The Early Emergence of Temporal Reference in Mother-Child Multimodal Communication / Emergencia temprana de la referencia temporal en la comunicación multimodal entre madre-niño

The study longitudinally explores the early emergence of temporal reference to objects/events that are either present or absent in time while mothers and children use and combine pointing and verbal references. Over one year of observations and in five separate sessions, eight Spanish mothers and their one- and two-year-old babies were observed while performing daily routines at home. The results indicated that overall mothers and children used more verbs referring to the present frame than to the past and future frames. As compared with the production of utterances accompanied by pointing, children were more likely to produce present references in the young group and displaced references (mostly near past and near future) in the older group when utterances were produced without pointing. Mothers closely preceded or accompanied the children's verbal and gestural referential production to either immediate or displaced referents across ages, indicating that they systematically engage their children in talking about the present and especially about the future.

El estudio explora de forma longitudinal la aparición temprana de la referencia temporal de los objetos/eventos que están presentes o ausentes en el tiempo, mientras que las madres y los niños usan y combinan señales y referencias verbales. Más de un año de observaciones y en cinco sesiones separadas, ocho madres españolas y sus bebés de uno y dos años de edad se observaron en el desempeño de las rutinas diarias en el hogar. Los resultados indicaron que las madres en general y los niños utilizan más verbos que se refieren al marco actual que a las situaciones pasadas y futuras. En comparación con la producción de los enunciados acompañados de señalar, los niños eran más propensos a producir referencias presentes en el grupo de jóvenes y referencias desplazadas (en su mayoría cerca de pasado y futuro cercano) en el grupo de mayor edad cuando se produjeron declaraciones sin apuntar. Las madres más facilmente precedian o acompañaban de forma verbal y gestual la producción referencial de los niños ya sea a los referentes inmediatos o desplazadas en todas las edades, lo que indica que se dedican sistemáticamente a sus hijos en hablar sobre el presente y especialmente sobre el futuro.

Visual and auditory perception in preschool children at risk for dyslexia.

Recently, there has been renewed interest in perceptive problems of dyslexics. A polemic research issue in this area has been the nature of the perception deficit. Another issue is the causal role of this deficit in dyslexia. Most studies have been carried out in adult and child literates; consequently, the observed deficits may be the result rather than the cause of dyslexia. This study addresses these issues by examining visual and auditory perception in children at risk for dyslexia. We compared children from preschool with and without risk for dyslexia in auditory and visual temporal order judgment tasks and same-different discrimination tasks. Identical visual and auditory, linguistic and nonlinguistic stimuli were presented in both tasks. The results revealed that the visual as well as the auditory perception of children at risk for dyslexia is impaired. The comparison between groups in auditory and visual perception shows that the achievement of children at risk was lower than children without risk for dyslexia in the temporal tasks. There were no differences between groups in auditory discrimination tasks. The difficulties of children at risk in visual and auditory perceptive processing affected both linguistic and nonlinguistic stimuli. Our conclusions are that children at risk for dyslexia show auditory and visual perceptive deficits for linguistic and nonlinguistic stimuli. The auditory impairment may be explained by temporal processing problems and these problems are more serious for processing language than for processing other auditory stimuli. These visual and auditory perceptive deficits are not the consequence of failing to learn to read, thus, these findings support the theory of temporal processing deficit.

El procesamiento temporal en la percepción del habla de los niños con dislexia / Temporal processing in speech perception of children with dyslexia

Numerosos estudios muestran que un déficit fonológico causa la dislexia evolutiva, pero el origen de este déficit continúa siendo un tema controvertido. Este estudio examina si el déficit perceptivo fonológico de los niños con dislexia puede ser explicado por un déficit de procesamiento temporal mediante un diseño que controla las demandas de la tarea y la complejidad lingüística y temporal de los contrastes entre sonidos del habla. Trece niños con dislexia y déficit fonológico (9-11 años de edad) y 13 niños sin dificultades en lectura emparejados en edad fueron evaluados en tareas de juicio de orden temporal (JOT) y en tareas de discriminación igual-diferente (I-D). Las tareas se basan en contrastes de las sílabas /ba/ -/da/ y /fa/-/la/. Analizamos los efectos de la complejidad de los estímulos (similar vs. no similar) y de la tarea (tarea de juicio de orden temporal vs. discriminación). Los niños con dislexia muestran peor rendimiento que los niños sin dificultades en lectura en ambos pares de sílabas. El rendimiento de los niños con dislexia en las tareas JOT fue significativamente inferior que el de los niños del grupo control pero no encontramos diferencias entre los grupos en las tareas I-D. Los hallazgos son discutidos en términos de problemas de procesamiento temporal en la percepción del habla de los niños con dislexia

Numerous studies show that a phonological deficit causes dyslexia, but the origin of this deficit remains a controversial issue. The pre-sent study examines whether perceptual phonological deficit in children with dyslexia can be explained by a temporal processing deficit with a design that controls the demands of the task and linguistic complexity and temporal of contrasts between speech sounds. Thirteen children with dyslexia and phonological deficits (9-11 years) and 13 age-matched normal readers were assessed on temporal order judgment tasks (TOJ) and same-different discrimination tasks (S-D). The tasks are based on contrasts of the syllables / ba / -/da / and / fa/-/ la /. We analyze the effects of the complexity of the stimuli (similar versus no similar) and the task (temporal order judgment tasks versus discrimination tasks). The children with dyslexia showed lower performance than the control group in both pairs of syllables. The performance of children with dyslexia in the TOJ tasks was significantly lower than the control group but no differences between groups in the S-D tasks were found. The findings are discussed in terms of temporal processing problems in speech perception in children with dyslexia

[Effects of computer-assisted practice on reading and spelling in children with learning disabilities]. / Efectos de la práctica asistida a través de ordenador en la lectura y ortografía de niños con dificultades de aprendizaje.

The main purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of computer-assisted practice on reading and spelling in children with learning disabilities (LD). We compared three practice conditions, one with reading and two with spelling, in order to test whether computer-based reading and spelling practice has an influence on the development of reading and spelling ability in children with LD. A sample was selected of 85 children with LD, with age range between 8 years and 10 years (age, M=111.02, SD=9.6), whose spelling performance was two years below grade level. The participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups: 1) Copy the target word from the computer screen (n=22), 2) Memorize the target word and write it from memory (n=21), 3) Word reading (n=21), and 4) the untrained control group (n=21). We administered measures of pseudoword reading, phonological awareness, phonological word decoding and orthographical word decoding tasks. We examined the learning effects and transfer effects on words classified as a function of length, consistency, and complexity of syllable structure. Overall, the results showed that reading training did not improve spelling; however, the children who participated in the copy training condition improved their spelling skills.

Efectos de la práctica asistida a través de ordenador en la lectura y ortografía de niños con dificultades de aprendizaje / Effects of computer-assisted practice on reading and spelling in children with learning disabilities

El objetivo de esta investigación consistió en analizar los efectos de la práctica asistida a través de ordenador en la lectura y ortografía de niños con dificultades de aprendizaje en escritura (DAE) en lengua española. Comparamos tres condiciones de práctica, una con lectura y las otras dos con escritura. Para ello se utilizó un diseño de grupo control pretest-postest. Participaron un total de 85 sujetos con DAE, entre 8 y 10 años de edad (M= 111.02; DT= 9.6). Los sujetos presentaban un retraso en escritura de dos años y se asignaron al azar a cuatro grupos experimentales: un grupo de tratamiento copiaba la palabra directamente de la pantalla del ordenador (n= 22), un grupo de tratamiento escribía la palabra de memoria (n= 21), un grupo de tratamiento solo leía la palabra en voz alta (n= 21) y un grupo control que no recibía tratamiento (n= 21). Se analizaron los efectos directos y de transferencia del tratamiento sobre la escritura de palabras que difieren en longitud, consistencia ortográfica y estructura silábica. Los resultados mostraron que la lectura no mejora la ortografía, y que la condición de copia ayudó a los niños con DAE a mejorar sus habilidades ortográficas (AU)

The main purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of computer-assisted practice on reading and spelling in children with learning disabilities (LD). We compared three practice conditions, one with reading and two with spelling, in order to test whether computer-based reading and spelling practice has an influence on the development of reading and spelling ability in children with LD. A sample was selected of 85 children with LD, with age range between 8 years and 10 years (age, M= 111.02, SD= 9.6), whose spelling performance was two years below grade level. The participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups: 1) Copy the target word from the computer screen (n= 22), 2) Memorize the target word and write it from memory (n= 21), 3) Word reading (n= 21), and 4) the untrained control group (n= 21). We administered measures of pseudoword reading, phonological awareness, phonological word decoding and orthographical word decoding tasks. We examined the learning effects and transfer effects on words classified as a function of length, consistency, and complexity of syllable structure. Overall, the results showed that reading training did not improve spelling; however, the children who participated in the copy training condition improved their spelling skills (AU)

[Speech perception development in children with dyslexia]. / Desarrollo de la percepción del habla en niños con dislexia.

Several studies have indicated that dyslexics show a deficit in speech perception (SP). The main purpose of this research is to determine the development of SP in dyslexics and normal readers paired by grades from 2nd to 6th grade of primary school and to know whether the phonetic contrasts that are relevant for SP change during development, taking into account the individual differences. The achievement of both groups was compared in the phonetic tasks: voicing contrast, place of articulation contrast and manner of articulation contrast. The results showed that the dyslexic performed poorer than the normal readers in SP. In place of articulation contrast, the developmental pattern is similar in both groups but not in voicing and manner of articulation. Manner of articulation has more influence on SP, and its development is higher than the other contrast tasks in both groups.

[Spelling development in the Spanish language]. / Evolución de la escritura de palabras de ortografía arbitraria en lengua española.

This study focused on spelling development in Spanish children from elementary grades. A sample of 1045 was selected from 2nd to 6th grade belonging to four schools in Tenerife Island with an age range between 7 and 12 years old (M = 113.8, SD = 17.6). We administered a standardized writing test that includes diverse subtests to assess spelling, ruled and not ruled, and various written composition tasks (i.e., writing a story based on vignettes, describing a character and writing a story). We calculated the average of correct spellings in each variable and school level, and we also analyzed the type of misspellings that children made across different writing tasks. We found that spelling is acquired by 4th-grade children when it is not ruled, whereas the spelling of ruled words is acquired by 5th-grade children. When we analyzed the misspellings in a dictation task, we found that the children confused spelling of the graphemes c/s/z/x. Across different writing tasks, we found that students committed more misspellings with the graphemes b/v, h y c/s/z/x before they finished the 4th elementary grade.

Desarrollo de la percepción del habla en niños con dislexia / Speech perception development in children with dyslexia

Numerosos estudios han mostrado que los disléxicos presentan déficit de percepción del habla (PH). El objetivo de esta investigación es examinar el desarrollo de la PH en disléxicos y normolectores emparejados por curso de 2º a 6º de Primaria y explorar si los contrastes fonéticos, relevantes para percibir el habla, varían a lo largo del desarrollo en función de las diferencias individuales en lectura. Se comparó el rendimiento de ambos grupos en tareas de discriminación de sonoridad, punto y modo de articulación. Los resultados mostraron que los disléxicos obtuvieron un rendimiento en PH inferior al de los normolectores. El patrón de desarrollo de PH de ambos grupos es similar en punto de articulación, y diferente en sonoridad y modo de articulación. El modo de articulación es lo que tiene más peso en la PH, y muestra un mayor nivel de desarrollo en ambos grupos

Several studies have indicated that dyslexics show a deficit in speech perception (SP). The main purpose of this research is to determine the development of SP in dyslexics and normal readers paired by grades from 2nd to 6th grade of primary school and to know whether the phonetic contrasts that are relevant for SP change during development, taking into account the individual differences. The achievement of both groups was compared in the phonetic tasks: voicing contrast, place of articulation contrast and manner of articulation contrast. The results showed that the dyslexic performed poorer than the normal readers in SP. In place of articulation contrast, the developmental pattern is similar in both groups but not in voicing and manner of articulation. Manner of articulation has more influence on SP, and its development is higher than the other contrast tasks in both groups

Evolución de la escritura de palabras de ortografía arbitraria en lengua española / Spelling development in the Spanish language

El objetivo de este trabajo consistió en estudiar la evolución de la escritura de palabras con ortografía arbitraria en alumnado de Educación Primaria (EP). La muestra estaba compuesta por 1.045 escolares de segundo a sexto curso de EP de 4 centros de la Isla de Tenerife, entre 7 y 12 años de edad (M= 113.8; DT= 17.6). Se les dictaban palabras con ortografía arbitraria, reglada y no reglada, y se les pidió también que realizaran tareas de composición escrita (i.e., escritura de una historia apoyada en viñetas, descripción de un personaje y escritura de un cuento). Se analizaron tanto los aciertos como los errores ortográficos en el dictado y la composición escrita. Los resultados encontrados señalan que la ortografía arbitraria, cuando no es reglada, se adquiere a partir de 4º curso de EP, mientras que la escritura de palabras de ortografía reglada la adquieren a partir de 5º curso de EP. Analizando los errores ortográficos en la escritura al dictado se observó que existía mayor confusión en la escritura de los grafemas c/s/z/x. En las diferentes tareas de composición escrita encontramos que, hasta la finalización del segundo ciclo, los escolares tienden a confundir los grafemas b/v, h y c/s/z/x

This study focused on spelling development in Spanish children from elementary grades. A sample of 1045 was selected from 2nd to 6th grade belonging to four schools in Tenerife Island with an age range between 7 and 12 years old (M= 113.8, SD= 17.6). We administered a standardized writing test that includes diverse subtests to assess spelling, ruled and not ruled, and various written composition tasks (i.e., writing a story based on vignettes, describing a character and writing a story). We calculated the average of correct spellings in each variable and school level, and we also analyzed the type of misspellings that children made across different writing tasks. We found that spelling is acquired by 4th-grade children when it is not ruled, whereas the spelling of ruled words is acquired by 5th-grade children. When we analyzed the misspellings in a dictation task, we found that the children confused spelling of the graphemes c/s/z/x. Across different writing tasks, we found that students committed more misspellings with the graphemes b/v, h y c/s/z/x before they finished the 4th elementary grade