Reading Difficulties Research Articles

Evaluation of online text-based information resources of gynaecological cancer symptoms.

Gynaecological cancer symptoms are often vague and non-specific. Quality health information is central to timely cancer diagnosis and treatment. The aim of this study was to identify and evaluate the quality of online text-based patient information resources regarding gynaecological cancer symptoms. A targeted website search and Google search were conducted to identify health information resources published by the Australian government and non-government health organisations. Resources were classified by topic (gynaecological health, gynaecological cancers, cancer, general health); assessed for reading level (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook, SMOG) and difficulty (Flesch Reading Ease, FRE); understandability and actionability (Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool, PEMAT, 0-100), whereby higher scores indicate better understandability/actionability. Seven criteria were used to assess cultural inclusivity specific for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; resources which met 3-5 items were deemed to be moderately inclusive and 6+ items as inclusive. A total of 109 resources were identified and 76% provided information on symptoms in the context of gynaecological cancers. The average readability was equivalent to a grade 10 reading level on the SMOG and classified as 'difficult to read' on the FRE. The mean PEMAT scores were 95% (range 58-100) for understandability and 13% (range 0-80) for actionability. Five resources were evaluated as being moderately culturally inclusive. No resource met all the benchmarks. This study highlights the inadequate quality of online resources available on pre-diagnosis gynaecological cancer symptom information. Resources should be revised in line with the recommended standards for readability, understandability and actionability and to meet the needs of a culturally diverse population.

Peer-Mediated Initial Reading Intervention Strategies for Students with Initial Reading Difficulties

Peer-Mediated Initial Reading Intervention Strategies for Students with Initial Reading Difficulties

On the Dynamics of Inferential Behavior while Reading Expository and Narrative Texts.

Inference plays a key role in reading comprehension. This study examines changes in inferential behavior while reading different genres. The inferential behavior of 28 students with reading disabilities (RDs) and 44 students without RDs was quantified while they read expository and narrative texts. First, the average rates of inference attempts and correct inferences were measured during reading. Then, the same rates were measured separately during early and late reading to see if there was a change in inferential behavior. The results show that the change in inferential behavior depends on the genre. While reading the expository text, both groups showed no significant change in their inference making. In contrast, while reading the narrative text, both groups showed higher rates of inference attempts, and only the students without RD showed a significant increase in correct inferences. The implications of these findings for the design of more engaging and effective reading programs are discussed.

A study of easy-to-read adaptations in climate communication: a corpus analysis

AbstractAccess to clear and scientifically verified information is crucial to understand the scale of the challenge of the climate crisis, allowing policymakers, governments, and individuals to better respond to it. However, for some, including people with cognitive disabilities as well as individuals who have difficulty reading, climate science can be difficult to understand with complex sentence structures and jargon obscuring important environmental information. The aim of this paper is to assess the main linguistic barriers to information about the climate crisis for people with cognitive disabilities and reading difficulties. Using the examples of the Greater London Authority’s Environment Strategy Executive Report and the Northern Ireland Executive Discussion Document on a Northern Ireland Climate Change Bill, and their adaptations into Easy-to-Read as our corpus, we will examine the different morphosyntactic and lexical elements of each text to determine their overall level of complexity, such as sentence structure or vocabulary. Our results show that both Easy-to-Read versions were generally easier to understand than the standard versions. However, the Northern Ireland Easy-to-Read text was more syntactically complex with longer and more complicated sentence structures, owing to its function as a consultation document. We conclude that the main access barriers in the Northern Ireland Easy-to-Read text are related to its morphosyntactic elements, a conclusion supported by our manual analysis of the standard text. More generally, the lexical aspects of both Easy-to-Read texts showed positive results, which suggests that they may be more easily simplified compared to morphosyntactic aspects. However, more systemic and contrastive research is required to confirm our findings, in addition to user testing with people with cognitive disabilities and individuals who have difficulty reading.

