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There are many aspects of words that can influence our lexical processing, and the words we are exposed to influence our opportunities for language and reading development. The purpose of this study is to establish a more comprehensive understanding of the lexical challenges and opportunities students face. We explore the latent relationships of word features across three established word lists: the General Service List, Academic Word List, and discipline-specific word lists from the Academic Vocabulary List. We fit exploratory factor models using 22 non-behavioral, empirical measures to three sets of vocabulary words: 2,060 high-frequency words, 1,051 general academic words, and 3,413 domain-specific words. We found Frequency, Complexity, Proximity, Polysemy, and Diversity were largely stable factors across the sets of high-frequency and general academic words, but that the challenge facing learners is structurally different for domain-specific words. Despite substantial stability, there are important differences in the latent lexical features that learners encounter. We discuss these results and provide our latent factor estimates for words in our sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To report a rare case of keratitis due to monkeypox infection. A 45-year-old male presented with an epithelial corneal ulcer 20 days following initial diagnosis of monkeypox from genital and perioral lesions. PCR analysis of the epithelium confirmed the presence of human monkeypox virus. The patient was hospitalized, and ganciclovir gel, as well as povidone iodine 0.6% and moxifloxacin eyedrops were prescribed. Oral tecovirimat 600 mg was administered during 14 days. A therapeutic contact lens was used. Twenty days after the initial diagnosis of keratitis, the corneal defect closed leaving a faint subepithelial haze, and visual acuity was 0.8. This is an uncommon case report of epithelial keratitis due to human monkeypox. PCR positivity for monkeypox in the corneal epithelium confirmed the presence of viral material in the cornea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Method Results Conclusions To report on the outcomes of amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) for corneal ulceration following infectious keratitis.In this retrospective cohort study of 654 patients with culture-proven infectious keratitis from 8 hospitals in Galicia (Spain), a total of 43 eyes of 43 patients (6.6%) underwent AMT for postinfectious corneal ulceration. The indications for AMT were sterile persistent epithelial defects, severe corneal thinning or perforation.AMT was successful in 62.8% of cases, with 37.2% requiring an additional surgery. Median time to healing was 40.0 days (IQR 24.2–101.7 days) and final BCVA was lower than baseline (p = 0.001). Ulcers were large (>3 mm) in 55.8% of cases. Previous herpetic keratitis and topical steroid use were more common in patients who received AMT (p < 0.001). 49 microorganisms (43 bacteria and 6 fungi) were isolated.AMT is a therapeutic option for complications following infectious keratitis, which present with a sterile persistent epithelial defect, significant corneal thinning or perforation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the years following the end of Apartheid, South Africa introduced the Employment Equity Act as part of legislation designed to address entrenched racial and gender inequalities. Through section 27 of the Act, firms are required to report on the representation and remuneration of their workers by gender and population group. In this study, unprecedented access to the data generated by this reporting was used to assess gender-based occupational segregation and pay gaps in 2015 and 2016. We found the data on employment to be relatively trustworthy and to show that women (and especially black and coloured women) continue to be under-represented in high-skilled and management positions. Substantial gender pay gaps were found, but the reliability of these estimates was made questionable by a high number of apparent errors and inconsistencies in the remuneration data. The data has several advantages over other household and firm surveys, but these issues undermine its potential for the estimation of gender pay gaps among workers matched on occupational skill levels. This analysis shows that more needs to be done to ensure that this data is appropriately processed and distributed, so that it can shed light on the state of women in the South African labour market and be used to effectively address inequalities in pay and representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is a paradox; on the one hand, it is one of the most unequal countries in the world. Half of all South Africans continue to live in poverty, economic growth has stagnated and inflation remains high, while the unemployment rate continues to climb towards 30%. On the other hand, it has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, with a bill of rights that foregrounds expanded socioeconomic rights. We provide an overview of the latest statistics on poverty and inequality in light of overarching economic policies, and the socioeconomic guarantees of the Constitution. We argue that South Africa's inability to meaningfully address the high levels of inequality is due to insufficient attention to the way power reproduces inequality. We present a definition of power that includes social and market power, and emphasise the importance of a theory of power in understanding the reproduction of inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methane-derived authigenic carbonates (MDACs) in Miocene bathyal mudstones in North Island, New Zealand are typically expressed as either sub-seafloor conduit concretions or as seafloor seep limestones, but rarely are both types exposed in outcrop at one locality. Consequently, any potential genetic link between them is usually inferred. This also appears to be the case for global occurrences of MDAC. At the Rocky Knob seep complex near Gisborne both seep limestones and conduit concretions co-occur. The petrography and stable carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope compositions of their various authigenic carbonate components (automicrite, fibrous aragonite crystals, and granular, blocky and bladed calcite crystals) show that distinctive isotope and petrographic groupings for precipitates within the conduit concretions match or "correlate" with several of those in the seep limestones. This corroborates their genetic tie and derivation from the same fluids, albeit in different parts (i.e. sub-seafloor vs. seafloor) of the seep complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We seek to provide a more detailed understanding the dynamics of change of firms in the post-apartheid era through the examination of the results of two firm-level surveys in the eThekwini Metro area. This paper aims to fill a gap in the South African labour market literature: our understanding of the demand side of the labour market. We examine the characteristics of firms which have grown their employment in order to test the local application of firm and labour market theory. An important finding is that subcontracting matters for employment growth. Those firms in the sample that outsource aspects of production to subcontractors are more likely to have grown employment. The flexibility that subcontracting provides, in terms of responding to changes in workload, is one of the key reasons that firms engage in subcontracting. There are some plausible hypotheses as to how this relationship works. First, subcontracting allows firms to outsource lower-skilled work, and achieve the scale necessary to employ high-skilled full-time staff. Second, subcontracting allows the firms to access high-skilled individuals that they would otherwise not have the operational scale to retain on a full-time basis. We also examine the role of exporting and value chain integration in employment creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning in 2002, researchers developed, implemented, and evaluated the efficacy of an English reading intervention for first-grade English learners using multiple randomized control trials (RCTs). As a result of this efficacy work, researchers successfully competed for an IES Goal 4 effectiveness study using the same intervention. Unlike the efficacy studies, the findings from the effectiveness study begun in 2011 did not yield significant differences in favor of the treatment. We investigated the identification and pre-intervention performance levels of students in efficacy and effectiveness RCT studies and provide data and compare samples from these studies as one means of explaining variation in findings. Findings indicate that pre-intervention performance levels are higher for students in effectiveness RCT studies. This article serves as an exemplar for other effectiveness studies that may not replicate findings from previous efficacy trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the impact of a relatively brief cross-curricular intervention, Word Generation, on middle school students' development of taught academic vocabulary. Students (n = 8382) in forty-four middle schools in three urban districts were randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions. Treatment teachers implemented the program with minimal support and varying levels of commitment. Students in treatment schools scored almost a point higher on the curriculum-based vocabulary posttests than those in control schools (Hedges's g = 0.094, p < 0.05). Though there was no main treatment effect on the standardized measures of students' general vocabulary knowledge or reading comprehension, baselineby- treatment interactions at the school and student level acted to attenuate the Matthew Effect in reading and vocabulary growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors' purpose was to examine adolescents' reading motivation in relation to standardized assessments of reading comprehension and fluency. After a reading pretest, 60 ninth-grade students (M age = 14.9 years) were randomly assigned to two groups. Compared to those in the control condition, those administered brief oral feedback intended to improve