Department of Pre-school Education and Educational Design

The promotion of creativity should be an
integral part of all educational levels as it is
considered a crucial challenge and a
necessity for social and economic
competitiveness. The present study tried to
shed light on the inhibitors and barriers of
creativity fostering school Physical
Education settings. A qualitative approach
was employed in order to record Physical
Educators perceptions about the barriers
and the inhibitors they sense in their efforts
to promote creativity in class. Exploration
with a Thematic Content Analysis revealed
a total of 11 major barriers which were
encompassed in four theme categories.
Natural and educational environment and
resources, as well as Physical Educators
and students’ personality and qualifications
were surfaced. Fruitful discussion was
trying to provide a substantial assistance
toward educational policy and practical
implications.

Children with Down syndrome (DS) present language deficits in all linguistic domains and their language development lags behind that of typically developing children. However, their receptive language skills appear to be better than their productive in all linguistic domains. Research on bilingual children with DS is limited, but has shown that second language learning from an early age by children with DS has no impact on their first language development. In this research study, we examined receptive and productive first language skills of eight monolingual and eight bilingual children with DS. For the above purpose, a standardised language test, that measures the receptive and expressive language system, was administered to all participants. The results of our study showed that bilingual children with DS do not differ in their receptive and productive language skills from monolingual children with DS, indicating that bilingualism does not affect first language development in DS.

It is supported that intervention programs based on music therapy can enhance the linguistic skills of students with learning difficulties, and especially children with dyslexia. This is based on the assumption that there is an association between language and music skills. The present study aims at examining whether such a program can result in an improvement in linguistic skills of children with dyslexia, through the effect of music therapy on their Distinction of Graphs, Synthesis of Sounds and Distinction of sounds linguistic skills. For the purposes of this study, quantitative research method was chosen, using the methodological instrument ATHENA Test. The sample of the study consisted of 24 Greek elementary school children, aged between 5 and 8 years old, who have a diagnosis of dyslexia and have no prior musical training. These children formed two groups of students, the experimental and the control group. The results of the present study indicated that music therapy can help children with dyslexia concerning their ability in recalling words, but it may not be so efficient in their written-phonemic awareness. Overall, however, it was found that intervention programs based on music therapy can have a positive effect on improving the linguistic skills of children with dyslexia.

Dyslexic children often have significant deficits in verbal memory skills and exhibit lower skill levels in verbal memory tasks. Music therapy is considered as an educational strategy that seems to improve linguistic skills of people with educational needs conducted an intervention so as to find out if music therapy can be beneficial in verbal memory skills of children with dyslexia. For this research we chose the quantitative
research method, using the standardized test RAVLT (Rey Auditor
and the ATHENA Test. The sample of the research consisted of 26 children, from which 13 took part in music therapy programs in a speech therapy centre, whereas 13 consisted the control group. All the children were 5-12 years old. The results of the present showed children who have attended the music therapy group had better performance in verbal
learning in all words that have been set by the researcher. According to the results music therapy can enhance their short verbal memory skills.

Research has shown that there is a distinct delay in the linguistic area, including semantics, affecting both receptive and expressive language skills in Down syndrome (DS). This paper presents the results of an experiment conducted in order to investigate expressive and receptive semantic skills in ten children with DS and ten children with typical development (TD). For this purpose, two tasks that measure expressive and receptive vocabulary, subscales of a test standardized for the Greek
population, were given to both groups. Our results showed that both receptive and expressive semantic skills of children with DS were poorer than those of their typically developing counterparts and the performance in expressive semantics was correlated with that in receptive semantics in the DS group. However, when expressive semantics were compared to receptive semantics in DS they were found to be statistically significant poorer, delineating the deficits that exist in the expressive domain of language in DS.

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine if self-talk may affect the reading comprehension and knowledge on health education of students with mild mental retardation. The participants were 22 male and female adolescents with mild mental retardation and borderline intelligence, aged 12-22 years. They were randomly assigned to an experimental (N=15) and a control group (N=7). The experimental group participated in an intervention program, based on the psychological
technique of self-talk, aiming on improving reading comprehension skills and increasing knowledge on health education issues. After the intervention, the performance of the experimental group on reading comprehension tests and health education knowledge tests was significantly improved (p<.05), while in the control group, no performance change was noticed. These findings suggest that self talk can increase the reading comprehension and the knowledge of health education in
students with mild mental retardation.

Co-teaching strategies are important for the well being of adult students with borderline intelligencethat present poor language abilities, are found scientific illiterateand seem to play an important role in everyday reaction with their classmates. Moreover, adult education encourages alternative teaching styles in order to promote self expression and social inclusion. Research has proven that people that have dropped out school in adolescent and follow an adult program in second chance schools can benefit from co-teaching, as well as participating in an educational environment that offers safety and equality. In this research we investigated the learning outcomes of 22 adult students that participated for six months in an intervention programtitled "Invention-Innovation: Science and Culture Narratives", that included language expression abilities and physics learning skills. The results showed that there was an increase in their knowledge skills in both academic areas.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of emotional intelligence of educators in Second Chance Schools in the municipality of Thessaloniki. More specifically, the effects of age and gender on emotional intelligence were examined. Participants (N=45) completed a standardized questionnaire and some of them (N=6) participated in an interview. Results indicated that there is statistically important connection between emotional intelligence and sex (p.<.05) but there is not statistically important connection between emotional intelligence and age (p.>.05). Additionally, several relevant methodological and theoretical aspects were discussed and new directions for future research were yielded.

Η σημαντικότητα της αυτοαντίληψης, ο καθορισμός των δυνατοτήτων καθώς και η ψυχολογική και η κοινωνική αναγνώριση και αποδοχή των ατόμων με σωματικές αναπηρίες ή νοητική καθυστέρηση αποτελούν σημαντικό θέμα της διεθνούς βιβλιογραφίας και φαίνεται να έχουν απασχολήσει τα θέματα αυτά ιδιαιτέρως τους ερευνητές. Ψυχολογικές θεωρίες που έχουν αναπτυχθεί προκειμένου να ερμηνεύσουν τη διαδικασία υιοθέτησης στάσεων είναι η κοινωνικογνωστική θεωρία, η θεωρία της σχεδιασμένης συμπεριφοράς, η θεωρία των στόχων και η θεωρία της αυτοεκπληρούμενης προφητείας. Τα αίτια υιοθέτησης στάσεων της κοινωνίας αναζητώνται στην εκπαίδευση αλλά και στο καθημερινό περιβάλλον του ατόμου. Τέλος προτείνονται ενδεικτικές αλλαγές σε επίπεδο περιβάλλοντος και εκπαίδευσης.

Τα Σχολεία Δεύτερης Ευκαιρίας είναι ένα ευρωπαϊκό πρόγραμμα που προτάθηκε στο πλαίσιο της καταπολέμησης του κοινωνικού αποκλεισμού με στόχο την επανασύνδεση των εκπαιδευομένων με τα συστήματα εκπαίδευσης και κατάρτισης, τη διαμόρφωση θετικής στάσης προς τη μάθηση, την απόκτηση βασικών γνώσεων και δεξιοτήτων και την ενίσχυση της προσωπικότητάς  τους. Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας ήταν να διερευνηθεί εάν η συμμετοχή εκπαιδευομένων στο καινοτομικό, ομαδοσυνεργατικό περιβάλλον μάθησης μυθολογίας μέσω των κόμικς ασκεί επίδραση στις κοινωνικές δεξιότητές τους. Για τη μέτρηση της επίδρασης των κόμικς στις κοινωνικές δεξιότητες των εκπαιδευομένων χρησιμοποιήθηκε το ερωτηματολόγιο των Κοινωνικών Δεξιοτήτων  (SSQ-PU). Η έρευνα διήρκησε 20 διδακτικές ώρες και σε αυτή συμμετείχαν 15 εκπαιδευόμενοι του Σχολείου Δεύτερης Ευκαιρίας Κορδελιού Ευόσμου. Τα αποτελέσματα έδειξαν βελτίωση των κοινωνικών συμπεριφορών των συμμετεχόντων σε αυτή.

Σκοπός της παρούσας έρευνας ήταν να αξιολογήσει τη φυσική δραστηριότητα δύο ομάδων ατόμων με σύνδρομο Down (υψηλής και χαμηλής φυσικής δραστηριότητας) με τη χρήση βηματομέτρων σε διάστημα μίας εβδομάδας και να συσχετιστεί η καθημερινή φυσική δραστηριότητα με τη φυσική δραστηριότητα του Σαββατοκύριακου με βάση το συνολικό αριθμό των βημάτων και των συνολικών αερόβιων βημάτων. Στην έρευνα συμμετείχαν 27 άτομα με Σύνδρομο Down, 16 έως 44 ετών. Για τη μέτρηση της φυσικής δραστηριότητας χρησιμο-
ποιήθηκε το βηματόμετρο OMRON Walking Style Pro και για την επεξήγησή της το ερωτηματολόγιο PDPAR.
Από την ανάλυση διακύμανσης 2-way ANOVA φάνηκε σημαντική κύρια επίδραση της Ημέρας (p<.01,) και της Ομάδας (p<.001) στη συνολική φυσική δραστηριότητα, ενώ στα αερόβια βήματα η ανάλυση διακύμανσης 2-way  ANOVA έδειξε σημαντική κύρια επίδραση της Ομάδας (p<.05). Το ερωτηματολόγιο έδωσε πρόσθετες πληροφορίες σχετικά με το πότε και με ποιον έγινε η φυσική δραστηριότητα. Συμπερασματικά, είναι απαραίτητος ο εντοπισμός όλων των παραγόντων που συμβάλλουν στη φυσική δραστηριότητα των ατόμων με Σύνδρομο Down ώστε να οργανωθούν προγράμματα φυσικής δραστηριότητας στο σχολείο ή και έξω από αυτό, που θα συμβάλ-
λουν στη βελτίωση της φυσικής δραστηριότητας και κατ΄ επέκταση στη βελτίωση της ποιότητας ζωής των ατόμων αυτών.

Η  ανάγκη διερεύνησης του φαινομένου της διαφορετικής γλωσσικής επίδοσης των μαθητών/τριών από διαφορετικα γλωσσικά περιβάλλοντα, της επίδοσης δηλαδή των μαθητών/τριών από άλλες χώρες σε σχέση με τους γηγενείς μαθητές/τριες, αποτελεί καθημερινότητα για τις χώρες υποδοχής μεταναστών.  Στην παρoύσα εργασία θα παρoυσιαστoύν αρχικά εννoιoλoγικoί oρισμoί και θα αναδεχθεί ανασκoπικά η επίδoση των μαθητών/τριών μoνόγλωσσων- γηγενών και δίγλωσσων- αλλοδαπών. Επιπλέον θα αναφερθoύν oι πιθανoί παράγoντες πoυ επιδρoύν σε αυτήν, παράγοντες σχετικοί με τη γλώσσα, με τη χώρα υποδοχής, με την ψυχολογία του/της μαθητή/τριας και με τους γονείς του/της. Τέλoς, θα εξαχθούν συμπεράσματα.

This paper presents the results of an experiment we carried out in order to
investigate phonology in Down Syndrome (DS). Research has shown that during pre-school and school years, children with DS use phonological processes and sound patterns that are similar to those used by typically developing children but at a slower rate. In view of the above and given the paucity of research in the Greek language in children with DS, we conducted an experiment so as to investigate phonological skills in ten children with DS. We examined articulation, phonetic analysis, phonemic completion and phonemic distinction. Our results showed that children with DS present a phonological impairment in the Greek language.

Down syndrome is the most common known cause of intellectual disability and occurs in approximately 1 in 700 births. Language skills of children with DS are more severely affected than their nonverbal cognition. Expressive language skills are poorer than receptive ones, especially syntax which tends to be considerably delayed. Moreover, children with DS tend to make more grammatical errors than typically developing children. The purpose of this study is to examine whether morphosyntactic abilities of children with DS are poorer than the abilities of typically developing children, taking into consideration that research is extremely poor in this area and especially in the Greek language. For this purpose, 10 children with DS and 10 typically developing children have been examined in a 45 minute morphosyntactic abilities task. Our findings are in line with previous research, proving that expressive and receptive syntax is delayed and severely affected in children with DS.

In this paper we report the results of an experiment we carried out in order to inves-tigate expressive language in Down Syndrome (DS). Research has shown that dur-ing pre-school and school years, children with DS use expressive skills processes and sound patterns that are similar to those used by typically developing children. However, they eliminate these processes at a slower rate. In view of the above we conducted an experiment so as to investigate expressive language skills in forty five children with DS and forty five children with typical development in order to com-pare and contrast their language development. Our results showed that children with DS present more expressive language impairments in the Greek language than their typically developing counterparts.

This research focuses on language processing, and more specifically on semantic processing, in children with Down Syndrome (DS). It has repeatedly been documented that children with DS display severe deficits in all language domains, semantics among others, and especially in their expressive language. Therefore, our purpose was to detect possible differences between receptive and expressive language in the semantic domain in DS and to compare semantic processing, both receptive and expressive, of children with DS with that of children with typical development. For this purpose we examined two groups of children, a group of children with Down Syndrome (DS) and a group of children with typical development (TD), aged 4-7.11 years old. Our findings proved that children with DS scored lower than typically developing children in all semantic tasks, whether receptive or expressive and that their performance was lower in the expressive language tasks than the receptive ones.

Down Syndrome is the most common developmental disorder characterized by mild to moderate intellectual disability. Several studies have reported poor language and prosodic skills, phonological problems due to their deficits caused by intellectual disabilities. This research aims to study over time the expressive use of language in 10 children with Down Syndrome and in 10 children with typical development matched on their chronological age and nonverbal intelligence. We used t tests analyses and the results showed statistically significant development of the oral vocabulary skills in the children with typical development, but not in the children with Down Syndrome, with the typically developing children showing faster and better development in the oral vocabulary skills than the children with Down Syndrome.