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This study examines longitudinal associations among reading skills, math skills and emotional well-being in a Finnish sample (n = 586) followed from the end of comprehensive school (Grade 9, age 15–16) to age 20. In particular, we determine whether the associations between skills and well-being are mediated by self-concept beliefs. In Grade 9, the participants’ reading fluency, PISA reading comprehension and math skills were assessed in classrooms, and questionnaires were used to assess self-concept (global and skill-specific) and internalising problems. At age 20, questionnaires were used to self-report emotional well-being and educational attainment. The results showed no direct predictive association between academic skills and age-20 emotional well-being, while indirect effects from academic skills on emotional well-being were found for reading skills through reading comprehension self-concept belief and educational attainment and for math skills through global self-concept belief. In addition, adolescent global self-concept and internalising problems predicted age-20 emotional well-being. The results suggest that adolescent self-concept beliefs and internalising problems, rather than academic skills per se, can predict emotional problems in young adulthood. peerReviewed

This study investigated how single and co-occurring difficulties in reading and arithmetic fluency developed among Finnish children across Grades 1–9 (N = 2151). Latent profile analysis among 391 children who had reading and/or arithmetic fluency difficulties in Grade 9 revealed profiles that followed three distinct patterns: reading difficulties (N = 121), mathematical difficulties (N = 94), and comorbid difficulties (N = 176). The profiles and typical performers were compared on parental reading and mathematical difficulties, parental education, the early home learning environment, and parental assistance with school homework across Grades 1–9. Results showed that although parents whose children had difficulties provided them with domain-specific support across all grades, the amount of support gradually declined and the performance gap between the profiles increased. peerReviewed

Low education and unemployment are common adult‐age outcomes associated with childhood RD (c‐RD). However, adult‐age cognitive and non‐cognitive factors associated with different outcomes remain unknown. We studied whether these outcomes are equally common among individuals with c‐RD and controls and whether these outcomes are related to adult‐age literacy skills or cognitive and non‐cognitive factors or their interaction with c‐RD. We examined adult participants with c‐RD (n = 48) and their matched controls (n = 37). Low education was more common among c‐RD than the controls, whereas long‐term unemployment was equally common in both groups. Moreover, adult‐age literacy skills, cognitive skills and non‐cognitive factors were related to both low education and long‐term unemployment. Only a few c‐RD‐specific associations emerged: c‐RD, especially in interaction with low verbal or reading comprehension, was associated with low education, and c‐RD in interaction with slow adult‐age reading was associated with long‐term unemployment. Avoidant coping style, emotional wellbeing and social functioning were related to education, and life‐satisfaction to unemployment irrespective of c‐RD. Thus, the non‐cognitive factors associated with education and employment are similar in individuals with and without c‐RD. Special attention should be paid to training c‐RD individuals in basic academic, social and emotional skills. peerReviewed

This paper reviews the observations of the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia (JLD). The JLD is a prospective family risk study in which the development of children with familial risk for dyslexia (N = 108) due to parental dyslexia and controls without dyslexia risk (N = 92) were followed from birth to adulthood. The JLD revealed that the likelihood of at-risk children performing poorly in reading and spelling tasks was fourfold compared to the controls. Auditory insensitivity of newborns observed during the first week of life using brain event-related potentials (ERPs) was shown to be the first precursor of dyslexia. ERPs measured at six months of age related to phoneme length identification differentiated the family risk group from the control group and predicted reading speed until the age of 14 years. Early oral language skills, phonological processing skills, rapid automatized naming, and letter knowledge differentiated the groups from ages 2.5–3.5 years onwards and predicted dyslexia and reading development, including reading comprehension, until adolescence. The home environment, a child’s interest in reading, and task avoidance were not different in the risk group but were found to be additional predictors of reading development. Based on the JLD findings, preventive and intervention methods utilizing the association learning approach have been developed. peerReviewed

We examined frequency of adult‐age reading disability (RD) and its childhood predictors among 48 adults (20 to 39 years) with documented childhood RD, and contrasted their cognitive skills, education, and employment with 37 matched controls. Among individuals with childhood RD, more than half had improved in their reading fluency to the level where the set criterion for adult‐age RD was not met anymore. More fluent rapid naming, less severe childhood RD, and multiple support providers in childhood together predicted improvement of reading fluency. More fluent naming differentiated the childhood RD participants whose reading fluency had improved by adult‐age from those participants whose RD persisted to adult‐age. All the individuals with childhood RD performed weaker than the controls in adult‐age working memory, processing speed, and verbal skills. Educational level among both RD groups was lower than that among the controls. Unemployment of individuals with persistent adult‐age RD (31.6%) was higher than that of individuals with improved adult‐age RD (13.8%) or that of the controls (8.1%). According to our findings, rapid naming is one evident factor differentiating individuals with persisted RD from those with ameliorated reading fluency. Also, better adult‐age reading fluency has significance for adult‐age employment among individuals with childhood RD. peerReviewed

