Search

Many early childhood educators use the evidenced-based practice of interactive shared book reading (ISBR) to promote the development of important communication and literacy skills. ISBR for preschoolers has been shown to build both vocabulary and conceptual knowledge, which in turn contributes to later language and reading comprehension development. While Early Childhood Special Educators (ECSE) recognize the importance of engaging in ISBR with their students, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often struggle to meaningfully participate in ISBR because of the children's difficulties in language/communication, joint attention, and social reciprocity. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe an approach to support children with ASD to engage in ISBR to build oral language skills (e.g., vocabulary knowledge and comprehension) and ultimately to support later reading comprehension. The approach is RECALL: Reading to Engage Children with Autism in Language and Learning. This article describes the RECALL ISBR approach, explains how to implement RECALL, and provides information on additional enhancements that support social communication engagement.

Informational text (IT) is a type of nonfiction designed to convey information about the natural or social world. Reading IT with young children increases knowledge of content area vocabulary and concepts and helps children build the background knowledge for success with future reading. However, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may struggle to understand IT. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to discuss how young children with ASD can be supported to comprehend IT. Instructional strategies discussed include (a) providing physical and temporal access to IT, (b) enhancing comprehension of IT within the context of Interactive Shared Book Reading (ISBR); and (c) promoting child engagement during ISBR. The theme of the life cycle of a frog is used to illustrate how the instructional strategies can be used in a kindergarten classroom.

The United States may produce as much as 45% of its electricity using solar energy technology by 2050, which could require more than 40,000 km2 of land to be converted to large-scale solar energy production facilities. Little is known about how such development may impact animal movement. Here, we use five spatially explicit projections of solar energy development through 2050 to assess the extent to which ground-mounted photovoltaic solar energy expansion in the continental United States may impact land-cover and alter areas important for animal movement. Our results suggest that there could be a substantial overlap between solar energy development and land important for animal movement: across projections, 7-17% of total development is expected to occur on land with high value for movement between large protected areas, while 27-33% of total development is expected to occur on land with high value for climate-change-induced migration. We also found substantial variation in the potential overlap of development and land important for movement at the state level. Solar energy development, and the policies that shape it, may align goals for biodiversity and climate change by incorporating the preservation of animal movement as a consideration in the planning process.

Since 2009, the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute at the University of Guelph has operated a science shop (the Research Shop) where it carries out high-impact community-engaged scholarship by training and employing graduate students to conduct community-engaged research as a cocurricular activity. This study investigates the first 9 years of the program to determine its impacts on community partners and students. Findings suggest that the benefits experienced by both stakeholder groups are similar to those identified in existing literature on community-engaged research and science shops, with some additional findings unique to this model. This study also found multiple challenges that are not well documented in existing literature. Overall, the research found that both community partners and students experienced distinct benefits, alongside challenges that could be addressed. Further research is needed to contribute to the overall field of science shops, specifically in relation to the benefits and challenges experienced in different models.

Learning science is important for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as knowledge of science allows students to understand their natural world, and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is increasingly emphasized in schools. Reading to learn science is, therefore, a vital skill in today's schools for all students. Using a single-case reversal design, this study evaluated the effectiveness of Reading to Engage Children with Autism in Language and Literacy (RECALL; a shared reading intervention) combined with a concept map on the ability of young children with ASD to answer comprehension questions from science text. Two 5-year-old boys with ASD participated in this study. Results indicated that RECALL combined with a concept map was effective in increasing participants' correct responding to comprehension questions from science text. Implications for intervention and research are discussed.

Reading comprehension difficulties have been associated with poor vocabulary knowledge of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Research has shown that Dialogic Reading (DR) interventions may remediate these deficits. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two DR intervention protocols on the vocabulary knowledge of four preschoolers with ASD and four age-matched typically developing children. The first was RECALL (Reading to Engage Children with Autism in Language and Learning), which combines DR with evidence-based instructional support to enhance the learning of children with ASD. The second was Adapted Shared Reading (ASR), which consisted of DR question prompts and no additional support. Using a randomised ABAB phase-order within series design, eight participants were exposed to at least four RECALL and four ASR treatment phases. This design allows the comparison of two different conditions (A [ASR] and B [RECALL]). Despite both treatments being successful at teaching vocabulary to the eight participants, greater vocabulary gains were identified in the RECALL condition. Adaptations of shared reading and the use of RECALL in inclusive preschool scenarios are further discussed.

Cardiovascular disease disparities are shaped by differences in risk factors across racial and ethnic groups. Housing remains an important social determinant of health. The objective of this statement is to review and summarize research that has examined the associations of housing status with cardiovascular health and overall health. PubMed/Medline, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, US Census data, Cochrane Library reviews, and the annual Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics report from the American Heart Association were used to identify empirical research studies that examined associations of housing with cardiovascular health and overall well-being. Health is affected by 4 prominent dimensions of housing: stability, quality and safety, affordability and accessibility, and neighborhood environment. Vulnerable and underserved populations are adversely affected by housing insecurity and homelessness, are at risk for lower-quality and unsafe housing conditions, confront structural barriers that limit access to affordable housing, and are at risk for living in areas with substandard built environment features that are linked to cardiovascular disease. Research linking select pathways to cardiovascular health is relatively strong, but research gaps in other housing pathways and cardiovascular health remain. Efforts to eliminate cardiovascular disease disparities have recently emphasized the importance of social determinants of health. Housing is a prominent social determinant of cardiovascular health and well-being and should be considered in the evaluation of prevention efforts to reduce and eliminate racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities.