Reading Acquisition In Children Research Articles

Towards a model of word reading acquisition in children from low income backgrounds

The present study examined a six-component theoretical model of word reading acquisition in 449 Spanish-speaking children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Measures of phonological awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), vocabulary, letter name-sound knowledge, and parent education were obtained at the beginning of kindergarten and a measure of word reading at the end of grade 1. A path analysis was applied to test specific hypotheses. The approach revealed a conditional dependence structure between the components as follows: (1) vocabulary depends on parent education; (2) PA depends on vocabulary; (3) letter name-sound knowledge depends on PA; (4) letter name-sound knowledge explained 76% of the variance in word reading; (5) vocabulary indirectly influences word reading through PA and letter name-sound knowledge. Plausible interpretations of the results regarding early reading acquisition among children from low socioeconomic backgrounds are discussed.

Speech-Language Pathologists’ Orthographic Knowledge

This study quantified the orthographic knowledge (i.e., knowledge of spelling conventions) of school speech-language pathologists (SLPs). On average, SLPs ( N = 48) answered 65% of the questions correctly on a measure of orthographic knowledge. SLPs need better preparation in written language structure to support reading acquisition in children with language disorders.

A three-time point longitudinal investigation of the arcuate fasciculus throughout reading acquisition in children developing dyslexia

Although the neural basis of dyslexia has intensively been investigated, results are still unclear about the existence of a white matter deficit in the arcuate fasciculus (AF) throughout development. To unravel this ambiguity, we examined the difference in fractional anisotropy (FA) of the AF between children developing dyslexia and children developing typical reading skills in a longitudinal sample with three MRI time points throughout reading development: the pre-reading stage (5–6 years old), the early reading stage (7–8 years old) and the advanced reading stage (9–10 years old). Applying along-the-tract analyses of white matter organization, our results confirmed that a white matter deficit existed in the left AF prior to the onset of formal reading instruction in children who developed dyslexia later on. This deficit was consistently present throughout the course of reading development. Additionally, we evaluated the use of applying a continuous approach on the participants’ reading skills rather than the arbitrary categorization in individuals with or without dyslexia. Our results confirmed the predictive relation between FA and word reading measurements later in development. This study supports the use of longitudinal approaches to investigate the neural basis of the developmental process of learning to read and the application of triangulation, i.e. using multiple research approaches to help gain more insight and aiding the interpretation of obtained results.

Subcortical auditory neural synchronization is deficient in pre-reading children who develop dyslexia.

Auditory processing of temporal information in speech is sustained by synchronized firing of neurons along the entire auditory pathway. In school-aged children and adults with dyslexia, neural synchronization deficits have been found at cortical levels of the auditory system, however, these deficits do not appear to be present in pre-reading children. An alternative role for subcortical synchronization in reading development and dyslexia has been suggested, but remains debated. By means of a longitudinal study, we assessed cognitive reading-related skills and subcortical auditory steady-state responses (80Hz ASSRs) in a group of children before formal reading instruction (pre-reading), after 1year of formal reading instruction (beginning reading), and after 3years of formal reading instruction (more advanced reading). Children were retrospectively classified into three groups based on family risk and literacy achievement: typically developing children without a family risk for dyslexia, typically developing children with a family risk for dyslexia, and children who developed dyslexia. Our results reveal that children who developed dyslexia demonstrate decreased 80Hz ASSRs at the pre-reading stage. This effect is no longer present after the onset of reading instruction, due to an atypical developmental increase in 80Hz ASSRs between the pre-reading and the beginning reading stage. A forward stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that literacy achievement was predictable with an accuracy of 90.4% based on a model including three significant predictors, that is, family risk for dyslexia (R=.31), phonological awareness (R=.23), and 80Hz ASSRs (R=.26). Given that (1) abnormalities in subcortical ASSRs preceded reading acquisition in children who developed dyslexia and (2) subcortical ASSRs contributed to the prediction of literacy achievement, subcortical auditory synchronization deficits may constitute a pre-reading risk factor in the emergence of dyslexia.

Predictors of Early Reading Acquisition in Children of Low Socioeconomic Status

Abstract The aim of the present study was to identify the predictors of early-grade reading acquisition in monolingual speakers of a transparent language. Eighty students attending preschool (M = 5 years, SD = 0.40), first grade (M = 6 years, SD = 0.59) and second grade (M = 7 years, SD = 0.55) in a public institution participated in the study. All were evaluated with the Early Grade Reading Acquisition test, an ad hoc sociodemographic questionnaire and the language domain of the Child Neuropsychological Assessment battery. Multiple regression analysis showed that phonological awareness and years of education are the factors that explain reading performance of children in their early years of school. These findings highlight the importance of improving oral skills prior to early reading acquisition and contribute to enhancing the early reading skills of monolingual children with limited socioeconomic opportunities.

Reading Acquisition in Children: Developmental Processes and Dyslexia-Specific Effects.

Decreased activation to print in the left ventral, dorsal, and anterior pathways has been implicated in readers with dyslexia (DRs) but also is characteristic for typical beginning readers. Because most studies have compared DRs with their age-matched peers, the observed results could represent a dyslexia phenotype or a developmental delay. This study aimed to disentangle reading and dyslexia effects using 2 control groups matched for age and skill and a longitudinal design. Brain response for print was compared in DRs and typical readers (TRs) who, at the beginning of schooling (time point 1 [TP]; 6-7 years old), read on average 3 words per minute, as did DRs at TP1, but improved their reading to an average level, and advanced readers (ARs) who at TP1 read as well as DRs 2 years later (TP3; 8-9 years old). The TR and DR groups were tracked longitudinally to observe neurodevelopmental changes. At TP1, DRs did not differ from TRs. Over time, only TRs developed a neural circuit for reading in the left inferior frontal and fusiform gyri. At TP3, DRs exhibited hypo-activation in these areas compared with age-matched (TRs at TP3) and reading-matched (ARs at TP1) controls. At TP3, TRs showed hypo-activation in the left frontal and bilateral ventral occipital regions compared with ARs, but these effects were nonoverlapping with DR hypo-activations and are partly explained by IQ. Decreased activation of the left fusiform and inferior frontal gyri to print in DRs results from an atypical developmental trajectory of reading and cannot be explained solely by lower reading skills.

White matter properties and reading in children born preterm: a step forward.

This commentary is on the original article by Dodson et al. on pages 695–702 of this issue. Preterm birth seems to be increasing, with an estimated prevalence of 11% of all live births worldwide in 2010.1 Importantly, 31% of children born preterm present lifelong neurodevelopmental effects. Executive function and language/learning difficulties are common sequelae of preterm birth, and are associated with increased health care costs and educational needs. Reading skills are essential for educational progress, as they are the gateway to academic achievement and general knowledge. Together with previous work, the diffusion magnetic resonance study by Dodson et al.2 advances our understanding of the neural basis of this key learning difficulty in children born preterm. Firstly, their findings suggest that phonological awareness is similar in children born at term and preterm at the early stages of learning to read, and that in both groups this ability is supported by dorsal tracts. In view of their results, it would be interesting to explore the association between phonological awareness and white matter microstructure in tracts other than the left-hemisphere arcuate fasciculus in participants born preterm. Positive results might indicate the contribution of compensatory mechanisms that bring the performance of children born preterm up to the level of participants born at term. To address these questions, the use of a whole brain approach that does not require a priori selection of tracts of interest might provide new insights. Secondly, the authors report an association (which is moderated by prematurity) between fractional anisotropy of the right uncinate fasciculus and receptive and expressive language. Interestingly, the authors posit that the lack of association in their preterm sample might be because the uncinate fasciculus myelates late and is slow to develop. Given that participants were in the early stages of learning to read, it would be interesting to monitor their reading acquisition and its neural correlate to check this hypothesis. Additionally, to further understand the origin of reading difficulties in children born preterm and their neural basis, the results should be interpreted in light of studies reporting delayed event-related potentials and mismatch negativity responses to speech sounds in 3-month old children born preterm. It has been suggested that these measures can be used for the early identification of the risk of language impairment.3 One strength of this study is that both fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity results are reported. These measures are related but different, and so reporting both gives a fuller picture of the neural bases underlying pre-reading skills. Another important strength is that results are controlled for non-verbal intellectual abilities. It might be argued, however, that the basic neuropsychological processes that have been reported to be impaired in children born preterm, such as visual perception and attention,4 may underlie reading difficulties as well. In particular, accurate signalling of shifts of attention by the visual system seem to be a key ability underlying reading performance.5 Thus, the fact that these functions were not directly assessed may represent a limitation. Overall, the study provides novel insights into the similarities and differences of the neurobiology of pre-reading skills in children born preterm and at term. These insights help to explain the previously reported variations observed by this research group in the neurobiology of reading in older participants born at term and preterm. Future studies including children born moderate/late preterm are also warranted as this seems to be the most frequent type of prematurity.1 Finally, we strongly encourage: further research with larger samples; an exploration into the effects of being a pre-reader/reader; the use of a whole brain approach; and ideally a longitudinal follow-up. The information provided by these studies could be used to assist reading acquisition in children born preterm.

Six-year-olds' perception of home literacy environment and its influence on children's literacy enjoyment, frequency, and early literacy skills

Home literacy environment (HLE) makes an important contribution to children's reading acquisition in early years. Even though some research on children's perception exists, children's reports about HLE have been neglected. The present study focuses on N = 281 six-year-old's reports about HLE and its influences on literacy enjoyment, frequency, and early literacy skills. Parents' educational background was expected to predict children-perceived HLE. A positive impact of active HLE on literacy enjoyment and frequency were found. HLE also mediates the relation between parents' background and enjoyment. The importance of children's perspective on HLE regarding family literacy programs is discussed.

Brain bases of morphological processing in young children.

How does the developing brain support the transition from spoken language to print? Two spoken language abilities form the initial base of child literacy across languages: knowledge of language sounds (phonology) and knowledge of the smallest units that carry meaning (morphology). While phonology has received much attention from the field, the brain mechanisms that support morphological competence for learning to read remain largely unknown. In the present study, young English-speaking children completed an auditory morphological awareness task behaviorally (n = 69, ages 6-12) and in fMRI (n = 16). The data revealed two findings: First, children with better morphological abilities showed greater activation in left temporoparietal regions previously thought to be important for supporting phonological reading skills, suggesting that this region supports multiple language abilities for successful reading acquisition. Second, children showed activation in left frontal regions previously found active in young Chinese readers, suggesting morphological processes for reading acquisition might be similar across languages. These findings offer new insights for developing a comprehensive model of how spoken language abilities support children's reading acquisition across languages.

Clinical evidence of the role of the cerebellum in the suppression of overt articulatory movements during reading. A study of reading in children and adolescents treated for cerebellar pilocytic astrocytoma.

It has been suggested that the cerebellum is involved in reading acquisition and in particular in the progression from automatic grapheme-phoneme conversion to the internalization of speech required for silent reading. This idea is in line with clinical and neuroimaging data showing a cerebellar role in subvocal rehearsal for printed verbalizable material and with computational "internal models" of the cerebellum suggesting its role in inner speech (i.e. covert speech without mouthing the words). However, studies examining a possible cerebellar role in the suppression of articulatory movements during silent reading acquisition in children are lacking. Here, we report clinical evidence that the cerebellum plays a part in this transition. Reading performances were compared between a group of 17 paediatric patients treated for benign cerebellar tumours and a group of controls matched for age, gender, and parental socio-educational level. The patients scored significantly lower on all reading, but the most striking difference concerned silent reading, perfectly acquired by almost all controls, contrasting with 41% of the patients who were unable to read any item silently. Silent reading was correlated with the Working Memory Index. The present findings converge with previous reports on an implication of the cerebellum in inner speech and in the automatization of reading. This cerebellar implication is probably not specific to reading, as it also seems to affect non-reading tasks such as counting.

The role of nonspeech rhythm in Spanish word reading

Recent literacy research shows an increasing interest in the influence of prosody on literacy acquisition. The current study examines the relationship of nonspeech rhythmic skills to children's reading acquisition, and their possible relation to stress assignment in Spanish, a syllable-timed language. Sixty-six third graders with no reading difficulties were scored on measures of nonspeech rhythm, word-level decoding skill, reading fluency and reading with correct assignment of lexical stress. After controlling for verbal intelligence and working memory, hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that nonspeech rhythm predicted unique variance in reading fluency and correct stress assignment; it did not predict decoding skills. Given that Spanish is a syllable-timed as opposed to stress-timed language like English, the association between nonspeech rhythm, reading fluency and stress assignment found in our study suggests that nonspeech rhythm may be a universal factor in reading acquisition, independent of the type of linguistic rhythm.

Learning to Read in Spanish: Contributions of Phonological Awareness, Orthographic Coding, and Rapid Naming

During the past 2 decades, many respective reading processes have been delineated, and much is now known about reading acquisition in children. Most of this research has been completed using English-dominant subjects. As such, the literature focuses on an opaque orthography and aspects of learning to read in this context. In this study, predictors of early reading acquisition in a highly transparent language were researched. Phonological awareness, orthographic coding, and rapid naming tasks were administered to 57 native Spanish-speaking kindergarten children living in Colombia. Correlational analyses showed moderate relationships between all skills tasks and word reading and reading comprehension. Regression analyses showed that orthographic coding best predicted word and nonword reading, whereas naming tasks best predicted reading comprehension, although all measures were highly intercorrelated. Findings suggest that school psychologists must differently conceptualize assessment when working with Spanish language students because highly informative measures of English reading are not as relevant in Spanish.

Direction counts: A comparative study of spatially directional counting biases in cultures with different reading directions

Western adults associate small numbers with left space and large numbers with right space. Where does this pervasive spatial–numerical association come from? In this study, we first recorded directional counting preferences in adults with different reading experiences (left to right, right to left, mixed, and illiterate) and observed a clear relationship between reading and counting directions. We then recorded directional counting preferences in preschoolers and elementary school children from three of these reading cultures (left to right, right to left, and mixed). Culture-specific counting biases existed before reading acquisition in children as young as 3years and were subsequently modified by early reading experience. Together, our results suggest that both directional counting and scanning activities contribute to number–space associations.

Reading Acquisition and Phonological Awareness: Beyond the Segmental Level

Problem statement: Phonological awareness is a major contributor to reading development. While the literature has primarily focused on the segmental aspect of phonology, suprasegmental information, namely prosody, has been largely underexplored in comparison. Approach: This review focuses on recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies on the development of prosody sensitivity during early childhood and the influence of prosody on reading processes. Results: Overall, the literature highlights the importance of prosodic information, not only during reading acquisition in children, but also during silent reading in skilled readers. This contribution is independent of segmental phonology, but may influence the development of phonological awareness. Conclusion: The current findings open the door to the development of new reading assessment tools that can allow determining whether pre-literacy students are at risk for reading development difficulties.

The left occipitotemporal system in reading: Disruption of focal fMRI connectivity to left inferior frontal and inferior parietal language areas in children with dyslexia

Developmental dyslexia is a severe reading disorder, which is characterized by dysfluent reading and impaired automaticity of visual word processing. Adults with dyslexia show functional deficits in several brain regions including the so-called “Visual Word Form Area” (VWFA), which is implicated in visual word processing and located within the larger left occipitotemporal VWF-System. The present study examines functional connections of the left occipitotemporal VWF-System with other major language areas in children with dyslexia. Functional connectivity MRI was used to assess connectivity of the VWF-System in 18 children with dyslexia and 24 age-matched controls (age 9.7–12.5years) using five neighboring left occipitotemporal regions of interest (ROIs) during a continuous reading task requiring phonological and orthographic processing. First, the results revealed a focal origin of connectivity from the VWF-System, in that mainly the VWFA was functionally connected with typical left frontal and parietal language areas in control children. Adjacent posterior and anterior VWF-System ROIs did not show such connectivity, confirming the special role that the VWFA plays in word processing. Second, we detected a significant disruption of functional connectivity between the VWFA and left inferior frontal and left inferior parietal language areas in the children with dyslexia. The current findings add to our understanding of dyslexia by showing that functional disconnection of the left occipitotemporal system is limited to the small VWFA region crucial for automatic visual word processing, and emerges early during reading acquisition in children with dyslexia, along with deficits in orthographic and phonological processing of visual word forms.

Changes in letter sound knowledge are associated with development of phonological awareness in pre‐school children

Letter sound knowledge, which, together with phonological awareness, is highly predictive of pre‐school children's reading acquisition, derives from children's knowledge of their associated letter names and the phonological patterns of those names. In this study of 66 monolingual pre‐school children we examined whether phonological patterns between letter names and their associated sounds might be differentially associated with aspects of phonological awareness. Results suggest that rudimentary levels of phonological awareness may facilitate the learning of letter sound associations. However, more explicit phonological awareness appears to be linked bi‐directionally with letter sound knowledge with diverse name‐sound associations, with letter sound associations that do not follow regular patterns (e.g. ‘juh’ for ‘j’ and ‘huh’ for ‘h’) most closely associated with performance in more complex phoneme awareness tasks.

Ambient Noise and Cognitive Processes among Primary Schoolchildren

Although the evidence of adverse impacts of ambient noise exposure on reading acquisition in children is rather strong, a less consistent picture results from attention and memory studies in children chronically exposed to ambient noise levels. This study incorporated three cognitive measures in 4th-grade schoolchildren ( N = 123). The sample was carefully selected from a representative sample by stratification on residential noise and parental educational level. The two sociodemographically homogeneous samples differed only in their noise exposure range ( M = 46.1 Ldn vs. M = 62 Ldn). Individual testing took place in a mobile, sound-attenuated laboratory after prescreening for hearing loss. Chronic noise exposure was significantly related to both intentional and incidental memory. Recognition memory was also worse for the chronically noise-exposed children. No effects of chronic noise exposure were seen on visual search performance. These noise effects occur at lower, more typical noise levels as found in residential areas in Europe and North America in contrast to prior noise and cognition effects around airports and other loud noise sources.

Effects of orthographic transparency on reading and phoneme awareness in children learning to read in Wales.

The relationship between the development of reading skills and the consistency of the orthography (writing system) is investigated in a study that examines reading acquisition in children living in Wales. Performance of children learning to read Welsh (a transparent alphabetic orthography) on tests of reading and phoneme detection was compared with the performance of children learning to read English (an opaque alphabetic orthography). The children were tested during their second year of formal reading instruction at school when they were aged between 5 and 6 years, and again one year later. The children learning to read in Welsh performed significantly better at reading both real words and nonwords than children learning to read in English. The English readers made fewer phonologically based reading errors. The Welsh readers also performed better on a phoneme awareness task. These findings support the claim that children learn to read more quickly in a transparent orthography, and provide further evidence that the consistency of the orthography influences the initial adoption of different strategies for word recognition.

A multivariate model of early reading acquisition

How similar are the cognitive and linguistic profiles of those children who easily learn to read? How similar are the profiles of those children who have difficulty learning to read? Do the profiles of successful and less successful readers vary among children 5–10 years of age? These were the questions that guided this study. Six core profiles were identified on four fluid reasoning to comprehension knowledge constructs previously found to be both theoretically and empirically linked to children's reading acquisition: auditory processing, crystallized ability, processing speed, and short-term memory. Cluster analysis was used to develop this taxonomy and the six-cluster solution was supported through cross-validation. The internal and external validity of the resulting profiles was favorable, suggesting homogeneous within-cluster membership and clear separation among the six core profiles. A summary of the defining characteristics for each profile is provided. The performance of children comprising different profiles was investigated on four external reading outcomes. These comparisons were conducted for each of the six age groups comprising the sample (i.e., 5–10 years) to assess whether the importance of certain score configurations varied as a function of the reading tasks required of children learning to read and those who are already readers. Results indicated that certain profiles were associated with greater success on external measures of reading achievement than other profiles. Trends across ages and differences among age groups are described.

READING DIFFICULTIES, READING-RELATED SELF-PERCEPTIONS, AND STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING NEGATIVE SELF-BELIEFS

In this article, we review a number of studies on thedevelopmentofachievement-related self-system factors in relation to young children's reading acquisition. Reading self-concept, academic self-concept, and reading self-efficacy appear to develop in response to initial experiences in learning to read. For children who experience initial and ongoing success or difficulty in reading, development of relations between reading performance and self-system factors occurs within the first year of schooling. Our studies also show that phonological processing ability and letter-name knowledge at the outset of schooling not only predict subsequent reading performance but also academic self-concept and reading self-efficacy. Children who are deficient in phonological processing or state a preference for using text-level cues for identifying unfamiliar words in text rather than word-level information tend to develop difficulties in reading as well as negative reading-related self-perceptions. To overcome both skill deficiencies in reading and the negative reading- and achievement-related self-beliefsthat develop in response to reading difficulties, we maintain that attention to the development of word-level skills and strategies is essential. Inaddition, we advocate the use of attribution retraining methods, combined with appropriate skills training, for overcoming children's negative self-beliefs.