Predicting Reading Fluency Growth from Grade 2 to Age 23 with Parental and Child Factors.

Purpose: Reading fluency establishes the basis for the strong literacy skills needed for academic success. We aim to trace how reading fluency develops from childhood to adulthood and identify factors that influence this development. Method: In this study, 200 families were followed. All participating children (N = 200, 47% female) were ethnic Finns and spoke Finnish as their native language. The dataset included children's reading fluency assessments (in Grades 2, 3, and 8 and at age 23), their self-reports, and parental questionnaires. For data analysis, growth curve models that included cognitive, motivational, and parental predictors were constructed. Results: Significant variations in both developmental rates and adult outcomes of reading fluency were found. The developmental rate was predicted by rapid automatized naming (RAN), letter knowledge, the formal home literacy environment (HLE) (measured in kindergarten) and reading motivation (measured in elementary school). Adult outcome (fluency at age 23) was predicted by RAN, letter knowledge, formal HLE, and parental dyslexia. Further, those who had parents with resolving reading difficulties were more likely to follow a resolving trajectory themselves compared with those whose parents had persistent reading difficulties. Conclusion: Our findings offer novel insights into how reading fluency develops into adulthood and identify key areas for future research to better understand the mechanisms behind reading fluency development.

Long-term effects of the home literacy environment on reading development: Familial risk for dyslexia as a moderator.

This study aimed to gain better understanding of the associations between literacy activities at home and long-term language and literacy development. We extended the home literacy environment (HLE) model of Sénéchal and LeFevre (Child Development [2002], Vol. 73, pp. 445-460) by including repeated assessments of shared reading, oral language, and reading comprehension development, including examination of familial risk for dyslexia as a moderator, and following development over time from ages 2 to 15 years. Of the 198 Finnish participants, 106 have familial risk for dyslexia due to parental dyslexia. Our path models include development in vocabulary (2-5.5 years), emerging literacy (5.5 years), reading fluency (8 and 9 years), and reading comprehension (8, 9, and 15 years) as well as shared book reading with parents (2, 4, 5, 8, and 9 years), teaching literacy at home (4.5 years), and reading motivation (8-9 years). The results supported the HLE model in that teaching literacy at home predicted stronger emerging literacy skills, whereas shared book reading predicted vocabulary development and reading motivation. Both emerging literacy and vocabulary predicted reading development. Familial risk for dyslexia was a significant moderator regarding several paths; vocabulary, reading fluency, and shared reading were stronger predictors of reading comprehension among children with familial risk for dyslexia, whereas reading motivation was a stronger predictor of reading comprehension among adolescents with no familial risk. The findings underline the importance of shared reading and suggest a long-standing impact of shared reading on reading development both directly and through oral language development and reading motivation.

School-entry language outcomes in late talkers with and without a family risk of dyslexia.

Children with familial risk (FR) of dyslexia and children with early language delay are known to be at risk for later language and literacy difficulties. However, research addressing long-term outcomes in children with both risk factors is scarce. This study tracked FR and No-FR children identified as late talkers at 2 years of age and reports development from 4;6 through 6 years. We examined the possible effects of FR-status and late talking (LT) status, respectively, on language skills at school entry, and whether FR-status moderated the associations between 4;6-year and 6-year language scores. Results indicated an effect of LT status on language at both ages, while FR status affected language skills at 6 years only. The interaction between LT and FR statuses was not significant, implying that LT status affected language skills independently of the child's FR status. A proportion of late talkers developed typical language at 6 years of age, while some FR children with typical vocabulary skills in toddlerhood had emerging developmental language disorder by school entry. FR status had a moderating effect on the association between expressive grammar at ages 4;6 and 6 years. Possible explanations for the effect of FR status on language skills are discussed. We highlight limitations in the study size and suggest how these preliminary findings can inform future research.

Cognitive and non-cognitive factors in educational and occupational outcomes-Specific to reading disability?

