Search

Children from Latinx families bring rich and varied literacy practices and cultural models to their classrooms. When teachers are able to recognize these assets, they have opportunities to make their teaching more responsive and engaging. One way to learn about these assets is through relationship-building, assets-framed home visits. In this article, we remind teachers of the exciting breadth of family literacy practices, particularly with regard to Latinx families and children. We provide guidance for home visits that center and honor families, build relationships, and inform teachers. We conclude with suggestions for translating what teachers learn into richer literacy instruction.

When identifying parental socialization processes influencing children's reading achievement, building self-regulation is a potential underlying mechanism. Yet socialization (i.e., warmth, stress) of self-regulation may vary based on the sociocultural context of ethnic minority families. Using the ECLS-K: 2011 (N = 17,020; M[subscript Age] = 73.43 mos, SD = 4.48 mos), we explored: (RQ1) Do kindergarten approaches to learning (ATL), a composite of self-regulation behaviours in the classroom context, mediate the association between parental warmth and stress and first grade reading? and (RQ2) Is mediation moderated by race/ethnicity (White, Black, Hispanic, Asian)? ATL mediated the association between parental warmth and stress and reading, such that parental warmth contributed positively to reading through higher ATL, and parental stress contributed negatively to reading through lower ATL. However, the lack of moderation suggests that the adaptiveness of parental warmth and maladaptiveness of parental stress for children's reading through ATL may be similar across race/ethnicity. Findings inform intervention and practice targeting children's school readiness.

Wordless picturebooks provide opportunities for both families and teachers to engage with narrative texts beyond the confines of a particular language. In this ethnographic study, the researchers examined how one multilingual family interacted with a wordless picturebook across time. They observed shifts in who engaged with the reading; evidence of sense-making as the mother, older sister, and younger sister engaged with the book; scaffolding the mother and older sister provided for the younger sister as her telling of the story became more sophisticated; and intimacy and humor. These observations may have implications for classroom teachers who are interested in using wordless picturebooks to support culturally and linguistically diverse learners. The authors conclude with suggestions for incorporating wordless picturebooks into classroom practice in ways that may be welcoming and productive for students from diverse backgrounds.

Through in-home ethnographic observations of three multilingual immigrant families' shared book reading, we identified recurring literacy practices in the home in which mothers, older siblings, and younger children participated during the reading. We found that families engaged in context-sensitive and cooperative shared reading practices, wherein decoding tended to be the focus. This practice--which we call transcultural decoding--involved multidirectional language socialization practices and occurred across languages, and older family members contributed both expertise and restrictive conceptions of reading. This work suggests the importance of (a) acknowledging the major focus on decoding during shared reading in families, and reconceptualizing that work as complex and nuanced, particularly across languages and cultures, and (b) considering siblings as cultural and linguistic mediators in family literacy practices.

This article synthesizes multiple studies that we have conducted on language and literacy practices among Latinx siblings at home, and identifies implications for teaching. Examples from micro-ethnographic discourse analyses provide rich vignettes of sibling interactions within Mexican and Central American immigrant households to illustrate how siblings engage in complex negotiations as they language together at home, in English and Spanish. Older siblings provided unique scaffolds for younger children's learning and development in ways that demonstrated broad and flexible expertise, but these practices also reflected the complex social and linguistic circumstances in which immigrant-origin Latinx children live. Findings suggest that teachers can play active roles in supporting language and literacy development inside and outside classrooms.

Sphingolipids function as membrane constituents and signaling molecules, with crucial roles in human diseases, from neurodevelopmental disorders to cancer, best exemplified in the inborn errors of sphingolipid metabolism in lysosomes. The dihydroceramide desaturase A4-dihydroceramide desaturase 1 (DEGS1) acts in the last step of a sector of the sphingolipid pathway, de novo ceramide biosynthesis. Defects in DEGS1 cause the recently described hypomyelinating leukodystrophy-18 (HLD18) (OMIM #618404). Here, we reveal that DEGS1 is a mitochondria-associated endoplasmic reticulum membrane-resident (MAM-resident) enzyme, refining previous reports locating DEGS1 at the endoplasmic reticulum only. Using patient fibroblasts, multiomics, and enzymatic assays, we show that DEGS1 deficiency disrupts the main core functions of the MAM: (a) mitochondrial dynamics, with a hyperfused mitochondrial network associated with decreased activation of dynamin-related protein 1; (b) cholesterol metabolism, with impaired sterol O- acyltransferase activity and decreased cholesteryl esters; (c) phospholipid metabolism, with increased phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylserine and decreased phosphatidylethanolamine; and (d) biogenesis of lipid droplets, with increased size and numbers. Moreover, we detected increased mitochondrial superoxide species production in fibroblasts and mitochondrial respiration impairment in patient muscle biopsy tissues. Our findings shed light on the pathophysiology of HLD18 and broaden our understanding of the role of sphingolipid metabolism in MAM function., Introduction Sphingolipids (SLs) are fundamental components of cellular membranes and bioactive signaling molecules that are constituted by a sphingoid base backbone coupled to a fatty acyl chain. Ceramide (Cer) serves [...]

