Clinical appraisal of spelling ability and its relationship to phonemic awareness (blending,segmenting, elision,and reversal), phonological memory,and reading in reading disabled,ADHD, and normal children

Seventy-eight 8-to-12-year-old children (34 ReadingDisabled; 31 Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity-Disordered; and 13diagnosed normal controls) were given a battery oftests including cognitive, linguistic, academic,phonemic awareness, and memory tests. As part of theacademic battery an 8-point spelling rating scale wasdeveloped (Rating Scale) that resulted in threedifferent scores which reliably discriminated amongthe three groups. Relationships between phonemicawareness, phonological memory, reading and spellingwere explored. Zero-order and second-ordercorrelations were completed with indications thatphonemic awareness tasks (elision, blending, reversal,and segmenting) and phonological memory (WISC-IIIDigit Span) are significantly correlated with readingdecoding and spelling measures with slightly highercorrelations with the Rating Scale. Regressionanalyses resulted in a large proportion of thevariance on reading and spelling tasks accounted forby phonemic awareness (particularly elision andreversal) and phonological memory. The ReadingDisabled group was found to produce more errors thatwere phonetically inaccurate than the other twogroups. The demand of spelling ten ``error' wordsbeyond the RD students' achievement level appeared toelicit greater weaknesses in their phonologicalrecoding abilities than in those of the ADHD ornormally achieving students.     

Towards identifying dyslexia in Standard Indonesian: the development of a reading assessment battery

With its transparent orthography, Standard Indonesian is spoken by over 160 million inhabitants and is the primary language of instruction in education and the government in Indonesia. An assessment battery of reading and reading-related skills was developed as a starting point for the diagnosis of dyslexia in beginner learners. Founded on the International Dyslexia Association’s definition of dyslexia, the test battery comprises nine empirically motivated reading and reading-related tasks assessing word reading, pseudoword reading, arithmetic, rapid automatized naming, phoneme deletion, forward and backward digit span, verbal fluency, orthographic choice (spelling), and writing. The test was validated by computing the relationships between the outcomes on the reading-skills and reading-related measures by means of correlation and factor analyses. External variables, i.e., school grades and teacher ratings of the reading and learning abilities of individual students, were also utilized to provide evidence of its construct validity. Four variables were found to be significantly related with reading-skill measures: phonological awareness, rapid naming, spelling, and digit span. The current study on reading development in Standard Indonesian confirms findings from other languages with transparent orthographies and suggests a test battery including preliminary norm scores for screening and assessment of elementary school children learning to read Standard Indonesian.     

Preschool prediction: Orthographic and phonological skills,and reading

Because of the research demonstrating the roles of phonological awareness, serial naming speed, and orthographic processing in reading, a test of each of these skills was added to a preschool screening battery. The main aim of the study was to determine whether these measures would contribute to the prediction of reading. The 118 subjects were first tested six months before kindergarten entry and were followed up 19 and 24 months later. Each additional screening test made a significant, independent contribution to the prediction of early first grade word reading/spelling, after the contributions of a parent rating of preschool reading ability (PRA), verbal IQ, socio-economic status (SES), and chronological age were accounted for. With letter naming and PRA, the additional tests were responsible for 62 percent of the variance. The orthographic test made the largest single contribution (32%) to the variance in word reading/spelling. Variables contributing significantly to the prediction of later first grade reading comprehension were (in order of proportion of the variance accounted for) letter naming, sentence memory, object naming speed, the orthographic test, and SES. The revised preschool screening battery correctly identified 91 percent of individual first grade good and poor readers. It was concluded that preschool measures of phonological awareness, serial naming speed, and orthographic processing make a strong contribution to prediction of first grade reading.     

Adults with reading disabilities: converting a meta-analysis to practice

This article reviews the results of a meta-analysis of the experimental published literature that compares the academic, cognitive, and behavioral performance of adults with reading disabilities (RD) with average achieving adult readers. The meta-analysis shows that deficits independent of the classification measures emerged for adults with RD on measures of vocabulary, math, spelling, and specific cognitive process related to naming speed, phonological processing, and verbal memory. The results also showed that adults with high verbal IQs (scores > 100) but low word recognition standard scores (< 90) yielded greater deficits related to their average reading counterparts when compared to studies that included adults with RD with verbal IQ and reading scores in the same low range. Implications of the findings related to assessment and intervention are discussed.     

The precursors of double dissociation between reading and spelling in a transparent orthography

Research and clinical practitioners have mixed views whether reading and spelling difficulties should be combined or seen as separate. This study examined the following: (a) if double dissociation between reading and spelling can be identified in a transparent orthography (Finnish) and (b) the cognitive and noncognitive precursors of this phenomenon. Finnish-speaking children (n?=?1963) were assessed on reading fluency and spelling in grades 1, 2, 3, and 4. Dissociation groups in reading and spelling were formed based on stable difficulties in grades 1–4. The groups were compared in kindergarten phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, letter knowledge, home literacy environment, and task-avoidant behavior. The results indicated that the double dissociation groups could be identified even in the context of a highly transparent orthography: 41 children were unexpected poor spellers (SD), 36 were unexpected poor readers (RD), and 59 were poor in both reading and spelling (RSD). The RSD group performed poorest on all cognitive skills and showed the most task-avoidant behavior, the RD group performed poorly particularly on rapid automatized naming and letter knowledge, and the SD group had difficulties on phonological awareness and letter knowledge. Fathers’ shared book reading was less frequent in the RD and RSD groups than in the other groups. The findings suggest that there are discernible double dissociation groups with distinct cognitive profiles. This further suggests that the identification of difficulties in Finnish and the planning of teaching and remediation practices should include both reading and spelling assessments.     

Students with reading and spelling disabilities: peer groups and educational attainment in secondary education

The present study investigated whether the members of adolescents' peer groups are similar in reading and spelling disabilities and whether this similarity contributes to subsequent school achievement and educational attainment. The sample consisted of 375 Finnish adolescents whose reading and spelling disabilities were assessed at age 16 with the Finnish dyslexia screening test. The students also completed a sociometric nomination measure that was used to identify their peer groups. Register information on participants' school grades also was available, and educational attainment in secondary education was recorded 5 years after completion of the 9 years of basic education. The results revealed that the members of adolescent peer groups resembled each other in reading disabilities but not in those of spelling. Reading disabilities and academic achievement shared within the peer group also contributed to educational attainment in secondary education. Finally, reading disabilities played a larger role in educational attainment among males than among females.     

Reading and writing self-efficacy of incarcerated adults

This paper is the first to examine the Reading and Writing Self-Efficacy Scale among incarcerated adults. The aim was to examine whether performance of reading and spelling tests (Reading Speed, Nonsense Words and Spelling) explained individual differences in the participants' efficacy beliefs in reading and writing. Six hundred subjects rated their efficacy beliefs in reading and writing, and 92 of them were also sampled for a reading and spelling test. Factor analysis yielded a two-factor solution dividing the reading items and writing items into separate factors and hierarchical regression analysis revealed that education level and test performance accounted for 36.9% and 34.9% of the statistical variance in reading self-efficacy and writing self-efficacy, respectively. The results suggest that assessment of self-efficacy in reading and writing should be included in a screening procedure of reading and spelling difficulties.     

Does IQ matter in adolescents' reading disability?

We studied the connection of IQ, reading disability (RD) and their interaction with reading, spelling and other cognitive skills in adolescents with average IQ and RD (n = 22), average IQ, non-RD (n = 71), below average IQ and RD (n = 29), and below average IQ non-RD (n = 33). IQ was not connected to reading and spelling in subjects without RD, but a connection to non-word spelling in subjects with RD existed. IQ and RD showed a connection to other cognitive skills (IQ to working memory, verbal memory and syntactic skills, RD to poor performance in text reading and rapid naming and both of them to reading comprehension, phonological and arithmetic skills), but no interaction existed. Our results are consistent with those of earlier studies showing that IQ does not play a significant role in the presentation of RD. However, adolescents with below average IQ and RD seemed to have much broader deficits in academically important skills such as arithmetic and reading comprehension than the other groups.     

