Raw eye tracking data of healthy adults reading aloud words, pseudowords and numerals.

This paper describes data from de Chambrier et al. (2023). The dataset [2] contains raw eye tracking data of 36 healthy adults, collected using an EyeLink 1000 (SR Research Ltd., ON, Canada) during an on-screen reading task. Participants read 96 items including words, pseudowords and numerals. Each item was presented at the center of the screen until the participant produced an oral response and pressed the keyboard's space bar. Part of the data were analyzed to extract key metrics such as fixation number, fixation duration, saccade number, and saccade amplitude identified by the EyeLink 1000 [1]. Reuse potential includes (but is not limited to) pupil diameter data analysis, identification of fixations and saccades using custom algorithms, and secondary analyses using participant demographics (age, gender) as independent variables.

Reading numbers is harder than reading words: An eye-tracking study.

We recorded the eye movements of adults reading aloud short (four digit) and long (eight to 11 digit) Arabic numerals compared to matched-in-length words and pseudowords. We presented each item in isolation, at the center of the screen. Participants read each item aloud at their pace, and then pressed the spacebar to display the next item. Reading accuracy was 99 %. Results showed that adults make 2.5 times more fixations when reading short numerals compared to short words, and up to 7 times more fixations when reading long numerals with respect to long words. Similarly, adults make 3 times more saccades when reading short numerals compared to short words, and up to 9 times more saccades when reading long numerals with respect to long words. Fixation duration and saccade amplitude stay almost the same when reading short numerals with respect to short words. However, fixation duration increases by ∼50 ms when reading long numerals (∼300 ms) with respect to long words (∼250 ms), and saccade amplitude decreases up to 0.83 characters when reading long numerals with respect to long words. The pattern of findings for long numerals-more and shorter saccades as well as more and longer fixations-shows the extent to which reading long Arabic numerals is a cognitively costly task. Within the phonographic writing system, this pattern of eye movements stands for the use of the sublexical print-to-sound correspondence rules. The data highlight that reading large numerals is an unautomatized activity and that Arabic numerals must be converted into their oral form by a step-by-step process even by expert readers.

Investigating the Dimensionality of Early Numeracy Using the Bifactor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling Framework.

The few studies that have analyzed the factorial structure of early number skills have mainly used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and have yielded inconsistent results, since early numeracy is considered to be unidimensional, multidimensional or even underpinned by a general factor. Recently, the bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling (bifactor-ESEM)-which has been proposed as a way to overcome the shortcomings of both the CFA and the exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM)-proved to be valuable to account for the multidimensionality and the hierarchical nature of several psychological constructs. The present study is the first to investigate the dimensionality of early number skills measurement through the application of the bifactor-ESEM framework. Using data from 644 prekindergarten and kindergarten children (4 to 6 years old), several competing models were contrasted: the one-factor CFA model; the independent cluster model (ICM-CFA); the exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM); and their bifactor counterpart (bifactor-CFA and bifactor-ESEM, respectively). Results indicated acceptable fit indexes for the one-factor CFA and the ICM-CFA models and excellent fit for the others. Among these, the bifactor-ESEM with one general factor and three specific factors (Counting, Relations, Arithmetic) not only showed the best model fit, but also the best coherent factor loadings structure and full measurement invariance across gender. The bifactor-ESEM appears relevant to help disentangle and account for general and specific factors of early numerical ability. While early numerical ability appears to be mainly underpinned by a general factor whose exact nature still has to be determined, this study highlights that specific latent dimensions with substantive value also exist. Identifying these specific facets is important in order to increase quality of early numerical ability measurement, predictive validity, and for practical implications.

Rapid automatized naming skills of children with intellectual disability.

BACKGROUND: A deficit in Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN), acknowledged to be linked to dyslexia, has rarely been investigated as a potential explanation of the reading difficulties that children with intellectual disability (ID) often face. The existing studies mainly focused on adolescent or adults with ID matched to typically developing (TD) children on verbal mental age, or used a single RAN task. AIMS: The aim of this study was to compare the RAN pattern and skills of children with ID and low reading skills to the ones of TD children with matched reading skills. METHOD: 30 children with mild to moderate ID with mixed etiology (M = 9.4 years-old) were pair-matched to 30 TD children (M = 4.3 years-old) on phonological awareness- and reading-level. They were all administered color, object, finger, and vowel RAN tasks. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Results showed that children with ID had more domain-specific RAN skills and were largely slower in most of the RAN tasks than their younger TD peers. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: This suggests that a deficit in RAN should be added to the explanations of their frequent reading difficulties, which might open new remediation possibilities.

Effects of a phonics-based intervention on the reading skills of students with intellectual disability.

BACKGROUND: To date, only a few studies with randomized controlled trials have been published on the effectiveness of phonics-based reading interventions to teach decoding and spelling skills to students with intellectual disability. AIMS: This study evaluated the effects of a phonics-based reading intervention program on the progress of French-speaking elementary students with intellectual disability. METHODS: A total of 48 non decoding elementary students with intellectual disability were randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a control group. Most of the participants (75 %) had nonverbal IQs below 55. The reading intervention program was implemented for seven months by the students' teachers and mainly in a small-group format (two to four students). RESULTS: Students from the treatment group made significantly more progress in word and nonword reading measured by a researcher-designed test with a medium effect size. An almost significant difference was also found on spelling (p = .058) and on word and nonword reading measured with a standardized test (p = .060) with medium effect sizes. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that students with ID benefit from phonics-based programs integrating research-based approaches and techniques.

Is a fact retrieval deficit the main characteristic of children with mathematical learning disabilities?

Although a fact retrieval deficit is widely considered to be the hallmark of children with mathematical learning disabilities (MLD), recent studies suggest that even adults use procedural strategies to solve small additions, except for ties that are unanimously considered to be solved by retrieval. Our study, based on how MLD children process ties and non-ties compared to typically developing (TD) children, sheds new light on their retrieval and procedural difficulties. Our results show that, by the end of the second grade, MLD children do not differ in their ability to solve the tie problems that are certainly solved by retrieval, but they do struggle with both small and large non-ties. These findings emphasize the extend of the difficulties that MLD children exhibit in procedural strategies relatively to retrieval ones.

Exploring Phonological Awareness Skills in Children With Intellectual Disability.

The phonological awareness skills of 7- to 8-year-old children with intellectual disability (ID) were compared to those of 4- to 5-year-old typically developing children who were matched for early reading skills, vocabulary, and gender. Globally, children with ID displayed a marked weakness in phonological awareness. Syllable blending, syllable segmentation, and first phoneme detection appeared to be preserved. In contrast, children with ID showed a marked weakness in rhyme detection and a slight weakness in phoneme blending. Two school years later, these deficits no longer remained. Marked weaknesses appeared in phoneme segmentation and first/last phoneme detection. The findings suggest that children with ID display an atypical pattern in phonological awareness that changes with age. The implications for practice and research are discussed.

The role of phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge in the reading development of children with intellectual disabilities.

Our study investigated if phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge were predictors of reading progress in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) with unspecified etiology. An academic achievement test was administered to 129 children with mild or moderate ID when they were 6-8 years old, as well as one and two school years later. Findings indicated that phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge at 6-8 years of age predicted progress in word and non-word reading after one school year and two school years after controlling for IQ, age, expressive vocabulary, spoken language, and type of placement. Phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge at 6-8 years of age also predicted progress in reading comprehension after one school year and two school years. These findings suggest that training phonological awareness skills combined with explicit phonics instruction is important to foster reading progress in children with mild and moderate ID with unspecified etiology.