Low education and unemployment are common adult-age outcomes associated with childhood RD (c-RD). However, adult-age cognitive and non-cognitive factors associated with different outcomes remain unknown. We studied whether these outcomes are equally common among individuals with c-RD and controls and whether these outcomes are related to adult-age literacy skills or cognitive and non-cognitive factors or their interaction with c-RD. We examined adult participants with c-RD (n = 48) and their matched controls (n = 37). Low education was more common among c-RD than the controls, whereas long-term unemployment was equally common in both groups. Moreover, adult-age literacy skills, cognitive skills and non-cognitive factors were related to both low education and long-term unemployment. Only a few c-RD-specific associations emerged: c-RD, especially in interaction with low verbal or reading comprehension, was associated with low education, and c-RD in interaction with slow adult-age reading was associated with long-term unemployment. Avoidant coping style, emotional wellbeing and social functioning were related to education, and life-satisfaction to unemployment irrespective of c-RD. Thus, the non-cognitive factors associated with education and employment are similar in individuals with and without c-RD. Special attention should be paid to training c-RD individuals in basic academic, social and emotional skills.

Cognitive Correlates of the Covariance in Reading and Arithmetic Fluency: Importance of Serial Retrieval Fluency.

This study examines the core predictors of the covariance in reading and arithmetic fluency and the domain-general cognitive skills that explain the core predictors and covariance. Seven-year-old Finnish children (N = 200) were assessed on rapid automatized naming (RAN), phonological awareness, letter knowledge, verbal counting, number writing, number comparison, memory skills, and processing and articulation speed in the spring of Grade 1 and on reading and arithmetic fluency in the fall of Grade 2. RAN and verbal counting were strongly associated, and a constructed latent factor, serial retrieval fluency (SRF), was the strongest unique predictor of the shared variance. Other unique predictors were phonological awareness, number comparison, and processing speed. Findings highlight the importance of SRF in clarifying the relation between reading and arithmetic fluency.

The effects of book exposure and reading interest on oral language skills of children with and without a familial risk of dyslexia.

The potential role of home literacy environment (HLE) in children's language development has been widely studied. However, data on the HLE of children with familial risk (FR) of dyslexia are limited. In this longitudinal study, we examined (a) whether amount of book exposure and reading interest at age 4 were different in samples of Norwegian FR and no FR-children, respectively, (b) whether these home literacy-related factors exerted different effects depending on family-risk status on vocabulary and grammar skills at school entry age (6 years) and (c) whether they contributed independently to language outcomes at age 6, after controlling for the 4;6-year language skills. Results showed no significant between-group differences in book exposure and reading interest. Furthermore, while interest in reading did not affect vocabulary and grammar in either group, book exposure contributed to vocabulary skills only in the FR-group by school entry. However, this longitudinal association was mediated by lexical skills at age 4;6, implying that the HLE has a positive indirect effect on later language development through its effect on early language. Thus, these findings can be taken to suggest that early intervention including exposure to various book-reading activities for pre-school FR-children with poor expressive vocabulary is worth considering.

Resolving reading disability-Childhood predictors and adult-age outcomes.

We examined frequency of adult-age reading disability (RD) and its childhood predictors among 48 adults (20 to 39 years) with documented childhood RD, and contrasted their cognitive skills, education, and employment with 37 matched controls. Among individuals with childhood RD, more than half had improved in their reading fluency to the level where the set criterion for adult-age RD was not met anymore. More fluent rapid naming, less severe childhood RD, and multiple support providers in childhood together predicted improvement of reading fluency. More fluent naming differentiated the childhood RD participants whose reading fluency had improved by adult-age from those participants whose RD persisted to adult-age. All the individuals with childhood RD performed weaker than the controls in adult-age working memory, processing speed, and verbal skills. Educational level among both RD groups was lower than that among the controls. Unemployment of individuals with persistent adult-age RD (31.6%) was higher than that of individuals with improved adult-age RD (13.8%) or that of the controls (8.1%). According to our findings, rapid naming is one evident factor differentiating individuals with persisted RD from those with ameliorated reading fluency. Also, better adult-age reading fluency has significance for adult-age employment among individuals with childhood RD.

Reducing Stress and Enhancing Academic Buoyancy among Adolescents Using a Brief Web-based Program Based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Acceptance and commitment therapy programs have rarely been used as preventive tools for alleviating stress and enhancing coping skills among adolescents. This randomized controlled trial examined the efficacy of a novel Finnish web- and mobile-delivered five-week intervention program called Youth COMPASS among a general sample of ninth-grade adolescents (n= 249, 49% females). The intervention group showed a small but significant decrease in overall stress (between-group Cohen's d = 0.22) and an increase in academic buoyancy (d= 0.27). Academic skills did not influence the intervention gains, but the intervention gains were largest among high-stressed participants. The results suggest that the acceptance and commitment based Youth COMPASS program may be well suited for promoting adolescents' well-being in the school context.

Lexical and grammatical development in children at family risk of dyslexia from early childhood to school entry: a cross-lagged analysis.

The aim of this study was to examine (a) the development of vocabulary and grammar in children with family-risk (FR) of dyslexia and their peers with no such risk (NoFR) between ages 1;6 and 6;0, and (b) whether FR-status exerted an effect on the direction of temporal relationships between these two constructs. Groups were assessed at seven time-points using standardised tests and parental reports. Results indicated that although FR and NoFR children had a similar development in the earlier years, the FR group appeared to perform significantly more poorly on vocabulary at the end of the preschool period. Results showed no significant effect of FR status on the cross-lagged relations between lexical and grammatical skills, suggesting a similar developmental pattern of cross-domain relations in both groups. However, FR status seemed to have a significantly negative association with vocabulary and grammar scores at age 6;0, resulting in language outcomes in favour of NoFR children.

Evaluation of the psychometric properties of "the Norwegian screening test for dyslexia".

The aim of this study was to develop and investigate the psychometric properties of a screening protocol for Norwegian students in upper secondary school. The protocol was designed to assess skills that are at stake in dyslexia. It was administered to 232 students. In the absence of a "gold standard," comparisons were made between students who reported normal literacy skills (n = 184) and literacy problems (n = 48). Significant group differences were found across all areas. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses demonstrated good discriminatory power. The screening protocol met the standards for reliability and validity. It has the potential to be a useful tool for teachers to identify students at risk for dyslexia and who thus need to be referred to a full diagnostic investigation.

Psychological distress of children with early-onset type 1 diabetes and their mothers' well-being.

AIM: Few studies have focused on the psychological adjustment of pre-adolescent children with type 1 diabetes. This study examined psychosocial functioning in nine- and 10-year-old children with early-onset type 1 diabetes, and their mothers, and associations between psychosocial functioning and diabetes management. METHODS: The mothers of 63 children with early-onset diabetes and 86 healthy children evaluated their own psychosocial functioning, and their child's, with standardised rating scales. We used general linear models to analyse the children's behaviour problems and the mothers' well-being. Associations between the children's behaviour problems, diabetes-related measures and the mothers' well-being were studied with partial correlations. RESULTS: Children with diabetes had more internalising problems than the controls (p = 0.001), and these were associated with poor glycaemic control at the early stage of the illness (p = 0.033) and the use of insulin pumps in girls (p = 0.004). Mothers in the diabetes group had more child-related stress than the controls (p < 0.001), and poorer well-being was associated with the children's behavioural problems (p < 0.024). CONCLUSION: Children with early-onset diabetes faced an increased risk of internalising problems in middle childhood. The mothers' psychological distress was associated with children's behaviour problems rather than their diabetes.

Early communicative gestures and play as predictors of language development in children born with and without family risk for dyslexia.

The present study investigated early communicative gestures, play, and language skills in children born with family risk for dyslexia (FR) and a control group of children without this inheritable risk at ages 12, 15, 18, and 24 months. Participants were drawn from the Tromsø Longitudinal study of Dyslexia (TLD) which follows children's cognitive and language development from age 12 months through Grade 2 in order to identify early markers of developmental dyslexia. Results showed that symbolic play and parent reported play at age 12 months and communicative gestures at age 15 months explained 61% of the variance in productive language at 24 months in the FR group. These early nonlinguistic measures seem to be potentially interesting markers of later language development in children born at risk for dyslexia.

Predicting reading disability: early cognitive risk and protective factors.

This longitudinal study examined early cognitive risk and protective factors for Grade 2 reading disability (RD). We first examined the reading outcome of 198 children in four developmental cognitive subgroups that were identified in our previous analysis: dysfluent trajectory, declining trajectory, unexpected trajectory and typical trajectory. We found that RD was unevenly distributed among the subgroups, although children with RD were found in all subgroups. A majority of the children with RD had familial risk for dyslexia. Second, we examined in what respect children with similar early cognitive development but different RD outcome differ from each other in cognitive skills, task-focused behaviour and print exposure. The comparison of the groups with high cognitive risk but different RD outcome showed significant differences in phonological skills, in the amount of shared reading and in task-focused behaviour. Children who ended up with RD despite low early cognitive risk had poorer cognitive skills, more task avoidance and they were reading less than children without RD and low cognitive risk. In summary, lack of task avoidance seemed to act as a protective factor, which underlines the importance of keeping children interested in school work and reading.

Academic skills in children with early-onset type 1 diabetes: the effects of diabetes-related risk factors.

AIM: The study aimed to assess the effects of diabetes-related risk factors, especially severe hypoglycaemia,on the academic skills of children with early-onset type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). METHOD: The study comprised 63 children with T1DM (31 females, 32 males; mean age 9 y 11 mo,SD 4 mo) and 92 comparison children without diabetes (40 females, 52 males;mean age 9 y 9 mo,SD 3 mo). Children were included if T1DM had been diagnosed before the age of 5 years and if they were aged between 9 and 10 years at the time of study. Children were not included if their native language was not Finnish and if they had a diagnosed neurological disorder that affected their cognitive development. Among the T1DM group, 37 had and 26 had not experienced severe hypoglycaemia and 26 had avoided severe hypoglycaemia. Severe hypoglycaemia, diabetic ketoacidosis(DKA), and glycaemic control were used as T1DM-related factors. Task performance in reading, spelling, and mathematics was compared among the three groups, and the effects of the T1DM-related factors were analysed with general linear models. RESULTS: The groups with (p<0.001) and without (p=0.001) severe hypoglycaemia demonstrated a poorer performance than the comparison group in spelling, and the group without severe hypoglycaemia showed a poorer performance than the comparison group in mathematics (p=0.003).Severe hypoglycaemia, DKA, and recent glycaemic control were not associated with poorer skills,but poorer first-year glycaemic control was associated with poorer spelling (p=0.013). INTERPRETATION: An early onset of T1DM can increase the risk of learning problems, independently of the history of severe hypoglycaemia or DKA. Poorer glycaemic control after the first year of T1DM is associated with a poorer acquisition of academic skills indicating the effect of the timing of metabolic aberrations on cognitive development.

Learning Disabilities Elevate Children's Risk for Behavioral-Emotional Problems: Differences Between LD Types, Genders, and Contexts.

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.

Parental literacy predicts children's literacy: a longitudinal family-risk study.

This family-risk (FR) study examined whether the literacy skills of parents with dyslexia are predictive of the literacy skills of their offspring. We report data from 31 child-parent dyads where both had dyslexia (FR-D) and 68 dyads where the child did not have dyslexia (FR-ND). Findings supported the differences in liability of FR children with and without dyslexia: the parents of the FR-D children had more severe difficulties in pseudoword reading and spelling accuracy, in rapid word recognition, and in text reading fluency than the parents of the FR-ND children. Finally, parental skills were found to be significant predictors of children's Grade 3 reading and spelling. Parental skills predicted children's reading and spelling accuracy even after controlling for children's preschool skills. Our findings suggest that the literacy skills of a parent with dyslexia might be valuable in assessing early on their child's liability to dyslexia.

Unveiling the Mysteries of Dyslexia-Lessons Learned from the Prospective Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia.

This paper reviews the observations of the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia (JLD). The JLD is a prospective family risk study in which the development of children with familial risk for dyslexia (N = 108) due to parental dyslexia and controls without dyslexia risk (N = 92) were followed from birth to adulthood. The JLD revealed that the likelihood of at-risk children performing poorly in reading and spelling tasks was fourfold compared to the controls. Auditory insensitivity of newborns observed during the first week of life using brain event-related potentials (ERPs) was shown to be the first precursor of dyslexia. ERPs measured at six months of age related to phoneme length identification differentiated the family risk group from the control group and predicted reading speed until the age of 14 years. Early oral language skills, phonological processing skills, rapid automatized naming, and letter knowledge differentiated the groups from ages 2.5-3.5 years onwards and predicted dyslexia and reading development, including reading comprehension, until adolescence. The home environment, a child's interest in reading, and task avoidance were not different in the risk group but were found to be additional predictors of reading development. Based on the JLD findings, preventive and intervention methods utilizing the association learning approach have been developed.

Verbal and academic skills in children with early-onset type 1 diabetes.

AIM: Basic verbal and academic skills can be adversely affected by early-onset diabetes, although these skills have been studied less than other cognitive functions. This study aimed to explore the mechanism of learning deficits in children with diabetes by assessing basic verbal and academic skills in children with early-onset diabetes and in comparison children. In addition, the incidence of dyslexia (< or =10th centile in reading speed or reading-spelling accuracy) was studied. METHOD: The performance of 51 children with early-onset diabetes (25 females, 26 males; mean age 9y 11mo, SD 4mo; range 9-10y) was compared with that of 92 children without diabetes (40 females, 52 males; mean age 9y 10mo, SD 3mo; range 9-10y) in the tasks of phonological processing, short-term memory, rapid automatized naming, reading, spelling, and mathematics. RESULTS: The performance of children with diabetes was poorer than that of the comparison children in phonological processing (p=0.001), spelling accuracy (p<0.001), and mathematics (p=0.024). They learned to read later (p=0.013), but reading performance and the incidence of dyslexia in the third grade (aged 9-10y) were similar in the two groups. INTERPRETATION: Children with early-onset diabetes are prone to minor learning difficulties in their early school years as a result of deficits in phonological processing.

Effects of multidomain risk accumulation on cognitive, academic, and behavioural outcomes.

This longitudinal study examined the predictive associations between cumulative multidomain risk factors and cognitive (IQ), academic (reading fluency), and social adaptive outcomes at 8 to 9 years among 190 children with or without familial risk for dyslexia. Other risk factors included parental and neurocognitive risks assessed when the children were 1 to 6 years of age. Risks accumulated more among children with familial risk for dyslexia than among children without familial risk. A higher number of risks was associated with poorer performance in all outcome measures as postulated by the cumulative risk model. However, when the effects of individual risk variables were controlled for at the outset, the cumulative risk indices did not have incremental effects beyond those of individual risks. This suggests that the detrimental effect of several risks was due to the content-specific effect of individual risks. Children with familial risk were not differentially affected by the number of risks.

Maternal Parenting Styles and Glycemic Control in Children with Type 1 Diabetes.

The purpose of this study is to examine differences in parenting styles between mothers of children with type 1 diabetes and mothers of healthy children and to explore relationships between parenting styles and glycemic control of children with diabetes. Mothers of 63 children with diabetes and mothers of 83 children without diabetes reported their parenting styles using the Blocks' Child Rearing Practices Report, when their child was 9⁻10 years old. Glycemic control of the children with diabetes was evaluated 1 year after diagnosis (<6 years of age) and at the time of the study (at 9⁻10 years). Mothers of children with diabetes used more psychological control than mothers of healthy children. Among girls with diabetes, poorer early glycemic control was associated with mothers' subsequent greater use of psychological control. Behavioral control was positively associated with poorer current glycemic control. In boys, psychological control was positively associated with poorer current glycemic control. Psychological control in families with diabetes needs attention, because it has shown to be associated with poorer diabetes care.