Effect of phonological and morphological awareness on reading comprehension in Hebrew-speaking adolescents with reading disabilities

This research explored phonological and morphological awareness among Hebrew-speaking adolescents with reading disabilities (RD) and its effect on reading comprehension beyond phonological and word-reading abilities. Participants included 39 seventh graders with RD and two matched control groups of normal readers: 40 seventh graders matched for chronological age (CA) and 38 third graders matched for reading age (RA). We assessed phonological awareness, word reading, morphological awareness, and reading comprehension. Findings indicated that the RD group performed similarly to the RA group on phonological awareness but lower on phonological decoding. On the decontextualized morphological task, RD functioned on par with RA, whereas in a contextualized task RD performed above RA but lower than CA. In reading comprehension, RD performed as well as RA. Finally, results indicated that for normal readers contextual morphological awareness uniquely contributed to reading comprehension beyond phonological and word-reading abilities, whereas no such unique contribution emerged for the RD group. The absence of an effect of morphological awareness in predicting reading comprehension was suggested to be related to a different recognition process employed by RD readers which hinder the ability of these readers to use morphosemantic structures. The lexical quality hypothesis was proposed as further support to the findings, suggesting that a low quality of lexical representation in RD students leads to ineffective reading skills and comprehension. Lexical representation is thus critical for both lexical as well as comprehension abilities.     

Investigating the effects of a game-based approach in teaching word recognition and spelling to students with reading disabilities and attention deficits

The purpose of this small-scale exploratory study was to examine the effects of using a game-based instructional approach to teach word recognition and spelling to Grade 6 students with reading disabilities (RD) and attention deficit disorders. Treatment and comparison groups were formed. The students were placed in either a traditional spelling group or an alternate game group. Different measures of phonological awareness, phonological memory and rapid naming as well as the word recognition and spelling subtests were administered to six students with RD and attention deficits. The study results indicate that students in the game-based approach outperformed students in the traditional, text-based spelling programs. In addition, the remediation of specific deficit subskills was possible through a game-based approach. Rapid naming, word recognition and spelling subtest results all improved through this method, with rapid naming improving the most. The study provides evidence for marked improvement in engaging behavior as well as literacy skills through alternate instructional methodologies.     

The relationship between phonological codes on memory and spelling tasks for students with and without learning disabilities.

The purpose of the study was to determine the degree to which 31 (23 boys and 8 girls) 13-year-old children with learning disabilities from Grades 7, 8, and 9 were comparable to younger (9-year-old) reading- and spelling-matched controls in (a) phonological similarity effects, (b) phonetically based misspellings, and (c) relationships between memory and spelling performance. Children with reading disabilities and reading-recognition-matched controls, subgrouped by spelling ability, were compared on their memory for phonetically similar and dissimilar word lists and types of spelling errors. The results indicate that children with reading disabilities who are matched to younger children on both reading recognition and spelling ability exhibit normal phonological effects on memory and spelling measures. Within each reading group, low spellers produced more semiphonetic errors than high spellers, and high spellers produced more phonetic errors than low spellers. Significant correlations between memory and spelling error measures were more frequent for children with reading disabilities when compared to controls matched on reading and spelling ability. It was concluded that the phonological performance of reading/spelling-matched children with reading disabilities is characterized by an overreliance on phonological codes, whereas their counterparts' performance reflects independent and less generalizable use of phonological substrates across tasks.     

Phonological and visual processing deficits can dissociate in developmental dyslexia: Evidence from two case studies

The present study describes two Frenchteenagers with developmental reading andwriting impairments whose performance wascompared to that of chronological age andreading age matched non-dyslexic participants.Laurent conforms to the pattern of phonologicaldyslexia: he exhibits a poor performance inpseudo-word reading and spelling, producesphonologically inaccurate misspellings butreads most exception words accurately. Nicolas,in contrast, is poor in reading and spelling ofexception words but is quite good atpseudo-word spelling, suggesting that hesuffers from surface dyslexia and dysgraphia.The two participants were submitted to anextensive battery of metaphonological tasks andto two visual attentional tasks. Laurentdemonstrated poor phonemic awareness skills butgood visual processing abilities, while Nicolasshowed the reverse pattern with severedifficulties in the visual attentional tasksbut good phonemic awareness. The presentresults suggest that a visual attentionaldisorder might be found to be associated withthe pattern of developmental surface dyslexia.The present findings further show thatphonological and visual processing deficits candissociate in developmental dyslexia.     

