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We investigated the stability and developmental interplay of word reading and spelling in samples of Swedish (N = 191) and U.S. children (N = 489) followed across four time points: end of kindergarten, grades 1, 2, and 4. Cross-lagged path models revealed that reading and spelling showed moderate to strong autoregressive effects, with reading being more predictable over time than spelling. Regarding the developmental interplay, we found a bidirectional relationship between reading and spelling from kindergarten to Grade 1. However, starting in Grade 1, reading predicted subsequent spelling beyond the autoregressor but not the other way around. In all analyses, the findings were similar across the two orthographies. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed., Funding Agencies|This research was supported by grants from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (HD27802, HD38526, and HD49027) and grants from the Research Councils in Sweden. We thank our testers and the children and parents involved. [HD27802, HD38526, HD49027]; National Institute for Child Health and Human Development; Research Councils in Sweden

We investigated the stability and developmental interplay of word reading and spelling in samples of Swedish (N = 191) and U.S. children (N = 489) followed across four time points: end of kindergarten, grades 1, 2, and 4. Cross-lagged path models revealed that reading and spelling showed moderate to strong autoregressive effects, with reading being more predictable over time than spelling. Regarding the developmental interplay, we found a bidirectional relationship between reading and spelling from kindergarten to Grade 1. However, starting in Grade 1, reading predicted subsequent spelling beyond the autoregressor but not the other way around. In all analyses, the findings were similar across the two orthographies. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed., Funding Agencies|This research was supported by grants from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (HD27802, HD38526, and HD49027) and grants from the Research Councils in Sweden. We thank our testers and the children and parents involved. [HD27802, HD38526, HD49027]; National Institute for Child Health and Human Development; Research Councils in Sweden

We investigated the stability and developmental interplay of word reading and spelling in samples of Swedish (N = 191) and U.S. children (N = 489) followed across four time points: end of kindergarten, grades 1, 2, and 4. Cross-lagged path models revealed that reading and spelling showed moderate to strong autoregressive effects, with reading being more predictable over time than spelling. Regarding the developmental interplay, we found a bidirectional relationship between reading and spelling from kindergarten to Grade 1. However, starting in Grade 1, reading predicted subsequent spelling beyond the autoregressor but not the other way around. In all analyses, the findings were similar across the two orthographies. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed., Funding Agencies|This research was supported by grants from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (HD27802, HD38526, and HD49027) and grants from the Research Councils in Sweden. We thank our testers and the children and parents involved. [HD27802, HD38526, HD49027]; National Institute for Child Health and Human Development; Research Councils in Sweden

We investigated the stability and developmental interplay of word reading and spelling in samples of Swedish (N = 191) and U.S. children (N = 489) followed across four time points: end of kindergarten, grades 1, 2, and 4. Cross-lagged path models revealed that reading and spelling showed moderate to strong autoregressive effects, with reading being more predictable over time than spelling. Regarding the developmental interplay, we found a bidirectional relationship between reading and spelling from kindergarten to Grade 1. However, starting in Grade 1, reading predicted subsequent spelling beyond the autoregressor but not the other way around. In all analyses, the findings were similar across the two orthographies. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed., Funding Agencies|This research was supported by grants from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (HD27802, HD38526, and HD49027) and grants from the Research Councils in Sweden. We thank our testers and the children and parents involved. [HD27802, HD38526, HD49027]; National Institute for Child Health and Human Development; Research Councils in Sweden

We investigated the stability and developmental interplay of word reading and spelling in samples of Swedish (N = 191) and U.S. children (N = 489) followed across four time points: end of kindergarten, grades 1, 2, and 4. Cross-lagged path models revealed that reading and spelling showed moderate to strong autoregressive effects, with reading being more predictable over time than spelling. Regarding the developmental interplay, we found a bidirectional relationship between reading and spelling from kindergarten to Grade 1. However, starting in Grade 1, reading predicted subsequent spelling beyond the autoregressor but not the other way around. In all analyses, the findings were similar across the two orthographies. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed., Funding Agencies|This research was supported by grants from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (HD27802, HD38526, and HD49027) and grants from the Research Councils in Sweden. We thank our testers and the children and parents involved. [HD27802, HD38526, HD49027]; National Institute for Child Health and Human Development; Research Councils in Sweden

PurposeUsing data from 1,868 children from the US, Australia, and Sweden who took a 10-word spelling test in kindergarten and a standardized spelling test in Grades 1, 2, and (except for the Australian children) Grade 4, we examined two questions. First, does the quality of a childs errors on the kindergarten test help predict later spelling performance even after controlling for the number of correct responses on the kindergarten test? Second, does spelling develop at a faster pace in Swedish than in English?MethodWe measured kindergarten error quality based on the number of letter additions, deletions, and substitutions by which each error differed from the correct spelling. Using mixed-model analyses, we examined the relationship of this and other variables to later spelling performance.ResultsKindergarten error quality contributed significantly to the prediction of later spelling performance even after consideration of the number of correct spellings in kindergarten and other relevant variables. The Swedish children showed more rapid growth in spelling than the U.S. and Australian children, a difference that may reflect the greater transparency of sound-to-spelling links in Swedish.ConclusionInformation from a spelling test that is typically discarded - information about the nature of the errors -has value., Funding Agencies|Australian Research Council [DP0663498, DP0770805]; National Institute for Child Health and Human Development [HD27802, HD38526]; Swedish Research Council [2011-01905_VR]; Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare [2011-00177_Forte]

We investigated the double-deficit hypothesis (DDH) in samples of U.S. (N = 489), Australian (N = 264), and Scandinavian (N = 293) children followed from preschool to grade 2. Children were assigned to double deficit, single deficit and no deficit subtypes in preschool, kindergarten, and grade 1 and compared on reading and spelling in grades 1 and 2. In most analyses, the double deficit subtype scored significantly lower in reading and spelling than the single deficits, a pattern of findings that was identical across samples. Moreover, across countries, RAN deficits showed a stronger effect on reading whereas PA deficits showed stronger effects on spelling. Overall, the results supported the basic premises of the DDH suggesting that the double deficit subtype represents the most impaired readers, and that RAN and PA are separable deficits with different effects on reading and spelling. The results also supported a universal view of literacy development, with similar predictive patterns of DDH subtypes across orthographies., Funding Agencies|National Institute of HealthUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [1 R01 HD38526,2 P50 HD27802]; VetenskapsradetSwedish Research Council [345-2002-3701, PDOKJ028/2006:1]; Norges Forskningsrad [154715/330]; Australian Research CouncilAustralian Research Council [A79906201]

Compromised reading comprehension will invariably influence future academic achievements. In reading research there has been an emphasis on early identification of poor decoders to reduce future difficulties. Only a few studies have examined preschool prediction of reading comprehension impairments beyond the first grades of school, and these studies have presented different patterns of results. As studies have mostly been conducted in English; it is unclear how the results generalize to languages with transparent orthographies. In this study, a Swedish and a Norwegian twin sample were used to predict reading comprehension and decoding impairments in grade 2, 4 and 8/9 from preschool. The results suggested an important role for RAN and verbal memory. Compromised RAN was consistently associated with the poor decoders, as well as in identifying poor reading comprehenders in grade 8/9. Verbal memory tasks at preschool contributed to the identification of children with reading comprehension impairment across grades.

In this study, the relationship between latent constructs of phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) was investigated and related to later measures of reading and spelling in children learning to read in different alphabetic writing systems (i.e., Norwegian/Swedish vs. English). 750 U.S./Australian children and 230 Scandinavian children were followed longitudinally between kindergarten and 2nd grade. PA and RAN were measured in kindergarten and Grade 1, while word recognition, phonological decoding, and spelling were measured in kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. In general, high stability was observed for the various reading and spelling measures, such that little additional variance was left open for PA and RAN. However, results demonstrated that RAN was more related to reading than spelling across orthographies, with the opposite pattern shown for PA. In addition, tests of measurement invariance show that the factor loadings of each observed indicator on the latent PA factor was the same across U.S./Australia and Scandinavia. Similar findings were obtained for RAN. In general, tests of structural invariance show that models of early literacy development are highly transferable across languages., Original Publication:Bjarte Furnes and Stefan Samuelsson, Phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming predicting early development in reading and spelling: Results from a cross-linguistic longutudinal study., 2011, Learning and individual differences, (21), 1, 85-96.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2010.10.005Copyright: Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam.http://www.elsevier.com

In this study, the relationship between latent constructs of phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) was investigated and related to later measures of reading and spelling in children learning to read in different alphabetic writing systems (i.e., Norwegian/Swedish vs. English). 750 U.S./Australian children and 230 Scandinavian children were followed longitudinally between kindergarten and 2nd grade. PA and RAN were measured in kindergarten and Grade 1, while word recognition, phonological decoding, and spelling were measured in kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. In general, high stability was observed for the various reading and spelling measures, such that little additional variance was left open for PA and RAN. However, results demonstrated that RAN was more related to reading than spelling across orthographies, with the opposite pattern shown for PA. In addition, tests of measurement invariance show that the factor loadings of each observed indicator on the latent PA factor was the same across U.S./Australia and Scandinavia. Similar findings were obtained for RAN. In general, tests of structural invariance show that models of early literacy development are highly transferable across languages., Original Publication:Bjarte Furnes and Stefan Samuelsson, Phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming predicting early development in reading and spelling: Results from a cross-linguistic longutudinal study., 2011, Learning and individual differences, (21), 1, 85-96.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2010.10.005Copyright: Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam.http://www.elsevier.com

In this study, the relationship between latent constructs of phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) was investigated and related to later measures of reading and spelling in children learning to read in different alphabetic writing systems (i.e., Norwegian/Swedish vs. English). 750 U.S./Australian children and 230 Scandinavian children were followed longitudinally between kindergarten and 2nd grade. PA and RAN were measured in kindergarten and Grade 1, while word recognition, phonological decoding, and spelling were measured in kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. In general, high stability was observed for the various reading and spelling measures, such that little additional variance was left open for PA and RAN. However, results demonstrated that RAN was more related to reading than spelling across orthographies, with the opposite pattern shown for PA. In addition, tests of measurement invariance show that the factor loadings of each observed indicator on the latent PA factor was the same across U.S./Australia and Scandinavia. Similar findings were obtained for RAN. In general, tests of structural invariance show that models of early literacy development are highly transferable across languages., Original Publication:Bjarte Furnes and Stefan Samuelsson, Phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming predicting early development in reading and spelling: Results from a cross-linguistic longutudinal study., 2011, Learning and individual differences, (21), 1, 85-96.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2010.10.005Copyright: Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam.http://www.elsevier.com

In this study, the relationship between latent constructs of phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) was investigated and related to later measures of reading and spelling in children learning to read in different alphabetic writing systems (i.e., Norwegian/Swedish vs. English). 750 U.S./Australian children and 230 Scandinavian children were followed longitudinally between kindergarten and 2nd grade. PA and RAN were measured in kindergarten and Grade 1, while word recognition, phonological decoding, and spelling were measured in kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. In general, high stability was observed for the various reading and spelling measures, such that little additional variance was left open for PA and RAN. However, results demonstrated that RAN was more related to reading than spelling across orthographies, with the opposite pattern shown for PA. In addition, tests of measurement invariance show that the factor loadings of each observed indicator on the latent PA factor was the same across U.S./Australia and Scandinavia. Similar findings were obtained for RAN. In general, tests of structural invariance show that models of early literacy development are highly transferable across languages., Original Publication:Bjarte Furnes and Stefan Samuelsson, Phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming predicting early development in reading and spelling: Results from a cross-linguistic longutudinal study., 2011, Learning and individual differences, (21), 1, 85-96.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2010.10.005Copyright: Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam.http://www.elsevier.com

