Reading Difficulties in Low-SES Children: A Study of Cognitive Profiles

Neurodevelopmental assessments used to measure preschoolers' cognitive development in Latin America: a systematic review

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to systematically review the standardized neurodevelopmental assessments used to study preschool-aged children's cognitive development in Spanish-speaking Latin America.

METHODS

The authors systematically searched PubMed, PsycINFO, and ERIC databases for peer-reviewed articles from Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. Articles were included if they measured cognitive development among children aged 2-6 years using at least one standardized assessment tool; 97 articles were included and reviewed in accordance with PRISMA guidelines to assess their use of these tools.

RESULTS

Ninety-seven studies across 13 countries used a total of 41 assessments to measure cognitive development; most widely used were the Wechsler intelligence scales (n = 46/97), particularly the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (n = 23 and 29, respectively). Other common assessments included the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (n = 9), Raven's Progressive Matrices (n = 9), Child Neuropsychological Assessment (n = 8), and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (n = 7). In regions where normative data for a given assessment were unpublished, authors commonly used norms from the United States, Mexico, or Spain or did not report standard scores in their analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

The wide range of tools used in these studies presents a challenge for generalizing results when measuring the neurodevelopment of Latin American preschool-aged children. The low availability of normative data for specific regions reveals concerns if some tools are culturally and linguistically appropriate even when Spanish is a common language, particularly in low-resource settings. Future work to forge greater consistency in the use of validated measures, clarity in reporting research methods, and publication of regional normative data would benefit the field.

Story hour at a family homeless center: contribution to graduate students' preparation and confidence in preliteracy skills

PURPOSE

This study evaluated the potential benefit to graduate students' of participating in a service-learning program conducting a storybook reading program for children in a family homeless shelter.

METHOD

Ten graduate students in the second year of a two-year master's degree program in communication science and disorders participated in the storybook reading program. The graduate students engaged in reflective writing about their experiences and completed self-ratings of confidence in preliteracy skills before and after program participation. Twenty graduate students in two comparison groups (10 students in a pre-program comparison group, and 10 in a post-program comparison group) also completed questionnaires. The mixed-methods study used quantitative analyses to analyze questionnaire ratings and qualitative methods to analyze reflective writings.

RESULTS

Together, the quantitative and qualitative results indicated positive outcomes from the service-learning experience with regard to graduate students' perceived confidence in preliteracy skills and preparation for careers as speech-language pathologists. The results provide empirical data showing that service-learning experiences with at-risk populations can contribute to graduate students' clinical education and preparation as speech-language pathologists.

CONCLUSION

The results support the value of service-learning experiences in communication sciences and disorders. Clinical preparation in preliteracy development also supports the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association statement on the roles and responsibilities of speech-language pathologists in relation to reading and writing in children.

Promoting Foundation Reading Skills With At-Risk Students

This paper presents an early reading intervention program, the PPCL (Programa de Promoção das Competências Leitoras—Promoting Reading Skills Program). PPCL focuses on the promotion of reading foundation abilities—letter-sound, phonemic awareness, decoding, and spelling—with at-risk first graders. This study assessed the impact of PPCL on the reading foundation abilities with 311 first graders (173 boys and 138 girls), divided between intervention and comparative group (respectively, 206 and 105 first graders). Results were analyzed with an inter- (intervention and comparative group) and intra- (pre-and post-test) group design. A mixed two-way Manova indicated the presence of statistically significant differences between the two assessment moments, with the intervention group presenting higher values than the comparative group in all abilities at the post-test and also above the cutoff score in all variables, which indicates that at-risk students eventually concluded the school year with satisfactory levels of reading skills. On the other hand, the comparative group scored below the cutoff score in all variables. The magnitude of the effect on the intervention group was higher than the one observed in the comparative group. Reading promotion with PPCL significantly improved at-risk students reading skills. In future studies, the authors intend to follow up on reading and writing participants’ skills.