Journal of Learning Disabilities最新文献

Our purpose was to study the frequency of behavioral-emotional problems among children identified with a learning disability (LD). The data were obtained for 579 Finnish children (8-15 years) with reading disability (RD-only), math disability (MD-only), or both (RDMD) assessed at a specialized clinic between 1985 and 2017. We analyzed percentages of children with behavioral-emotional symptoms reaching clinical range (i.e., z score ≥1.5 SDs) and the effects of the LD type, gender, and context (home vs. school) on them. Furthermore, we analyzed the effect of the severity of LD and gender on the amount of behavioral-emotional symptoms reported by teachers and parents. Alarmingly high percentages of children, irrespective of LD type, demonstrated behavioral-emotional problems: more than 37% in Affective, Anxiety, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) problems. Contextual variation was large, as more problems were reported by teachers than by mothers. The unique effects of gender and LD type were rare, but the results raised concern for those with MD-only, especially boys. The results underscore the need to draw attention to the importance of assessing children with LD for behavioral-emotional problems and emphasize the importance of teachers' awareness of behavioral-emotional problems among students with LD and cooperation among child, teacher, and parents in assessment and support planning.

A number of previous studies have identified cognitive deficits in developmental dyscalculia (DD). Yet, most of these studies were in alphabetic languages, whereas few of them examined Chinese DD. Here, we conducted a study aiming to determine the cognitive factors associated with DD in Chinese children. Five candidate cognitive factors of DD-phonological retrieval, phonological awareness, visual-spatial attention, spatial thinking, and pattern understanding-were examined in the present study. A total of 904 Chinese children ages 8 to 11 years participated in this study. From the sample, 97 children were identified with DD through tests of arithmetic ability, and 93 age- and IQ-matched typically developing children were selected as controls. Logistic regression analysis revealed that phonological retrieval, pattern understanding, visual-spatial attention, and phonological awareness significantly predicted DD, whereas spatial thinking failed to do so. Results of logistic relative weights analysis showed that all five factors explained statistically significant amounts of variance in arithmetic scores. Phonological retrieval had the most influence on DD, followed by pattern understanding, visual-spatial attention, phonological awareness, and spatial thinking. These findings have important clinical implications for diagnosis and intervention of Chinese DD.

Several crucial reasons exist to determine whether an adult has had a reading disorder (RD) and to predict a child's likelihood of developing RD. The Adult Reading History Questionnaire (ARHQ) is among the most commonly used self-reported questionnaires. High ARHQ scores indicate an increased likelihood that an adult had RD as a child and that their children may develop RD. This study focused on whether a subset of ARHQ items (ARHQ-Brief) could be equally effective in assessing adults' reading history as the full ARHQ. We used a machine learning approach, lasso (known as L1 regularization), and identified 6 of 23 items that resulted in the ARHQ-Brief. Data from 97 adults and 47 children were included. With the ARHQ-Brief, we report a threshold of 0.323 as suitable to identify past likelihood of RD in adults with a sensitivity of 72.4% and a specificity of 81.5%. Comparison of predictive performances between ARHQ-Brief and the full ARHQ showed that ARHQ-Brief explained an additional 10%-35.2% of the variance in adult and child reading. Furthermore, we validated ARHQ-Brief's superior ability to predict reading ability using an independent sample of 28 children. We close by discussing limitations and future directions.

Letters and numbers are different domains, and their differentiation increases with schooling. It has nonetheless been argued that reading alphabetic and numerical materials partly involves the same processes, even in adults. Whether individuals with dyslexia have difficulty reading and writing numbers remains to be established. This study examined this issue in a group of 30 young adults with a diagnosis of dyslexia, without any concurrent specific difficulty in processing quantities, compared with a typically developing group matched for gender, age, university attended and course of studies, and approximate calculation ability. The results showed that adults with dyslexia also have severe difficulty in reading and writing numbers. It emerged that their number reading speed correlated moderately with word reading speed. We concluded that dyslexia is specifically related with difficulties in reading and writing not only alphabetic material but also numerical material. Our findings suggest that these abilities should be considered more carefully when assessing and supporting individuals with dyslexia.

