A dislexia de desenvolvimento é uma dificuldade específica de aprendizagem da leitura e escrita que condiciona a forma como o indivíduo se percepciona e como se relaciona com os seus pares nos mais diversos contextos desde educacionais até familiares. No sentido de avaliar as consequências emocionais e sociais decorrentes de um diagnóstico de dislexia de desenvolvimento, foram efectuados duas entrevistas, orientadas por inquéritos construídos para o efeito, a uma criança portuguesa e ao seu Encarregado de Educação, resultante de um estudo de caso, de carácter longitudinal. Os resultados comprovaram a necessidade de uma avaliação da dislexia efectuada precocemente, o que permite, por sua vez, uma intervenção adequada, no sentido de combater o insucesso escolar. Verifica-se ainda ser fundamental alertar professores e profissionais da educação para esta dificuldade de aprendizagem no sentido de evitar situações de discriminação, como as que identificamos neste estudo.

Schools have been responding to the ongoing digital transformation, which requires continuous self-reflection and decision-making skills from teachers in the inclusion of new digital technologies in the teaching and learning process. In the present study, descriptive measures were used to understand how 140 teachers, in a school group, perceived their digital competences through the Check-in Questionnaire (Study 1). A school group is a Portuguese organisational unit, constituted by different schools, catering to different age groups, managed by a single director. Study 2 addressed how this specific school group organised teacher training courses, considering the results of Check-in Questionnaire, and the scope of the National Digital Transition Plan. Interviews, in which data content analysis was applied, were undertaken with seven teacher instructors, selected to implement digital training. The results of Study 1 revealed that most teachers are positioned at level 2, an intermediate level, with no differences in age or years of service. In Study 2, instructors revealed that the proficiency level assigned in the Check-in Questionnaire did not always correspond to a teacher’s real digital skills, identifying this as one of the obstacles to achieving the initial training aims. The goal of the training was for these professionals to feel committed to their educational context and understand what is intended in the inclusion of digital skills in the classroom. The relevance of this study relates to the current context, which places education and teachers at the centre of a digital agenda focused on the development of digital skills, thus generating new pedagogical practices, while accompanying the process from the initial assessment to the implementation of training in the National Digital Transition Plan.

Writing is a foundational skill throughout school grades. This study analyzed the development of different levels of written language (word, sentence, and discourse) and explored the relationship between these levels and writing performance. About 95 Portuguese students from two cohorts—Grades 4–7 (n = 47) 6–9 (n = 48)—were asked to produce a descriptive text two times, with a 3-year interval. The produced texts were used to assess spelling, syntactic correctness and complexity, and descriptive discourse as well as text length and quality. The main results showed that there were improvements from Grades 4 to 7 and 6 to 9 in word- and sentence-level skills, along with increases in some dimensions of the descriptive discourse. Moreover, the older cohort performed better than the younger cohort in terms of spelling, syntactic complexity, and text quality, but not in terms of syntactic correctness, one dimension of the descriptive discourse, and text length. Regression analyses showed that writing performance was predicted by word and sentence levels in the younger cohort only, and by discourse-level variables in both cohorts. Overall, despite indicating a generalized growth in writing skills throughout schooling, this study also highlighted the areas that may need additional attention from teachers, mainly in terms of the descriptive features.

Age discrimination is prevalent in society and has significant, far-reaching effects on individual distress. Additionally, loss of energy and fatigue are natural aspects of aging that can further potentiate psychological distress (depression, stress, and anxiety). Although the effects of ageism have been extensively studied, the moderating role of subjective vitality in the relationship between age discrimination and psychological distress has received far less attention. A total of 792 Portuguese participants from three distinct age groups (18–39, 40–59, and 60+) participated in this cross-sectional study. Data were collected through a structured self-report questionnaire, which included measures of perceived ageism, subjective vitality, stress, depression, and anxiety. Multivariate analyses of variance and moderated regression analyses were performed on the data. While an increased perception of positive ageism was found throughout the life cycle, results also indicated the highest levels of perceived negative ageism, anxiety, and depression among younger and older participants. Perceived ageism, both negative and positive, was positively connected to dimensions of psychological distress. Further, the effect of perceived negative ageism on stress and anxiety depends on the level of subjective vitality. The practical implications of the results to diminish the negative impacts of ageism are discussed.