Empirical studies are incompatible with the proposal that neonatal imitation is arousal driven or declining with age. Nonhuman primate studies reveal a functioning brain mirror system from birth, developmental continuity in imitation and... more
Empirical studies are incompatible with the proposal that neonatal imitation is arousal driven or declining with age. Nonhuman primate studies reveal a functioning brain mirror system from birth, developmental continuity in imitation and later sociability, and the malleability of neonatal imitation, shaped by the early environment. A narrow focus on arousal effects and reflexes may grossly underestimate neonatal capacities.
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Research Interests: Psychology and Autism
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Research Interests: Psychology and Autism
Research Interests: Psychology, Sign Language, Theory of Mind, Working Memory, Reading Comprehension, and 10 moreMedicine, Interdisciplinary research (Social Sciences), Domain Specific Languages, Children, Clinical Medicine, Comprehension, Psykologi, Reading Process, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and Frontiers in Psychology
Multimedieprogrammet DeltaMessages vaerdi i laeseundervisningen af born med autisme, multihandicap, horenedsaettelse og DAMP/dysleksi
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Research Interests: Psychology and Arnold
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Kan interaktiva dataprogram stimulera sprak- och kommunikation hos barn med autism eller begavningshandikapp
Research Interests: Psychology and Pedagogy
The present study investigates pretend play in a group of children with autism, commonly reported as restricted in autism, and its relation to language and cognition compared to a group with typical development. Twenty children with... more
The present study investigates pretend play in a group of children with autism, commonly reported as restricted in autism, and its relation to language and cognition compared to a group with typical development. Twenty children with autism spectrum disorder (DSM-IV) participated (chronological age = 5:7 years, language age = 2:6 years and mental age = 3:9 years) matched on language and mental age to a group of typically developing children (N= 23). The frequency of the child’s spontaneous pretend play was measured in an eight-minute parent-child free play observation. Eleven children with autism (55%) did not show any pretend play during the observation and had a lower language age compared to the nine children with autism that actually displayed some pretend play (t = -3.03, p < .01) but the two groups did not differ on mental age (t = -1.18, ns). In the group of children with typical development, six children showed no pretend play. This group had a non-significant lower language age compared to the seventeen children that displayed pretend play, but the two groups differed on mental age (t = -2.20, p < .05). Almost half of the children with autism in this study engaged in spontaneous pretend play showing that pretend play is not absent in autism. The results further suggest that language level, but not mental level, is related to the child’s engagement in pretend play for children with autism, while mental level had a stronger relation to pretend play for the typically developing children.
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Long-term declarative memory performance in 14-15 month infants predicts the strength of neural response during associative learning
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Infant memory researchers agree that deferred imitation is a robust, easily administered and reliable nonverbal method of capturing rudimentary declarative memory function prior to the onset of pro ...
Research Interests: Psychology and Imitation
Den har boken handlar om de barn som av nagon anledning inte lyckas med den forsta las- och skrivinlarningen, de som tappar sugen och darmed tilltron till sin egen formaga att lara. Boken ar avsedd ...
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Rapporten sammanfattar resultaten fran en studie kring mentaliseringsformagan hos barn med cochleaimplantat (CI) som genomforts med stod av Horselforskningsfonden. Totalt deltog 16 barn (9 pojkar) ...
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Takes a look at early variation in imitation and discusses how it might be interpreted. Observations made in 3 Swedish studies are presented, and argues that combined data make it difficult to dismiss the observed variation in imitation... more
Takes a look at early variation in imitation and discusses how it might be interpreted. Observations made in 3 Swedish studies are presented, and argues that combined data make it difficult to dismiss the observed variation in imitation as only error variance. The 1st part of this chapter provides a brief description of some basic assumptions. Next, the author presents empirical observations of variation in the imitative responses of neonates and young infants. The final part of this chapter is a discussion of how the role of the nervous system in the occurrence of neonatal imitation might be envisioned.
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Det har dei siste ara vore ei aukande merksemd omkring sprakfunksjonen til barn som er tilviste det psykiatriske behandlingsapparatet. I artikkelen er det gjort greie for reultata fra ein pilotstud ...
