When a child learns to write Arabic, he develops a preference for the patterns of the Arabic letters and even a preference for connected writing

This is according to a study conducted in the laboratory for cognitive research in the field of reading and learning, led by Dr. Hitam Taha at the Academic College for the Training of Teaching Staff in Sakhnin, which conducts master's studies in learning disabilities, with a specialization in diagnosis and intervention led by Dr. Hitam Taha 

Among Arabic Kindergarten children, a preference for orthographically acceptable patterns in Arabic is already developing, and even with a tendency to prefer connected patterns that have a relatively high statistical frequency, and in first grade this preference is clear. This is according to a study conducted in the laboratory for cognitive research in the field of reading and learning, led by Dr. Hitam Taha at the Academic College for the Training of Teaching Staff in Sakhnin.

The college conducts master's studies in learning disabilities, specializing in diagnosis and intervention, and according to Dr. Taha, there is an emphasis on cognitive research as an integral part of the program itself.

The laboratory for cognitive research in the field of reading and learning is an important corner of the master's degree program in learning disabilities and emphasizes the research activity among the students as part of fulfilling their obligations to receive the master's degree.

Dr. Taha is considered one of the leading researchers in Israel in the field of studying the psychology of reading in the Arabic writing system alongside his occupation as a learning disabilities specialist. His research team is engaged in conducting studies examining the effect of the unique characteristics of the Arabic script on the visual process of recognizing written words both among normal learners and among those with learning disabilities. Alongside this, another group is engaged in cognitive research examining statistical learning processes that affect the process of acquiring reading in Arabic. Statistical learning is the process of learning the frequency of repeated occurrence of an event.

"Statistical learning in children may affect language learning in general and written language learning in particular. For example, English-speaking children tend to prefer writing letters from left to right, since most letters in English are oriented this way. This type of statistical thinking is found to influence the occurrence of unusual letter reversal errors in English such as writing b instead of d or writing Ͻ instead of c. "

"Prominent orthographic features of the writing system that repeat themselves with high frequency may influence the orthographic preference processes of children. This assumption was examined in the current study regarding the orthographic preference of native speakers in the pre- and beginning stages of reading in Arabic. In a study conducted as part of the cognitive laboratory at Sakhnin College, it was found that among Arabic kindergarten children, a preference for orthographically acceptable patterns in Arabic is already developing, and even with a tendency to prefer connected patterns that have a relatively high statistical frequency. Such a preference was found to be significant among first grade children. The research findings show that there is apparently a statistical learning process that affects orthographic preference already at a pre-reading age among Arabic speakers."

Dr. Taha emphasizes that some of the studies that run in his laboratory try to examine the consequences of health problems among children such as asthma and allergic diseases on the cognitive development of children when recently we were able to reach interesting findings on the subject and which are in the process of scientific publication. The research findings in this area show that children with severe asthma exhibit difficulties in the field of executive cognitive function such as the ability to manage attention and working memory compared to the performance of healthy children. Dr. Taha explains that it is known that learning difficulties are more common among children with severe asthma and that the finding that highlights the difficulty at the level of executive functioning may explain the source of learning difficulties among this population.

A research company is a developing company

Dr. Taha states that he greatly enjoys his work within the laboratory he is developing and emphasizes that he feels a great obligation towards the Arab society in Israel in terms of the research mission and therefore sees the success of the laboratory operating from an academic institution in the Arab society as an important foundation in the development of research in the Arab society in Israel. A researching society is a developing society, emphasizes Dr. Taha, and every academic publication places us in the international consciousness from a research and scientific point of view, which is of course very important.