Although wealth of empirical researches have covered the impact of crucial, indispensable role reading skills play in the development of individuals’ mental faculties through the acquisition of knowledge in a particular language, scientific works on the assessment of the relationship(s) between pre-reading activities (consisting of games, puzzle solving, match making) and reading skills achievement remain depressingly scanty in Ghana. This study in the light of foregoing atmosphere explored how pre-reading activities facilitate pre-reading and reading skills among preschoolers with the use of randomized experimental control groups design which adopted pre and post-test of two classes, as well as observation guides to diagnose the problem of reading among the KG children in the two groups (control and treatment groups). The findings from these experimentations clearly portrayed the significant influence that pre-reading activities exert on the level of preschoolers reading skills achievements. Upon thorough analysis, and discussions predicated on the research outcome, it has been recommended that preschool educators incorporate levelappropriate pre-reading activities to enrich Preschool Education in Ghana.

Autistic individuals are commonly characterized by stereotypical behaviors, which affect their daily life, particularly social aspects. The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of dance movement-based intervention in reducing stereotypical behavior among autistic children. The study used an experimental-based approach, which recruited 30 autistic children purposively between 9 and 15 years old, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder- level 1 (ASD [1]) or autism spectrum disorder- level 2 (ASD [2]) from one autism center in Jordan. The intervention sessions were fifteen sessions and lasted 60 minutes. The dance movement and music were selected cautiously by professional therapists. The observation was the study tool for collecting data performed by both author and care providers. The results approved the effectiveness of the suggested intervention in reducing stereotypical behavior. The children presenting ASD (1) showed significantly less stereotypical behavior than those presenting ASD (2). The result also showed that the difference was significant and obvious from the first three sessions, but the best reduction was in the fourth session. However, the results refuted any difference in reduction of stereotypical behavior attributed to gender or age group of participants.

The main goal of this study is to examine the differences between school-aged children with different chronotypes who are only children or have a sibling in the household, regarding their sleeping habits and performance in intelligence tasks. The main measures used were Chronotype Questionnaire for Children and Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices. This study analysed 46 Portuguese children (Mean=8.67; SD=1.034, range 7-11 years of age) without sleep or educational/psychological disturbances, attending the first grade. The differences regarding chronotype and whether they were only children or not were examined. Then the performance of the sample in the Raven’s Progressive Matrices tests was evaluated.  The Mann-Whitney U test showed that ‘only’ children had higher fluid intelligence scores only in the afternoon. The chronotype did not differentiate this population and it is concluded that the type of household is the main moderator: Not being an only child was, in general, the best predictor in the test. Results suggest that different sleeping times (e.g., bedtime and wake-up time) and different chronotypes did not have different effects. However, having siblings proved to be an advantage regarding the child’s performance. Re-education of sleeping practices, especially examining the influence of co-sleeping in families, is essential for the intellectual development of children.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of online social support (OSS) on the psychological well-being (PWB) of caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The role of gender as a moderator variable in the relationship between online social support and psychological well-being was also investigated. A quantitative research design was used to collect data from 154 caregivers of children with ASD in Indonesia using PWB and OSS questionnaires adapted into Bahasa Indonesia. Data were analyzed using SMART PLS 3.0. Online social support influences the psychological well-being of caregivers of children with ASD. At the dimension level, several OSS dimensions also affect PWB. The effect of online social support on psychological well-being is the same in both the male and female groups. This means that male and female groups benefit equally from online social support. Future research should combine the study with a qualitative method to gather data from caregivers on how OSS affects their PWB in order to gain a holistic perspective. It could be a suggestion to policymakers to provide beneficial online social media for caregivers of children with ASD.

An earlier study found that assistive technology based on mobile applications significantly improved how social skills were taught to and learned by autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children. Nevertheless, the content of the existing mobile applications is inadequate for capturing the diversity of Malaysian culture, making it unacceptable for local use. Considering cultural norms is a factor in developing social skills in ASD children. It is therefore necessary to develop new assistive technology based on mobile applications that consider Malaysian cultural norms.  As a result, the Multimedia Interactive Social Skills Module (MISSM) application was created based on the Addie Model, which offers a systematic process for assisting in developing successful instructional material by fusing instructional theory with learning theory. The MISSM application is based on Malaysia's current social skills curriculum, which helps ASD children become socially competent. Hopefully, it will help them develop better social skills and achieve academically. Finally, local culture-sensitive material for assistive technology based on mobile applications would support Malaysia's adoption of a technology-based teaching and learning strategy and contribute to a better understanding of social skills.

The current understanding of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as an alteration of neurodevelopment requires deepening in the causes that originate it. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the presence of ASD in subjects aged 2-22 years and some related biological factors (sex/gender, age, and body mass index). A quasi-experimental study, with a cross-sectional retrospective design, was conducted on 209 subjects (n = 111 with ASD and n = 98 neurotypical) who were applied to the GARS-2 test in three areas: communication, social interaction, and stereotyped behaviours between 2016-2021. The risk factors identified are related to early age (OR = 2.27, 95% CI = 1.30-3.96), being male (OR = 2.67, 95% CI = 1.41-4.68) and having underweight (OR = 2.03, 95% CI = 1.09-3.80). Differences in stereotyped behaviours (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.05-1.14), functional communication (OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.08-1.17) and social interaction (OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.08-1.15), were found, being at risk as soon as scores related to ASD diagnosis. In sum, rigorous and multidimensional understanding analysis among specialists regarding people with ASD allows to evaluate the development of the set of alterations and key variables to provide support and assistance to their quality of life.

The study sought to determine the degree to which autistic children used language activities and their relevance to increasing verbal expression abilities in Jordanian special education institutions. The descriptive-analytical technique was used in the investigation. The two dimensions were utilized to represent the instrument through a set of 27 statements. The participants included 200 instructors from special education centers in Amman, Jordan's capital. The study's findings revealed a high level of application of linguistic activities among autistic children in Jordanian special education programs. Their ability to express themselves verbally improved significantly as well. The findings also revealed a statistically significant positive link between the extents to which autistic children applied language exercises and the improvement of verbal expression abilities in special education institutions.

It is known that the COVID-19 pandemic led to learning losses among students both domestically and internationally. Therefore, situational and casual factors were examined to discover and understand them so that learning loss could be reduced or recovered from. This research aimed to: (a) study learning loss situation; and (b) develop and examine the causal model of learning loss among lower secondary school students affected by the pandemic. The sample included 650 Grade 7-9 students selected by multi-stage random sampling. The data was collected using a self-developing questionnaire as a research instrument. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, ANOVA, and structural equation modeling (SEM) through the LISREL program. The findings were: (a) Lower secondary school students had an average academic achievement learning loss at the moderate level with the highest mean of learning loss in mathematics (M=3.012, SD=1.074), and an average learning characteristics learning loss at the medium level (M=2.824, SD=0.842). Several situational factors had a different effect depending on the school size with a statistical significance of .05.; and (b) the causal model showed the learning loss of grade 7-9 students was consistent with the empirical data (χ2=46.885, df=34, p= .069, GFI=0.991, AGFI=0.964, CFI=0.999, RMSEA=0.024, SRMR=0.014).