School and language performance in children born with low birth weight.

OBJECTIVES: To identify the impact of birth weight on the development of metalinguistic skills and performance in reading, writing, and arithmetic in students aged 6 to 10 years, enrolled from the 1st to the 4th grade of Elementary School in public schools of the metropolitan region of São Paulo. METHODS: The concurrent cohort included 315 students. Birth weight was the exposure variable, and the outcomes were performance in receptive and expressive language, oral metalinguistic skills, and performance in writing, arithmetic, and reading. The tools employed were the Test of Language Competence (TLC) and the School Performance Test (SPT). Students were grouped into quartiles by birth weight for data analysis (P1: < 2170 g, P2: from 2171 g to 2450 g, P3: from 2451 g to 3150 g, and P4: > 3150 g). RESULTS: The authors observed a tendency for the lower performance of the two groups with lower birth weights in listening comprehension and oral expression. The lower-weight group tended to perform poorly compared to the other groups vis-à-vis reading. In the global result of the SPT, worse performance was observed in the students in the first quartile compared to the others (p = 0.019). The multivariate analysis revealed no association between birth weight and results in the tests applied after adjusting for maternal schooling. CONCLUSIONS: Birth weight can interfere with oral and written language development. However, the determination of these processes occurs in the face of complex interaction that includes sociodemographic factors, especially family support and maternal schooling.

Cut-off point, sensitivity and specificity for screening the reading fluency in children. / Pontos de corte, sensibilidade e especificidade para rastreamento da fluência leitora em crianças.

PURPOSE: to establish cut-off point for reading speed and accuracy, to obtain minimum values for comprehending texts, and allow classifying students from 2nd to 5th grade of elementary school according to good or poor reading performance. METHODS: 147 assessment protocols for oral reading and text comprehension of students from 3rd to 5th grade of Elementary School with and without reading difficulties were analyzed. The oral text reading rate and accuracy values were analyzed. ROC curves were constructed, and sensitivity and specificity calculated for each reading fluency parameter, and each school grade. RESULTS: Sensitivity and specificity for measures of rate and accuracy in text reading were calculated for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. Rate and precision under the ROC curve did not differ statistically. The values for the 2nd grade were mathematically estimated. CONCLUSION: The cutoff values expected for students from 2nd to 3rd grade were identified, with recommendations for using the oral text reading rate for reading comprehension screening procedures.

OBJETIVO: estabelecer pontos de corte para valores de velocidade e acurácia de leitura, a fim de obter valores mínimos para compreensão de textos, e permitir classificar alunos de 2º a 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental, de acordo com bom ou pobre desempenho em leitura. MÉTODO: foram analisados ​​147 protocolos de avaliação de leitura oral e compreensão textual de escolares de 3º a 5º ano com e sem dificuldades de leitura. A taxa de leitura oral de texto e os valores de acurácia foram analisados. Curvas ROC foram construídas e a sensibilidade e a especificidade, calculadas para cada parâmetro de fluência de leitura por ano escolar. RESULTADOS: A sensibilidade e a especificidade para medidas de taxa e acurácia na leitura de texto foram calculadas para o 3º, 4º e 5º anos. A taxa e a precisão sob a curva ROC não diferiram estatisticamente. Os valores do 2º ano foram estimados matematicamente. CONCLUSÃO: Foram identificados os valores de corte esperados para escolares do 2º ao 5º ano, com recomendações de utilização da taxa de leitura de texto oral para procedimentos de rastreamento da compreensão leitora.

