Promoting Handwriting Fluency for Preschool and Elementary-Age Students: Meta-Analysis and Meta-Synthesis of Research From 2000 to 2020.

Handwriting is a complex activity that involves continuous interaction between lower-level handwriting and motor skills and higher-order cognitive processes. It is important to allocate mental resources to these high-order processes since these processes place a great demand on cognitive capacity. This is possible when lower-level skills such as transcription are effortlessness and fluent. Given that fluency is a value in virtually all areas of academic learning, schools should provide instructional activities to promote writing fluency from the first stages of learning to write. In an effort to determine if teaching handwriting enhances writing fluency, we conducted a systematic and meta-analytic review of the writing fluency intervention literature. We selected 31 studies: 21 true and quasi-experimental studies, 4 single-group design, 3 single-subject design, and 3 non-experimental studies, conducted with K-6 students in a regular school setting. A total of 2,030 students participated in these studies. When compared to no instruction or non-handwriting instructional conditions, teaching different handwriting intervention programs resulted in statistically significant greater writing fluency (ES = 0.64). Moreover, three specific handwriting interventions yielded statistically significant results in improving writing fluency, when compared to other handwriting interventions or to typical handwriting instruction conditions: handwriting focused on training timed transcription skills (ES = 0.49), multicomponent handwriting treatments (ES = 0.40), and performance feedback (ES = 0.36). There were not enough data to calculate the impact of sensory-motor and self-regulated strategy handwriting interventions on writing fluency. The significance of these findings for implementing and differentiating handwriting fluency instruction and guiding future research will be discussed.

The Impact of E-Book Reading on Young Children's Emergent Literacy Skills: An Analytical Review.

Young children's use of digital devices is increasing as we progress through the 21st century and handheld and mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, have become increasingly available. While older children using tablets to read has been more broadly investigated, less is known about the impacts of digital reading on children at the stage of literacy acquisition. An analytical review was conducted on the effects of interactive e-book interventions for young children's literacy development when compared to (a) listening to print books, (b) regular school programs, and (c) reading non-enhanced and non-interactive e-books. A significant additional beneficial effect of e-book interventions was found for phonological awareness and vocabulary learning based on data from 1138 children in 14 randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies. When e-books are properly selected and used, children develop literacy skills equally well and sometimes better than with print books. Additionally, e-book interventions outperformed the regular school program in the development of literacy skills. Similarly, enhanced e-book conditions revealed benefits over the non-enhanced e-book interventions in literacy skill acquisition. The impact of these findings related to health issues, e-book design, disadvantaged populations, and adult-led e-book sharing is discussed.

Prevalence of Developmental Dyslexia in Spanish University Students.

A recent concern in the field of dyslexia studies is the lack of awareness and attention to university students suffering from this condition. If this problem is serious in countries where the relative opacity of the writing system allows for an early detection and, therefore, effective interventions, it is most critical in countries where transparent spelling makes such detection difficult, except in the most severe cases. In Spain, the diagnosis of dyslexia is rare among university-level adults. The present study pursues three aims: (a) to put forward a screening instrument for the detection of university students at risk of dyslexia, (b) to determine the ratio of university students that could be at risk of dyslexia by means of two different procedures, and (c) to create awareness for a disorder that causes hitherto unrecognized difficulties for an important subgroup of the college population. Six hundred and eighty-six university students in four different fields of study within the general area of Social Sciences from a public University in Madrid completed a Spanish-adapted version of a protocol including stress assignment, spelling words and nonwords, and timed phonological working memory of reading and writing task. Results showed that between 1.6% and 6.4% of this population could be at risk of suffering dyslexia. Such risk is not evenly distributed across the four fields of study. As for gender, the first criterion used yields 1.8 males at risk for every female, but the second criterion has as many males as females at risk. Women were significantly better than men in word spelling. Spelling was best predicted by the timed phonological working memory task of reading and writing.

Análisis comparativo de estudios sobre la velocidad de nombrar en español y su relación con la adquisición de la lectura y sus dificultades / Comparative Analysis of Rapid Automatized Naming Studies in Spanish and Reading Acquisition and Reading Difficulties

La relación entre las tareas de Velocidad de Nombrar (VN) y la lectura se estudió por primera vez, en lengua inglesa, en la década de los 70, descubriéndose que los niños con dislexia eran lentos e inconsistentes en estas tareas. Posteriormente, algunos estudios han confirmado que la VN es el mejor predictor de la lectura en lenguas trasparentes, consecuentemente, se convierte en una medida de gran interés para la ortografía española. Acorde con lo expuesto, se analizan las investigaciones publicadas sobre VN y lectura en español, con el objetivo de extraer conclusiones para el diagnóstico y el tratamiento de las dificultades de lectura. Los estudios revisados muestran que la VN es un potente indicador para predecir la adquisición posterior de la lectura en edades tempranas y para discriminar entre lectores típicos y aquellos con dificultades. La VN es una medida fácil de administrar, útil tanto para el diagnóstico como para la prevención de las dificultades de lectura en nuestra lengua.