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Background Deaf children usually lag behind their hearing peers in reading development. However, better signers also seem to be better readers (Mayberry et al., 2011). In the present study, we investigate whether training making the... more
Background Deaf children usually lag behind their hearing peers in reading development. However, better signers also seem to be better readers (Mayberry et al., 2011). In the present study, we investigate whether training making the connection between sign language and written text can enhance literacy in Deaf beginning readers. We also investigate how cognitive, linguistic, and socio-cognitive skills are related to developing literacy.
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We measured non-verbal recall memory (deferred imitation) at 9 months, joint attention at 14 months, and general cognitive ability at 50 months in a group of typically developing Swedish children (N=26). The aim was to explore the... more
We measured non-verbal recall memory (deferred imitation) at 9 months, joint attention at 14 months, and general cognitive ability at 50 months in a group of typically developing Swedish children (N=26). The aim was to explore the redicttive value of joint attention and deferred imitation for later cognitive func-tioning. The results revealed that children performing low on both joint attention and recall memory scored significantly lower on the general cognitive test at 50 months, demonstrating a long-term stability of interest to both theory and prac-tice
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Heimann, M. (1992). Learning—A rare event. Nordisk Psykologi, 44, 203–211. Children tend do learn at different rates and they also differ as regards the amount of necessary input. The article presents and discusses some factors that are... more
Heimann, M. (1992). Learning—A rare event. Nordisk Psykologi, 44, 203–211. Children tend do learn at different rates and they also differ as regards the amount of necessary input. The article presents and discusses some factors that are central to understanding why or why not learning takes place. This is done within the framework of a theory called the Rare Event Learning Mechanism (see: Nelson, 1991). Mechanisms in focus incorporate motivational, attentional, and cognitive aspects. These factors are presented in some detail as is some empirical evidence showing that limited but focused input can provide the child with enough exemplars to learn new language structures. These data are incorporated with the theory of Rare Events and some necessary and facilitating factors for language learning are listed. It is concluded that the theory might help us in organizing rewarding and motivational learning opportunities for children learning language, and also that it is essential to view the learning process wit...
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Deferred imitation and early social communication skills were compared among speaking and nonspeaking children with autism and children developing typically. Overall, the children with autism showed a lower frequency on measures of... more
Deferred imitation and early social communication skills were compared among speaking and nonspeaking children with autism and children developing typically. Overall, the children with autism showed a lower frequency on measures of deferred imitation and social communication compared with typically developing children. Deferred imitation was observed at a significantly lower level among the speaking and nonspeaking groups of children with autism. However, when comparing the speaking autism group with the typical group, many differences in observed social communication disappeared. These results underscore the importance of considering children’s verbal ability in autism research and clinical practice, and indicate that there are specific difficulties in deferred imitation in autism but that the social communication deficits that are observed are greatly influenced by low level of verbal ability.
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ABSTRACT While progress has been made for including students with disability into mainstream schools, trends point to problems for students with Asperger syndrome (AS) diagnosis who have a propensity to dropping out of school. Teachers’... more
ABSTRACT While progress has been made for including students with disability into mainstream schools, trends point to problems for students with Asperger syndrome (AS) diagnosis who have a propensity to dropping out of school. Teachers’ perceptions and understanding of AS will affect expectations and the attainment of educational targets. Thus, to avoid barriers to students’ learning and participation, there is a need to shed light on teachers’ perceptions and beliefs that bear on teachers educational provision for students with AS. The aim of the study was therefore to elucidate mainstream teachers’ representations of students with AS by using the theoretical framework of Social Representation Theory and particularly looking at the effects of the sex of the teacher, grade level being taught and when the teachers received training themselves. Teachers in mainstream schools in Sweden were invited to complete a web-based ques- tionnaire (N=170). Data were collected through an association task where the participants were asked to produce up to five words or phrases for the stimulus phrase ‘student with Asperger diagnosis’. The data were analysed through cate- gorisation. We found that two-thirds of the macro-categories of mentions relate to ‘disabling aspects’, ‘individual needs’ and ‘individual characteristics’, while a third of the elements were tied to the environment and educational provision. Our results suggest that a medical approach dominates especially earlier trained teachers; however, there is a tendency to view the school environment as increas- ingly important. Representations about the disabling aspects decreased with the increase in the grades being taught, whereas the educational aspects increase with the increase in grades. Male teachers are more prone to relate to environmental aspects and educational provision while female teachers more often relate to needs and disability. We conclude that teachers tend to view AS from a medical approach but that the school environment is seen as increasingly important.
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Previous studies have claimed that children with autism are poor imitators and a lack of imitative capacity has been included by some investigators as one early sign of autism. Presented here are results from a pilot study focusing on... more
Previous studies have claimed that children with autism are poor imitators and a lack of imitative capacity has been included by some investigators as one early sign of autism. Presented here are results from a pilot study focusing on observed imitation after presenting 15 tasks to five children with autism (mental age 25–51 months). Imitation tasks involving simple object manipulation, vocal responses, facial and manual gestures, and object substitution were presented to each child. The performance of the children with autism is compared with (1) three normal 4-year-old children (for all 15 tasks), and (2) observations from 28 healthy 1-year-olds (for 10 of the tasks used). The findings indicate that the autistic group displayed the highest level of imitation on object manipulation and vocal tasks while object substitution, facial, and motor imitation acts seemed to be difficult for children with autism. However, the small number of children included as well as the individual varia...
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Saccade latency is widely used across infant psychology to investigate infants&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; understanding of events. Interpreting particular latency values requires knowledge of standard... more
Saccade latency is widely used across infant psychology to investigate infants&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; understanding of events. Interpreting particular latency values requires knowledge of standard saccadic RTs, but there is no consensus as to typical values. This study provides standard estimates of infants&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; (n = 194, ages 9 to 15 months) saccadic RTs under a range of different spatiotemporal conditions. To investigate the reliability of such standard estimates, data is collected at 4 laboratories in 3 countries. Results indicate that reactions to the appearance of a new object are much faster than reactions to the deflection of a currently fixated moving object; upward saccades are slower than downward or horizontal saccades; reactions to more peripheral stimuli are much slower; and this slowdown is greater for boys than girls. There was little decrease in saccadic RTs between 9 and 15 months, indicating that the period of slow development which is protracted into adolescence begins in late infancy. Except for appearance and deflection differences, infant effects were weak or absent in adults (n = 40). Latency estimates and spatiotemporal effects on latency were generally consistent across laboratories, but a number of lab differences in factors such as individual variation were found. Some but not all differences were attributed to minor procedural differences, highlighting the importance of replication. Confidence intervals (95%) for infants&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; median reaction latencies for appearance stimuli were 242 to 250 ms and for deflection stimuli 350 to 367 ms. (PsycINFO Database Record
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The Bergen Child Study is a longitudinal study of child mental health from the city of Bergen, Norway. We present methods and results from the first wave of the study, focusing on prevalence of disorders, associations with risk factors,... more
The Bergen Child Study is a longitudinal study of child mental health from the city of Bergen, Norway. We present methods and results from the first wave of the study, focusing on prevalence of disorders, associations with risk factors, and the use of services. The target population included all 9,430 children attending grades 2 to 4 in Bergen schools during the academic year 2002/2003. The main screening instrument was the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, whereas diagnoses were based on the Development and Well-Being Assessment. Information about child and family risk factors and service use was also obtained in this second stage. In the first phase, the teacher Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was obtained for 9,155 (97%) of the target children and the matching parent Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for 6,297 (67%); 1,011 children (11%) were assessed with the Development and Well-Being Assessment in the second phase. The weighted prevalence for any DSM-IV psychiatric disorder was 7.0% (95% confidence interval 5.6%-8.5%). Disorders were associated with age, gender, learning difficulties, family type, and poverty. Although 75% of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder had been in contact with specialist mental health services, this was true for only 13% of those with pure emotional disorders. The overall prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children is relatively low in this Norwegian sample, when assessed with the Development and Well-Being Assessment. Children with emotional disorders have limited access to specialist services.