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Unlike many believe, accurate and fluent basic reading skill (ie. to decode text) is not enough for learning knowledge via reading. More than 10 years ago a digital learning game supporting the first step towards full literacy, i.e., GraphoGame (GG) was developed by the first author with his colleagues in the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. It trains the acquisition of basic reading skills, i.e., learning to sound out written language. Nowadays, when almost everyone in the world has an opportunity to use this GG, it is time to start supporting the acquisition of full literacy (FL). FL is necessary for efficient learning in school, where reading the schoolbooks successfully is essential. The present plan aims to help globally almost all who read whatever orthography to start from the earliest possible grade during which children have learned the mastery of the basic reading skill to immediately continue taking the next step to reach FL. Unlike common beliefs, support of FL is mostly needed among those who read transparent orthographies (reading by the majority of readers of alphabetic writings) which are easier to sound out due to consistency between spoken and written units at grapheme-phoneme level. This makes readers able to sound any written item which is pronounceable with only a little help of knowing what it means. Therefore, children tend to become inclined to not pay enough attention to the meaning but concentrate on decoding the text letter-by-letter. They had to learn from the beginning to approach the goal of reading, mediation of the meaning of the text. Readers of nontransparent English need to attend morphology for correct sounding. The continuing fall of OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, e.g., in Finland reveals that especially boys are not any more interested in reading outside school which would be natural way to reach the main goal of reading, FL. What could be a better way to help boys towards FL than motivating them to play computer games which requires reading comprehension. The new digital ComprehensionGame designed by the first author motivates pupils to read in effective way by concurrently elevating their school achievements by connecting the training to daily reading lessons. This article describes our efforts to elaborate and validate this new digital tool by starting from populations of learners who need it most in Africa and in Finland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Possibly some of the most important skills that one can have are those needed to become fully literate. We all wish our children to reach such a goal. Unfortunately, the focus of attention in reading research has been on acquiring readiness to sound out written language, i.e., the basic reading skills. Full literacy is the readiness to learn knowledge by reading. Thus, one has to be able to take two steps to reach full literacy. Indications related to both of these steps can be observe in the brain. This may be easiest when we observe the brain activity of a learner who faces difficulties in taking these steps. In fact, the serious difficulty of taking the first step can be observed soon after birth, shown below as a summary of relevant details from the paper published earlier in this journal. The step from a basic reading skill to reading comprehension requires that one must learn to read for the mediating meanings of the text, i.e., its morphological information, on top of the phonological one. This can also be approached using brain-related observations, as we show here, too. Taking these steps varies between orthographies. Here, we illustrate the learning of these steps in the context of transparently written alphabetic writings by choosing it as our concrete example because its readers form the majority of readers of alphabetic writings. After learning these facts, we had to be able to help those who face difficulties in these steps to overcome her/his bottlenecks. We summarize how we have tried to do that. Each step can be taken using a digital game-like training environment, which, happily, is now open to be distributed for the use of (almost) all in the world. How we have already tried that concerning the first step is illustrated below. Additionally, how we plan to do that concerning the second step, the final goal, completes our present story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed to assess the efficiency of a French version of GraphoGame (GG) against an equally engaging math intervention (Fiete Math, FM) in a large school sample of children from socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods in grade 1 (N = 921). The intervention was implemented in two different cohorts who used GG or FM for about four months four times a week for 30 minutes. Gains in reading and mathematics were assessed before and after intervention. Given the nested nature of the data, results were analyzed using hierarchical linear mixed effect models with intervention and initial pretest level as fixed effects and individuals and classes as random effects. We found positive intervention effects of GG on phoneme awareness (effect size, ES = 0.23), orthographic choice (ES = 0.27) and word reading fluency (ES = 0.18). FM had a significant effect on math achievement (ES = 0.28) but not number comparison. Correlations between intervention gains and game variables (overall accuracy, number of levels played) suggest that the effects of GG were specific. Positive effects for focused digital reading and math interventions were found in a large school sample of children from socially disadvantaged neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In 2018, it was found that only a quarter of Grade 3 children in India were reading at grade level. A growing demand for English education has further limited children's literacy achievement. Despite a strong evidence base in favour of using systematic phonics for building English literacy skills, many teachers in India continue to use rote‐methods of literacy instruction. Objectives: We aimed to examine the efficacy of GraphoLearn (GL) English Rime, a computer‐assisted reading intervention, in improving the foundational literacy skills of 1st and 2nd grade