide registry-based study we explored the occupational outcomes, including employment, sickness or activity compensation and parental leave, in 452 individuals in Sweden, born 1988–1996, and diagnosed with a brain tumor before their 15th birthday. Their results were compared with 2188 matched controls.

Results: There were significant differences between cases and controls for all assessed variables. The cases had benefitted from sickness or activity compensation 11 times more often than controls (CI 7.90–15.83; p < 0.001) between 2005 and 2016. Controls were almost three times more likely to have an employment (OR 0.36; CI 0.28–0.47; p < 0.001) and nearly twice as likely to have been on parental leave (OR 0.56; CI 0.39–0.80; p = 0.002). Although cases treated for high-grade tumors typically fared worse than those treated for low-grade tumors, significant differences for all assessed variables were also observed for cases treated for a low-grade tumor compared with controls.

Conclusions: Our findings emphasize the need for follow-up programs for all brain tumor diagnoses, not only those known to be at most risk. This is evident, for example, from the high number of cases who received sickness or activity compensation.

The risk of late complications after a brain tumor in childhood is high. Both the tumor itself and the treatments give rise to sequelae that affect daily life activities. In this registry study, we explored post-compulsory education, i.e., further education following the nine compulsory years in school, in 452 cases born 1988–1996 and diagnosed with a brain tumor before their fifteenth birthday. They were compared with 2188 individual controls who were not treated for cancer. Significantly fewer teenagers and young adults treated for brain tumors in childhood attended high school or university compared with controls, especially individuals treated for embryonal tumors or optic pathway gliomas. A significantly larger proportion of subjects treated for embryonal tumors and craniopharyngiomas attended folk high schools, a type of post-compulsory school with a more accessible learning environment. For both cases and controls, we observed a positive correlation between parental education levels and attendance in high school and university. In our previous studies we have shown that children treated for brain tumors, as a group, tend to perform worse during their last year of compulsory school compared with their peers, and the current study confirms that these differences remain over time.

Oral language skills underpin later literacy achievement and life prospects, and many children struggle with oral language for various reasons. Hence, it is crucial for teachers to provide a learning environment with rich opportunities for all children to practice their oral language. The aim of this exploratory study was to explore a professional development (PD) program designed to coach teachers in using communication-supporting strategies during verbal teacher-child interactions in regular classrooms. In focus were five strategies from the Communication Supporting Classroom Observation Tool. The study used a mixed-method case design with multiple observations across four time points over 10 weeks and a follow-up observation after two months. Outcome measures were collected at pre-and, post-intervention, and at follow-up. The cases were two intervention teachers and one comparison teacher in second grade in Swedish primary schools. The teachers were directly observed and video-recorded during teacher-child structured small group conversations while discussing different texts with two groups of children each. The groups were mixed and comprised both children struggling with oral language as well as more typically developing children. To further understand the verbal interactions, the teachers’ amount of talk in relation to the children was analyzed in terms of the percentage distribution of the total number of words per minute. The overall patterns of strategy use showed that the two intervention teachers applied more varied strategies from the PD program during the intervention period, but this was not maintained at the follow-up. The amount of teacher talk appeared stable over time, with individual differences in the three teachers. We also discuss the teachers’ own insights and our experience in the design of the PD program, which may guide future research and applications of the PD program.

Introduction:

Developing oral language skills is crucial to later school academic achievement. Children with speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN) may struggle with their oral language due to various reasons. Teachers need to provide rich opportunities for children with SLCN, and for all children, to practice oral language in the regular classroom by using communication supporting strategies (e.g. open-ended questions and extending utterances) in their teacher-childverbal interactions.

The aim of this study is to describe a professional development (PD) program designed to affect teachers’ verbal interactions with children in regular classrooms. The PD includes individual teacher coaching in using communication supporting strategies from the Communication Supporting Classroom Observation Tool.

Method:

The participants are two intervention teachers in year 2 in Swedish compulsory school, receiving a 10-week PD program. A third teacher participates for comparison purposes. An exploratory design with multiple observations is used to collect data. The setting is teacher-child structured small-group conversations based on discussions of texts. Both children with SLCN and typically developing children participate in the groups. For the analyses, the conversations are video recorded followed by transcriptions and coding using the CHAT guidelines. The frequency of the teachers’ strategy use over time is calculated.

Results:

Preliminary results indicate that the teachers develop individual patterns of strategy use. All three teachers appear to be skilled in using open-ended questions. Over time, the intervention teachers appear to develop skills in using also other strategies. However, some of the strategies might be more challenging to implement and may need more coaching.

Conclusions:

Preliminary findings point to that individual coaching may support teachers in using more varied communication supporting strategies during the PD. However, the strategy use seems not to be maintained over time. Preliminary findings also suggest that some strategies may be more important to apply within different contexts of the curriculum. 

