Annals of Dyslexia最新文献

This study explored the relationship between mental health, i.e., depression and anxiety, and reading difficulties (RD) in Chinese elementary school children. Participants were 1535 grades 3, 4, and 5 students from three elementary schools in Xi’an, China. Children with and without RD were compared to their depression and anxiety. Additionally, children’s self-ratings, parents’ ratings, and teachers’ ratings of depression and anxiety were compared to better understand mental health issues of Chinese children with RD. The findings showed that Chinese children with RD experienced more depression but not anxiety compared to their typically developing peers across all three grade levels. Reports from all three informants consistently reflected that children with RD experienced more depression. However, some inconsistencies were found between self-reported levels of depression and anxiety and the observations made by parents and teachers. Children reported experiencing more depression than their parents and teachers observed but less anxiety than their parents reported. This study emphasizes the importance of understanding the links between RD and mental health and the need for appropriate intervention programs to help children with RD cope with the mental health challenges.

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine if individuals with reading difficulties (RD), mathematics difficulties (MD), or unspecified learning difficulties (ULD) experience internalizing problems (i.e., anxiety, depression, somatic complaints, and social withdrawal) to the same extent, and if the effect sizes are influenced by moderators (age, internalizing problems type, anxiety type, rater type, selection criteria, and attention control). We reviewed 2,806 studies published in English between January 2000 and April 2023. Our final sample consisted of 96 studies that reported effect sizes or data to calculate them (a total of 120 unique samples, 83,260 participants, age range = 7.3 – 34.8 years). Risk of bias and sensitivity were assessed. A random-effects model analysis revealed a significant and moderate overall effect size (Hedge's g = -.54), indicating that individuals with RD, MD or ULD experience more internalizing problems than their chronological-age (CA) controls. Follow-up analyses showed that neither learning difficulties type nor age of participants were significant moderators, but selection criteria (diagnosis versus screening) and internalizing problems type were. These findings suggest that individuals with RD do not differ from those with MD or ULD in internalizing problems, and all fare poorly compared to CA controls.

Studies of the association between dyslexia and mental health have typically tried to minimise the influence of dyslexia comorbidities on the outcomes. However, in the “real world”, many children with dyslexia have these comorbidities. In this study, we tested (1) if children with dyslexia with three common comorbidities — inattention, hyperactivity, language difficulties — experience more anxiety than children with dyslexia without these comorbidities; and (2) if any type of comorbidity is related to a certain type of anxiety (reading, social, generalised, or separation). The data of 82 children with dyslexia (mean age = 9 years and 4 months; 25 girls) were analysed using Fisher exact tests, which revealed that those with inattention (40.54%) or hyperactivity (42.30%) were statistically significantly more likely to experience elevated anxiety than children with dyslexia without these comorbidities (8.11 and 14.28%, respectively). This was not the case for language difficulties (24.5% versus 30%). Spearman ρ correlations (α = .05) indicated significant moderate relationships between inattention and reading anxiety (.27), social anxiety (.37), and generalised anxiety (.24); and between hyperactivity and social anxiety (.24) and generalised anxiety (.28). There were no significant correlations between language and anxiety. Examination of highly inter-correlated variables suggested a specific relationship between one type of comorbidity (inattention) and one type of anxiety (reading anxiety).

Individuals with dyslexia have been shown to have an increased risk for developing internalizing problems. Various studies have revealed the powerful role that culture plays in determining the type of anxiety and coping strategies adopted by various groups of individuals. However, compared to the vast number of studies conducted in individualistic cultures, knowledge on collectivistic cultures with respect to this issue is still limited. This study examined anxiety and coping strategies of children with and without dyslexia in Ethiopia, where the majority of its cultural dimensions could be regarded as collectivistic. A total of 126 children with (n = 63) and without (n = 63) dyslexia, aged 8–11 (41 boys and 22 girls, in each group; and age: M = 9.43 years; SD = 1.14 and M = 9.46; SD =1.11), participated. Dyslexia was assessed using an Amharic dyslexia assessment battery, while anxiety level and coping strategy were respectively measured using the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scales (SCAS) and the Children’s Coping Questionnaire (CCQ), both translated into Amharic. Results indicated that dyslexia was associated with higher levels of anxiety (especially generalized anxiety) and lower levels of support-seeking coping strategies. We discuss these results in the light of the cultural and institutional context in Ethiopia.

The present study examined whether literacy difficulties in both grades 2 and 3 are associated with social and generalized anxiety within the school environment in grade 5 and if children with different literacy difficulties differ in anxiety levels compared to typically developing children in grade 5 after controlling for inattention. Sixty-nine Greek children with literacy difficulties and fifty-two children with typical literacy development were assessed at the beginning of grade 2 and at the end of grade 3 on standardized literacy measures (reading accuracy, text-reading fluency, reading comprehension, and spelling). In grade 5, teachers were asked to rate their children’s social and generalized anxiety levels and inattentive behavior in the school context. Results of one-way ANCOVAs showed that children with literacy difficulties were experiencing more social anxiety than typically developing children. Furthermore, children with both reading and spelling difficulties, but not those with single reading or spelling difficulties, had more social anxiety. These findings suggest that there is a close connection between early literacy difficulties and social anxiety in upper elementary grades and particularly among children with both reading and spelling difficulties. Implications for both teachers and other professionals who support children’s socioemotional development will be discussed.

We studied the associations between childhood-identified learning disabilities and adult-age mental health and whether adult-age reading and math skills, coping styles, or resilience influenced the associations. The participants were 159 Finnish adults (60.4% males). Of them, 48 (30%) had a reading disability (RD), 22 (14%) had a math disability (MD), 21 (13%) had RD + MD identified in childhood, and 68 (43%) were population-based controls, matched based on gender, age, and place of residence. At ages 20–40 (M_age = 29), they reported their mental health, coping styles, and resilience, and their reading and math skills were assessed. The hierarchical regression analyses, predicting mental health with RD, MD, and their interaction while controlling for gender and age, indicated that childhood MD predicted the occurrence of more mental health problems in adulthood, but this was not observed in the case of RD. The RDxMD positive interaction effect reflected better mental health in both the RD and the RD + MD groups than in the MD group. Controlling for adult-age reading and math skills had no effect on the association between MD and mental health outcomes while controlling for resilience and coping styles diminished the impact of MD. Strong resilience without the use of an emotion-oriented coping may thus alleviate the association between MD and mental health. As childhood MD can have long-term associations with mental health problems, these issues need to be addressed in school, at work, and in healthcare. Based on our findings, strengthening effective coping and resilience may be one avenue of support.

In this study, we validated the “ReadFree tool”, a computerised battery of 12 visual and auditory tasks developed to identify poor readers also in minority-language children (MLC). We tested the task-specific discriminant power on 142 Italian-monolingual participants (8–13 years old) divided into monolingual poor readers (N = 37) and good readers (N = 105) according to standardised Italian reading tests. The performances at the discriminant tasks of the “ReadFree tool” were entered into a classification and regression tree (CART) model to identify monolingual poor and good readers. The set of classification rules extracted from the CART model were applied to the MLC’s performance and the ensuing classification was compared to the one based on standardised Italian reading tests. According to the CART model, auditory go-no/go (regular), RAN and Entrainment_100bpm were the most discriminant tasks. When compared with the clinical classification, the CART model accuracy was 86% for the monolinguals and 76% for the MLC. Executive functions and timing skills turned out to have a relevant role in reading. Results of the CART model on MLC support the idea that ad hoc standardised tasks that go beyond reading are needed.

Providing high-quality literacy instruction in early childhood may positively affect the long-term outcomes of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Previous research has shown that educators are generally lacking in their own phonological awareness knowledge and skills which could negatively impact the provision of effective instruction in code-focused early literacy skills. The purposes of this pilot study were to examine the effects of differing dosages of professional development in phonological awareness on early childhood educators’ (ECEs) own phonological awareness skills and instructional practices, and to examine the effects on child outcomes. The comparison group consisted of 10 ECEs who were receiving professional development in emergent literacy and a sample of 59 children from their classrooms. The intervention group was composed of 10 similar ECEs who were in the same general professional development program but received an increased dosage of training focused on phonological awareness, and a sample of 53 children from their classrooms. Results showed that ECEs in the intervention group exhibited significantly greater improvements in their own phonological awareness skills and the quality of their instructional practices than the comparison group of ECEs. In addition, children in the intervention classrooms exhibited significantly larger gains on phonological awareness skills and upper-case alphabet knowledge. The results suggest that providing increased dosages of professional development focused on code-focused early literacy skills benefits both the ECEs and children in their classrooms. Implications of the current study and directions for future research are discussed.

Within the framework of the theory of visual attention (TVA), the visual attention span (VAS) deficit among individuals with developmental dyslexia has been ascribed to the problems entailed by bottom–up (BotU) and top–down (TopD) attentional processes. The former involves two VAS subcomponents: the visual short-term memory storage and perceptual processing speed; the latter consists of the spatial bias of attentional weight and the inhibitory control. Then, what about the influences of the BotU and TopD components on reading? Are there differences in the roles of the two types of attentional processes in reading? This study addresses these issues by using two types of training tasks separately, corresponding to the BotU and TopD attentional components. Three groups of Chinese children with dyslexia—15 children each in the BotU training, TopD training, and non-trained active control groups were recruited here. Participants completed reading measures and a CombiTVA task which was used to estimate VAS subcomponents, before and after the training procedure. Results showed that BotU training improved both the within-category and between-category VAS subcomponents and sentence reading performance; meanwhile, TopD training enhanced character reading fluency through improving spatial attention capacity. Moreover, benefits on attentional capacities and reading skills in the two training groups were generally maintained three months after the intervention. The present findings revealed diverse patterns in the influences of VAS on reading within the TVA framework, which contributes to enriching the understanding of VAS-reading relation.

Different definitions and tests of dyslexia can cause unfairness and make life difficult for people with dyslexia as well as for the professionals. In 2012, the Danish government decided to support the fight against dyslexia. The government issued a public tender for the development of “a standardized, electronically administered test of dyslexia for use […] from primary Grade 3 and up through all educational levels to 5-year university education.” The present paper reports from the development of this National Dyslexia Test. The paper focuses on the definition of dyslexia and the composition, reliability, and validity of the test. Data from the development of the test demonstrate the psychometric properties of the test. Reliability was indicated by a high agreement between the two (computer-administered) measures that are part of the test. External convergent validity was indicated by a high agreement between test results and results from prior practice and by agreement between test results and reading comprehension of educational texts. The paper concludes with a discussion of the practical uses and potential issues with the test since its release in 2015.