Exploring the distribution and cognitive profiles of poor readers across varying levels of reading difficulty: implications for identification and support

BackgroundThis study explored the impact of different cut‐off points used to identify children with reading difficulties on the distribution of these children across the three poor reader groups predicted by the simple view of reading (dyslexia, specific comprehension difficulty and mixed difficulty). Additionally, the study investigated whether the cognitive profiles of these poor reader groups remained consistent across varying levels of reading impairment.MethodsThis study included 209 primary school children from New Zealand, in Years 4–6 and aged 8–10 years, who experienced reading comprehension difficulties. Using a two‐step cluster analysis, participants were assigned to one of three poor reader groups: dyslexia, specific comprehension difficulty (SCD) and mixed difficulty. We examined the distribution of children across these groups at eight levels of reading comprehension difficulty and conducted strengths and weaknesses profiles at four levels of reading ability across 14 tests that assessed a range of reading‐related skills. Additionally, we compared the performance of children in these groups who performed above and below the 10th percentile on a reading comprehension assessment across these tests.ResultsThe results showed that the proportion of children assigned to each group varied across the reading levels, with children at the lower end of the reading comprehension continuum more likely to exhibit the mixed difficulty profile than the SCD and dyslexia profiles. Overall, the research found that dyslexia, SCD and mixed difficulty profiles could be identified at all levels of reading comprehension difficulty, though weaknesses in their reading‐related skills increased as reading comprehension difficulties also increased.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that struggling readers demonstrate distinct cognitive profiles across all levels of reading ability. These results have important implications for identifying and supporting struggling readers, as well as enhancing our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of reading difficulties. The possible relationship between the results obtained in this study and tiered models of reading support is discussed.

A longitudinal study of the efficacy of the Cellfield reading intervention in a South African context

ABSTRACT The Cellfield reading intervention is based on the multi-deficit theory of reading difficulties and addresses several foundation skills of reading simultaneously. Existing research has confirmed that the Cellfield intervention leads to improvement in reading skill directly following the intervention, but little data exist to determine the long-term efficacy of Cellfield. The present study investigated the long-term efficacy of the Cellfield intervention in a group of South African children. Fifty-two struggling readers were assessed via two standardised tests (Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests and Gray Oral Reading Test). Of the 52 readers, 41 underwent the Cellfield intervention, while 11 did not. Children were assessed on six reading variables before the intervention and directly following the intervention (treatment group). Both groups were re-assessed on the same variables at least a year after the intervention ended. Statistical analyses showed that advances in the treatment group directly after the intervention were maintained in the long term.

Four Strategies for Supporting Students With Dyslexia in Solving Mathematics Word Problems

Solving mathematics word problems requires skills from multiple domains, including efficient word-decoding skills, text comprehension, problem solving, and arithmetic. Word problems can be especially difficult for students with dyslexia (i.e., word-level reading disability), causing frustration for students and teachers. This article discusses the complex process of solving word problems and outlines four strategies for supporting the co-development of skills in word-problem solving and reading for students with dyslexia: (a) adapt word problems for readability and support word reading; (b) teach students to recognize word-problem types; (c) explicitly teach word-problem specific vocabulary; and (d) integrate writing through student-generated word problems.

Some Measures to Develop Literary Competence for Secondary School Students of Ethnic Minority in the Northern Mountainous Area of Vietnam

Developing literary competence for ethnic minority students is a necessary requirement of education today. Due to linguistic characteristics and socio-economic conditions, ethnic minority students encounter many difficulties in reading and creating texts. Therefore, Philology teachers need to be active, responsible, and dedicated in the process of organizing teaching activities. Depending on the students and physical conditions, teachers need to be flexible and creative in choosing and applying appropriate teaching methods and forms to help ethnic minority students practice and develop literary capacity with the following skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Improving Critical Thinking by Using Technology in the Learning Process

Improving Critical Thinking by Using Technology in the Learning Process

Assessment of adults with low literacy skills: a review of methods

The paper reviews the methods for assessing different components of reading skills in adults with reading difficulties, along with functional reading skills. We are particularly interested in the assessment methods available to researchers and practitioners, developed predominantly in the research context, and not available solely in English. We discuss the large-scale international study, PIAAC, as an example of a framework for such assessments. Furthermore, we cover the following types of assessment tools: (1) self-assessment questionnaires, probing into comprehension difficulties and reading habits; (2) measures of print exposure, such as author recognition tests, correlating with other reading-related skills; (3) measures of word recognition and decoding, including reading aloud of words and pseudowords, as well as silent lexical decision tasks; (4) fill-in-the-blank tasks and sentence reading tasks, measuring predominantly local comprehension, entangled with decoding skills; (5) comprehension of longer reading passages and texts, focusing on functional texts. We discuss comprehension types measured by tests, text types, answer formats, and the dependence problem, i.e., reading comprehension tests that can be solved correctly without reading. Finally, we tap into the new ideas emerging from the AI systems evaluation, e.g., using questions generated from news articles or Wikipedia or asked directly by search engines users. In the concluding section, we comment on the significance of incorporating background information, motivation, and self-efficacy into the assessment of adult literacy skills.