The relationship between IQ and reading disabilities in English-speaking Canadian and Spanish children

This study was designed to examine the role of intelligence (IQ) in the definition of reading disabilities (RD) in languages with different orthographic systems. A sample of 94 Spanish children and 157 English-speaking Canadian children with RD was classified into four groups on the basis of IQ scores from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (< 80; 81-90; 91-109; 110-140). We examined the reading and spelling skills of Canadian and Spanish children as a function of Full Scale, Verbal, and Performance IQ scores. Significant differences between the languages were found when reading performance was analyzed as a function of Verbal IQ scores, in that there were some differences between the groups of Canadian children with RD but not between the groups of Spanish children. The Canadian children with Verbal IQ scores < 80 demonstrated relatively lower performance in reading and spelling skills than the Canadian groups with higher IQ scores. There were differences in reading tasks as a function of Performance IQ in English but not in Spanish. The differences in the role of IQ as a function of orthographic systems may relate to the greater significance of visual-orthographic as opposed to phonological processing in English.     

Reorganizing the instructional reading components: could there be a better way to design remedial reading programs to maximize middle school students with reading disabilities’ response to treatment?

The primary purpose of this study was to explore if there could be a more beneficial method in organizing the individual instructional reading components (phonological decoding, spelling, fluency, and reading comprehension) within a remedial reading program to increase sensitivity to instruction for middle school students with reading disabilities (RD). Three different modules (Alternating, Integrated, and Additive) of the Reading Achievement Multi-Modular Program were implemented with 90 middle school (sixth to eighth grades) students with reading disabilities. Instruction occurred 45 min a day, 5 days a week, for 26 weeks, for approximately 97 h of remedial reading instruction. To assess gains, reading subtests of the Woodcock Johnson-III, the Gray Silent Reading Test, and Oral Reading Fluency passages were administered. Results showed that students in the Additive module outperformed students in the Alternating and Integrated modules on phonological decoding and spelling and students in the Integrated module on comprehension skills. Findings for the two oral reading fluency measures demonstrated a differential pattern of results across modules. Results are discussed in regards to the effect of the organization of each module on the responsiveness of middle school students with RD to instruction.     

Relationship between home literacy environment and reading achievement in children with reading disabilities

Past research has indicated that a significant relationship exists between young children's early home literacy environment and their reading-related skills. However, this relationship has rarely been investigated among older children with reading disabilities (RD). In the present study, the relationship between parent and child home literacy activities and children's academic functioning was investigated with a sample of 65 elementary-age children with RD. The results indicated that children's home literacy activities were not significantly related to any of their academic abilities, whereas parents' home literacy activities were significantly related to children's passage comprehension and spelling scores. However, relationships between home literacy environment and reading may be different for children with and without RD.     

Psychometric stability of nationally normed and experimental decoding and related measures in children with reading disability

Achievement and cognitive tests are used extensively in the diagnosis and educational placement of children with reading disabilities (RD). Moreover, research on scholastic interventions often requires repeat testing and information on practice effects. Little is known, however, about the test-retest and other psychometric properties of many commonly used measures within the beginning reader population, nor are these nationally normed or experimental measures comparatively evaluated. This study examined the test-retest reliability, practice effects, and relations among a number of nationally normed measures of word identification and spelling and experimental measures of achievement and reading-related cognitive processing tests in young children with significant RD. Reliability was adequate for most tests, although lower than might be ideal on a few measures when there was a lengthy test-retest interval or with the reduced behavioral variability that can be seen in groups of beginning readers. Practice effects were minimal. There were strong relations between nationally normed measures of decoding and spelling and their experimental counterparts and with most measures of reading-related cognitive processes. The implications for the use of such tests in treatment studies that focus on beginning readers are discussed.     

