University of Jyväskylä

About: University of Jyväskylä is a education organization based out in Jyvaskyla, Finland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 8066 authors who have published 25168 publications receiving 725033 citations. The organization is also known as: Jyväskylän yliopisto & Kasvatusopillinen korkeakoulu.

Learning to read: English in comparison to six more regular orthographies

Abstract: Reading performance of English children in Grades 1–4 was compared with reading performance of German-, Dutch-, Swedish-, French-, Spanish-, and Finnish-speaking children at the same grade levels. Three different tasks were used: numeral reading, number word reading, and pseudoword reading. The pseudowords shared the letter patterns for onsets and rimes with the number words. The results showed that with the exception of English, pseudowords in the remaining orthographies were read with a high level of accuracy (approaching 90%) by the end of Grade 1. In contrast to accuracy, reading fluency for pseudowords was affected not only by regularity but also by other orthographic differences. The results highlight the need for a revision of English-based characterizations of reading development. The present study is an extension of Wimmer and Goswami’s (1994) comparative study of reading development in young English and German children. The main finding of Wimmer and Goswami was that 7-, 8-, and 9-year old English children had substantially more difficulties in a pseudoword reading task than German children did. Landerl’s (2000) replication supported Wimmer and Goswami’s (1994) findings: in comparison to English children, young German readers in first and second grade displayed a distinct advantage in their ability to read pseudowords with a high degree of accuracy. Another recent replication with a comparison of Spanish and Portuguese children was reported by Defior, Martos, and Cary (2002). Their results show that the pseudoword reading accuracy of Spanish and Portuguese children is relatively similar to the performance of German children and much better than that reported for English children in the aforementioned studies.

Predictors of developmental dyslexia in European orthographies with varying complexity

Abstract: Background: The relationship between phoneme awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), verbal short-term/working memory (ST/WM) and diagnostic category is investigated in control and dyslexic children, and the extent to which this depends on orthographic complexity. Methods: General cognitive, phonological and literacy skills were tested in 1,138 control and 1,114 dyslexic children speaking six different languages spanning a large range of orthographic complexity (Finnish, Hungarian, German, Dutch, French, English). Results: Phoneme deletion and RAN were strong concurrent predictors of developmental dyslexia, while verbal ST/WM and general verbal abilities played a comparatively minor role. In logistic regression models, more participants were classified correctly when orthography was more complex. The impact of phoneme deletion and RAN-digits was stronger in complex than in less complex orthographies. Conclusions: Findings are largely consistent with the literature on predictors of dyslexia and literacy skills, while uniquely demonstrating how orthographic complexity exacerbates some symptoms of dyslexia.

Neuromuscular and hormonal adaptations in athletes to strength training in two years

Abstract: Neuromuscular and hormonal adaptations to prolonged strength training were investigated in nine elite weight lifters. The average increases occurred over the 2-yr follow-up period in the maximal neural activation (integrated electromyogram, IEMG; 4.2%, P = NS), maximal isometric leg-extension force (4.9%, P = NS), averaged concentric power index (4.1%, P = NS), total weight-lifting result (2.8%, P less than 0.05), and total mean fiber area (5.9%, P = NS) of the vastus lateralis muscle, respectively. The training period resulted in increases in the concentrations of serum testosterone from 19.8 +/- 5.3 to 25.1 +/- 5.2 nmol/l (P less than 0.05), luteinizing hormone (LH) from 8.6 +/- 0.8 to 9.1 +/- 0.8 U/l (P less than 0.05), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) from 4.2 +/- 2.0 to 5.3 +/- 2.3 U/l (P less than 0.01), and testosterone-to-serum sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) ratio (P less than 0.05). The annual mean value of the second follow-up year for the serum testosterone-to-SHBG ratio correlated significantly (r = 0.84, P less than 0.01) with the individual changes during the 2nd yr in the averaged concentric power. The present results suggest that prolonged intensive strength training in elite athletes may influence the pituitary and possibly hypothalamic levels, leading to increased serum levels of testosterone. This may create more optimal conditions to utilize more intensive training leading to increased strength development.

The open dialogue approach to acute psychosis: its poetics and micropolitics.

Abstract: In Finland, a network-based, language approach to psychiatric car-& has emerged, called "Open Dialogue." It draws on Bakhtin's diaiogical principies (Bakhtin, 1984) and is rooted in a Batesonian tradition. Two levels of analysis, the poetics and the micropolitics, are presented. The poetics include three principl.es: "tolerance a/uncertainty," "dialogism," and "polyphony in social networks. A treatment meeting shotvs how these poetics operate togenerate u therapeutic dialogue. The micropolitics are the larger institutional practices that support this way of working and are part of Finnish Need-Adapted Treatment, Recent research suggests that