Background/Context: Latino English language learners (ELLs) comprise a rapidly growing portion of the student population, and much empirical attention has been devoted to supporting their English language and literacy proficiency. Less is known about how to support Latino ELLs' social-emotional needs. Latino ELLs face the dual challenge of learning English and academic content simultaneously; they also may face stigma, anti-immigration sentiment, and deficit perspectives from teachers and peers. Consequently, they may be in especial need of support from their teachers. Research Question: This study addresses the question, How do effective teachers show support within upper elementary classrooms with varying levels of English language proficiency? Research Design: We employed a multiple and comparative case study approach to answer this question, using videotaped English language arts lessons from the Measures of Effective Teaching data set. We compared how teachers demonstrate supportiveness in three types of fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms: (1) high-ELL and high-gains; (2) no-ELL and high-gains; and (3) high-ELL and low-gains. Conclusion/Recommendations: We observed that only high-ELL, high-gains teachers showed supportiveness in the following distinct ways--through contingent and effusive praise, by describing the relevance of content, and by advancing relationships with students. We discussed why these demonstrations of supportiveness may be important, particularly for Latino ELLs. We conclude with ideas for future research and practical implications for teachers and teacher preparation programs.

Current approaches to supporting students in the transition to elementary school fail to meet the needs of Latinx immigrant children and their families in the United States. Typical approaches place the responsibility on families to help their children adapt to the expectations of their teacher, classroom, and school without recognizing the specific barriers to participation faced by Latinx immigrant parents. In this article, we describe these barriers and consider the ways community‐based practice can support and prioritize co‐constructed partnerships among teachers, schools, parents, and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Recent studies have implicated acetyl-l-carnitine as well as other acylcarnitines in depression. To our knowledge, no untargeted metabolomics studies have been conducted among US mainland Puerto Ricans. Objectives: We conducted untargeted metabolomic profiling on plasma from 736 participants of the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study. Methods: Using Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis, we identified metabolite modules associated with depressive symptomatology, assessed via the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale. We identified metabolites contributing to these modules and assessed the relationship between these metabolites and depressive symptomatology. Results: 621 annotated metabolites clustered into eight metabolite modules, of which one, the acylcarnitine module, was significantly inversely associated with depressive symptomatology (β = − 27.7 (95% CI (− 54.5—0.8); p = 0.043). Several metabolite hub features in the acylcarnitine module were significantly associated with depressive symptomatology, after correction for multiple comparisons. Conclusions: In this untargeted plasma metabolomics study among mainland Puerto Rican older adults, acylcarnitines, as a metabolite module were inversely associated with depressive symptomatology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students' academic achievement is the result of the interplay between person-level and contextual factors (R. R: Greene, 2014; D. E. Hunt, 1975). Students perform better when classroom characteristics support their characteristics. The authors examine whether student perceptions of two classroom characteristics (care and control) fit with two Latino student characteristics (English language learner status and grit) in relation to their academic achievement. Using a sample of fourth- and fifth-grade Latino students from the Measures of Effective Teaching dataset (n = 3,272), the authors conducted a series of nested regression models with two- and three-way interactions between student characteristics and student perceptions of classroom characteristics. Findings revealed that grit is most strongly associated with Latino English language learners' English/language arts achievement when students perceived that teachers used high levels of care and control. We conclude with implications for practitioners.