Reading and spelling error analysis of native

This study was an investigation of reading and spelling errors of dyslexic Arabic readers (n=20) compared with two groups of normal readers: a young readers group, matched with the dyslexics by reading level (n=20) and an age-matched group (n=20). They were tested on reading and spelling of texts, isolated words and pseudowords. Two research questions were the focus of this study: What are the reading and spelling profile errors of dyslexic native Arabic speakers? What is the effect of the Arabic orthography on these types of errors? The results of the reading error analysis revealed a clear contribution of the uniqueness of the Arabic orthography to the types of errors made by the three different groups. In addition, the error profiles of the dyslexic readers were similar to the error profiles made by the younger reading-level-matched group in percentages and in quality. The most prominent types of errors were morphological and semiphonetic, which highlighted the contribution of the Arabic orthography to these types of errors. Consistently, the profile of the spelling errors was similar in percentages and quality among the dyslexics and the reading-level-matched group but different from the age-matched group on the spelling measures. The analysis of the spelling errors revealed that the dominant type of error was mostly phonetic due to the limited orthographic lexicon. In addition, the Arabic orthography also contributed to these types of errors because many spelling mistakes were made due to poor knowledge of the spelling rules. The results of the reading and spelling errors are discussed from a reading development point of view. Further, two models are suggested, one for reading and one for spelling, to illustrate the cognitive processes that underlie the reading and spelling mistakes in this type of orthography.     

Computer-based reading and spelling practice for children with learning disabilities.

To examine the effects of computer-based reading and spelling practice on the development of reading and spelling skills, a pretest-training-posttest experiment was conducted in The Netherlands. Eleven girls and 17 boys with written language disorders (on the average, 9 years, 7 months old and performing 2 grades below age expectancy) practiced hard-to-read words under three conditions: reading from the computer screen, copying from the screen, and writing from memory after presentation on the screen. For all words, whole-word sound was available on call during practice. To assess learning effects, both a dictation and a read-aloud task were administered in which nonpracticed control words were also presented. During training, the computer kept record of several aspects of the pupils' learning behavior. It was found that copying words from the screen resulted in significantly fewer spelling errors on the posttest than writing words from memory, and that both forms of spelling practice led to fewer spelling errors than only reading words during practice. All three forms of practice improved to the same degree both the accuracy and fluency of reading the practiced words aloud. The way in which spelling and reading practice, in combination with speech feedback, support the development of phonological skills in children with written language disorders is highlighted in the discussion.     

Computer-assisted remedial reading intervention for school beginners at risk for reading disability

The aim of the longitudinal study was to investigate whether a computer application designed for remedial reading training can enhance letter knowledge, reading accuracy, fluency, and spelling of at-risk children. The participants, 7-year-old Finnish school beginners (N=166), were assigned to 1 of 3 groups: (a) regular remedial reading intervention (n=25), (b) computer-assessed reading intervention (n=25), and (c) mainstream reading instruction (n=116). Based on the results, computer-assisted remedial reading intervention was highly beneficial, whereas regular type of intervention was less successful. The results indicated that at-risk children require computer-based letter-name and letter-sound training to acquire adequate decoding and spelling skills, and to reach the level of their non-at-risk peers.     

Correlates of early reading performance in a transparent orthography

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 83first – and 81 fourth graders at the end of theschool year to examine factors accounting forearly reading performance in Finnish, atransparent orthography with a clear mapping ofphonemes onto graphemes. Measures for bothgrades included reading comprehension, phonemeawareness, and object- and digit naming.Additionally measures of skills in morphology,spelling and a screening battery wereadministered to the first graders. The sets ofmeasures accounted for 56% of the variance inreading performance in first grade and 64% infourth grade. Phoneme awareness was stronglyrelated to reading performance and spelling atthe end of first grade, but only forless-skilled readers in fourth grade. Theseresults suggest a larger role for phonemeawareness for children learning a transparentorthography than has been suggested in earlierstudies. At the same time, listeningcomprehension contributed more strongly tofirst-grade reading performance than has beenreported for children learning to readEnglish.