What can writing-process data add to the assessment of spelling difficulties?

Spelling difficulties are commonly associated primarily with spelling errors. However, it is not uncommon for spelling challenges to transform the whole writing process into a formidable struggle. This paper delves into the exploration of whether and to what extent analyses of children’s writing processes can enhance our understanding of their difficulties, potentially contributing to the assessment of spelling challenges. We focused particularly on the degree of hesitation within words and the ability to detect and correct spelling errors among children with and without reading and spelling difficulties, as well as how these processes impact the quality and lexical diversity of their texts. Additionally, we sought to contribute to disentangling the influence of spelling and decoding abilities on these processes. A cohort of 47 children, aged 10–13, participated in the study, comprising 16 typically developing children, 16 with predominantly spelling difficulties, and 15 with both reading and spelling difficulties. Our analysis encompassed their spelling performance in both standardized tests and task-oriented writing samples, as well as an examination of their pausing and revision behaviour. As expected, we found robust correlations between the children’s spelling test scores and the proportions of spelling errors in their texts. Furthermore, our findings indicated that children encountering spelling difficulties exhibited a reduced ability to detect and correct errors compared to their peers without such challenges. Additionally, they displayed a slightly higher tendency to experience word-internal interruptions, aligning with prior research. The children who also had reading difficulties produced fewer words and processed words more slowly compared to children in both the other groups. Intriguingly, process data did not reliably predict text characteristics, suggesting that dysfluent writing may not significantly detriment the overall quality of the text, contrary to our initial expectations based on prevailing writing development models. Nevertheless, the study revealed considerable individual variation, with some participants demonstrating a high degree of struggling and dysfluency, resulting in poorer text outcomes, but also others whose struggling processes led to better outcomes. We posit that the crucial aspect lies in identifying these individuals within a classroom context and gaining insights into their processes to provide them with appropriate, formative feedback and adequate writing tools to facilitate their writing.

Motor Adaptation Deficits in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder and/or Reading Disorder.

Procedural learning has been mainly tested through motor sequence learning tasks in children with neurodevelopmental disorders, especially with isolated Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) and Reading Disorder (RD). Studies on motor adaptation are scarcer and more controversial. This study aimed to compare the performance of children with isolated and associated DCD and RD in a graphomotor adaptation task. In total, 23 children with RD, 16 children with DCD, 19 children with DCD-RD, and 21 typically developing (TD) children wrote trigrams both in the conventional (from left to right) and opposite (from right to left) writing directions. The results show that movement speed and accuracy were more impacted by the adaptation condition (opposite writing direction) in children with neurodevelopmental disorders than TD children. Our results also reveal that children with RD have less difficulty adapting their movement than children with DCD. Children with DCD-RD had the most difficulty, and analysis of their performance suggests a cumulative effect of the two neurodevelopmental disorders in motor adaptation.

Reading Difficulties in Individuals with Homonymous Visual Field Defects: A Systematic Review of Reported Interventions.

Reading difficulties are amongst the most commonly reported problems in individuals with homonymous visual field defects (HVFDs). To be able to provide guidance for healthcare professionals considering offering reading training, researchers in this field and interested individuals with HVFDs, this systematic review aims to (1) provide an overview of the contextual and intervention characteristics of all published HVFD interventions and (2) generate insights into the different reading outcome measures that these studies adopted. A search on PsycINFO, MEDLINE and Web of Science was conducted up to February 2, 2023. All intervention studies for HVFD in which reading was measured were included. Data was collected about the intervention type, session duration, number of sessions, the intensity, duration, circumstance of the interventions, country in which the intervention was studied and reading measures. Sixty records are included, describing 70 interventions in total of which 21 are specifically reading interventions. Overall, adjusted saccadic behaviour interventions occur most in the literature. A wide range within all intervention characteristics was observed. Forty-nine records reported task-performance reading measures, and 33 records reported self-reported reading measures. The majority of task-performance measures are based on self-developed paragraph reading tasks with a time-based outcome measure (e.g. words per minute). Future research could benefit from making use of validated reading tests, approaching the measurement of reading mixed-methods and providing participants the possibility to supply outcomes relevant to them.

