Assessing reading skills with a computer-aided set of tests based on the dual-route theory of reading.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Child↗
Biomedical subjects
T Ahonen
Publications and source records attributed to T Ahonen.
[Misleading HANE (hereditary angioneurotic edema)].
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Adolescent↗
Predicting delay in reading achievement in a highly transparent language.
A random sample of 91 preschool children was assessed prior to receiving formal reading instruction. Verbal and nonverbal measures were used as predictors for the time of instruction required to accurately decode pseudowords in the highly orthographically regular Finnish language. After 2 years, participants were divided into four groups depending on the duration of instruction they had required to reach 90 % accuracy in their reading of pseudowords. Participants were classified as precocious decoders (PD), who could read at school entry; early decoders (ED), who learned to read within the first 4 months of Grade 1; ordinary decoders (OD), who learned to read within 9 months; and late decoders (LD), who failed to reach the criterion after 18 months of reading instruction at Grade 2. Phonological awareness played a significant role only in differentiating PD from ED and OD. However, phonological awareness failed to predict the delayed learning process of LD. LD differed from all other groups in visual analogical reasoning in an analysis not containing phonological awareness measures. Letter knowledge and visual analogical reasoning explained above 90% of the PD-LD difference. Preschool composite (objects, colors, and digits) naming speed measures best predicted reading fluency at the end of Grade 2. The supportive role of orthographic knowledge in phonological awareness, the role of visual analogical reasoning, and the inability of phonological measures to discriminate late decoders are discussed.
Child↗
Comparing efficacies of neurocognitive treatment and homework assistance programs for children with learning difficulties.
The purpose of the study was to analyze the relative efficacies of two treatments for children with learning difficulties. The first treatment consisted of multiple training components targeting specific cognitive and behavioral factors; the second treatment provided emotional support and supervision of school tasks. The participants were 94 Chilean schoolchildren (6 to 11 years of age). The efficacies were compared on (a) neurocognitive tests, (b) school achievement tests, and (c) behavior in school and at home. The results indicated that both groups improved on most of the outcome measures. The first group showed best results in parents' rating of home behavior, and the second group in reading. The findings also emphasized the importance of emotional support and the inclusion of a parents' group in treatment for children with learning difficulties.
Achievement↗
Two-year group treatment for children with learning difficulties: assessing effects of treatment duration and pretreatment characteristics.
The results of a 2-year treatment study of children with learning problems are reported. During the first treatment year, half of the children participated in a multifaceted neurocognitive treatment and the other half in a treatment that provided supervision of school tasks and peer group support. During the second treatment year, all children participated in the neurocognitive treatment. The participants were 74 Chilean children 6 to 11 years old. The issues under investigation were the effect of treatment duration, and the relationship between pretreatment neurocognitive and behavioral characteristics and academic treatment outcome. The results indicated that significant gains occurred during both the first and the second treatment year. No major differences were found between the treatment groups. Pretreatment negative behavioral traits were associated with lesser academic growth in the group participating in the homework supervision treatment but not in the neurocognitive treatment group.
Analysis of Variance↗
Language problems in children with learning disabilities: do they interfere with maternal communication?
In this study, parent-child interaction in two carefully matched subgroups-school-age boys with learning disabilities (LD) who showed a discrepancy between their verbal IQ and performance IQ and had more extensive difficulties in higher-level language abilities (VIQ < PIQ, n = 8) and boys with LD who did not manifest a discrepancy between verbal IQ and performance IQ (VIQ = PIQ, n = 8), were investigated. The effects of the child's language problems on child task performance and on the quality of maternal communication were analyzed in a mother-child problem solving task. Children in the VIQ < PIQ group were found to be less successful on the task than children in the VIQ = PIQ group, and their mothers exhibited lower communication clarity in their instructions than the mothers of the children in the VIQ = PIQ group. An interesting interaction effect was found for communication deviances. For mothers in the VIQ < PIQ group the extent of deficient communication increased from the monologue to the dialogue situation, whereas communication deviances decreased for mothers in the VIQ = PIQ group. Three possible models are discussed in light of the differences between the subgroups.
Child↗
The development of phonological abilities and their relation to reading acquisition: case studies of six Finnish children.
The relation between phonological abilities and reading acquisition and the interindividual variation in the development of different phonological manipulation skills were assessed for six 7-year-old Finnish nonreaders. Intensive time series data were collected by following the children for 13 months. Assessments were conducted every 4 weeks with five phonological manipulation tests. The results indicated gradual progress at the group level. However, analysis of the individual profiles indicated large interindividual variation in the rate of improvement and in the relation between different manipulation skills and reading acquisition.
Awareness↗