Peripheral arterial disease in hemodialysis patients 10 years later.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) on hemodialysis present high cardiovascular comorbidity. Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is associated with higher mortality and the interest in its early detection and treatment is increasing. The objective of this study is to determine the frequency and severity of symptomatic PAD, and to establish its relationship with mortality in HD patients that have received treated early and compare them with a cohort of our center already reported. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective study on a cohort of incident patients since 2014 and followed up until December 2019. Demographic data, cardiovascular risk, the presence of symptomatic PAD at baseline and during follow-up were collected. Trophic lesions were graded using the Rutherford scale. RESULTS: Initially, there were 91 patients and 7 cases that were not included in the study were lost to follow-up. Age 64 ±â€¯16 years, men 51.6% (47/91). The percentage of baseline PAD was 10.7% (9/84). During a median follow-up of 35 months (20-57), the diagnosis of PAD increased to 25% (21/84). Half of the patients with PAD 52.38% (11/21) obtained a score greater than 3 in the Rutherford Clinical Classification, which corresponds to severe disease. 13/21 patients required reoperation due to recurrence of symptoms (61.9% of cases with PAD). The development of PAD was significantly associated with: an elevated index of Charlson (3.9±2.1 vs. 7.7 ±â€¯3.5; P = 0.001),being male (19 vs. 2; P = 0.001), diabetic (no: 7; yes: 15; P = 0.001) and with a history of chronic ischemic heart disease (no: 13; yes: 8; P = 0.001), 38.1% (8/21) had ischemic heart disease in patients who developed PAD, while in the absence of PAD the presence of ischemic heart disease was 9.5% (6/63). Furthermore, more than half (66.7% [14/21]) of those who developed PAD were diabetic. Univariate analysis showed that age, C reactive protein, albumin, and number of surgical interventions, but not PAD, were associated with mortality. In the multivariate analysis adjusted for other factors, only C reactive protein was related to overall survival Exp ß: 2.17; P = 0.011; CI (1.19-3.97). Regarding cardiovascular mortality, in the multivariate Cox analysis, only PAD was related to mortality of cardiovascular origin Exp ß: 1.73; P = 0.006; CI (1.17-2.56). CONCLUSIONS: A significant number of patients on hemodialysis develop PAD requiring peripheral vascular surgery. PAD was not associated with overall mortality in our cohort, but it did show an association with cardiovascular mortality. Prospective studies with a larger sample size are necessary. New surgical treatments and Follow-up by vascular surgeons could improve the severity of PAD and the long-term prognosis.

Music education for improving reading skills in children and adolescents with dyslexia.

BACKGROUND: Dyslexia (or developmental dyslexia or specific reading disability) is a specific learning disorder that has a neurobiological origin. It is marked by difficulties with accurate or fluent recognition of words and poor spelling in people who have average or above average intelligence and these difficulties cannot be attributed to another cause, for example, poor vision, hearing difficulty, or lack of socio-environmental opportunities, motivation, or adequate instruction. Studies have correlated reading skills with musical abilities. It has been hypothesized that musical training may be able to remediate timing difficulties, improve pitch perception, or increase spatial awareness, thereby having a positive effect on skills needed in the development of language and literacy. OBJECTIVES: To study the effectiveness of music education on reading skills (that is, oral reading skills, reading comprehension, reading fluency, phonological awareness, and spelling) in children and adolescents with dyslexia. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the following electronic databases in June 2012: CENTRAL (2012, Issue 5), MEDLINE (1948 to May Week 4 2012 ), EMBASE (1980 to 2012 Week 22), CINAHL (searched 7 June 2012), LILACS (searched 7 June 2012), PsycINFO (1887 to May Week 5 2012), ERIC (searched 7 June 2012), Arts and Humanities Citation Index (1970 to 6 June 2012), Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Social Sciences and Humanities (1990 to 6 June 2012), and WorldCat (searched 7 June 2012). We also searched the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) and reference lists of studies. We did not apply any date or language limits. SELECTION CRITERIA: We planned to include randomized controlled trials. We looked for studies that included at least one of our primary outcomes. The primary outcomes were related to the main domain of the reading: oral reading skills, reading comprehension, reading fluency, phonological awareness, and spelling, measured through validated instruments. The secondary outcomes were self esteem and academic achievement. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors (HCM and RBA) independently screened all titles and abstracts identified through the search strategy to determine their eligibility. For our analysis we had planned to use mean difference for continuous data, with 95% confidence intervals, and to use the random-effects statistical model when the effect estimates of two or more studies could be combined in a meta-analysis. MAIN RESULTS: We retrieved 851 references via the search strategy. No randomized controlled trials testing music education for the improvement of reading skills in children with dyslexia could be included in this review. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is no evidence available from randomized controlled trials on which to base a judgment about the effectiveness of music education for the improvement of reading skills in children and adolescents with dyslexia. This uncertainty warrants further research via randomized controlled trials, involving a interdisciplinary team: musicians, hearing and speech therapists, psychologists, and physicians.

Neuromodulation: A combined-therapy protocol for speech rehabilitation in a child with cerebral palsy.