Assessing an Instructional Level During Reading Fluency Interventions: A Meta-Analysis of the Effects on Reading

The current study meta-analyzed 27 effects from 21 studies to determine the effect assessment of text difficulty had on reading fluency interventions, which resulted in an overall weighted effect size ( ES) = 0.43 (95% CI = [0.25, 0.62], p < .001). Using reading passages that represented an instructional level based on accuracy criteria led to a large weighted effect of ES = 1.03, 95% CI = [0.65, 1.40], p < .01), which was reliably larger ( p < .05) than that for reading fluency interventions that used reading passages with an instructional level based on rate criteria (weighted ES = 0.29, 95% CI = [0.07, 0.50], p < .01). Using reading passages based on leveling systems or those written at the students’ current grade level resulted in small weighted effects. The approach to determining difficulty for reading passages used in reading fluency interventions accounted for 11% of the variance in the effect ( p < .05) beyond student group (no risk, at-risk, disability) and type of fluency intervention. The largest weighted effect was found for students with reading disabilities ( ES = 1.14, 95% CI = [0.64, 1.65], p < .01).

Assessing the Causes of Undergraduate Management Students’ Reading Difficulties

Reading is a vital skill that everyone must develop. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the major causes of management students’ reading comprehension difficulties at Rift Valley University. For this study, descriptive research and a mixed research approach were employed. One hundred twenty-one samples were selected for the survey. A questionnaire and a classroom observation were used to collect data. SPSS version 26 was employed for the analysis of inferential statistics. The result identified the significant factors affecting students’ reading comprehension. These factors are a lack of good teaching methods, a lack of practice, a limited number of reading activities, uninteresting reading activities, and a lack of knowledge of reading strategy. Teachers teaching methodology and reading activities are the most determinant factors that affect students’ reading comprehension. The results of an analysis of variance (ANOVA) that includes multiple comparisons among "mother tongue," "national language," and "English language." that the p-values show less than 0.05 which provides strong evidence that there was a significant difference among the groups. Besides the result of the correlation analysis reveals that majority of pairwise correlation coefficients are high and positive. Mobile device is suggested as an effective tool which is used to improve students’ reading skills.

DIFFERENTIATING E-LEARNING CONTENT IN ESL COURSES TO MEET SPECIAL NEEDS OF STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

Dyslexia is a special need more than a reading difficulty considered along with the notion of language aptitude regarded as a cluster of cognitive factors related to language learning. This paper reports on a study that focused on special learning needs of students with reading and writing difficulties or dyslexia who take English as a compulsory course at the institutions of tertiary education in Russia. The study was guided by understanding that differentiating the content, the process, the product, and the learning environment can be effective for achieving the educational goals of students struggling with foreign language learning. It involved 320 tertiary education students who took an online self-study English language course with differentiated content, to identify their special learning needs and difficulties in English language learning. The Learning Management System analytics was conducted, and the results of engagement and success rates of the students completing the tasks with or without differentiated content were compared. The findings of the study demonstrate students’ higher engagement and success rates when working with differentiated content since it provides options for completion, choosing one’s way to present the results, and to complete the course assignments.

Profiling reading strategies used by Grade 10 English First Additional Language learners in two selected high schools in KwaZulu-Natal

In order to address learners’ reading difficulties, several researchers recommend the development of their reading profiles. To this end, South Africa is no exception. Many South African based researchers are of the view that designing and analysing learners’ reading profiles should be seen as a wise move towards fixing South African learners’ reading challenges. The study sought to profile the reading strategies that Grade 10 English First Additional Language (EFAL) learners used more and least frequently. The idea was to make teachers aware of their learners’ strengths and weaknesses with regard to reading. The study was quantitative in nature and a survey design was followed. A reading strategies questionnaire was administered to 60 Grade 10 EFAL learners who were purposively selected from two high schools. The mean and standard deviation (SD) were calculated in order to assess the frequency of strategy used by the Grade 10 EFAL learners. The results indicated that before-reading and during-reading strategies were least frequently used by the learners. Moreover, the results showed that learners appeared to be using after-reading strategies more frequently. Recommendations are made that learners need to be made aware of the wide range of before-reading and after-reading strategies, along with how to use them during the process of reading.Contribution: The contribution of the study resides in the conclusion that teachers’ knowledge on how to develop and monitor learners’ reading profiles has the potential to improve learners’ reading proficiency.