Elevated serum prolactin concentrations occur in inherited disorders of biogenic amine metabolism because dopamine deficiency leads to insufficient inhibition of prolactin secretion. This work from the International Working Group on Neurotransmitter Related Disorders (iNTD) presents the results of the first standardized study on levodopa‐refractory hyperprolactinemia (LRHP; >1000 mU/L) and pituitary magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities in patients with inherited disorders of biogenic amine metabolism. Twenty‐six individuals had LRHP or abnormal pituitary findings on MRI. Tetrahydrobiopterin deficiencies were the most common diagnoses (n = 22). The median age at diagnosis of LRHP was 16 years (range: 2.5–30, 1st–3rd quartiles: 12.25–17 years). Twelve individuals (nine females) had symptoms attributed to hyperprolactinemia: menstruation‐related abnormalities (n = 7), pubertal delay or arrest (n = 5), galactorrhea (n = 3), and decreased sexual functions (n = 2). MRI of the pituitary gland was obtained in 21 individuals; six had heterogeneity/hyperplasia of the gland, five had adenoma, and 10 had normal findings. Eleven individuals were treated with the dopamine agonist cabergoline, ameliorating the hyperprolactinemia‐related symptoms in all those assessed. Routine monitoring of these symptoms together with prolactin concentrations, especially after the first decade of life, should be taken into consideration during follow‐up evaluations. The potential of slow‐release levodopa formulations and low‐dose dopamine agonists as part of first‐line therapy in the prevention and treatment of hyperprolactinemia should be investigated further in animal studies and human trials. This work adds hyperprolactinemia‐related findings to the current knowledge of the phenotypic spectrum of inherited disorders of biogenic amine metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of inborn errors of neurotransmission has been mostly focused on monoamine disorders, GABAergic and glycinergic defects. The study of the glutamatergic synapse using the same approach than classic neurotransmitter disorders is challenging due to the lack of biomarkers in the CSF. A metabolomic approach can provide both insight into their molecular basis and outline novel therapeutic alternatives. We have performed a semi‐targeted metabolomic analysis on CSF samples from 25 patients with neurogenetic disorders with an important expression in the glutamatergic synapse and 5 controls. Samples from patients diagnosed with MCP2, CDKL5‐, GRINpathies and STXBP1‐related encephalopathies were included. We have performed univariate (UVA) and multivariate statistical analysis (MVA), using Wilcoxon rank‐sum test, principal component analysis (PCA), and OPLS‐DA. By using the results of both analyses, we have identified the metabolites that were significantly altered and that were important in clustering the respective groups. On these, we performed pathway‐ and network‐based analyses to define which metabolic pathways were possibly altered in each pathology. We have observed alterations in the tryptophan and branched‐chain amino acid metabolism pathways, which interestingly converge on LAT1 transporter‐dependency to cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB). Analysis of the expression of LAT1 transporter in brain samples from a mouse model of Rett syndrome (MECP2) revealed a decrease in the transporter expression, that was already noticeable at pre‐symptomatic stages. The study of the glutamatergic synapse from this perspective advances the understanding of their pathophysiology, shining light on an understudied feature as is their metabolic signature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a theoretical framework that recognizes the potential of promotive and inhibitive effects on children's development, this study explored child-, family-, classroom-, and school-level factors as predictors of Latinx (N = 4,590) students' early elementary science achievement. Research Findings: Employing a path modeling approach with ECLS-K:2011 data, we found that child factors were both positively (early reading, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and being older) and negatively (having a disability, being assessed in Spanish) associated with first-grade science achievement and gains between first and second grades. Family factors were also positively (higher parental education and family income) and negatively (children with foreign-born parents or who spoke Spanish at home) associated with initial science achievement but were unrelated to achievement gains. Frequency of teaching science, use of Spanish for instruction, and attending a school in the first grade with a larger percentage of Latinx children were associated with initial science achievement, while use of Spanish for instruction in first grade and whether the school made AYP in first grade predicted change in science through second grade. Policy or Practice: Results have implications for U.S. education policy, uncovering potential levers of change in supporting early science achievement among Latinx children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We utilize a within-group framework to understand the association between childcare type and the language-use and vocabulary of second-generation Latino immigrant children. The sample was drawn from a study of a suburban/rural immigrant community to study the role of home experiences on the early language and literacy of young Latino preschoolers (N = 77). We found that Latino families were more likely to use parental care (67%) than other types of childcare. We also found that children in parental care are more likely spoken to in English by household member, and children in parental care had lower English and Spanish vocabulary scores on average than children attending other types of childcare setting. We highlight factors that situate the results within the experiences that families face as they navigate an early education context with limited community and institutional supports for children's Spanish language development within formal and informal care settings.

This study uses the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort to examine the influence that teachers and classrooms have on children's short- and long-term reading achievement trajectories throughout the elementary school years. The analytic sample in the 1st grade is 16,604 children nested within 5,029 teachers, the 3rd-grade sample includes 14,281 children nested within 6,023 teachers, and the 5th-grade sample includes 11,233 children nested within 4,734 teachers. Children's previous teacher and classroom experiences are associated with a small but long-term influence on children's reading achievement, explaining 5% to 10% of variability in student achievement at later time points. In contrast, the measures of concurrent teacher characteristics and qualifications, as well as concurrent instructional practices, used in this study were inconsistently associated with reading achievement in 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades.

Teachers need more clarity about effective teaching practices as they strive to help their low-achieving students understand mathematics. Our study describes the instructional practices used by two teachers who, by value-added metrics, would be considered "highly effective teachers" in classrooms with a majority of students who were English learners. We used quantitative data to select two fifth-grade classrooms where students, on average, made large gains on a mathematics achievement test, and then examined teaching practices and contextual factors present in each classroom. Participants included two teachers from a mid-Atlantic district and their students who were 67% English learners and 68% economically disadvantaged. We found that the use of multiple representations of mathematics concepts, attention to vocabulary building, individual and group checks for understanding and error analysis were prevalent practices in both high gains classrooms. Also, class sizes ranged from 12-19 students. Discussion focuses on whether observed practices are aligned with recommended teaching practices for English learner students.

Teachers of elementary mathematics face multiple, convergent demands. These demands include supporting the growing population of English language learners (ELLs) and facilitating mathematical discussions across relevant curricular contexts. The authors used a comparative case study to examine how two teachers attempt to facilitate discussions while enacting a Calendar Math curriculum, in Grade 4 classrooms with high concentrations (>50%) of ELLs. The authors found that these teachers' use of Calendar Math did not provide a supportive context for conceptually based discussions. However, teachers did support ELLs in mathematical discussions by including display questions, elaborating student responses, modeling the use of mathematical vocabulary use, and use of self-talk. Teachers differed with regard to how often they elaborated responses, used vocabulary, the amount of teacher speech and the length of lessons. We discuss what these practices may mean for ELLs.