INTRODUCTION: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) modulates cortical activity and potentiates functional gains achieved during therapeutic protocols. The aim of Integrative Speech Therapy Protocol is to rehabilitate speech in patients with impairments regarding neuropyschomotor development by combining oral motor stimuli, specific articulatory production, and the stimulation of phonological aspects of language. OBJECTIVE: Investigate the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation combined to integrative speech therapy in a child with cerebral palsy. METHODS: We performed a case study with tDCS and speech therapy in a patient with cerebral palsy and apraxia of speech. To assess the patient's speech, we used a parameterized test for the Brazilian Portuguese speech - ABFW. The CFCS and Vicking Speech Scales presented level IV and III, respectively. The patient underwent two periods with ten stimulation sessions each: first with anodal stimulation over Broca's area; and second over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Two indices were calculated: the percentage of consonants correct; and percentage of consonants correct-revised. Descriptive statistics were employed for the clinical data. For the outcomes, changes in each score were calculated as the difference in pre-intervention and post-intervention using Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: Increases were found in percentage of correct consonants indices as well as to produce two-syllable and three-syllable words after both types of stimulation, characterized mainly by correct vowels that marked the presence of the syllable. Number of phonemes increased 0 to 4 at first the stimulation and 4 to 10 at the second. CONCLUSION: The combined-therapy program contributed to improve the speech rehabilitation results in a patient with cerebral palsy.

A simple score to predict early severe infections in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

Infections remain a common complication in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and are associated with morbidity and mortality. A risk score to predict the probability of early severe infection could help to identify the patients that would benefit from preventive measures. We undertook a post hoc analysis of infections in four clinical trials from the Spanish Myeloma Group, involving a total of 1347 patients (847 transplant candidates). Regarding the GEM2010 > 65 trial, antibiotic prophylaxis was mandatory, so we excluded it from the final analysis. The incidence of severe infection episodes within the first 6 months was 13.8%, and majority of the patients experiencing the first episode before 4 months (11.1%). 1.2% of patients died because of infections within the first 6 months (1% before 4 months). Variables associated with increased risk of severe infection in the first 4 months included serum albumin ≤30 g/L, ECOG > 1, male sex, and non-IgA type MM. A simple risk score with these variables facilitated the identification of three risk groups with different probabilities of severe infection within the first 4 months: low-risk (score 0-2) 8.2%; intermediate-risk (score 3) 19.2%; and high-risk (score 4) 28.3%. Patients with intermediate/high risk could be candidates for prophylactic antibiotic therapies.

Bilingualism and Rapid Automatized Naming: effects of language switching on lexical access and reading speed. / Bilinguismo e Nomeação Automática Rápida: efeitos da alternância de línguas sobre o acesso lexical e a velocidade de leitura.

PURPOSE: To assess whether bilingualism, on a language switching experiment, is associated with higher or lower accuracy and speed of the rapid automatized naming of objects and investigate the influence of language switching on reading speed. METHODS: The performance of 50 Brazilian bilingual children in the Rapid Automatized Naming Task, whose L1 was Brazilian Portuguese and who were exposed to English daily at school, was assessed. Forty-seven monolingual (Brazilian Portuguese) children were grouped according to age. RESULTS: Language switching interfered with the performance of the bilingual children in the Rapid Automatized Naming Task in terms of speed and accuracy. No correlations were found between the performance in the RAN task and Reading Speed. CONCLUSION: Brazilian bilingual students showed poor performance in the rapid naming task on the switch trial when compared to monolingual students, showing higher rates of mistakes, especially hesitations. Only the performance of bilingual students in the rapid naming task in L2 correlated with L1 reading speed.

OBJETIVO: Verificar se o bilinguismo, na condição de alternância de línguas, associa-se à maior ou menor velocidade e precisão na nomeação rápida de objetos e se essa condição se relaciona com a velocidade de leitura de texto. MÉTODO: Analisou-se o desempenho de 50 crianças bilíngues sequenciais brasileiras, cuja língua materna era o Português Brasileiro, expostas ao Inglês diariamente no ambiente escolar. O grupo monolíngue, composto por 47 crianças, foi agrupado de acordo com a faixa etária. Foram analisados desempenhos em tarefa de Nomeação Automática Rápida (RAN) e velocidade (palavras lidas por minuto) em prova de leitura oral de texto. RESULTADOS: Os resultados revelaram que a alternância de línguas se associou ao desempenho dos escolares bilíngues na prova de Nomeação Rápida no que diz respeito à velocidade e à precisão. Em condição de alternância de línguas, os escolares bilíngues despenderam mais tempo para nomear e cometeram mais erros. Somente se observou correlação entre o desempenho dos escolares bilíngues na prova de nomeação rápida em L2 e a taxa de leitura em L1. CONCLUSÃO: Escolares brasileiros bilíngues apresentaram pior desempenho em tarefa de nomeação rápida na situação de alternância de línguas quando comparados a escolares monolíngues, com maior número de erros, especialmente hesitações.