Is It Truly Myopia or Pseudomyopia?: A Case Report of a Pediatric Patient

Introduction: Pseudomyopia, resulting from excessive accommodation or nerve-related effects, creates false myopia corrected by cycloplegic refraction, which differs from secondary myopia caused by identifiable factors such as cataracts or trauma. If underlying hyperopia remains undetected, symptoms such as asthenopia and headaches occur, potentially resulting in conditions such as amblyopia. We presented a case of pseudomyopia in a pediatric patient to describe its clinical features and treatment. Case Presentation: A 7-year-old patient, who often uses smartphones for approximately 1–3 h daily in a well-lit room, initially reported blurry distant vision, headaches, eye discomfort, and difficulty reading from a distance. At the first visit, the visual acuity of the right (oculus dexter, OD) and left (oculus sinister, OS) eyes was 6/18 and 6/24, respectively. A cycloplegic was administered to both eyes, and subjective refraction of OD S +1.00 and OS S +1.25 was obtained. The patient was diagnosed with pseudomyopia and was administered glasses treatment and cycloplegic topical eye drops. After 12 weeks of treatment, the best-corrected visual acuity was 6/6. Conclusion: Pseudomyopia clinical features in pediatric patients could vary and should be distinguished from accommodative spasms. Treatment approaches vary widely, reflecting the lack of consensus on management despite consistent assessment and diagnostic approaches.

Analysis of reading-task-based brain connectivity in dyslexic children using EEG signals.

Developmental dyslexia, a neurodevelopment reading disorder, can impact even children with average intelligence. The present study examined the brain connectivity in dyslexic and control children during the reading task using graph theory. 19-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) signals were recorded from 15 dyslexic children and 15 control children. Functional connectivity was estimated by measuring the EEG coherence at 19 electrode locations, and graph measures were calculated using the graph theory method. Reading task results identified deprived task performance in dyslexic children against controls. Graph measures revealed longer path length, reduced clustering coefficient and reduced network efficiencies (in theta and alpha bands) of dyslexic group. At the nodal level, we found a significant increase in delta strength (T4 and T5 electrode locations) and reduced strength in theta (T6, P4, Fp1, F8 and F3) and alpha bands (T4, T3, P4 and F3) during the reading task in dyslexic group. In conclusion, the present study identified distinct graph measures between groups when performing a reading task and showed possible evidence for compromised brain networks in dyslexic group.

Psychophysiological evaluation of the Smartick method in children with reading and mathematical difficulties.

Assistive technologies for learning are aimed at promoting academic skills, such as reading and mathematics. These technologies mainly embrace mobile and web apps addressed to children with learning difficulties. Nevertheless, most applications lack pedagogical foundation. Additionally, the task of selecting suitable technology for educational purposes becomes challenging. Hence, this protocol posits the psychophysiological assessment of an online method for learning (OML) named Smartick. This platform comprises reading and math activities for learning training. In this protocol, individual monitoring of each child is proposed to determine the progress in learning caused by Smartick. One hundred and twelve children aged between 8 and 12 who present reading or math difficulty after a rigorous psychometric evaluation will be recruited. The study comprises four sessions. In sessions 1 and 2, collective and individual psychometric evaluations will be performed, respectively. Reading and mathematical proficiency will be assessed, as well as attentional levels and intellectual quotient. Subsequently, each child will be semi-randomly assigned to either the experimental or control groups. Afterward, a first EEG will be collected for all children in session 3. Then, experimental groups will use Smartick for 3 months, in addition to their traditional learning method. In contrast, control groups will only continue with their traditional learning method. Finally, session 4 will consist of performing a second psychometric evaluation and another EEG, so that psychophysiological parameters can be encountered that indicate learning improvements due to the OML, regardless of the traditional learning method at hand. Currently, few studies have validated learning improvement due to assistive technologies for learning. However, this proposal presents a psychophysiological evaluation addressed to children with reading or math difficulties who will be trained with an OML.