The relationship between Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) tasks and reading proficiency was first studied for English during the 70s, one finding being that children with dyslexia were slow and inconsistent in the RAN tasks. Later on, some studies have confirmed that RAN is the best predictor for transparent ortographies - and so of particular interest for Spanish. The research done so far on RAN and reading in Spanish is therefore reviewed here in order to draw conclusions for the diagnosis and treatment of reading difficulties. Our review shows that RAN is both a powerful early predictor of future reading outcomes and capable of discriminating between typical and poor readers. Being very easy to test, RAN is thus of great use in the diagnosis and prevention of reading disorders in Spanish.

A predictive study of reading comprehension in third-grade Spanish students / Estudio predictivo de la comprensión lectora en estudiantes españoles de tercero de Primaria

The study of the contribution of language and cognitive skills to reading comprehension is an important goal of current reading research. However, reading comprehension is not easily assessed by a single instrument, as different comprehension tests vary in the type of tasks used and in the cognitive demands required. Method: This study examines the contribution of basic language and cognitive skills (decoding, word recognition, reading speed, verbal and nonverbal intelligence and working memory) to reading comprehension, assessed by two tests utilizing various tasks that require different skill sets in third-grade Spanish speaking students. Results: Linguistic and cognitive abilities predicted reading comprehension. A measure of reading speed (the reading time of pseudo-words) was the best predictor of reading comprehension when assessed by the PROLEC-R test. However, measures of word recognition (the orthographic choice task) and verbal working memory were the best predictors of reading comprehension when assessed by means of the DARC test. Conclusion: These results show, on the one hand, that reading speed and word recognition are better predictors of Spanish language comprehension than reading accuracy. On the other, the reading comprehension test applied here serves as a critical variable when analyzing and interpreting results regarding this topic (AU)

Antecedentes: el estudio de la contribución de habilidades lingüísticas y cognitivas a la comprensión lectora es un objetivo relevante de la investigación actual de la lectura. Sin embargo, la comprensión lectora no es fácilmente explicada ni medida por una única prueba ya que los diferentes test de comprensión varían en el tipo de tareas utilizadas y en las demandas cognitivas requeridas. Método: el presente estudio examina la contribución de habilidades lingüísticas y cognitivas (decodificación, reconocimiento de palabras, velocidad lectora, inteligencia verbal y no verbal y memoria de trabajo) a la comprensión lectora, evaluada por dos test que utilizan diferentes tareas y requieren diferentes habilidades. Resultados: la medida de velocidad en pseudopalabras predijo la comprensión evaluada por el test PROLEC-R. Sin embargo, la medida de reconocimiento de palabras (la tarea de elección ortográfica) y la medida de memoria de trabajo verbal predijeron la comprensión medida por el test DARC. Conclusiones: estos resultados muestran, por un lado, que la velocidad lectora y el reconocimiento de palabras son mejores predictores de la comprensión en español que la precisión lectora, y por el otro, que el test de comprensión lectora utilizado es una variable crítica cuando analizamos e interpretamos resultados sobre este tema (AU)

A predictive study of reading comprehension in third-grade Spanish students.

BACKGROUND: The study of the contribution of language and cognitive skills to reading comprehension is an important goal of current reading research. However, reading comprehension is not easily assessed by a single instrument, as different comprehension tests vary in the type of tasks used and in the cognitive demands required. METHOD: This study examines the contribution of basic language and cognitive skills (decoding, word recognition, reading speed, verbal and nonverbal intelligence and working memory) to reading comprehension, assessed by two tests utilizing various tasks that require different skill sets in third-grade Spanish-speaking students. RESULTS: Linguistic and cognitive abilities predicted reading comprehension. A measure of reading speed (the reading time of pseudo-words) was the best predictor of reading comprehension when assessed by the PROLEC-R test. However, measures of word recognition (the orthographic choice task) and verbal working memory were the best predictors of reading comprehension when assessed by means of the DARC test. CONCLUSION: These results show, on the one hand, that reading speed and word recognition are better predictors of Spanish language comprehension than reading accuracy. On the other, the reading comprehension test applied here serves as a critical variable when analyzing and interpreting results regarding this topic.