In this study, the relationship between latent constructs of phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) was investigated and related to later measures of reading and spelling in children learning to read in different alphabetic writing systems (i.e., Norwegian/Swedish vs. English). 750 U.S./Australian children and 230 Scandinavian children were followed longitudinally between kindergarten and 2nd grade. PA and RAN were measured in kindergarten and Grade 1, while word recognition, phonological decoding, and spelling were measured in kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. In general, high stability was observed for the various reading and spelling measures, such that little additional variance was left open for PA and RAN. However, results demonstrated that RAN was more related to reading than spelling across orthographies, with the opposite pattern shown for PA. In addition, tests of measurement invariance show that the factor loadings of each observed indicator on the latent PA factor was the same across U.S./Australia and Scandinavia. Similar findings were obtained for RAN. In general, tests of structural invariance show that models of early literacy development are highly transferable across languages., Original Publication:Bjarte Furnes and Stefan Samuelsson, Phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming predicting early development in reading and spelling: Results from a cross-linguistic longutudinal study., 2011, Learning and individual differences, (21), 1, 85-96.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2010.10.005Copyright: Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam.http://www.elsevier.com

In this study, predictors of reading and spelling difficulties among children learning more transparent (Norwegian/Swedish) and less transparent (English) orthographies were examined longitudinally from preschool through Grade 2 using parallel versions of tests. A series of logistic regression analysis indicated three main findings. First, phonological awareness as a predictor of reading difficulties in the Scandinavian sample was time-limited to Grade 1, but remained as a significant predictor in the English-speaking sample. Second, phonological awareness predicted spelling difficulties similarly across orthographies. Third, preschool and kindergarten RAN was a significant predictor of reading and spelling difficulties at both Grades 1 and 2 across orthographies. The authors conclude that phonological awareness diminishes as a predictor of reading difficulties in transparent orthographies after the first years of schooling, that RAN is a better long-term predictor of reading difficulties, and that phonological awareness is associated with spelling difficulties similarly in transparent and opaque orthographies.

In this study, predictors of reading and spelling difficulties among children learning more transparent (Norwegian/Swedish) and less transparent (English) orthographies were examined longitudinally from preschool through Grade 2 using parallel versions of tests. A series of logistic regression analysis indicated three main findings. First, phonological awareness as a predictor of reading difficulties in the Scandinavian sample was time-limited to Grade 1, but remained as a significant predictor in the English-speaking sample. Second, phonological awareness predicted spelling difficulties similarly across orthographies. Third, preschool and kindergarten RAN was a significant predictor of reading and spelling difficulties at both Grades 1 and 2 across orthographies. The authors conclude that phonological awareness diminishes as a predictor of reading difficulties in transparent orthographies after the first years of schooling, that RAN is a better long-term predictor of reading difficulties, and that phonological awareness is associated with spelling difficulties similarly in transparent and opaque orthographies.

The importance of cognitive and language skills on reading and spelling development were investigated in a cross-linguistic longitudinal study of 737 English-speaking children (US/Australia) and 169 Scandinavian children (Norway/Sweden) from preschool to Kindergarten and Grade 1. The results revealed that phonological awareness and print knowledge were the strongest predictors of early reading and spelling across orthographies. The contribution from rapid naming to literacy development was low in Kindergarten, but similar to that of phonological awareness and print knowledge in Grade 1. The present study identified a significant difference across orthographies in the effects of print knowledge and general verbal ability on spelling in Kindergarten. However, this pattern was explained by cultural rather than orthographic differences. The results indicate that cognitive and language skills underlying early reading and spelling development are similar across alphabetic orthographies.