Reading Comprehension Tests for Children: Test Equating and Specific Age-Interval Reports.

Equating is used to directly compare alternate forms of tests. We describe the equating of two alternative forms of a reading comprehension test for Brazilian children (2nd to 5th grade), Form A (n = 427) and Form B (n = 321). We employed non-equivalent random groups design with internal anchor items. Local independence was attested via standardized residual Pearson's bivariate correlation. First, from 176 items, we selected 42 in each form (33 unique and 9 in common) using 2PL model, a one-dimensional item response theory (IRT) model. Using the equateIRT package for R, the anchor items were used to link both forms. Linking coefficients were estimated under two different methods (Haebara and Stocking-Lord), resulting in scores equating by two methods: observed score equating (OSE) and true score equating (TSE). We provided reference-specific age-intervals for the sample. The final version was informative for a wide range of theta abilities. We concluded that the forms could be used interchangeably.

Reading comprehension assessment: effect of order of task application.

PURPOSE: To investigate the influence of order of reading tasks application on the reading comprehension performance by students with and without reading difficulties. METHODS: 40 students (4th and 5th grade) were classified according to the presence (Research Group-RG) or absence (Control Group-CG) of reading difficulties. RG-r and CG-r - 20 students (10 for each group) who retold the read text and responded to open-ended questions; RG-q and CG-q - 20 students (10 for each group) who responded to open-ended questions and then retold the read text. The analysis quantified the main idea, details and inferences retold, causal links and retelling reference standard (3-0) was also established from the best to the worst performance. Open-ended questions received one point for each correct answer. RESULTS: Open-ended questions influenced only the retelling performance of good readers. A better performance of CG-q was noted for the number of second level links retold (U=50.50, p=0.155), total of links retold (U=23,00, p=0.038) and retelling reference standard (U=24.50, p=0.039). Reading-monitoring strategies are laborious and tend to be less used by students with reading difficulties. This is because these compete directly with low-level skills (decoding and microstructure processing), losing efficiency or being abandoned in the very course of reading. CONCLUSION: There was improvement on the retelling performance of students without reading difficulties when this task was preceded by the open-ended questions, possibly because of the use of monitoring strategies that allowed a better understanding of the link between the retained ideas, improving links and retelling reference standard.

Speech perception task with pseudowords. / Tarefa de discriminação de fala com pseudopalavras.

Purpose Prepare a list of pseudowords in Brazilian Portuguese to assess the auditory discrimination ability of schoolchildren and investigate the internal consistency of test items and the effect of school grade on discrimination performance. Methods Study participants were 60 schoolchildren (60% female) enrolled in the 3rd (n=14), 4th (n=24) and 5th (n=22) grades of an elementary school in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, aged between eight years and two months and 11 years and eight months (99 to 136 months; mean=120.05; SD=10.26), with average school performance score of 7.21 (minimum 5.0; maximum 10; SD=1.23). Forty-eight minimal pairs of Brazilian Portuguese pseudowords distinguished by a single phoneme were prepared. The participants' responses (whether the elements of the pairs were the same or different) were noted and analyzed. The data were analyzed using the Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient, Spearman's Correlation Coefficient, and Bonferroni Post-hoc Test at significance level of 0.05. Results Internal consistency analysis indicated the deletion of 20 pairs. The 28 items with results showed good internal consistency (α=0.84). The maximum and minimum scores of correct discrimination responses were 34 and 16, respectively (mean=30.79; SD=3.68). No correlation was observed between age, school performance, and discrimination performance, and no difference between school grades was found. Conclusion Most of the items proposed for assessing the auditory discrimination of speech sounds showed good internal consistency in relation to the task. Age and school grade did not improve the auditory discrimination of speech sounds.

Noun phrase dictation as a writing assessment instrument: a psychometric analysis. / Ditado de sintagmas nominais para avaliação da escrita: análise psicométrica.

Purpose Prepare a list of noun phrases able to characterize the writing performance of schoolchildren according to school year. Methods A list of 25 noun phrases intended for dictation was prepared and applied to 275 Elementary School students (2nd to 5thgrades). The unidimensionality underlying the proposed items was analyzed using Item Response Theory. Results The list enabled differentiation between the performance of schoolchildren attending the 2nd and 3rd years and that of students attending the 4 th and 5th years. Items on the list presented moderate difficulty level and medium discrimination capacity. Conclusion The model showed good fit and was able to differentiate the performance of 2nd to 3rd grade students from that of 4th to 5thgrade students. The list of noun phrases assessed writing in 4th to 5th grade students more accurately.

School and language performance in children born with low birth weight

Abstract Objectives To identify the impact of birth weight on the development of metalinguistic skills and performance in reading, writing, and arithmetic in students aged 6 to 10 years, enrolled from the 1st to the 4th grade of Elementary School in public schools of the metropolitan region of São Paulo. Methods The concurrent cohort included 315 students. Birth weight was the exposure variable, and the outcomes were performance in receptive and expressive language, oral metalinguistic skills, and performance in writing, arithmetic, and reading. The tools employed were the Test of Language Competence (TLC) and the School Performance Test (SPT). Students were grouped into quartiles by birth weight for data analysis (P1: < 2170 g, P2: from 2171 g to 2450 g, P3: from 2451 g to 3150 g, and P4: > 3150 g). Results The authors observed a tendency for the lower performance of the two groups with lower birth weights in listening comprehension and oral expression. The lower-weight group tended to perform poorly compared to the other groups vis-à-vis reading. In the global result of the SPT, worse performance was observed in the students in the first quartile compared to the others (p= 0.019). The multivariate analysis revealed no association between birth weight and results in the tests applied after adjusting for maternal schooling. Conclusions Birth weight can interfere with oral and written language development. However, the determination of these processes occurs in the face of complex interaction that includes sociodemographic factors, especially family support and maternal schooling.

Pontos de corte, sensibilidade e especificidade para rastreamento da fluência leitora em crianças / Cut-off point, sensitivity and specificity for screening the reading fluency in children

RESUMO Objetivo estabelecer pontos de corte para valores de velocidade e acurácia de leitura, a fim de obter valores mínimos para compreensão de textos, e permitir classificar alunos de 2º a 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental, de acordo com bom ou pobre desempenho em leitura. Método foram analisados ​​147 protocolos de avaliação de leitura oral e compreensão textual de escolares de 3º a 5º ano com e sem dificuldades de leitura. A taxa de leitura oral de texto e os valores de acurácia foram analisados. Curvas ROC foram construídas e a sensibilidade e a especificidade, calculadas para cada parâmetro de fluência de leitura por ano escolar. Resultados A sensibilidade e a especificidade para medidas de taxa e acurácia na leitura de texto foram calculadas para o 3º, 4º e 5º anos. A taxa e a precisão sob a curva ROC não diferiram estatisticamente. Os valores do 2º ano foram estimados matematicamente. Conclusão Foram identificados os valores de corte esperados para escolares do 2º ao 5º ano, com recomendações de utilização da taxa de leitura de texto oral para procedimentos de rastreamento da compreensão leitora.

ABSTRACT Purpose to establish cut-off point for reading speed and accuracy, to obtain minimum values for comprehending texts, and allow classifying students from 2nd to 5th grade of elementary school according to good or poor reading performance. Methods 147 assessment protocols for oral reading and text comprehension of students from 3rd to 5th grade of Elementary School with and without reading difficulties were analyzed. The oral text reading rate and accuracy values were analyzed. ROC curves were constructed, and sensitivity and specificity calculated for each reading fluency parameter, and each school grade. Results Sensitivity and specificity for measures of rate and accuracy in text reading were calculated for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. Rate and precision under the ROC curve did not differ statistically. The values for the 2nd grade were mathematically estimated. Conclusion The cutoff values expected for students from 2nd to 3rd grade were identified, with recommendations for using the oral text reading rate for reading comprehension screening procedures

Capacity for self-monitoring reading comprehension in Elementary School. / Capacidade de automonitoramento da compreensão leitora no Ensino Fundamental.

PURPOSE: To investigate the capacity for self-monitoring reading comprehension in Brazilian Elementary School students. METHODS: Fifty-three Elementary students in the 5th and 9th grades from two Public Schools in the city of São Paulo were assessed. They were selected based on their oral reading rate and grouped according to their performance in reading comprehension in the following categories: Group with best comprehension: students with adequate rate and accuracy, without difficulties in reading comprehension; Group with worst comprehension: students with adequate rate and accuracy but with difficulties in reading comprehension. Two narrative texts followed by eight questions to assess reading comprehension were presented. Two sentences and two words were replaced by ungrammatical elements and pseudo-words. Under the condition of spontaneous monitoring, students read the text aloud and answered the questions. The analysis considered the calculation of hesitation, self-correction, repetitions and mistakes. Under the condition of directed monitoring, students were instructed to read the text, either aloud or silently, after being told that certain parts of the text could not make sense, and they were oriented to underline such parts. The analysis was carried out by counting of underlined items. The comparisons were made with the Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: A difference was observed between the groups only at the sentence level among the 9th grade schoolchildren under the spontaneous monitoring and among the 5th grade schoolchildren under directed monitoring. CONCLUSION: Students with worst comprehension had a poorer performance to monitor the presence of ungrammatical sentences than their peers with best comprehension.

Creation of a list of homonyms in Brazilian Portuguese for linguistic processing tasks. / Elaboração de lista de homônimos do Português Brasileiro para tarefas de processamento linguístico.

Purpose This paper presents procedures and steps to create a list of homonyms, their meanings and representative images. Methods One hundred and three homonyms in Brazilian Portuguese were secluded through searches in text books and dictionaries and the meanings were verified. The homonyms were analyzed and selected according pre-established criteria. Twenty-six homonyms with two meanings were selected and one image was used to represent each meaning. To test the instrument, twenty elementary school children in 4th (n = 10) and 5ht (n = 10) grades were selected from a private school in São Paulo. To identify the meanings of major and minor occurrence, the students gave their understanding of the words presented to them orally. The students were also asked to name the fifty-two images to determine the degree of recognition. Percentages of accuracy were calculated. Results Among the 26 homonyms, two were excluded because the students were unable to name them. Two images were little recognized and, therefore, replaced with others that better represented the homonyms. Conclusion A list of 24 homonyms and 48 images (one for each meaning) was developed. The results of the presentation of these items to elementary school children in the 4th and 5th grades proved the adequacy of the list. The material is seen as efficient for use in recognition tasks and can be applied in semantic priming tasks.

Programa de estimulação no ambiente educacional para aprimoramento de habilidades subjacentes à leitura / Stimulation program in an educational setting for improvement of skills underlying reading

RESUMO Objetivo elaborar e investigar o efeito de um programa de estimulação de habilidades cognitivo-linguísticas preditoras da decodificação leitora, orientado para a melhora das habilidades subjacentes à leitura. Métodos pesquisa prospectiva, de análise quantitativa. Participaram 124 crianças de 1º a 3º ano do Ensino Fundamental I de uma escola pública de São Paulo, distribuídas em: Grupo Pesquisa - 62 escolares que passaram por intervenção; Grupo Controle: 62 escolares que não receberam estimulação. Avaliaram-se individualmente (pré e pós-intervenção) parâmetros de fluência leitora (taxa e acurácia) em tarefa com palavras isoladas. O programa contou com tarefas destinadas a estimular a discriminação auditiva, conhecimento morfossintático, acesso fonológico ao léxico mental, consciência fonológica, conhecimento do código escrito, fluência leitora e o vocabulário visual de palavras e foi construído para aprimorar, em dez sessões de estimulação coletiva, a decodificação e reconhecimento automático de palavras. Resultados o Grupo Pesquisa apresentou maiores diferenças de acurácia e escore na leitura de palavras, quando comparados os resultados das avaliações pré e pós-intervenção com os do Grupo Controle. Conclusão: o programa promoveu a fluência leitora de escolares do 1º e 2º anos do Ensino Fundamental I. Incrementos significativos foram observados para a discriminação auditiva, consciência fonológica e automaticidade leitora, com variações em função do ano escolar.