students who were attending an English medium school in India. Methods: A total of 136 students across 6 classrooms were randomly allocated to play either GL or a control math game over a 5‐week intervention period. Students were pre‐ and post‐tested on various English literacy skills using tasks built into the GL software as well as through oral and paper‐based tasks. Results and Conclusions: Students who played GL showed significantly greater and faster development on in‐game measures of letter‐sound knowledge, rime unit recognition, and word recognition as compared to students who did not play GL. In addition, GL resulted in greater effects on these measures for students with stronger English literacy skills prior to the start of the intervention. No differences were found between groups on the oral and paper‐based tasks. Implications: GL was able to quickly and effectively teach critical sub‐skills for reading. However, a lack of effects on the out‐of‐game measures opens the door for further discussion on the successful implementation of such interventions. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic:India has an ongoing literacy crisis with many children failing to acquire functional literacy skills.Under‐resourced schools,outdated pedagogical methods, and a demand for English‐medium education are partially to blame.Globally, technology is being increasingly looked at to help improve student learning levels across all subject areas.There are a lack of studies examining the efficacy of various ed‐tech tools to improve literacy in the context of India.What this paper adds:The study aimed to test GraphoLearn English (GL), a mobile game designed to teach and practice early reading skills through phonics with first and second graders.Results showed that children who played GL outperformed those who did not play on critical literacy skills such as letter‐sound knowledge and word recognition.In addition, GL was more effective for those who had higher pre‐existing English literacy skills.However, improvements were only seen on measures assessed in the game and not on measures assessed orally or on paper.Implications for practice and/or policy:GL and other educational technologies can be extremely effective tools which allow for an individualized learning experience.However, it is important that for any educational game, learning moves beyond the game itself.Teachers are critical players in this process and must ensure that tech‐based instruction is integrated with teacher‐led instruction.Policy makers and school administration must ensure that teachers are adequately trained on when, with whom, and how to use such technologies before they are introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how the association learning principle works for supporting acquisition of basic spelling and reading skills using digital game-based learning environment with the Finland-based GraphoLearn (GL) technology. This program has been designed and validated to work with early readers of different alphabetic writing systems using repetition and reinforcing connections between spoken and written units. Initially GL was developed and found effective in training children at risk of reading disorders in Finland. Today GL training has been shown to support learning decoding skills among children independent of whether they face difficulties resulting from educational, social, or biological reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used a randomized controlled trial to investigate if a mobile game, GraphoLearn (GL), could effectively support the learning of first graders (N = 70), who have severe difficulties in reading and spelling. We studied the effects of two versions of the game: GL Reading, which focused on training letter‐sound correspondence and word reading; and GL Spelling, which included additional training in phonological skills and spelling. During the spring of first grade, the children trained with tablet computers which they could carry with them during the six‐week intervention. The average exposure time to training was 5 hr 44 min. The results revealed no differences in the development of reading or spelling skills between GL players and the control group. However, pre‐training self‐efficacy moderated the effect among GL Reading players: children with high self‐efficacy developed more than the control group in word reading fluency, whereas children with low self‐efficacy developed less than the control group in spelling. Lay Description: What is already known: Serious games can support children's reading achievement, but less is known about their effects in mobile learning.GraphoLearn (GL) is a serious game designed to support reading acquisition, but previous studies suggest its effect on word‐level reading is limited.Explicit training of phonological skills and spelling could facilitate transfer to word reading.Self‐efficacy predicts persistence and effort in achievement situations but its role in mobile game‐based learning is not well known. What this paper adds: A randomized controlled trial was used to study if mobile game‐based learning supports children with reading difficulties.A new GL version, training phonological and spelling skills, had no effect on the development of reading and spelling skills.Children with high self‐efficacy benefited from training with the standard GL. Implications for practitioners: When using mobile games as support tools, close attention should be paid to learner characteristics and game design.Children with high self‐efficacy may be better able to regulate their behaviour during independent training with mobile games, leading to better learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pinyin is an alphabetic script that denotes pronunciations of Chinese characters. Studies have shown that Pinyin instruction enhances both phonological awareness (e.g., Shu et al., Developmental Science, 2008, 11, 171-181) and character reading (e.g., Lin et al., Psychological Science, 2010, 21, 1117-1122) in Chinese children. In the present study, we provided a 3-week Pinyin intervention with a computer-based Pinyin GraphoGame to disadvantaged migrant children with poor Pinyin skills. A total of 252 first graders who were children of migrant workers in a large Chinese city were assessed to identify poor Pinyin readers. Fifty-six 7-year-old children with poor Pinyin skills were selected and randomly divided into a training group and a control group, with 28 children in each group. The training group played the Pinyin GraphoGame for 3 weeks, while the control group received school instruction only during the same period. Results showed that the children in the training group outperformed their peers in the control group on Pinyin reading accuracy and fluency, onset-rime and phonemic awareness, and character reading. These results suggest that the Pinyin GraphoGame may be a cost-effective method to enhance Pinyin and literacy outcomes for underprivileged children in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serious games are designed to improve learning instead of providing only entertainment. Serious games analytics can be used for understanding and enhancing the quality of learning with serious games. One challenge in developing the computerized support for learning is that learning of skills varies between players. Appropriate algorithms are needed for analyzing the performance of individual players. This paper presents a novel clustering‐based profiling method for analyzing serious games learners. GraphoLearn, a game for training connections between the speech sounds and letters, serves as the game‐based learning environment. The proposed clustering method was designed to group the learners into profiles based on game log data. The obtained profiles were statistically analyzed. For instance, the results revealed one profile consisting of 136 players who had difficulties with connecting most of the target sounds and letters, whereas learners in the other profiles typically had difficulties with specific sound‐letter pairs. The results suggest that this profiling method can be useful for identifying children with a risk of reading disability and the proposed approach is a promising new method for analyzing serious game log data. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Serious games are used to improve learning and to tailor learning environments for people with various difficulties in learning.Learning analytics and serious games analytics are growing research fields, applying and developing data analysis methods to analyze, profile and understand learning using serious games.GraphoLearn is a learning game for training reading skills. The game provides preventive support for learners with varying skill levels including individuals who are struggling with reading.What this paper adds The paper develops and presents a novel approach for serious games analytics to analyze GraphoLearn players.The proposed data analysis approach produces an interpretable set of error profiles, which characterize the learning difficulties in a unique way.The profiling method can be used for longitudinal studies and applied to analyzing logs of other serious games.Implications for practice and/or policy It is possible to reveal and understand profiles of serious game players.The proposed data analysis method can be used to identify players who have a potential risk for reading difficulties or disabilities.Even though the proposed method provides only limited information about players' future skills, it offers a good starting point for other studies in which players' development can be monitored more accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effectiveness of a digital game—GraphoLearn (GL)—in supporting second-grade students who have persistent difficulties with acquiring accurate and fluent reading skills. The participants (N = 37) were randomly assigned either to a 6-week intervention including sessions with GL, in addition to school-provided support, or a control group receiving only school-provided support. The intervention took place at the students' homes and schools under the supervision of their parents and teachers. The results showed that the children who received the GL intervention developed significantly faster in word reading than the control group. Moreover, their reading development was significantly faster during the GL intervention compared with that of the follow-up period, which included only typical school-provided support. No transfer effects on reading fluency, reading comprehension, or spelling were found. Furthermore, the children who, according to the observations of their parents and teachers, showed higher cognitive engagement during the intervention had higher gains in word reading and sentence reading fluency than the children who appeared less cognitively engaged. Higher emotional engagement was related to increased playing time but not to larger gains in reading. The study indicates that a short digital game-based intervention training of letter–sound correspondences and word-level reading can give a boost to the reading development of struggling readers. Inspecting the engagement and in-game performance during gameplay provides important information that can be used for further development of the game to respond to the needs of the learners with severe difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the preshot brain slow potential (SP) shifts from frontal, central, centro-lateral, and occipital areas for 12 national-caliber sharpshooters during rifle-shooting performance. Comparison of superior performance and poor performance; Learned performance pattern.

The effects of a 4-month physical activity program on physical fitness, balance, and ball skills were examined. A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to study the effects of training on static and dynamic balance, physical fitness, and the motor skills of catching and throwing. The subjects were eight 7- to 11-year-old, ambulatory, hemiplegic or diplegic cerebral palsy children. The results indicated slight overall improvement in physical fitness. The specific balance training was not effective, with improvements in dynamic balance noted in only one subject. The specific ball training improved target throw skill in all subjects, but catching skill scores varied greatly, with none of the subjects showing consistent improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India, a country with a population of more than 1.3 billion individuals, houses the world’s second largest educational system. Despite this, 100 of millions of individuals in India are still illiterate. As English medium education sweeps the country, many are forced to learn in a language which is foreign to them. Those living in poverty further struggle to learn English as it tends to be a language which they have no prior exposure to and no support at home for. Low-quality schools and poor instructional methods further exacerbate the problem. Without access to quality education, these individuals continue to struggle and are ultimately never given the chance to break the cycle of poverty. The aim of this study was to determine whether GraphoLearn, a computer-assisted reading tool, could be used to support the English reading skills of struggling readers in India. Participants were 7-year-old, grade 3 students (N = 30), who were attending an English-medium public school in Ahmedabad, India. English was not a native language for any of the students and all were reading at a level below that of Grade 1 despite having attended school for 2 years. Half of the students played GraphoLearn (n = 16) while the other half played a control math game (n = 14) for 20–30 min a day, over a period of 8 weeks. GraphoLearn led to significant improvements in children’s letter-sound knowledge, a critical factor in early reading development. Overall, the study opens doors for GraphoLearn as a potential intervention to support struggling readers of English in India, including those who are learning a non-native language and coming from at-risk backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This narrative review discusses quantitative indices measuring differences between alphabetic languages that are related to the process of word recognition. The specific orthography that a child is acquiring has been identified as a central element influencing reading acquisition and dyslexia. However, the development of reliable metrics to measure differences between language scripts hasn't received much attention so far. This paper therefore reviews metrics proposed in the literature for quantifying orthographic transparency, syllabic complexity, and morphological complexity of alphabetic languages. The review included searches of Web of Science, PubMed, PsychInfo, Google Scholar, and various online sources. Search terms pertained to orthographic transparency, morphological complexity, and syllabic complexity in relation to reading acquisition, and dyslexia. Although the predictive value of these metrics is promising, more research is needed to validate the value of the metrics discussed and to understand the 'developmental footprint' of orthographic transparency, morphological complexity, and syllabic complexity in the lexical organization and processing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and attention deficit disorder (ADD) show distinct clinical profiles that may include auditory and language-related impairments. Currently, an objective brain-based diagnosis of these developmental disorders is still unavailable. We investigated the neuro-auditory systems of dyslexic, ADHD, ADD, and age-matched control children (N = 147) using neuroimaging, magnetencephalography and psychoacoustics. All disorder subgroups exhibited an oversized left planum temporale and an abnormal interhemispheric asynchrony (10-40 ms) of the primary auditory evoked P1-response. Considering right auditory cortex morphology, bilateral P1 source waveform shapes, and auditory performance, the three disorder subgroups could be reliably differentiated with outstanding accuracies of 89- 98%. We therefore for the first time provide differential biomarkers for a brain-based diagnosis of dyslexia, ADHD, and ADD. The method allowed not only allowed for clear discrimination between two subtypes of attentional disorders (ADHD and ADD), a topic controversially discussed for decades in the scientific community, but also revealed the potential for objectively identifying comorbid cases. Noteworthy, in children playing a musical instrument, after three and a half years of training the observed interhemispheric asynchronies were reduced by about 2/3, thus suggesting a strong beneficial influence of music experience on brain development. These findings might have far-reaching implications for both research and practice and enable a profound understanding of the brain-related etiology, diagnosis, and musically based therapy of common auditory-related developmental disorders and learning disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the stability of dyslexia status from Grade 2 to Grade 8 in four groups: (a) no dyslexia in either grade (no-dyslexia, n = 127); (b) no dyslexia in Grade 2 but dyslexia in Grade 8 (late-emerging, n = 18); (c) dyslexia in Grade 2 but not in Grade 8 (resolving, n = 15); and (d) dyslexia in both grades (persistent-dyslexia, n = 22). We examined group differences from age 3.5 to age 14 in (a) reading, vocabulary, phonology, letter knowledge, rapid naming, IQ, verbal memory; (b) familial and environmental risk and supportive factors; and (c) parental skills in reading, phonology, rapid naming, verbal memory, and vocabulary. Our findings showed group differences both in reading and cognitive skills of children as well as their parents. Parental education, book-reading frequency, and children's IQ, however, did not differentiate the groups. The children in the persistent-dyslexia group exhibited widespread language and cognitive deficits across development. Those in the resolving group had problems in language and cognitive skills only prior to school entry. In the late-emerging group, children showed clearly compromised rapid naming. Additionally, their parents had the most severe difficulties in rapid naming, a finding that suggests strong genetic liability. The findings show instability in the diagnosis of dyslexia. The members of the late-emerging group did not have a distinct early cognitive profile, so late-emerging dyslexia appears difficult to predict. Indeed, these children are at risk of not being identified and not receiving required support. This study suggests the need for continued monitoring of children's progress in literacy after the early school years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GraphoGame (GG) is originally a technology-based intervention method for supporting children with reading difficulties. It is now known that children who face problems in reading acquisition have difficulties in learning to differentiate and manipulate speech sounds and consequently, in connecting these sounds to corresponding letters. GG was developed to provide intensive training in matching speech sounds and larger units of speech to their written counterparts. GG has been shown to benefit children with reading difficulties and the game is now available for all Finnish school children for literacy support. Presently millions of children in Africa fail to learn to read despite years of primary school education. As many African languages have transparent writing systems similar in structure to Finnish, it was hypothesized that GG-based training of letter-sound correspondences could also be effective in supporting children's learning in African countries. In this article we will describe how GG has been developed from a Finnish dyslexia prevention game to an intervention method that can be used not only to improve children's reading performance but also to raise teachers' and parents' awareness of the development of reading skill and effective reading instruction methods. We will also provide an overview of the GG activities in Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Namibia, and the potential to promote education for all with a combination of scientific research and mobile learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effect of home environment factors in the acquisition of early reading skills (orthographic awareness and decoding competence). To assess these factors, a sample of seventy-two (72) first grade learners (females = 55%; age range = 7-8 years) and their maternal parents (age range 26-61 years old) from low SES in Zambia's capital city, Lusaka were recruited. Parents, in response to a home literacy questionnaire, reported on their attitudes towards reading, literacy teaching in the home, the home literacy environment, presence of reading materials for adults and children, parental education, occupation, family size and family possessions. Two measures of reading skill were administered at school. Correlations revealed that parental education, occupation and the size of the family were not significantly associated with the reading measures. Family possessions, parental reading attitudes, literacy activities, and reading materials significantly predicted orthographic awareness. In predicting decoding competence, only family possessions, parental reading attitudes and literacy activities were predictive. Regardless of the context, children experience literacy in varied forms and quantities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer-assisted training of Finnish phonemic length was conducted with 7-year-old Russian-speaking second-language learners of Finnish. Phonemic length plays a different role in these two languages. The training included game activities with two- and three-syllable word and pseudo-word minimal pairs with prototypical vowel durations. The lowest accuracy scores were recorded for two-syllable words. Accuracy scores were higher for the minimal pairs with larger rather than smaller differences in duration. Accuracy scores were lower for long duration than for short duration. The ability to identify quantity degree was generalized to stimuli used in the identification test in two of the children. Ideas for improving the game are introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the role that adolescents' dyslexia plays in their educational expectations, as well as their parents' expectations concerning their offspring's future education. To investigate this, 170 adolescents were asked to report their educational expectations on two occasions while they were still attending comprehensive school (in 7th and 9th grade). Forty-five of the 170 adolescents were diagnosed as having dyslexia. The adolescents' mothers and fathers also filled in questionnaires concerning their educational expectations for their offspring. The results showed that parents of boys with dyslexia had lower expectations about their sons' future education than parents of typically reading boys. However, parents of girls with dyslexia and parents of typically reading girls did not differ in this respect. Parents' expectations also predicted the adolescents' own educational expectations. Moreover, dyslexia was associated with boys' academic achievement (GPA), which further predicted their educational expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This intervention study was conducted to document conditions under which a computer based literacy game (GraphoGame™) could enhance literacy skills of first grade students in an African city. The participants were first grade students from Government schools (N = 573). These students were randomly sampled into control (N = 314) and various intervention groups (N = 259). GraphoGame™ was administered on cellphones to students at their schools under supervision. Each student in the study was assessed using a battery of locally developed cognitive tests that measured emergent literacy skills (Orthography test), decoding competence (Spelling test), vocabulary (Picture Vocabulary Test-PVT) and arithmetic (Zambia Achievement Test-ZAT). There was a positive effect of the game for the Spelling test-which closely targeted the skill GraphoGame™ is designed to promote. The most effective intervention combined exposure of both the teachers and the students to the game. Initial letter knowledge was a good predictor of final letter knowledge on GraphoGame™. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sensitivity to print is characterized by a left occipito-temporal negativity to words in the event-related potential N1. This sensitivity is modulated by reading skills and may thus represent a neural marker of reading competence. Here we studied the development of the N1 in regular and poor readers from preschool age to school age to test whether the amplitude of the N1 predicts children's reading outcomes. Our results suggest a predictive value of the print-sensitive negativity over the right hemisphere. Whether this N1 may serve as a biomarker to improve prognosis in preliterate children should be clarified in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Identifying children at risk for reading problems or dyslexia at kindergarten age could improve support for beginning readers. Brain event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured for temporally complex pseudowords and corresponding non-speech stimuli from 6.5-year-old children who participated in behavioral literacy tests again at 9 years in the second grade. Children who had reading problems at school age had larger N250 responses to speech and non-speech stimuli particularly at the left hemisphere. The brain responses also correlated with reading skills. The results suggest that atypical auditory and speech processing are a neural-level risk factor for future reading problems. [Supplementary material is available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition ofDevelopmental Neuropsychologyfor the following free supplemental resources: Sound files used in the experiments. Three speech sounds and corresponding non-speech sounds with short, intermediate, and long gaps] [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: The authors investigated the importance of phonemic length discrimination ability on reading and spelling skills among children with reading disabilities and familial risk for dyslexia and among children with typical reading skills, as well as the role of prereading skills in reading and spelling development in children with reading disabilities. Method: Finnish children with reading disabilities and discrimination problems (RDDP, n = 13), children with reading disabilities and typical discrimination abilities (RDTD, n = 27), and children with typical reading skills (TR, n = 140) were assessed between the ages of 1 and 6.5 years for language, phonological awareness, IQ, verbal memory, and rapid automatized naming. IQ, discrimination ability, and reading and spelling skills were assessed in the second grade. Statistical differences were examined at the group level. Results: The RDDP group was poorer in spelling accuracy compared with the other groups. The RDDP group's prereading skills were poorer than those of the RDTD group. In regression analyses, the RDDP group's poor spelling skills were partially explained by their discrimination ability. Conclusion: Prereading skills are connected to poor reading skills, but phonemic length discrimination ability plays a critical role in spelling accuracy problems among children with reading disabilities and with familial risk for dyslexia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The authors investigated the importance of phonemic length discrimination ability on reading and spelling skills among children with reading disabilities and familial risk for dyslexia and among children with typical reading skills, as well as the role of prereading skills in reading and spelling development in children with reading disabilities. Method: Finnish children with reading disabilities and discrimination problems (RDDP, n = 13), children with reading disabilities and typical discrimination abilities (RDTD, n = 27), and children with typical reading skills (TR, n = 140) were assessed between the ages of 1 and 6.5 years for language, phonological awareness, IQ, verbal memory, and rapid automatized naming. IQ, discrimination ability, and reading and spelling skills were assessed in the second grade. Statistical differences were examined at the group level. Results: The RDDP group was poorer in spelling accuracy compared with the other groups. The RDDP group's prereading skills were poorer than those of the RDTD group. In regression analyses, the RDDP group's poor spelling skills were partially explained by their discrimination ability. Conclusion: Prereading skills are connected to poor reading skills, but phonemic length discrimination ability plays a critical role in spelling accuracy problems among children with reading disabilities and with familial risk for dyslexia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this longitudinal study was to build a model of the predictive values (poor phonological awareness, low letter knowledge, and slow naming speed) of spelling in 3 contrasting reading groups: a regular and a computer-assisted remedial intervention and mainstream instruction. The participants were 7-year-old Finnish school beginners (N = 166). The interventions took place in 4 weekly sessions of 45 min each over a period of 28 weeks in groups of 5 during Grade 1. We compared postintervention spelling development across the groups. The children who received systematic phonics-based training via the computer-assisted intervention reached the postinstruction level of the mainstream group by Grade 3. Computer-assisted treatment produced the best results, and mainstream instruction achieved better results than the regular remedial reading intervention. Low phonological awareness seemed to play a central role in spelling development in spite of a combination of deficits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on pilot studies which were set up to investigate the usability of and potential efficacy of technology-enhanced training, Graphogame, for learning to read in multilingual settings in Zambia. Apart from the intervention data, the studies revealed interesting opportunities for the identification of challenges faced by the early readers in Zambia. Previous research has shown that training the basic skills of reading (starting from letter-sound correspondences) with Graphogame significantly improves pre-readers early reading skills in a transparent orthography such as Finnish. Since the orthographies of locally spoken languages in Zambia are comparably transparent with that of Finnish, it was hypothesized that the Zambian children would similarly benefit from playing the game. The results support our hypothesis on the usability of the game but more importantly reveal reasons for poor reading achievement of early readers. Children found certain letter-sound correspondences surprisingly difficult. It seems that teaching the local languages by mapping the letter-sound correspondences based on the English letter names has a negative influence on children's learning. We discuss the impact of language on literacy instruction and learning outcomes in light of our empirical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of letters and syllables in typical and dysfluent second grade reading in Finnish, a transparent orthography, was assessed by lexical decision and naming tasks. Typical readers did not show reliable word length effects in lexical decision, suggesting establishment of parallel letter processing. However, there were small effects of word syllable structure in both tasks suggesting the presence of some sublexical processing also. Dysfluent readers showed large word length effects in both tasks indicating decoding at the letter-phoneme level. When lexical access was required in a lexical decision task, dyslexics additionally chunked the letters into syllables. Response duration measure revealed that dysfluent readers even sounded out the words in phoneme-by-phoneme fashion, depending on the task difficulty. This letter-by-letter decoding is enabled by the transparent orthography and promoted by Finnish reading education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The relationship between phoneme awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), verbal short-term/working memory (ST/WM) and diagnostic category is investigated in control and dyslexic children, and the extent to which this depends on orthographic complexity. Methods: General cognitive, phonological and literacy skills were tested in 1,138 control and 1,114 dyslexic children speaking six different languages spanning a large range of orthographic complexity (Finnish, Hungarian, German, Dutch, French, English). Results: Phoneme deletion and RAN were strong concurrent predictors of developmental dyslexia, while verbal ST/WM and general verbal abilities played a comparatively minor role. In logistic regression models, more participants were classified correctly when orthography was more complex. The impact of phoneme deletion and RAN-digits was stronger in complex than in less complex orthographies. Conclusions: Findings are largely consistent with the literature on predictors of dyslexia and literacy skills, while uniquely demonstrating how orthographic complexity exacerbates some symptoms of dyslexia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Through exploiting temporal, spectral, time-frequency representations, and spatial properties of mismatch negativity (MMN) simultaneously, this study extracts a multi-domain feature of MMN mainly using non-negative tensor factorization. In our experiment, the peak amplitude of MMN between children with reading disability and children with attention deficit was not significantly different, whereas the new feature of MMN significantly discriminated the two groups of children. This is because the feature was derived from multi-domain information with significant reduction of the heterogeneous effect of datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the double-deficit hypothesis in Finnish. One hundred five Finnish children with high familial risk for dyslexia and 90 children with low family risk were followed from the age of 3½ years until Grade 3. Children's phonological awareness, rapid naming speed, text reading, and spelling were assessed. A deficit in rapid automatized naming (RAN) predicted slow reading speed across time and spelling difficulties after Grade 1. A deficit in phonological awareness predicted difficulties in spelling, but only in the familial risk sample. The effect of familial risk was significant in the development of phonological awareness, RAN, reading, and spelling. Our findings suggest that the basic premise of the double-deficit hypothesis—that RAN and phonological awareness are separable deficits with different effects on reading and spelling outcomes—holds also in a consistent orthography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the longitudinal predictors of nonword decoding, reading fluency, and spelling in three languages that vary in orthographic depth: Finnish, Greek, and English. Eighty-two English-speaking, 70 Greek, and 88 Finnish children were followed from the age of 5.5 years old until Grade 2. Prior to any reading instruction, they were administered measures of phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and rapid naming speed. In Grade 2, they were administered measures of nonword decoding, text-reading fluency, and spelling. The results showed that the model for nonword decoding in Greek was similar to that of Finnish (both have consistent grapheme-to-phoneme mappings) while the model for spelling in Greek was similar to that of English (both have some inconsistent phoneme-to-grapheme mappings). In addition, the models for nonword decoding and spelling in Finnish were similar, because Finnish is consistent in both directions. Letter knowledge dominated the prediction in each language. The predictable role of orthographic consistency on literacy acquisition is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study combines wavelet decomposition and independent component analysis (ICA) to extract mismatch negativity (MMN) from electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. As MMN is a small event-related potential (ERP), a systematic ICA based approach is designed, exploiting MMN's temporal, frequency and spatial information. Moreover, this study answers which type of EEG recordings is more appropriate for ICA to extract MMN, what kind of the preprocessing is beneficial for ICA decomposition, which algorithm of ICA can be chosen to decompose EEG recordings under the selected type, how to determine the desired independent component extracted by ICA, how to improve the accuracy of the back projection of the selected independent component in the electrode field, and what can be finally obtained with the application of ICA. Results showed that the proposed method extracted MMN with better properties than those estimated by difference wave only using temporal information or ICA only using spatial information. The better properties mean that the deviant with larger magnitude of deviance to repeated stimuli in the oddball paradigm can elicit MMN with larger peak amplitude and shorter latency. As other ERPs also have the similar information exploited here, the proposed method can be used to study other ERPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study surveyed and compared support systems for poor readers in six member states of the European Union (EU). The goal was to identify features of effective support systems. A large-scale questionnaire survey was conducted among mainstream teachers (n = 4,210) and remedial teachers (n = 2,395). Results indicate that the six support systems differed substantially, with effective support systems showing high performance on all variables measured. More specifically, effective support systems were characterized by (a) high levels of both teacher and student support and (b) frequent interactions between teachers and remedial teachers as well as between remedial teachers and diagnosticians. The high prevalence of poor reading ability in the current EU member states demonstrates that educational reforms are critically needed. The results of this study provide concrete starting points for improving support systems for poor readers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of the longitudinal study was to investigate whether a computer application designed for remedial reading training can enhance letter knowledge, reading accuracy, fluency, and spelling of at-risk children. The participants, 7-year-old Finnish school beginners ( N = 166), were assigned to 1 of 3 groups: (a) regular remedial reading intervention ( n = 25), (b) computer-assessed reading intervention ( n = 25), and (c) mainstream reading instruction ( n = 116). Based on the results, computer-assisted remedial reading intervention was highly beneficial, whereas regular type of intervention was less successful. The results indicated that at-risk children require computer-based letter-name and letter-sound training to acquire adequate decoding and spelling skills, and to reach the level of their non-at-risk peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with developmental dyslexia vary in their ability to improve reading skills, but the brain basis for improvement remains largely unknown. We performed a prospective, longitudinal study over 2.5 y in children with dyslexia (n = 25) or without dyslexia (n = 20) to discover whether initial behavioral or brain measures, including functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), can predict future long-term reading gains in dyslexia. No behavioral measure, including widely used and standardized reading and language tests, reliably predicted future reading gains in dyslexia. Greater right prefrontal activation during a reading task that demanded phonological awareness and right superior longitudinal fasciculus (including arcuate fasciculus) white-matter organization significantly predicted future reading gains in dyslexia. Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) of these two brain measures, using linear support vector machine (SVM) and cross-validation, predicted significantly above chance (72% accuracy) which particular child would or would not improve reading skills (behavioral measures were at chance). MVPA of whole-brain activation pattern during phonological processing predicted which children with dyslexia would improve reading skills 2.5 y later with >90% accuracy. These findings identify right prefrontal brain mechanisms that may be critical for reading improvement in dyslexia and that may differ from typical reading development. Brain measures that predict future behavioral outcomes (neuroprognosis) may be more accurate, in some cases, than available behavioral measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four genes, DYX1C1, ROBO1, DCDC2 and KIAA0319 have been studied both genetically and functionally as candidate genes for developmental dyslexia, a common learning disability in children. The identification of novel genes is crucial to better understand the molecular pathways affected in dyslectic individuals. Here, we report results from a fine-mapping approach involving linkage and association analysis in Finnish and German dyslexic cohorts. We restrict a candidate region to 0.3 Mb on chromosome 7q33. This region harbours the gene diacylglycerol kinase, iota ( DGKI) which contains overlapping haplotypes associated with dyslexia in both Finnish and German sample sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier results from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia showed that newborn event-related potentials (ERPs) of children with and without familial risk for dyslexia were associated with receptive language and verbal memory skills between 2.5 and 5 years of age. We further examined whether these ERPs (responses to synthetic consonant-vowel syllables /ba/, /da/, /ga/; presented equiprobably with 3,910—7,285 ms interstimulus intervals) predict later pre-reading skills measured before the onset of school (6.5 years of age). In line with our earlier results, the at-risk children (N = 11) with atypical speech processing in the right hemisphere (a slower shift in polarity from positivity to negativity in responses to /ga/ at 540—630 ms) scored significantly lower in phonological skills, rapid naming, and letter knowledge than the control children (N = 10) without enhanced right hemispheric speech processing. These results further extend our earlier findings of newborn ERPs in predicting poorer language skills. These consistent differences in ERPs to speech sounds may have applications in the future for the early identification of children at risk for developmental language problems. This would facilitate well-directed intervention even before reading problems are typically diagnosed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Independent component analysis (ICA) does not follow the superposition rule. This motivates us to study a negative event-related potential — mismatch negativity (MMN) estimated by the single-trial based ICA (sICA) and averaged trace based ICA (aICA), respectively. To sICA, an optimal digital filter (ODF) was used to remove low-frequency noise. As a result, this study demonstrates that the performance of the sICA+ODF and aICA could be different. Moreover, MMN under sICA+ODF fits better with the theoretical expectation, i.e., larger deviant elicits larger MMN peak amplitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]