A meta-analytic review of comprehension deficits in students with dyslexia

Do early musical impairments predict later reading difficulties? A longitudinal study of pre-readers with and without familial risk for dyslexia

The present longitudinal study investigated the hypothesis that early musical skills (as measured by melodic and rhythmic perception and memory) predict later literacy development via a mediating effect of phonology. We examined 130 French-speaking children, 31 of whom with a familial risk for developmental dyslexia (DD). Their abilities in the three domains were assessed longitudinally with a comprehensive battery of behavioral tests in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Using a structural equation modeling approach, we examined potential longitudinal effects from music to literacy via phonology. We then investigated how familial risk for DD may influence these relationships by testing whether atypical music processing is a risk factor for DD. Results showed that children with a familial risk for DD consistently underperformed children without familial risk in music, phonology, and literacy. A small effect of musical ability on literacy via phonology was observed, but may have been induced by differences in stability across domains over time. Furthermore, early musical skills did not add significant predictive power to later literacy difficulties beyond phonological skills and family risk status. These findings are consistent with the idea that certain key auditory skills are shared between music and speech processing, and between DD and congenital amusia. However, they do not support the notion that music perception and memory skills can serve as a reliable early marker of DD, nor as a valuable target for reading remediation. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Music, phonology, and literacy skills of 130 children, 31 of whom with a familial risk for dyslexia, were examined longitudinally. Children with a familial risk for dyslexia consistently underperformed children without familial risk in musical, phonological, and literacy skills. Structural equation models showed a small effect of musical ability in kindergarten on literacy in second grade, via phonology in first grade. However, early musical skills did not add significant predictive power to later literacy difficulties beyond phonological skills and family risk status.

Does reading anxiety impact on academic achievement in higher education students?

Poor readers have lower academic achievement and increased anxiety, including reading anxiety, which may perpetuate lower academic achievement. We explored reading anxiety in university students, investigating whether the association between reading ability and academic achievement is mediated by reading anxiety (independent of general anxiety). Participants were students (n = 169, 69% female, age = 20.70) at an Australian university who completed an online reading assessment (decoding skills, phonological awareness, orthographical knowledge and comprehension), and a survey examining reading anxiety, trait anxiety and self-reported reading history. Academic achievement was based on university grades. Two reading anxiety factors (social and non-social) were identified; both factors were distinct from trait anxiety. Reading ability was negatively correlated with reading anxiety and positively correlated with academic achievement. Reading anxiety was not correlated with academic achievement and it did not mediate the relationship between reading ability and academic achievement as expected. As this was the first study to explore reading anxiety in adults, further research is required to determine the impact reading anxiety may have on university students beyond academic achievement.

Impact of audio on navigation strategies in children and adults with dyslexia

Children and adults with dyslexia are often provided with audio-support, which reads the written text for the learner. The present study examined to what extent audio-support as a form of external regulation impacts navigation patterns in children and adults with and without dyslexia. We compared navigation patterns in multimedia lessons of learners with (36 children, 41 adults), and without dyslexia (46 children, 44 adults) in a text-condition vs. text-audio-condition. Log files were recorded to identify navigation patterns. Four patterns could be distinguished: linear reading (linear), linear reading with rereading (big peak), reading with going back to previous pages (small peaks), and a combination of strategies (combined peaks). Children generally used linear navigation strategies in both conditions, whereas adults mostly used combined-peaks strategies in the text-condition, but linear strategies in the text-audio-condition. No differences were found between learners with and without dyslexia. Audio-support does not impact navigation strategies in children but does seem to impact navigation strategies in adult learners, towards the use of more linear navigation patterns, reflecting less self-regulation.

The summary writing performance of bilingual learners with reading difficulties

writing is an important tactic for learning from text and the summaries provide information on students' comprehension and learning processes. We investigated the nature of the summaries produced by bilingual adolescents, and whether their summaries were related to their reading abilities in their first and second languages. In each language, we examined the performance of students identified as typically developing, poor decoders, or poor comprehenders. Participants were 246 grade 8 students enrolled in English immersion programs in China. Measures included English word reading and reading comprehension, Chinese word reading and reading comprehension, and nonverbal ability. Students' text-absent summaries of an English 254-word expository passage were analyzed for the number of themes, main ideas, important details, and unimportant details. Using latent profile analysis, participants were identified as typical readers (TR, n = 123), poor decoders (PD, n = 74), or poor comprehenders (PC, n = 49) in English, and TR (n = 129), PD (n = 74), or PC (n = 43) in Chinese, based on word reading and reading comprehension in both English and Chinese. MANCOVA results showed that after controlling for nonverbal ability, in the English-defined groups, the TR group outperformed PD and PC on themes, main ideas, and important details; in the Chinese-defined groups, the TR group outperformed PD and PC on themes, TR performed better than PC on main ideas and important details, and PD outperformed PC on main ideas. Discussion focuses on the difficulties faced by bilingual students with reading difficulties and on the potential of summary writing instruction to improve their comprehension and learning processes.

The multiple-level framework of developmental dyslexia: the long trace from a neurodevelopmental deficit to an impaired cultural technique

Developmental dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by an unexpected impairment in literacy acquisition leading to specific poor academic achievement and possible secondary symptoms. The multi-level framework of developmental dyslexia considers five levels of a causal pathway on which a given genotype is expressed and hierarchically transmitted from one level to the next under the increasing influence of individual learning-relevant traits and environmental factors moderated by cultural conditions. These levels are the neurobiological, the information processing and the skill level (prerequisites and acquisition of literacy skills), the academic achievement level and the level of secondary effects. Various risk factors are present at each level within the assumed causal pathway and can increase the likelihood of exhibiting developmental dyslexia. Transition from one level to the next is neither unidirectional nor inevitable. This fact has direct implications for prevention and intervention which can mitigate transitions from one level to the next. In this paper, various evidence-based theories and findings regarding deficits at different levels are placed in the proposed framework. In addition, the moderating effect of cultural impact at and between information processing and skill levels are further elaborated based on a review of findings regarding influences of different writing systems and orthographies. These differences impose culture-specific demands for literacy-specific cognitive procedures, influencing both literacy acquisition and the manifestation of developmental dyslexia.