The present study examined gender gap in Program for International St udentAssessment (PISA) Reading and mediators of the gender gap in a Finnish sample(n = 1,309). We examined whether the gender gap in PISA Reading performancecan be understood via the effects of reading fl uency, achievement behaviour (masteryorientation and task-avoidant behaviour) or the amount of time spent with leisurereading and homework. Girls outperformed boys in all measures except forachievement behaviour. The models explaining PISA Reading were not different:For boys and girls, reading fluency, mastery orientation, leisure book reading andhomework explained the variance in PISA Reading scores. The gender effect on PISAReading was, however, for the most part mediated by differences in reading fluency.These findings suggest that while mastery orientati on, homework activity and leisurebook reading are concurrent predicto rs of PISA Reading over and above readingfluency, they do not explain gender difference. peerReviewed

Luku- ja kirjoitustaito ovat keskeisiä oppimisen ja kouluttautumisen välineitä. Noin viidennes suomalaisnuorista ei kuitenkaan saavuta peruskoulun aikana riittävää luku- ja kirjoitustaitoa. Tunnistamatta jäävät lukemisen ja kirjoittamisen ongelmat voivat pahimmillaan vaikeuttaa kouluttautumista ja työllistymistä sekä rajoittaa sosiaalista vuorovaikutusta ja osallisuuden mahdollisuuksia tietoyhteiskunnassa. Jotta oikeanlainen tuki pystyttäisiin aloittamaan mahdollisimman aikaisin, lasten ja nuorten lukivaikeuksien luotettava tunnistaminen on erityisen tärkeää. Alakoulussa arvioinnin avuksi on tarjolla monenlaisia välineitä, mutta yläkouluikäisten lukutaidon arviointiin ja lukivaikeuden tunnistamiseen ei ole ollut luotettavia arviointimenetelmiä. Uusi YKÄ-arviointimenetelmä on laadittu tähän tarkoitukseen. nonPeerReviewed

Tässä kohorttitutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin seitsemäsluokkalaisten koulumotivaation sekä kouluhyvinvoinnin tason muutoksia yli kolmen ajankohdan (vuodet 2007, 2010 ja 2014). Vuosien 2007 (N=339) ja 2010 (N=266) aineistot edustavat kahta kohorttia Lapsen Kielen Kehitys-seurannan osallistujista, ja vuoden 2014 (N=1167) aineisto on osa Alkuportaatseurantaa. Tulokset osoittivat, että seitsemäsluokkalaisten kohorteissa koulumotivaatio ja - hyvinvointi muuttuivat vain vähän ajankohdasta toiseen. Nuorten matematiikan arvostus lisääntyi hieman, mutta kiinnostus äidinkieleen heikentyi. Nuorten ilmaisemissa koulutuspyrkimyksissä tapahtui muutosta: yliopisto koulutuspyrkimyksenä oli tyypillisempi ja ammatillinen koulutus harvinaisempi vuonna 2014 kuin 2007. Tytöt olivat poikia motivoituneempia äidinkielen opiskeluun, kun taas pojat arvostivat matematiikkaa tyttöjä enemmän. Vaikka tytöt raportoivat kouluviihtymisen poikia korkeammalle, erityisesti poikien kouluviihtyvyys osoitti nousevaa trendiä vuodesta 2007 vuoteen 2014. Koulu-uupumuksessa ei havaittu sukupuolieroja eikä kohorttien välisiä muutoksia ajankohtien välillä. Kaikkiaan kohorttien väliset erot koulumotivaatiossa ja -hyvinvoinnissa osoittautuivat hienosyisiksi ja riippuvaisiksi siitä, minkä asian suhteen niitä tarkasteltiin, sekä siitä, tarkasteltiinko tyttöjen vai poikien muutostrendejä. peerReviewed

In this research I focused on reading skill development in school-age children with family history of dyslexia. I was interested in the effects of children’s cognitive skills (language, phonological awareness, rapid serial naming, verbal short term memory, and letter knowledge), and gender in addition to family risk for dyslexia as predictors of children’s reading development. In addition, I examined whether shared reading with parents, time spent reading alone, or task-focused behaviour could serve as potential protective factors against reading disability. One of my aims was to find out whether there exist subgroups of children who have different developmental trajectories, and to characterize these subgroups according to their own and their parents’ cognitive profiles. Finally, I examined the literacy readiness of adolescents to meet the challenges of future societies abundant in printed material by administering them the PISA reading literacy task. All participants were drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia (JLD) in which 200 children have been followed from birth. The development of approximately 100 children with a family risk for dyslexia was compared to the development of a similar number of control children without such risk. In line with earlier studies, it was found that family-risk children, boys in particular, showed deficient cognitive and reading skills throughout their first 15 years. Moreover, the associations between early cognitive skills and reading literacy skills were strong, suggesting high developmental predictability for this group of children. However, children with family risk for dyslexia did not form a single homogenous group. First, for approximately 55% of these children their reading skill development followed that of their peers, showing no clear signs of difficulties during primary and secondary school. Second, a substantial proportion of the family-risk children, despite having high early cognitive risk on top of family risk, were able to avoid reading disability in Grade 2. Those children were characterized by not avoiding challenges at school. Third, reading disability in Grade 2 did not inevitably lead to similar status in Grade 8, although in Grade 8 this group of children on average lagged approximately five years behind their peers in their reading skill development: 38% of the children with family risk and reading disability in Grade 2, mainly girls, had been resolved by Grade 8. Finally, especially among boys with family risk for dyslexia, early cognitive skills proved to be a good predictor of deficient reading literacy skills at the end of secondary school, a finding which opens up possibilities for intervention and early support.

Lectio praecursoria Suomalaisnuorten lukutaidon taso ja siinä tapahtuneet muutokset ovat saaneet viime vuosina kiitettävästi julkisuutta. Erityisesti kansainvälisen OECD-järjestön eri maiden kansallisten koulutusjärjestelmien vertailuun suunniteltu PISA-tutkimus on ollut paljon otsikoissa. Peruskoulunsa päättävien viisitoistavuotiaitten suomalais-nuorten vuodesta 2006 alkanut laskeva trendi oppimistuloksissa on ymmärrettävästi herättänyt laajasti huolta. Pudotukset pistemäärissä ovat olleet noin 20 pisteen luokkaa kymmenen viime vuoden aikana.Pistemäärien heikkenemisestä huolimatta suomalaisnuoret saivat viimeisimmässä, vuoden 2015 PISA-lukutaitoarvioinnissa keskimäärin 526 pistettä ja maana Suomi sijoittui jaetulle toiselle sijalle yhdessä Hongkongin, Kanadan ja Irlannin kanssa. Suomalaisnuorten keskiarvo oli merkittävästi OECD-maiden keskiarvoa, 493 pistettä, korkeampi ja laskennallisesti lähes yhden oppivuoden keskiarvomaiden koulutusjärjestelmiä edellä. Muut pohjoismaat jäivät niin ikään selvästi Suomen taakse. Voidaankin perustellusti sanoa, että suomalaisnuorten lukutaito on keskimäärin edelleen erinomaisella tasolla.Erinomaisesta keskimääräisestä menestymisestä huolimatta 11 prosentilla suomalaisnuorista lukutaito jäi peruskoulun viimeisellä luokalla PISA-luokittelun kahdelle heikoimmalle tasolle. Heidän heikko lukutaitonsa todennäköisesti hankaloittaa heidän osallistumistaan jatkokoulutukseen ja myöhemmin työelämään sekä yhteiskunnan toimintoihin. Näillä nuorilla on lukutaitonsa takia kohonnut vaara syrjäytyä yhteiskunnasta. Huolestuttavaa PISA-tutkimuksen lukutaitoa koskevissa tuloksissa onkin, että näiden heikoimpien lukijoiden osuus on viime vuosina merkittävästi kasvanut maassamme. nonPeerReviewed

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. peerReviewed

The authors examined the developmental trajectories of children's early letter knowledge in relation to measures spanning and encompassing their prior language-related and cognitive measures and environmental factors and their subsequent Grade 1 reading achievement. Letter knowledge was assessed longitudinally at ages 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, and 6.5 years; earlier language skills and environmental factors were assessed at ages 3.5 and 4.5 years; and reading achievement was assessed at the beginning and end of Grade 1. The analyses were conducted on a longitudinal data set involving children with and without familial risk for dyslexia. Emerging from the trajectory analysis of letter knowledge were 3 separate clusters: delayed (n = 63), linearly growing (n = 73), and precocious (n = 51). The members of the delayed cluster were predominantly children with familial risk for dyslexia, and the members of the precocious cluster were predominantly control group children. Phonological sensitivity, phonological memory, and rapid naming skills predicted delayed letter knowledge. Environmental predictors included level of maternal education and the amount of letter name teaching. Familial risk for dyslexia made a significant contribution to the predictive relations. Membership in the delayed cluster predicted poor reading performance at Grade 1. peerReviewed

Upprättat; 2001; 20080203 (ohmmar)