motivation indicated an increased focus on mastery goals and greater perceived control during a reading posttest. No differences were found with regard to four other aspects of motivation. Students in the treatment condition, including struggling readers more specifically, did not score better on the posttest measures of reading comprehension or fluency. Hence, results failed to replicate Zentall and Lee's (2012) findings with younger readers. Findings are discussed with regard to the theoretical and practical implications for understanding reading motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Difficulties suppressing previously encountered but currently irrelevant information from working memory characterize less skilled comprehenders in studies in which they are matched to skilled comprehenders on word decoding and nonverbal IQ. These “extreme” group designs are associated with several methodological issues. When sample size permits, regression approaches permit a more accurate estimation of effects. Using data for students in Grades 6 through 12 (n= 766), regression techniques assessed the significance and size of the relation of suppression to reading comprehension across the distribution of comprehension skill. After accounting for decoding efficiency and nonverbal IQ, suppression, measured by performance on a verbal proactive interference task, accounted for a small amount of significant unique variance in comprehension (less than 1%). A comparison of suppression in less skilled comprehenders matched to more skilled comprehenders (48 per group) on age, word reading efficiency, and nonverbal IQ did not show significant group differences in suppression. The implications of the findings for theories of reading comprehension and for informing comprehension assessment and intervention are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The integration of knowledge during reading was tested in 1,109 secondary school students. Reading times for the second sentence in a pair (Jane’s headache went away) were compared in conditions where the first sentence was either causally or temporally related to the first sentence (Jane took an aspirin vs. Jane looked for an aspirin). Mixed-effects explanatory item response models revealed that at higher comprehension levels, sentences were read more quickly in the causal condition. There were no condition-related reading time differences at lower comprehension levels. This interaction held with comprehension- and inference-related factors (working memory, word and world knowledge, and word reading efficiency) in the models. Less skilled comprehenders have difficulty in knowledge-text integration processes that facilitate sentence processing during reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about how specific components of working memory, namely, attentional processes including response inhibition, sustained attention, and cognitive inhibition, are related to reading decoding and comprehension. The current study evaluated the relations of reading comprehension, decoding, working memory, and attentional control in 1,134 adolescent students. Path analyses were used to assess the direct and indirect effects of working memory and aspects of attentional control on reading comprehension and decoding. There were significant direct effects of working memory, sustained attention, and cognitive inhibition on reading comprehension, but not decoding. There was a significant direct effect of working memory and response inhibition on decoding, but not comprehension. These results suggest that different aspects of attentional control are important for decoding versus comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

'Refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease' is one of the most common misnomers in the area of gastroesophageal reflux disease. The term implies reflux as the underlying etiology despite unresponsiveness to aggressive proton pump inhibitor therapy. The term should be replaced with 'refractory symptoms.' We must acknowledge that in many patients symptoms of reflux often overlap with non-GERD causes such as gastroparesis, dyspepsia, hypersensitive esophagus and functional disorders. Lack of response to aggressive acid suppressive therapy often leads to diagnostic testing. In majority of patients these tests are normal. The role of non-acid reflux in this group is uncertain and patients should not undergo surgical fundoplication based on this parameter. In patients unresponsive to acid suppressive therapy GERD is most commonly not causal and a search for non-GERD causes must ensue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author explores the concept of corporeal transit in the work of artists Mona Hatoum and Teresa Margolles as bodies and their parts end up in museums and galleries for differing purposes. He presents an investigation on an inspection's roots in modern medicine as well as the still and moving images' relationships to the anatomy lesson. He also notes that the ephemerality created by collage provides a virtual depth to the viewer's recreative concepts of historical time of the exhibits.

Studies suggest that tomato and soy foods may contribute to a lower risk of certain cancers. We developed a novel soy germ tomato juice to be used in controlled cancer prevention trials. This study describes an initial test of compliance, phytochemical bioavailability, and effects on biomarkers of blood lipids. Healthy men and women (n= 18) consumed a soy germ-fortified juice daily (300 mL supplying 66 mg isoflavones and 22 mg lycopene) for 8 wk. A single-dose bioavailability study was completed on day 1 and isoflavones in plasma and urine, and lycopene in the plasma, were measured. All subjects completed the trial, with 97.7% ± 3.5% (mean ± SD) of the scheduled juice consumed. No adverse effects were documented. The postprandial study indicated that 3.1% ± 2.3% of lycopene was absorbed and that 49.3% ± 12.1% isoflavones ingested were recovered in 24-h urines. Lycopene plasma concentration changed from 0.60 ± 0.22 to 1.24 ± 0.30 μmol/L during 8 wk of consumption. Juice consumption significantly improved resistance of LDL+VLDL-C to Cu2+-mediated oxidation (P= 0.039), HDL-C (47.3 ± 15.8 to 51.7 ± 14.8 mg/dL,P< 0.001), and the ratio of total-C/HDL-C (4.25 ± 1.59 to 3.63 ± 1.16,P< 0.001) at 8 wk. A well-characterized soy-fortified tomato juice can be produced in large scale for multiinstitutional long-term cancer prevention trials and showed excellent compliance with no toxicity, while demonstrating absorption of biologically active phytochemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We evaluated the reliability and validity of two oral reading fluency scores for 1-minute equated passages: median score and mean score. These scores were calculated from measures of reading fluency administered up to five times over the school year to students in grades six to eight (n = 1,317). Both scores were highly reliable with strong convergent validity for adequately developing and struggling middle grade readers. These results support the use of either the median or mean score for oral reading fluency assessments for middle grade readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we report findings from research through the Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE), a National Research and Development Center. In our study we examined the efficacy of a model of instruction for English learners, the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model, in one content area, science. Assessments measured the acquisition of academic language and science concepts among English learners, former English learners, and English Only students in middle school science classrooms. Results indicated that students in the SIOP group performed better than controls, although not to a significant degree. Reasons for these findings are explored. Due to differential attrition of schools in the control group, caution must be used in interpreting the study's findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations among oral and silent reading fluency and reading comprehension for students in Grades 6 to 8 (n = 1,421) and the use of fluency scores to identify middle school students who are at risk for failure on a high-stakes reading test. Results indicated moderate positive relations between measures of fluency and comprehension. Oral reading fluency (ORF) on passages was more strongly related to reading comprehension than ORF on word lists. A group-administered silent reading sentence verification test approximated the classification accuracy of individually administered ORF passages. The correlation between a maze task and comprehension was weaker than has been reported for elementary students. The best predictor of a high-stakes reading comprehension test was the previous year's administration of the grade-appropriate test; fluency and verbal knowledge measures accounted for only small amounts of unique variance beyond that accounted for by the previous year's administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories concerning the development of phonological awareness place special emphasis on lexical and orthographic knowledge. Given the large degree of variability in preschool classrooms that house Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELL), this study controlled for classroom effects by removing classroom means and covariances based on 158 children from 40 classrooms. Path analyses of the child-level covariance matrices tested the extent to which vocabulary and letter knowledge in each language predicted growth in English and Spanish phonological awareness of 130 preschool-age, Spanish-speaking ELLs. Results supported cross-linguistic effects of prior phonological awareness and Spanish vocabulary in the development of bilingual phonological awareness. Implications for theory, instruction, and research methods are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immersive exhibits are increasingly popular in zoos, being seen as benefiting both animals and visitors. Multiple, discreet viewing areas are one of the key features of immersive zoo exhibits. Small, discreet viewing areas afford the visitor a very personal and intimate experience and may promote an affiliative response between the visitor and the animals on display, thus enhancing the immersive experience. This investigation sought to determine the effect of these viewing areas on visitor behavior, particularly in exhibits where the same animals could be viewed from different-sized viewing areas. This study in the Elephants of the Asian Forest exhibit at Chester Zoo, used unobtrusive visitor tracking to investigate how visitors behave at the exhibit's different-sized viewing areas. The results show that visitors are much more likely to stop, and stay for longer, at the largest viewing areas. Furthermore, there appears to be a proportional increase in visitor interest with increasing viewing area size. These findings have implications for zoo exhibit designers, particularly on the order in which viewing areas should be positioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares 2 measures of reading comprehension: (a) the Woodcock-Johnson Passage Comprehension test, a standard in reading research, and (b) the Diagnostic Assessment of Reading Comprehension (DARC), an innovative measure. Data from 192 Grade 3 Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) were used to fit a series of latent variable analyses designed to explicitly test the discriminant validity and differential determinants of the 2 measures. Findings indicated that the 2 measures are related (r = .61) but distinct, and influenced by different factors. The DARC is less strongly related to word-level skills and more strongly related to measures of narrative language production and memory. Both tests are equally influenced by measures of nonverbal reasoning. These differential patterns of relations, which cannot be explained on the basis of differential reliabilities, reflect true differences in the processing demands of the tests for 3rd-grade ELLs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conclusion. The therapeutic role of corticosteroids and/or corticosteroids with antiviral agents for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) has yet to be fully elucidated; however, in cases where deafness is profound and of recent onset, a therapeutic trial is indicated. Objectives. To investigate treatment regimens and their efficacies, as well as evaluating the potential prognostic correlates and allowing comparison between local and national standards of care for SSNHL. Patients and methods. A retrospective evidence-based case series of 143 patients seen at the University of Rochester, Department of Otolaryngology between 1999 and 2002 was investigated. Treatment modalities included (1) observation, (2) steroids, and (3) steroids with antivirals. Results. The study demonstrates that steroid treatment, alone or in combination with antivirals, results in a significant improvement rate compared with observation. Results indicate that the more expediently a patient with SSNHL is seen by an otolaryngologist, the better their prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The articles in this special issue arise out of the inaugural inequality conference of the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, in September 2018. The articles in this issue provide a compelling analysis of the different understandings of inequality and why it is continuing and intensifying despite years of democracy and government policy interventions in South Africa. The diverse articles in this issue provide a compelling analysis of the different understandings of inequality and why it is continuing and intensifying despite years of democracy and policy interventions in South Africa. [Extracted from the article]

The reliability and validity of 4 approaches to the assessment of children and adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) are reviewed, including models based on (a) aptitude-achievement discrepancies, (b) low achievement, (c) intra-individual differences, and (d) response to intervention (RTI). We identify serious psychometric problems that affect the reliability of models based on aptitude-achievement discrepancies and low achievement. There are also significant validity problems for models based on aptitude-achievement discrepancies and intra-individual differences. Models that incorporate RTI have considerable potential for addressing both the reliability and validity issues but cannot represent the sole criterion for LD identification. We suggest that models incorporating both low achievement and RTI concepts have the strongest evidence base and the most direct relation to treatment. The assessment of children for LD must reflect a stronger underlying classification that takes into account relations with other childhood disorders as well as the reliability and validity of the underlying classification and resultant assessment and identification system. The implications of this type of model for clinical assessments of children for whom LD is a concern are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

California and Texas mandate 75% to 80% decodable texts for first-grade reading programs, yet these percentages have no empirical base. This study examines the text selections in 6 first-grade programs from the perspective of lexical, semantic, and syntactic features. The composition of text differed across the 6 programs with respect to length, grammatical complexity, the number of unique and total words, repetition of words, and coverage of important vocabulary. Potential decoding accuracy rates, as computed by a relational database program created for this project, varied widely across the 6 programs and often depended heavily on holistically taught words. Moreover, the majority of words appeared only once in each 6-week instructional block across the year. Implications are discussed for (a) learning to read from basals, (b) design of basal reading programs, and (c) future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we review our experience with the application of magnetic source imaging (MSI), the newest of the functional imaging methods, to the study of brain mechanisms for reading among children who read normally and among those with dyslexia. After giving a general description of MSI, we present evidence for reliable and valid maps of the brain mechanism for aural language comprehension as well as for reading. Next, we present data from 39 normal readers, 40 children with dyslexia, and 30 younger children at risk for developing a reading disability. These data show different brain activation maps for individual children with dyslexia and children at risk for dyslexia than for those of normal readers. Such differences most likely reflect aberrant brain organization underlying phonological decoding, rather than variables such as degree of effort. Finally, we present preliminary data demonstrating that the aberrant activation profiles of children with dyslexia may return to normative patterns as a result of a successful reading intervention that enables children to improve phonological decoding skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses ethnomethodologically some aspects of visually available mundane order. We adopt a method of "self-reflective" analysis in which the analyst's own experience is reflected upon and accounted for as a methodical production. Thus the data analysed consists of a running commentary on a walk to the supermarket taken by one of the authors. With reference to this data, we discuss two main topics. The first involves the categorial organization of observable scenes. We propose that such scenes are organized in terms of what we refer to as "relational configurations". The second involves the situated relevance of observations. It is shown that observed scenes are shaped by and reflective of the observer's current activity and location. We argue that visually available phenomena are not independent of the observer and his or her practical relevancies but rather their very availability is constituted by those relevancies. With respect to both foci of analysis, we propose that "what is observable" and therefore "what is observed" are members' methodical productions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to model the development of children's reading skills using the negative exponential curve with mixed effects model. The model describes the nature of growth in children's reading skills and accounts for intra-individual and inter-individual variations. In addition, we propose methods including cross-validation, regression, and graphing to determine an appropriate curve for the data, to find good initial values for parameters, and to select potential covariates. We illustrate with an example that motivated this research: a longitudinal study of academic reading skills from grade 1 to grade 12 in Connecticut public schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes an evaluation of a program, the Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence (RITE), which addresses at-risk students' failure to develop reading skills. The evaluation included all Grade K-2 students participating in the program and in comparison schools selected to serve as a control group. Results indicated that the RITE program was successful at increasing the reading abilities of students in at-risk schools. Children who began the RITE program early and who spent more years in the program outperformed all other students. Intervention with teachers was related to improvement in observed teaching skills (behavior management and teacher corrections), and successful implementation of programmatic teaching techniques was related to student performance. These findings close the trainer-teacher-student feedback loop by showing that teacher behavior relates to student performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the influence of politics on language planning (LP) and language policy in Sierra Leone. Definition of LP according to the local government; Attempt to put LP and political planning in a wider sub-Saharan context; Role of political ethnicity in LP during colonial era.

This article critically examines the privatisation of security in the West African state of Sierra Leone. The focus on Sierra Leone brings to the fore the post-Cold War debate about the strategic impact of private military or mercenary companies in intra-state conflicts in Africa. It also raises the crucial issue of the link between low-intensity conflicts and strategic minerals and how neo-liberal globalisation forces have provided market opportunity for mercenary companies to fill the security vacuum created by collapsed states in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wave of democratization in the 1990s has brought considerable challenges and opportunities for post-cold war Africa. One such challenge is the democratic intervention of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) under the aegis of the multilateral intervention force, ECOMOG, to restore a democratic government and constitutional order. The ECOWAS democratic intervention in the West African state of Sierra Leone can be located in a wider debate about international dimensions of democratization. In several respects, it also reflects the changing nature of international politics in the post-cold war period particularly with regards to certain traditional norms of international society, namely non-intervention and state sovereignty. The ECOWAS democratic efforts in Sierra Leone demonstrate that it is increasingly becoming acceptable for regional and international organisations to 'defend' democracy, albeit under the auspices of forcible as well as non-forcible humanitarian intervention. However, these kinds of external intervention on behalf of democracy have in most cases led to its retrenchment. This article therefore critically assesses how the nature of domestic politics led to the suspension of democracy in Sierra Leone, the domestic and international implications of the ECOWAS defence of democracy there and the country's post-conflict democratic prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined developmental changes in the relationship of verbal and nonverbal skills to reading ability in a three-wave, three-factor, 22-variable structural equation model involving 220 White males (including both reading-disabled and control subjects). We measured nonverbal and verbal skills factors at kindergarten, Grade 2, and Grade 5 using the same three indicators per factor at each time wave and took two indicators of reading achievement at Grades 2 and 5. The measurement model provided an adequate fit to the data. We examined developmental change hypotheses in terms of lagged effects from verbal and nonverbal skills factors at kindergarten and Grade 2 to reading achievement factors at Grades 2 and 5. Although both verbal and nonverbal factors had significant effects on reading achievement from kindergarten to Grade 2, the effect of nonverbal skills was not significant from Grade 2 to Grade 5. Verbal skills had significant effects on reading achievement at both Grades 2 and 5. Stability paths for all factors indicated that this change resulted from instability in reading achievement and not from instability in the cognitive skills, reflecting the changing nature of the reading process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the effectiveness of three different reading interventions in second and third graders with identified reading disabilities. Growth in phonological and orthographic processing and word reading; Situations in which facilitative effects of synthetic phonics were reduced; Implications for service delivery and identification of children for special education.