A longitudinal study of mathematical competencies in children with specific mathematics difficulties versus children with comorbid mathematics and reading difficulties

Mathematical competencies of 180 children were examined at 4 points between 2nd and 3rd grades (age range between 7 and 9 years). Children were initially classified into one of 4 groups: math difficulties but normal reading (MD only), math and reading difficulties (MD-RD), reading difficulties but normal math (RD only), and normal achievement in math and reading (NA). The groups did not differ significantly in rate of development. However, at the end of 3rd grade the MD only group performed better than the MD-RD group in problem solving but not in calculation. The NA and RD only groups performed better than the MD-RD group in most areas. Deficiencies in fact mastery and calculation fluency, in particular, are defining features of MD, with or without RD.     

Early reading instruction for children with reading difficulties: meeting the needs of diverse learners

Several multiple-probe-across-participants design studies were employed to evaluate the effectiveness of a supplemental tutoring intervention using Read Well (Sprick, Howard, & Fidanque, 1998-2000). In Year 1, we conducted two studies with 7 first-, second-, and third-grade children (1 girl and 6 boys), who were classified as having learning disabilities, having attention-deficit disorder, or being English language learners and were identified by their teachers as poor readers. The results of the two studies indicated that 3 of the 5 children who received Read Well instruction showed improvement in passage fluency. Student performance on other measures of reading and comprehension was varied. Differences in student characteristics and in the amount of Read Well instruction received (2 to 7 weeks) seemed to account for the differences in performance. In Year 2, we implemented the same tutoring intervention for a longer duration (up to 16 weeks) and included 5 children in second and third grades (2 girls and 3 boys) with reading difficulties. Two of these children had previously participated in the Year 1 studies. The results indicated growth in reading, spelling, and comprehension for most children. Overall, the findings from Year 1 and 2 studies indicate the benefits of increased instructional intensity and duration for children who struggle with emerging reading skills.     

Comprehension monitoring in students with reading difficulties

Two studies are reported in this paper. In the first study, 32 fifth and sixth grade poor readers and 32 average third graders matched with the poor readers on reading age were randomly assigned to either a general or a specific instruction condition. In both treatments subjects were shown how to monitor text for internal inconsistency. In addition, the specific instruction condition provided explicit instruction in how to use a cross-referencing technique to evaluate the internal consistency of a given text. Results indicated significant Subject-group x Instruction Condition interaction on all three dependent measures: detection and identification of inconsistency and comprehension competence. Whereas the poor readers were found to be inferior to the RA-matched controls in the general instruction condition, in the specific instruction condition the poor readers’ performance was superior to that of the RA-matched controls. It was suggested that the significant discrepancy in performance between the poor readers and the younger RA-matched controls in the specific instruction condition may be related to differences in maturity and experience. The validity of this interpretation was examined in the second study by including a third group of average fifth graders matched with the poor readers on chronological age. Further, a second evaluative standard, namely, violation of prior knowledge, was also included. Data from the second study in general confirmed the findings of the first study.     

Technology-based interventions for children with reading difficulties: a literature review from 2010 to 2020

Educational technology research and development - Technology-based interventions have been used to improve reading skills for students with reading difficulties. Thus, many literature reviews and...     

Sound links in reading and spelling with discrepancy-defined dyslexics and children with moderate learning difficulties

This study reports the effects of a highly structuredindividually administered remedial teaching programmefor children with reading difficulties. Thephonological awareness, reading accuracy and spellingattainments of 28 children diagnosed as having low IQ(Mean IQ = 66, SD = 5.3) were compared with those of29 children diagnosed as having discrepancy defineddyslexia (Mean IQ = 95, SD = 8.4). The responsivenessto intervention of each group was also compared withteacher-referred reading-delayed children matched forinitial literacy skills. For reading accuracy andphonological awareness the dyslexic group respondedmore successfully than the low IQ group. The twogroups did not differ significantly on spelling. It isargued that the reading accuracy and phonologicalawareness results are in keeping with thephonological-core variable-difference (Stanovich &Siegel 1994) model of reading disability and that thegains of all groups on all measures were such thatthere is no obvious benefit in using IQ to selectchildren for a programme of individual teaching whichcombines reading with phonological awarenesstraining.     

Children's difficulties in reading comprehension

This paper outlines a number of studies that have investigated the difficulties experienced by children who have a specific comprehension problem: Those who have adequate word recognition skills but who, nevertheless, have difficulty understanding text. In the studies I will discuss, the performance of a group of skilled comprehenders was compared with that of a less-skilled group. The first set of studies show that the poor comprehenders have difficulty in integrating information in a text and in making inferences. A further set of studies suggests that, although such children do not have any straightforward short-term memory problem, they may have difficulty in holding and manipulating information in working memory as they are reading. A final study shows that the comprehension of the less-skilled children can be improved by a series of short training sessions that stress making inferences and integrating information in text. This finding suggests that a working-memory deficit may only be one aspect of the less-skilled comprehenders' problem.     

The role of sentence recall in reading and language skills of children with learning difficulties

The present study explores the relationship between sentence recall and reading and language skills in a group of 7–11-year-old children with learning difficulties. While recent studies have found that performance on sentence recall tasks plays a role in learning, it is possible that this contribution is a reflection of shared resources with working memory. In order to investigate whether sentence recall was uniquely associated with reading and language skills, differences associated with IQ and working memory capacity were statistically controlled. A sample of 72 children was tested on measures of verbal complex memory, verbal short-term memory, sentence recall, expressive vocabulary, verbal and performance IQ, reading and language skills. Both sentence recall and verbal complex memory shared unique links with reading skill, and sentence recall was uniquely associated with language skills. This finding indicates that resources in long-term memory also play an important diagnostic role in reading and language abilities. The implications for educational practice are discussed.     

