TY - JOUR A1 - Moraske, Svenja A1 - Penrose, Anna A1 - Wyschkon, Anne A1 - Kohn, Juliane A1 - Rauscher, Larissa A1 - von Aster, Michael G. A1 - Esser, Günter T1 - Prävention von Rechenstörungen T1 - Prevention of Dyscalculia BT - Kurz- und mittelfristige Effekte einer Förderung der mathematischen Kompetenzen bei Risikokindern im Vorschulalter BT - Short-Term and Intermediate Effects of Stimulating Numerical Competencies for Children at Risk in Preschool JF - Kindheit und Entwicklung N2 - Ziel ist die Überprüfung der kurz- und mittelfristigen Wirksamkeit einer vorschulischen Förderung des Mengen- und Zahlenverständnisses bei Kindern mit einem Risiko für die Entwicklung einer Rechenstörung. Es wurden 32 Risikokinder mit einer Kombination aus den Förderprogrammen Mathematik im Vorschulalter und Mengen, zählen, Zahlen im letzten Kindergartenjahr von den Erzieherinnen trainiert und mit 38 untrainierten Risikokindern verglichen. Hinsichtlich der kurzfristigen Wirksamkeit zeigten sich positive Trainingseffekte auf die numerischen Leistungen im letzten Kindergartenjahr. Es ließen sich keine signifikanten mittelfristigen Trainingseffekte auf die Rechenleistungen im zweiten Halbjahr der 1. Klasse finden. Das eingesetzte vorschulische Präventionsprogramm leistete danach einen wichtigen Beitrag zur kurzfristigen Verbesserung der mathematischen Basiskompetenzen. N2 - A slew of studies has shown that training programs teaching numerical competencies have positive short-term effects on mathematical performance. The results for the intermediate effects are not consistent and there are only a few studies on this issue. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the short-term and intermediate effects of a preschool training program stimulating numerical competencies for children at risk of developing dyscalculia (<= 10th percentile). During the last kindergarten year, 32 children at risk were trained with a combination of the intervention Mathematik im Vorschulalter and Mengen, zahlen, Zahlen by their kindergarten teachers, who were trained and supervised. Contents of the preschool training were: counting, number knowledge up to 10, comprehension of quantity concept, visual differentiation, spatial ability, simple arithmetic operation, handling of symbols, realizing abstract-logical correlations, and identifying cause-effect relations. The training lasted 11 weeks and took place twice a week (session duration = 30-40 min). Children who participated in at least 50% of the sessions were included. The control group consisted of 38 untrained children at risk. For measuring numerical competencies in kindergarten, a subtest of the instrument Basisdiagnostik Umschriebener Entwicklungsstorungen im Vorschulalter - Version III (BUEVA-III) was used, and for measuring mathematical performance the test Deutsche Mathematiktest fur erste Klassen (DEMAT 1+) was used. Before the training there were no group differences between the training and control group regarding mathematical performance and overall intelligence. The training showed positive short-term effects for numerical competencies in the last kindergarten year (medium effect size). While trained children could significantly improve their mathematical competencies to an average level (from 34 to 41 t-value points), the performances of the untrained children stayed below average. Unfortunately, there were no significant intermediate effects for mathematical performance in the second half of the first grade. Regarding the diagnosis of dyscalculia as defined by the ICD-10, it was not possible to gather a sufficiently large sample in the first grade fulfilling the criteria to test differences between training and control groups. Methodological limitations of this study were the missing random allocation to treatment conditions, a large drop-out rate, and long testing periods. The preschool training that was used to stimulate numerical competencies contributed significantly toward improving numerical competencies in the short term. Further investigations will determine the long-term effects of the training in the second and third grade. This is particularly important because dyscalculia occurring from the second grade on is a stable phenomenon. KW - developmental dyscalculia KW - numerical competence KW - prevention KW - risk KW - specific developmental disorder KW - Rechenstörung KW - Zahlen- und Mengenverständnis KW - Prävention KW - Risiko KW - Umschriebene Entwicklungsstörung Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1026/0942-5403/a000242 SN - 0942-5403 SN - 2190-6246 VL - 27 IS - 1 SP - 31 EP - 42 PB - Hogrefe CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kucian, Karin A1 - Zuber, Isabelle A1 - Kohn, Juliane A1 - Poltz, Nadine A1 - Wyschkon, Anne A1 - Esser, Günter A1 - von Aster, Michael G. T1 - Relation Between Mathematical Performance, Math Anxiety, and Affective Priming in Children With and Without Developmental Dyscalculia JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - Many children show negative emotions related to mathematics and some even develop mathematics anxiety. The present study focused on the relation between negative emotions and arithmetical performance in children with and without developmental dyscalculia (DD) using an affective priming task. Previous findings suggested that arithmetic performance is influenced if an affective prime precedes the presentation of an arithmetic problem. In children with DD specifically, responses to arithmetic operations are supposed to be facilitated by both negative and mathematics-related primes (= negative math priming effect). We investigated mathematical performance, math anxiety, and the domain-general abilities of 172 primary school children (76 with DD and 96 controls). All participants also underwent an affective priming task which consisted of the decision whether a simple arithmetic operation (addition or subtraction) that was preceded by a prime (positive/negative/neutral or mathematics-related) was true or false. Our findings did not reveal a negative math priming effect in children with DD. Furthermore, when considering accuracy levels, gender, or math anxiety, the negative math priming effect could not be replicated. However, children with DD showed more math anxiety when explicitly assessed by a specific math anxiety interview and showed lower mathematical performance compared to controls. Moreover, math anxiety was equally present in boys and girls, even in the earliest stages of schooling, and interfered negatively with performance. In conclusion, mathematics is often associated with negative emotions that can be manifested in specific math anxiety, particularly in children with DD. Importantly, present findings suggest that in the assessed age group, it is more reliable to judge math anxiety and investigate its effects on mathematical performance explicitly by adequate questionnaires than by an affective math priming task. KW - developmental dyscalculia KW - mathematics KW - affective priming KW - calculation KW - arithmetic KW - anxiety KW - gender KW - children Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00263 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Millenet, Sabina A1 - Laucht, Manfred A1 - Hohm, Erika A1 - Jennen-Steinmetz, Christine A1 - Hohmann, Sarah A1 - Schmidt, Martin H. A1 - Esser, Günter A1 - Banaschewski, Tobias A1 - Brandeis, Daniel A1 - Zohsel, Katrin T1 - Sex-specific trajectories of ADHD symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood JF - European child and adolescent psychiatry : offical journal of the European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry N2 - Reports of current ADHD symptoms in adults with a childhood diagnosis of ADHD are often discrepant: While one subgroup reports a particularly high level of current ADHD symptoms, another reports—in contrast—a very low level. The reasons for this difference remain unclear. Although sex might play a moderating role, it has not yet been examined in this regard. In an epidemiological cohort study from birth to young adulthood, childhood ADHD diagnoses were assessed at the ages of 4.5, 8, and 11 years based on parent ratings. Sex-specific development of ADHD symptoms was analyzed from the age of 15 to 25 years via self-reported ADHD symptoms in participants with (n = 47) and without childhood ADHD (n = 289) using a random coefficient regression model. The congruence between parent reports and adolescents’ self-ratings was examined, and the role of childhood ADHD diagnosis, childhood OCC/CD, and childhood internalizing disorder as possible sex-specific predictors of self-reported ADHD symptoms at age 25 years was investigated. With regard to self-reported ADHD symptoms, females with a childhood ADHD diagnosis reported significantly more ADHD symptoms compared to females without childhood ADHD and males with and without ADHD throughout adolescence and young adulthood. In contrast, males with childhood ADHD did not differ from control males either at age 15 or at age 25 years. Only in females did a childhood diagnosis of an externalizing disorder (ADHD and CD/ODD) predict self-reported ADHD symptoms by age 25 years. Our findings suggest that self-reports of young adults with a childhood diagnosis of ADHD are influenced by sex. Specifically, females with childhood ADHD report increased levels of ADHD symptoms upon reaching adulthood. To correctly evaluate symptoms and impairment in this subgroup, other, more objective, sources of information may be advisable, such as neurophysiological measures. KW - ADHD KW - Sex KW - Self-report KW - Longitudinal study Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-018-1129-9 SN - 1018-8827 SN - 1435-165X VL - 27 IS - 8 SP - 1067 EP - 1075 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Holz, Nathalie E. A1 - Boecker-Schlier, Regina A1 - Jennen-Steinmetz, Christine A1 - Hohm, Erika A1 - Buchmann, Arlette F. A1 - Blomeyer, Dorothea A1 - Baumeister, Sarah A1 - Plichta, Michael M. A1 - Esser, Günter A1 - Schmidt, Martin A1 - Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas A1 - Banaschewski, Tobias A1 - Brandeis, Daniel A1 - Laucht, Manfred T1 - Early maternal care may counteract familial liability for psychopathology in the reward circuitry JF - Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience N2 - Reward processing is altered in various psychopathologies and has been shown to be susceptible to genetic and environmental influences. Here, we examined whether maternal care may buffer familial risk for psychiatric disorders in terms of reward processing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging during a monetary incentive delay task was acquired in participants of an epidemiological cohort study followed since birth (N = 172, 25 years). Early maternal stimulation was assessed during a standardized nursing/playing setting at the age of 3 months. Parental psychiatric disorders (familial risk) during childhood and the participants’ previous psychopathology were assessed by diagnostic interview. With high familial risk, higher maternal stimulation was related to increasing activation in the caudate head, the supplementary motor area, the cingulum and the middle frontal gyrus during reward anticipation, with the opposite pattern found in individuals with no familial risk. In contrast, higher maternal stimulation was associated with decreasing caudate head activity during reward delivery and reduced levels of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the high-risk group. Decreased caudate head activity during reward anticipation and increased activity during delivery were linked to ADHD. These findings provide evidence of a long-term association of early maternal stimulation on both adult neurobiological systems of reward underlying externalizing behavior and ADHD during development. KW - maternal care KW - ADHD KW - ventral striatum KW - fMRI KW - resilience KW - aggression Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsy087 SN - 1749-5016 SN - 1749-5024 VL - 13 IS - 11 SP - 1191 EP - 1201 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER -