Introduction: Dyslexia, which is a learning disability that affects many aspects of children’s development, has a prevalence of 5 – 17%, worldwide. There are many negative perceptions towards children with dyslexia, and one of it is when there is lack of teachers’ knowledge about this problem. Aim: The objective of this study is to develop and discuss on a newly developed module on dyslexia, i.e. Dyslexia Health Education Module (DHEM) for preschool teachers, Method: This module is developed using the ADDIE model (A-Analysis, D-De- sign, D-Develop, I- Implement, E-Evaluate). The content of DHEM consists of general information for pre-school teachers about dyslexia, identification and intervention for dyslexia among children as well as its mental health implications. Results: The newly developed module was found to have a good content validity with a score of 0.7 when evaluated by eight expert panels from respective fields. The Cronbach alpha’s value for reliability test was 0.90. These findings suggest that this module is good, reliable and applicable. Discussion: It is hoped that with the development of DHEM, this would increase teachers’ knowledge on dyslexia among children in Malaysia, especially in recognizing at-risk children and consequently may lead to early intervention in managing the problem. This study also suggests that future longitudinal studies should be carried out using this module to ensure its effectiveness in the long run.
Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education 5(1): 22-34, 2016 - This study aims to
provide information to the team manager, especially at the university level to understand the
relationship between coaching style and mental toughness among athletes. The sample had
been selected from four Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) football team consisting of 88
players (n = 88: 22 players per team). The study used two instruments that had been modified
namely "Leadership Scale for Sports Questionnaire" (LSS-40), (Chelladurai & Salleh, 1980)
and "The Mental Toughness Questionnaire" (MTQ-48), (Clough, Earle & Sewell, 2002).
Research findings had identified UiTM’s football team scores has a moderately high level of
mental toughness for each dimension known as challenge, commitments, control assurance
and confidence. The study also found that the leadership style of training and instruction was
favored by UiTM’s footballer compared to the autocratic leadership style. Overall, the study
found a significant relationship between the leadership style with mental toughness especially
for dimension training and instruction. The findings also showed that there is a moderately
relationship between leadership style of democratic, social support and positive response to
the mental toughness dimension of confidence. As for the coaching style of training and
instruction also has a moderately relationship to the mental toughness dimensions of
challenge. Results of this study showed that the leadership style affects the level of mental
toughness UiTM’s football teams. Furthermore, the coaches need to figure out the best
coaching style in order to improve mental toughness among football team.
Inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) are two important brain regions for the default mode
network (DMN). IPL has been known to be involved in the control of attention and responding to given information while
ITG is involved in the processing and perception awakened by visual stimuli. These two key DMN regions are highly
interconnected as determined from white matter and fiber tracking studies. However, little is known about their nature
of connectivity while the brain is at rest, whether it is linear, bilinear or nonlinear and whether it is of mono- or bidirection. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) data were obtained from 7 healthy male and
female participants (average age = 20.7 ± 4.5 years) and were concatenated. Data were analyzed using statistical
parametric mapping (SPM12). Endogenous brain signals were modelled by Fourier series at 0.01 – 0.08 Hz. IPL-ITG
connected linear, bilinear and non-linear causal models in both hemispheres were constructed and estimated by means of
stochastic dynamic causal modelling (sDCM) and were compared using Bayesian Model Selection (BMS) for group studies.
Group fixed-effects results indicated that bilateral IPL and ITG exhibited high neural activity at a corrected significant
level (pFWE < 0.05). Neural activity was centered in ITG (-32/2/-38) in the left hemisphere but shifted to IPL (32/-38/50) in
the right hemisphere indicating different control center for both hemispheres. BMS selected bilinear model as the optimal
model for both hemispheres (model posterior probability ~ 1.0; log evidence > 1000) which has the best balance between
model accuracy and difficulty. The minimum free energy (F) = -4.41 × 104
and -4.09 × 104
for left and right hemisphere
bilinear models respectively. From BMS and DCM results, it was found that IPL and ITG do have a dynamic collaboration
between each other, a connectivity that belongs to a greater network when the brain is at rest. The intrinsic connections
between them are negative in both directions i.e. IPL and ITG mutually inhibited each other. The effective connectivity
was modulated by the endogenous fluctuation of the brain signal.
Introduction: The objective of the study is to identify the relationship between knowledge and the practice of mental training skill during competitions which requires the athletes to gain control and boost their confidence. The study significantly states that knowledge and the practice of mental training skill during competitions are able to increase the athletes’ ability to control their state of mind and raise their confidence. Methods: 115 students of Malaysian Sport School, Pahang Malaysia participated in the study. One set of Likert scale questionnaire, which consists of five parts is used as the study instrument. The study instrument is based on the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory (CSAI- 2), Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS) and Mental Toughness Questionnaire (MTQ-48). Results: The research findings demonstrate an average level of knowledge on mental training skill with reference to the athletes’ control of their mental state and their confidence. However, the significant relationship between the knowledge and the prac- tice of mental training skill with regards to the athletes’ mind control and confidence during competitions shows a highly positive and moderate relationship. Conclusion: Healthy mental training skill helps improve the athletes’ per- sonality during competition. Apart from prioritising on the physical element in training applied in the competitions, the main elements which become the athletes’ source of mental strength, level of control and confidence are able to overcome the mental challenges.
Introduction: Teachers play a vital role in identifying students with dyslexia. The acquisition of this knowledge will help teachers to classify students who are at risk of dyslexia. The objective of this study is to identify the level of teachers’ knowledge about dyslexia that comprises of its general knowledge, diagnosis, symptoms and treatments. A cross sectional study was done upon 138 preschool teachers. This research was conducted by using ‘Knowledge and Beliefs about Developmental Dyslexia’ questionnaire, which consists of 36 items with 3 Likert scale questions. Findings revealed that the level of general knowledge possessed by the pre-school teachers was relatively different based on the construct even though they have respectively received the Diploma in Early Childhood Education. On the same hand, most of the respondents were found to be having higher understanding on the general knowledge about dyslexia compared to their understanding on the symptoms, diagnosis and the treatments.