ABSTRACT Purpose To develop and investigate the effect of a program that stimulates cognitive-linguistic skills predictive of phonological decoding skills aimed at improving of skills underlying reading. Methods The research design was a prospective cohort study with quantitative analysis. A total of 124 1st - 3rd grade children from a public Ensino Fundamental I school in São Paulo, participated in the study, divided into: Research Group - 62 students who underwent intervention; Control Group: 62 students who did not receive stimulation. Reading fluency parameters (rate and accuracy) were individually evaluated (pre- and post-intervention) in a task with isolated words. The program had tasks designed to stimulate auditory discrimination, morphosyntactic knowledge, phonological access to the mental lexicon, phonological awareness, knowledge of the written code, reading fluency and the visual vocabulary of words. It was built to improve decoding and automatic word recognition skills in ten sessions of collective stimulation. Results The Research Group showed greater differences in accuracy and score in word reading, when comparing the results of pre- and post-intervention assessments, than the Control Group. Conclusion The program promoted the reading fluency of 1st and 2nd grade students. Significant increments were observed for auditory discrimination, phonological awareness and reading automaticity with variations depending on the grade.

[Linguistic and narrative variables in oral and written language disorder]. / Variáveis lingüísticas e de narrativas no distúrbio de linguagem oral e escrita.

BACKGROUND: A study of linguistic and narrative variables in oral and written language disorder. AIM: To characterize the linguistic and narrative productivity, oral and written productions, of scholars with oral and written language disorder. METHOD: Oral and written narrative productions of 30 scholars from public schools (male and female aged 7 to 13 years) were compared. These individuals were grouped as follows: Research group (15) and Control group (15). Samples of oral and written narratives of the story "Little Red Riding Hood" were collected. Comparative analyses were made between the oral and written productions--intragroup (t Student Test and Wilcoxon Test) and intergroup (t Student Test and Mann Whitney Test)--according to the following linguistic variables: total number of words, of nouns, of verbs, of verbs in the past tense, of adjectives, of time markers, of complete statements, of incomplete statements and of reported episodes. Narratives were also compared according to the presence of episodes. RESULTS: Differences were observed between the oral and written productions for the research group regarding the total number of produced words (p = 0.018) and the total number of produced verbs (p = 0.030). The use of time markers such as before (p < 0.001), then (p < 0.001), when (p < 0.001), and after (p = 0.003), and the number of reported episodes, also indicated statistical differences when comparing the groups. CONCLUSION: The following variables characterized the research group: longer extensions of oral lexical productivity when comparing these to the written productions, less frequent use of time markers and fewer number of certain episodes in the written modality.

[Relationship between speech, tonus and non-verbal praxis of the stomatognathic system in preschoolers]. / Relação entre fala, tônus e praxia não-verbal do sistema estomatognático em pré-escolares.

BACKGROUND: relationship between speech, tonus and non-verbal praxis. AIM: to verify the relationship between speech, tonus and non-verbal praxis of the stomatognathic system in preschoolers. METHOD: 120 children, with ages between 4:0 and 5:11 years, were assessed. This assessment consisted of an anamnesis and a speech-language evaluation. The anamnesis was carried out with each child and was completed with information obtained through a questionnaire filled out by parents or guardians. The speech-language assessment involved: assessment of tonus (resistance), of mobility (execution of isolated movements), praxis of lips and tongue (repetition of sequential movements) and of speech (picture naming). RESULTS: statistically significant findings were: normal tongue tonus in the group of children with normal praxis (p = 0.003); tongue with altered tonus in the group of children with altered praxis (p = 0.003) and normal speech in the group of children with normal praxis (p < 0.001). Other observations were: normal lip tonus in the group of children with normal praxis (p = 0.058); altered speech (omission, substitution and distortion) in the group of children with altered lip tonus (p = 0.149), normal speech in the group of children with normal tongue tonus (p = 0.332): altered speech (omission, substitution and distortion) in the group of children with altered lip praxis (p = 0.241). Differences in speech related to gender or age were not observed in the present study. However, children with ages between 4:0 and 4:11 years presented speech alterations in a higher proportion when compared to children with ages between 5:0 and 5:11 years. CONCLUSION: it was not possible to prove the existence of a relationship between tonus and lip praxis, and between lip praxis and speech. A relationship exists between tonus and non-verbal tongue praxis and also between non-verbal tongue praxis and speech.

