Dyslexia Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Dyslexia, including details on learning, reading, education, teaching, treatment. | ||||||
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Improving early language and literacy skills: differential effects of an oral language versus a phonology with reading intervention.Bowyer-Crane C, Snowling MJ, Duff FJ, Fieldsend E, Carroll JM, Miles J, Götz K, Hulme C Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK. c.crane@psych.york.ac.uk BACKGROUND: This study compares the efficacy of two school-based intervention programmes (Phonology with Reading (P + R) and Oral Language (OL)) for children with poor oral language at school entry. METHODS: Following screening of 960 children, 152 children (mean age 4;09) were selected from 19 schools on the basis of poor vocabulary and verbal reasoning skills and randomly allocated to either the P + R programme or the OL programme. Both groups of children received 20 weeks of daily intervention alternating between small group and individual sessions, delivered by trained teaching assistants. Children in the P + R group received training in letter-sound knowledge, phonological awareness and book level reading skills. Children in the OL group received instruction in vocabulary, comprehension, inference generation and narrative skills. The children's progress was monitored at four time points: pre-, mid- and post-intervention, and after a 5-month delay, using measures of literacy, language and phonological awareness. RESULTS: The data are clustered (children within schools) and robust confidence intervals are reported. At the end of the 20-week intervention programme, children in the P + R group showed an advantage over the OL group on literacy and phonological measures, while children in the OL group showed an advantage over the P + R group on measures of vocabulary and grammatical skills. These gains were maintained over a 5-month period. CONCLUSIONS: Intervention programmes designed to develop oral language skills can be delivered successfully by trained teaching assistants to children at school entry. Training using P + R fostered decoding ability whereas the OL programme improved vocabulary and grammatical skills that are foundations for reading comprehension. However, at the end of the intervention, more than 50% of at-risk children remain in need of literacy support. Published 26 March 2008 in J Child Psychol Psychiatry, 49(4): 422-32. Articles on Dyslexia published 29 January 2008: Alexia and agraphia: contrasting perspectives of J.-M. Charcot and J. Hughlings Jackson. Neurology, 70(5): 391-400. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate 19th-century concepts of cerebral localization for complex mental activities, focusing on alexia and agraphia in published writings of Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) and John Hughlings Jackson (1835-1911). BACKGROUND: In the early 1860 s, Broca's reports on a special role for the left frontal lobe in articulate language ignited frenetic interest in cerebral localization. Disorders of written language (alexia and agraphia) were enmeshed in ensuing discussions of how the ... [Abstract] [Full-text] Articles on Dyslexia published 10 December 2007: Colorado longitudinal twin study of reading disability. Ann Dyslexia, 57(2): 139-60. The primary objectives of the present study are to introduce the Colorado Longitudinal Twin Study of Reading Disability, the first longitudinal twin study in which subjects have been specifically selected for having a history of reading difficulties, and to present some initial assessments of the stability of reading performance and cognitive abilities in this sample. Preliminary examination of the test scores of 124 twins with a history of reading difficulties and 154 twins with no history of ... [Abstract] [Full-text] Reading development and dyslexia in a transparent orthography: a survey of Spanish children. Ann Dyslexia, 57(2): 179-98. Spanish-speaking children learn to read words printed in a relatively transparent orthography. Variation in orthographic transparency may shape the architecture of the reading system and also the manifestation of reading difficulties. We tested normally developing children and children diagnosed with reading difficulties. Reading accuracy was high across experimental conditions. However, dyslexic children read more slowly than chronological age (CA)-matched controls, although, importantly, ... [Abstract] [Full-text] Assessing preschoolers' emergent literacy skills in English and Spanish with the Get Ready to Read! screening tool. Ann Dyslexia, 57(2): 161-78. This study investigated the ability of the English and Spanish versions of the Get Ready to Read! Screener (E-GRTR and S-GRTR) administered at the beginning of the preschool year to predict the oral language and phonological and print processing skills of Spanish-speaking English-language learners (ELLs) and English-only speaking children (EO) at the end of the year. The results revealed that the E-GRTR predicted the EO and ELL children's English emergent literacy skills and the ELL children's ... [Abstract] [Full-text] Articles on Dyslexia published 6 December 2007: A structural basis for reading fluency: white matter defects in a genetic brain malformation. Neurology, 69(23): 2146-54. BACKGROUND: Multiple lines of evidence have suggested that developmental dyslexia may be associated with abnormalities of neuronal migration or axonal connectivity. In patients with periventricular nodular heterotopia--a rare genetic brain malformation characterized by misplaced nodules of gray matter along the lateral ventricles--a specific and unexpected reading disability is present, despite normal intelligence. We sought to investigate the cognitive and structural brain bases of this ... [Abstract] [Full-text] Articles on Dyslexia published 16 November 2007: Impaired reading comprehension and mathematical abilities in male adolescents with average or above general intellectual abilities are associated with comorbid and future psychopathology. J Nerv Ment Dis, 195(11): 883-90. Research indicates that persons with learning disorders often suffer from psychopathology. We assessed current and future psychopathology in male adolescents with discrete impairments in reading comprehension (IRC) or arithmetic abilities (IAA) but with average or above-average general intellectual abilities. Subjects were a population-based cohort of 174,994 male adolescents screened by the Israeli Draft Board with average or above-average intellectual abilities but with low scores (8.6th and ... [Abstract] [Full-text] Articles on Dyslexia published 14 September 2007: A haplotype spanning KIAA0319 and TTRAP is associated with normal variation in reading and spelling ability. Biol Psychiatry, 62(7): 811-7. BACKGROUND: KIAA0319 (6p22.2) has recently been implicated as a susceptibility gene for dyslexia. We aimed to find further support for this gene by examining its association with reading and spelling ability in adolescent twins and their siblings unselected for dyslexia. METHODS: Ten single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in or near the KIAA0319 gene were typed in 440 families with up to five offspring who had been tested on reading and spelling tasks. Family-based association analyses were ... [Abstract] [Full-text] Articles on Dyslexia published 31 May 2007: Children at family risk of dyslexia: a follow-up in early adolescence. J Child Psychol Psychiatry, 48(6): 609-18. BACKGROUND: This study is the follow-up in early adolescence of children born to families with a history of dyslexia (Gallagher, Frith, & Snowling, 2000). METHODS: Fifty young people with a family history of dyslexia and 20 young people from control families were assessed at 12-13 years on a battery of tests of literacy and language skills, and they completed questionnaires tapping self-perception and print exposure. One parent from each family participated in an interview documenting ... [Abstract] [Full-text] © 2004-2008 Dyslexia Research Today. All Rights Reserved. |
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