Some difficulties in informal assessment in mathematics

In this theoretical paper the informal assessment practices of two experienced teachers are used as cases for generating questions about future developments in formative assessment practice. Both teachers maintain a consistent formative assessment focus on the development of their students as enquirers, and one of them supplements this with explicit self‐assessment activities. However, there are subject‐specific gaps in the ways in which they assess and describe their students and these are not addressed in widely promulgated advice about formative assessment. Questions are raised about how teachers might be supported to develop their assessment of subject‐specific behaviour.     

Number sense growth in kindergarten: a longitudinal investigation of children at risk for mathematics difficulties

Number sense development of 411 middle- and low-income kindergartners (mean age 5.8 years) was examined over 4 time points while controlling for gender, age, and reading skill. Although low-income children performed significantly worse than middle-income children at the end of kindergarten on all tasks, both groups progressed at about the same rate. An exception was story problems, on which the low-income group achieved at a slower rate; both income groups made comparable progress when the same problems were presented nonverbally with visual referents. Holding other predictors constant, there were small but reliable gender effects favoring boys on overall number sense performance as well as on nonverbal calculation. Using growth mixture modeling, 3 classes of growth trajectories in number sense emerged.     

Early identification and interventions for students with mathematics difficulties

This article highlights key findings from the small body of research on mathematics difficulties (MD) relevant to early identification and early intervention. The research demonstrates that (a) for many children, mathematics difficulties are not stable over time; (b) the presence of reading difficulties seems related to slower progress in many aspects of mathematics; (c) almost all students with MD demonstrate problems with accurate and automatic retrieval of basic arithmetic combinations, such as 6 + 3. The following measures appear to be valid and reliable indicators of potential MD in kindergartners: (a) magnitude comparison (i.e., knowing which digit in a pair is larger), (b) sophistication of counting strategies, (c) fluent identification of numbers, and (d) working memory (as evidenced by reverse digit span). These are discussed in terms of the components of number sense. Implications for early intervention strategies are explored.     

Response to intervention with secondary school students with reading difficulties

The authors summarize evidence from a multiyear study with secondary students with reading difficulties on (a) the potential efficacy of primary-level (Tier 1), secondary-level (Tier 2), and tertiary-level (Tier 3) interventions in remediating reading difficulties with middle school students, (b) the likelihood of resolving reading disabilities with older students with intractable reading disabilities, (c) the reliability, validity, and use of screening and progress monitoring measures with middle school students, and (d) the implications of implementing response to intervention (RTI) practices at the middle school level. The authors provide guidance about prevailing questions about remediating reading difficulties with secondary students and discuss future directions for research using RTI frameworks for students at the secondary level.     

Ocular dominance,reading and spelling: a reassessment of a measure associated with specific reading difficulties

The association of reading disability with perceptuomotor problems has had a chequered history. This study examines the relationship between a new test of ocular dominance and reading and spelling ability in a group of 323 schoolchildren. Similar rates for unfixed ocular dominance were found for poor readers as in comparable studies. The rates of unstable ocular dominance did not differ between those with reading and spelling difficulties and controls. These findings in a ‘blind’ study question the role of this test of eye dominance as a diagnosis of ‘dyslexia’.     

The cognitive levels test: Its relationship with reading and mathematics achievement

Any instrument designed to measure broad cognitive ability is expected to correlate substantially with valid measures of academic achievement. This report describes an investigation designed to evaluate the relationship between the Cognitive Levels Test, a newly available instrument, and two tests of academic achievement that have been widely used for nearly two decades: the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests and the KeyMath Diagnostic Arithmetic Test. The study included children in grades K-2 who were enrolled in a remedial summer school program. The results showed the Cognitive Levels Test (Cognitive Index) to be rather highly correlated with the KeyMath Diagnostic Arithmetic Test Total score (r=.72) and moderately correlated with the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests Total Reading score (r=.55). A repeated measures analysis of variance comparing standard scores for the Cognitive Levels Test with those of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests indicated few mean differences between the two sets of scores. Implications concerning the validity of the Cognitive Levels Test were discussed.     

Phono-GraphixTM: A new method for remediating reading difficulties

Eighty-seven children, 6 to 16 years of age, with reading and/or spelling difficulties were trained in a new program (Phono-Graphix^TM) that emphasizes phoneme awareness training, sound-to-print orientation, curriculum design sequenced by orthographic complexity, and active parental supervision in homework assignments. The children’s initial level of competence to access the alphabet code was revealed by diagnostic testing, and individualized sequences of instruction were developed. The children received 12 hours or less of one-to-one training, one hour per week. Children gained an average of 13.7 standard score points on word recognition (1.70 points per clinical hour) and 19.34 standard score points on nonsense word decoding (2.57 points per clinical hour).     

Goal orientation and reading comprehension strategy use among students with and without reading difficulties

Our aim in this paper was to provide an analysis of goal orientation parameters with respect to reading comprehension strategy use for students with and without reading difficulties (RD). Non-RD students appeared to be more mastery oriented and less performance avoidant compared to RD ones. Also, non-RD students used, more, deeper, more sophisticated and complex ones compared to those of RD students (who used fewer and more surface strategies). Non-RD children appeared to metacognitively monitor their comprehension process while their RD classmates were either ignorant of the existing comprehension problems or bridged meaning gaps in inappropriate ways.