Bilinguismo e Nomeação Automática Rápida: efeitos da alternância de línguas sobre o acesso lexical e a velocidade de leitura / Bilingualism and Rapid Automatized Naming: effects of language switching on lexical access and reading speed

RESUMO Objetivo Verificar se o bilinguismo, na condição de alternância de línguas, associa-se à maior ou menor velocidade e precisão na nomeação rápida de objetos e se essa condição se relaciona com a velocidade de leitura de texto. Método Analisou-se o desempenho de 50 crianças bilíngues sequenciais brasileiras, cuja língua materna era o Português Brasileiro, expostas ao Inglês diariamente no ambiente escolar. O grupo monolíngue, composto por 47 crianças, foi agrupado de acordo com a faixa etária. Foram analisados desempenhos em tarefa de Nomeação Automática Rápida (RAN) e velocidade (palavras lidas por minuto) em prova de leitura oral de texto. Resultados Os resultados revelaram que a alternância de línguas se associou ao desempenho dos escolares bilíngues na prova de Nomeação Rápida no que diz respeito à velocidade e à precisão. Em condição de alternância de línguas, os escolares bilíngues despenderam mais tempo para nomear e cometeram mais erros. Somente se observou correlação entre o desempenho dos escolares bilíngues na prova de nomeação rápida em L2 e a taxa de leitura em L1. Conclusão Escolares brasileiros bilíngues apresentaram pior desempenho em tarefa de nomeação rápida na situação de alternância de línguas quando comparados a escolares monolíngues, com maior número de erros, especialmente hesitações.

ABSTRACT Purpose To assess whether bilingualism, on a language switching experiment, is associated with higher or lower accuracy and speed of the rapid automatized naming of objects and investigate the influence of language switching on reading speed. Methods The performance of 50 Brazilian bilingual children in the Rapid Automatized Naming Task, whose L1 was Brazilian Portuguese and who were exposed to English daily at school, was assessed. Forty-seven monolingual (Brazilian Portuguese) children were grouped according to age. Results Language switching interfered with the performance of the bilingual children in the Rapid Automatized Naming Task in terms of speed and accuracy. No correlations were found between the performance in the RAN task and Reading Speed. Conclusion Brazilian bilingual students showed poor performance in the rapid naming task on the switch trial when compared to monolingual students, showing higher rates of mistakes, especially hesitations. Only the performance of bilingual students in the rapid naming task in L2 correlated with L1 reading speed.

Reading Comprehension Assessment through Retelling: Performance Profiles of Children with Dyslexia and Language-Based Learning Disability.

PURPOSE: To study reading comprehension performance profiles of children with dyslexia as well as language-based learning disability (LBLD) by means of retelling tasks. METHOD: One hundred and five children from 2nd to 5th grades of elementary school were gathered into six groups: Dyslexia group (D; n = 19), language-based learning disability group (LBLD; n = 16); their respective control groups paired according to different variables - age, gender, grade and school system (public or private; D-control and LBLD-control); and other control groups paired according to different reading accuracy (D-accuracy; LBLD-accuracy). All of the children read an expository text and orally retold the story as they understood it. The analysis quantified propositions (main ideas and details) and retold links. A retelling reference standard (3-0) was also established from the best to the worst performance. We compared both clinical groups (D and LBLD) with their respective control groups by means of Mann-Whitney tests. RESULTS: D showed the same total of propositions, links and reference standards as D-control, but performed better than D-accuracy in macro structural (total of links) and super structural (retelling reference standard) measures. RESULTS suggest that dyslexic children are able to use their linguistic competence and their own background knowledge to minimize the effects of their decoding deficit, especially at the highest text processing levels. LBLD performed worse than LBLD-control in all of the retelling measures and LBLD showed worse performance than LBLD-accuracy in the total retold links and retelling reference standard. Those results suggest that both decoding and linguistic difficulties affect reading comprehension. Moreover, the linguistic deficits presented by LBLD students do not allow these pupils to perform as competently in terms of text comprehension as the children with dyslexia do. Thus, failure in the macro and super-structural information processing of the expository text were evidenced. CONCLUSION: Each clinical group showed a different retelling profile. Such findings support the view that there are differences between these two clinical populations in the non-phonological dimensions of language.