Children treated for brain tumours often have late-appearing complications that mayaffect their school performance. Uneven skill profiles may help reveal late complications that can becompensated for but otherwise remain undetected. We investigated Swedish national school tests oforal, reading and writing skills in the first foreign language (English), the mother tongue (Swedish)and mathematics. Data were obtained from The Swedish Childhood Cancer Registry and StatisticsSweden. The results from 475 children diagnosed with a brain tumour before their 15th birthdayand 2197 matched controls showed that children treated for brain tumours evinced more difficultieswith national tests than controls in almost all subtests, especially in the subject English, and thatthey may perform better on oral than written tasks. There were larger differences between femalecases and controls than between male cases and controls; age at diagnosis played a significant rolefor some subtests, whereas tumour grade did not. Missing information from national tests provedto be a strong predictor of poor academic performance. Our results show that regular educationalfollow-ups, as a complement to neuropsychological follow-ups, are important for all children treatedfor brain tumours, regardless of sex, age at diagnosis or tumour grade.

Background

As many as 95.7% of children diagnosed with a brain tumor will experience persistent late effects as adults. These include difficulties with general executive functions, lower IQ, and mental fatigue, which may negatively affect school performance.

Methods

Through the Swedish Childhood Cancer Registry, we identified 475 children born between 1988 and 1996, diagnosed with a brain tumor before their 15th birthday. School grades in “Swedish,” “mathematics,” and “English,” if their graduation was delayed, and qualification for school years 10‐12 were compared with 2197 matched controls. Furthermore, we checked for interaction effects between sex and age at diagnosis, and possible effects of tumor grade (high or low) as well as parents’ education.

Results

Children treated for a brain tumor performed worse in the subjects compared to controls and also had delayed graduation to a greater extent. Fewer children treated for a brain tumor than controls qualified for school years 10‐12. Children treated at a young age, especially females, and children whose parents have low education seem to be at particular risk. Unexpectedly, there were no differences in outcomes between survivors with high‐ and low‐grade tumors.

Conclusions

It is important that schools provide regular pedagogical assessment and individualized support to meet the different needs of children treated for a brain tumor. Children treated for low‐grade tumors do not perform better than children treated for high‐grade tumors, despite the lighter treatment, and hence require the same attention and support.

Background Children treated for brain tumour (hereafter termed paediatric brain tumour survivors (PBTS)) often need extra support in school because of late-appearing side effects after their treatment. We explored how this group of children perform in the five practical and aesthetic (PRAEST) subjects: home and consumer studies, physical education and health, art, crafts and music.

Methods In this nationwide population-based study of data from the Swedish Childhood Cancer Registry and Statistics Sweden, we included 475 children born between 1988 and 1996, diagnosed with a brain tumour before their 15th birthday. We compared their grades in PRAEST subjects with those of 2197 matched controls. We also investigated if there were any differences between girls and boys, children diagnosed at different ages, and children with high-grade or low-grade tumours.

Results The odds for failing a subject were two to three times higher for girls treated for a brain tumour compared with their controls in all five PRAEST subjects, whereas there were no significant differences between the boys and their controls in any subject. PBTS had lower average grades from year 9 in all PRAEST subjects, and girls differed from their controls in all five subjects, while boys differed in physical education and health and music. PBTS treated for high-grade tumours neither did have significantly different average grades nor did they fail a subject to a significantly higher extent than PBTS treated for low-grade tumours.

Conclusions Children treated for a brain tumour, especially girls, are at risk of lower average grades or failing PRAEST subjects. All children treated for brain tumour may need extra support as these subjects are important for their well-being and future skills.

Background

Children treated for a brain tumor are at high risk of experiencing neurocognitive, physical and psychosocial late effects which can all negatively affect school performance. Previous studies concerning school grades from year 9 have mainly focused on theoretical subjects, such as native and foreign language as well as mathematics. This has revealed that children treated for a brain tumor are at risk of lower school grades compared to controls. Grades in different practical and aesthetic subjects have been investigated to a very limited extent although the syllabuses for these school subjects train skills that are important to strengthen social, physical, aesthetic, and practical skills, of children. Those subjects may also possibly affect some of the late effects as well as the psychological strain of the diagnosis and treatment.

Methods

We identified 475 children with available grades from year nine, born between 1988 and 1996, and diagnosed with a brain tumor before their 15^th birthday. We used chi-square tests to compare their grades with the grades from 2,197 matched controls in the subjects ‘Home and consumer studies’, ‘Physical education and health’, ‘Art’, ‘Crafts’ and ‘Music’.

Results

The preliminary results show that children treated for a brain tumor received a lower grade or failed in one or more subject to a significantly higher extent than controls in all the assessed subjects except in ‘Art’. Females were more affected than males in most subjects compared to their controls, although they still had the highest grade to a greater extent than males in all subjects except in ‘Physical education and health’.

Conclusions

As many children treated for a brain tumor seem to be at risk of lower grades or failing in the practical and aesthetic subjects, individualized support should be provided due to the benefits of these school subjects.