To address the needs of a diverse group of students with reading difficulties, a majority of researchers over the last decade have designed and implemented multicomponent reading interventions (MCRIs) that provide instruction in multiple areas of reading yielding mixed results. The current study evaluates whether students' baseline word reading skills predict their response to a MCRI. Data from a randomized controlled trial for third- and fourth-grade students with reading difficulties (N = 128) were analyzed. Results demonstrate that baseline word reading was a significant predictor of students' end-of-year reading comprehension performance. Treatment group students who had lower baseline word reading compared with those students with comparatively higher word reading scores performed significantly lower on posttest reading comprehension. Findings denote the importance of word reading instruction for upper elementary students who are below-average word readers and also indicate the need for tailoring reading intervention to align with individual reader needs.

This exploratory study builds upon extant reading development studies by identifying discrete groups based on reading comprehension trajectories across first grade. The main goal of this study was to enhance the field's understanding of early reading comprehension development and its underlying subcomponent skills, with the intent of better understanding the development of comprehension in students who display risk for reading difficulties and disabilities. A sample of first-grade readers (N = 314) were assessed at three timepoints across the first-grade year. These data were utilized to derive empirical latent classes based on reading comprehension performance across the first-grade year. Reading subcomponent skill assessments (phonological awareness, word reading, decoding, linguistic comprehension, and reading fluency), measured in the fall of first grade, were compared across latent classes to examine how they related to growth across the first-grade year. Results suggest that there were four distinct latent classes with differential reading comprehension development, each of which could also be distinguished by the subskill assessments. These findings are presented within the context of the broader reading research base, and implications for practice are discussed.

Great strides have been made in the development of effective methods of instruction for children with dyslexia. However, individual response to treatment varies, and weaknesses persist for some students with dyslexia despite otherwise effective instruction. Continued efforts are needed to support the prospective identification of poor response, particularly in routine intervention settings. The current study addressed whether indicators of dyslexia risk as outlined by hybrid diagnostic models predict response in children who received Tier 3 dyslexia intervention in their schools. The program's efficacy has been previously documented in remediating reading abilities in children with dyslexia. Data were examined from 115 elementary-age children who received routine Tier 3 dyslexia intervention in their schools. Logistic regression revealed powerful effects of preintervention fluency and gender in predicting response, with weaker effects of decoding and rapid naming. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder status also played a role in predicting response. Phonological awareness and listening-reading comprehension discrepancy did not predict response. Profile analyses indicated near- and far-transfer of skill for the adequate response group, whereas growth in the poor response group was limited to near-transfer. Findings support a continuum of severity that may be associated with less robust growth and generalization over the course of the intervention.

Virtual manipulatives are interactive and dynamic visual objects on a screen, which allow students to manipulate them to construct mathematical knowledge. The purpose of this study was to synthesize the literature on interventions that used virtual manipulatives to improve the mathematics performance of K-12 students with learning disabilities. A total of 19 single-case design studies (16 peer-reviewed articles and three dissertations) were selected using specific selection criteria. Overall, students with learning disabilities demonstrated mathematical improvement after receiving interventions involving virtual manipulatives. Although many students with learning disabilities maintained and generalized the intervention effects, further research is required to verify the current findings.

Developmental dyslexia (DD) is a common reading disability, affecting 5% to 11% of children in North America. Children classified as having DD often have a history of early language delay (ELD) or language impairments. Nevertheless, studies have reported conflicting results as to the association between DD-ELD and the extent of current language difficulties in children with DD. To examine these relationships, we queried the parents of school-age children with reading difficulties on their child's early and current language ability. Siblings were also examined. Children were directly assessed using quantitative tests of language and reading skills. To compare this study with the literature, we divided the sample (N = 674) into three groups: DD, intermediate readers (IR), and skilled readers (SR). We found a significant association between DD and ELD, with parents of children in the DD/IR groups reporting their children put words together later than the SR group. We also found a significant association between DD and language difficulties, with children with low reading skills having low expressive/receptive language abilities. Finally, we identified early language predicted current language, which predicted reading skills. These data contribute to research indicating that children with DD experience language difficulties, suggesting early recognition may help identify reading problems.