Based on the data of the normative study of the Hong Kong test of specific learning difficulties in reading and writing, and the Test of visual-perceptual skills (non-motor) - Revised, 99 children aged between 6 and 10½ years were identified as children with dyslexia out of the normative sample of 690 children. By excluding 12 children known to score below average in IQ, 87 children, including 20 children not tested for IQ, could be regarded as children with dyslexia, yielding a prevalence rate of 12.6% and a boy:girl gender ratio of 1.6 to 1. The figures would become 9.7% and 2.0 to 1 if the 20 children were omitted from computation. However, gender imbalance could not be readily explained by gender differences in reading-related cognitive abilities, as there were only minor and subtle differences. Regression analyses to evaluate the relative contribution of different cognitive abilities to reading and writing suggested that orthographic knowledge and naming speed were most important among children with dyslexia. Implications of the findings and the need for early intervention are discussed.
[Copyright of Educational Studies is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03055690601068535]

This paper reports a questionnaire study conducted with a group of 87 pre-teenage children (age 11-12 years) in Hong Kong to show their vernacular perception and experience of maps before they began formal mapwork learning in their first year of secondary education. This study reveals major findings that these pre- teenage children see the main purpose of using maps is to find unfamiliar places and to locate them in most everyday situations. As a result, they like to deal with practical, real maps such as street maps and the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) transport maps where the above- mentioned practical map purpose can be achieved. Most of these pre- teenage children are aware of maps available in their surroundings. However, they may not be observant enough to notice or pay attention to reading them carefully. It is rather a matter of map awareness that puts these pre-teenage children into the two broad groups of map and non-map- users. It also revealed that even those pre-teenage children who claimed to be non- map-users demonstrated some intuitive superficial understanding of simple map concepts and elements. Teachers are strongly encouraged to tap into the intuitions and experiences possessed by pre-teenage children in order to develop their map interest further in geography lessons and to make the understanding of maps a practical life skill for them to master.
[Copyright of International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10382049908667586 ]

Reviews of teachers professional development show that it is a highly complicated area, in which it is difficult to offer a unified and comprehensive view of the growing development of teachers. This study looks into the development of teachers by tracking their practices in a problematic teaching area: 'learning through play'. Four Hong Kong kindergarten teachers participated in a qualitative study that investigated their implicit knowledge of teaching. The findings show that there is a close relationship between the informants' teaching approaches and their self-learning patterns. The result raises doubt about the staged developmental perspectives of teacher development. The significance of meta-learning ability, which is found to be an essential component for the professional development of teachers in a changing context, is revealed.
[Copyright of Teacher Development is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13664530701827764]

This study investigated the challenges and opportunities associated with the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICT) into the early childhood curriculum in Hong Kong kindergartens. Thirty-one principals completed questionnaires before they implemented a new curriculum initiative plan that involved the integrating of ICT into children's learning activities. They completed the same questionnaire and were interviewed within 1 month after they had implemented the curriculum. Findings indicated that the main problems were as follows: the low level of teachers' ICT competence, hardware and software problems, the lack of resources and technical support, and parental level of ICT competence. In-service training was regarded as the pivotal solution to these problems. The 5 levels of ICT transformation of the educational and learning processes (Mooij & Smeets, 2001) were evident in the participating schools. Most of the principals admitted that they were just "technology learners" (Yee, 1999), with regard to their information technology leadership. Sociocontextual accounts and implications of these findings are discussed.
[Copyright of Early Education & Development is the property of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15566935eed1703_7]

The author argues that, while the use of computers in early childhood education could help them adapt to a fast changing technological world and learn problem-solving techniques and decision-making processes, children might be deprived of the chances of socializing with other children. Therefore, the author further points out the kind of hardware and software of computers and whether preschool teachers were well trained and well prepared for using computers should be considered.

This cross-cultural study examines early childhood professionals' perceptions of their social status, working conditions, and public appreciation in seven countries/territories: Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Mexico, Peru, and the United States of America. One hundred eighteen participants, consisting of preschool and elementary school educators, program directors, child psychologists, and professors of early childhood education, responded to six questions through electronic, printed, and face-to-face contacts. The cross-cultural data revealed a high degree of agreement on these professionals' perceptions of their social standing, income, work responsibilities, and public appreciation. Results indicate that participants felt discouraged and underappreciated in their current circumstances and aspired to additional financial and emotional support, as well as greater respect from their governments and society.
[Copyright of Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10901020701366764]

Based on the data of a school-referred sample of Cantonese-speaking Chinese children who met the Hong Kong criterion of dyslexia, the authors estimated for developmental dyslexia of Chinese children aged between 6 and 10 in Hong Kong an incidence rate of 0.66 percent and a gender ratio of 3.29 boys to 1 girl over a four-year period. They also explored the differences in estimates based on this Hong Kong criterion that emphasizes cognitive markers with more conventional discrepancy- based criteria. In view of the possible biases in self-selection and underreporting in the data of the school-referred sample, the authors compared the figures with those derived from the sample of the normative study of the Hong Kong Test of Specific Learning Difficulties in Reading and Writing, which yielded an estimate of 9.7 percent in prevalence rate and boy-girl gender ratio of 2 to 1 over a one- year period. The differences in estimates based on the two samples and implications of the findings are discussed in light of the limitations of the study.
[Copyright of Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19404150802093695]