Early predictors of reading in three groups of native Spanish speakers: Spaniards, Gypsies, and Latin Americans.

The main purpose of the study reported here was to examine the early linguistic predictors of reading (e.g., Knowledge About Print, Listening Comprehension, Receptive Vocabulary, Rapid Naming of Objects and Letters, and Phonological Awareness), for a sample of 77 Spaniards, 48 Latinos, and 30 Gypsies kindergartens (mean age = 5 years 9 months) living in Spain. The relative contribution of ethnic background, neighbourhood socioeconomic status (SES), age, and gender was assessed. Findings revealed that ethnic background, neighborhood SES, and age differentially predicted children's pre-literacy skills. The implications of these results for understanding the role played by these demographic and socio-cultural variables in alphabetic literacy acquisition are discussed. The second purpose of this study was to add to the growing literature on the nature of reading challenges in children who are learning to read a transparent orthography-Spanish. Cross-linguistic research between different subtypes of readers will add to understand the impact of language characteristics in reading acquisition. Finally, the present study suggested that early assessment of pre-literacy skills can be a highly effective way to determine the instructional needs of students who are at risk for reading failure before formal reading instruction begins.

Early Predictors of Reading in Three Groups of Native Spanish Speakers: Spaniards, Gypsies, and Latin Americans

The main purpose of the study reported here was to examine the early linguistic predictors of reading (e.g., Knowledge About Print, Listening Comprehension, Receptive Vocabulary, Rapid Naming of Objects and Letters, and Phonological Awareness), for a sample of 77 Spaniards, 48 Latinos, and 30 Gypsies kindergartens (mean age = 5 years 9 months) living in Spain. The relative contribution of ethnic background, neighbourhood socioeconomic status (SES), age, and gender was assessed. Findings revealed that ethnic background, neighborhood SES, and age differentially predicted children’s pre-literacy skills. The implications of these results for understanding the role played by these demographic and socio cultural variables in alphabetic literacy acquisition are discussed. The second purpose of this study was to add to the growing literature on the nature of reading challenges in children who are learning to read a transparent orthography-Spanish. Cross-linguistic research between different subtypes of readers will add to understand the impact of language characteristics in reading acquisition. Finally, the present study suggested that early assessment of pre-literacy skills can be a highly effective way to determine the instructional needs of students who are at risk for reading failure before formal reading instruction begins (AU)

El objetivo principal del presente estudio fue examinar los predictores tempranos de la lectura (ej.: conocimiento sobre el material impreso, comprensión oral, vocabulario receptivo, denominación rápida de objetos y letras y conciencia fonológica), en una muestra de niños de educación infantil (edad media = 5 años y 9 meses), de los cuales 77 eran madrileños, pertenecientes a la cultura mayoritaria, 48 inmigrantes latinos y 30 madrileños de etnia gitana. La contribución relativa a la adquisición lectora del grupo étnico, estatus socioeconómico, edad y género fue evaluada. Los hallazgos revelan que el grupo étnico, estatus socioeconómico y la edad predicen de modo diferente la habilidad prelectora de los niños. Las implicaciones de estos resultados son discutidas. El segundo objetivo de este estudio fue añadir nuevos datos a la creciente literatura sobre los retos que afrontan los niños que aprenden a leer en una ortografía transparente, como es el caso del español. La investigación entre lenguas y diferentes subtipos de lectores hará que comprendamos mejor el impacto que las características de una lengua tiene en la adquisición lectora. Por último, el presente estudio sugiere que el diagnóstico temprano de las habilidades prelectoras, antes de que la instrucción formal de la lectura comience, puede ser muy efectivo para determinar las necesidades de estudiantes que se encuentran en situación de riesgo de padecer dificultades en la lectura (AU)

Nuevos aportes a la intervención en las dificultades de lectura / New contributions to reading difficulties intervention

El objetivo de este artículo es presentar una síntesis sobre los programas y estrategias de intervención para remediar la dificultades de lectura. Para realizar esta síntesis se revisaron los últimos artículos publicados sobre el tema, tanto en español como en lengua inglesaEl objetivo de este artículo es presentar una síntesis sobre los programas y estrategias de intervención para remediar la dificultades de lectura. Para realizar esta síntesis se revisaron los últimos artículos publicados sobre el tema, tanto en español como en lengua inglesa