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Differences in learning patterns of vocabulary acquisition in children at risk (+SRD) and not at risk (-SRD) for Specific Reading Disability (SRD) were examined using a microdevelopmental paradigm applied to the multi-trial Foreign Language Learning Task (FLLT; Baddeley et al., 1995). The FLLT was administered to 905 children from rural Chitonga-speaking Zambia. A multi-group Latent Growth Curve Model (LGCM) was implemented to study interindividual differences in intraindividual change across trials. Results showed that the +SRD group recalled fewer words correctly in the first trial, learned at a slower rate during the subsequent trials, and demonstrated a more linear learning pattern compared to the -SRD group. This study illustrates the promise of LGCM applied to multi-trial learning tasks, by isolating three components of the learning process (initial recall, rate of learning, and functional pattern of learning). Implications of this microdevelopmental approach to SRD research in low-to-middle income countries are discussed.

We examined anaphora resolution in children with and without Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) to clarify whether (i) DLD is best understood as missing knowledge of certain linguistic operations/elements or as unreliable performance and (ii) if comprehension of sentences with anaphoric expressions as objects and exceptionally case marked (ECM) subjects supports a particular theoretical account of anaphora. Fifty-four native-Russian-speaking children (age M = 7;06, SD = 1;09) were tested on a picture selection task. Children with DLD (n = 18) underperformed overall but displayed similar patterns to the typically developing (TD) group with respect to the extra difficulty of the ECM relative to the transitive and ECM pronouns relative to all other conditions. However, whereas pronouns were more difficult than reflexives for the TD children, this effect was not significant for the DLD group, whose reduced accuracy on reflexives washed out the effect of pronouns in that group. These results are consistent with performance-level vulnerability in DLD, arguably related to weaknesses in lexical processing and with the Reflexivity framework of Binding phenomena.

Generally accepted as universal, the construct of adaptive behavior differs in its manifestations across different cultures and settings. The Vineland-II (Sparrow et al. in "Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second edn." AGS Publishing, Circle Pines, MN, 2005) was translated into Chitonga and adapted to the setting of rural Southern Province, Zambia. This version was administered to the parents/caregivers of 114 children (grades 3-7, mean age = 12.94, SD = 2.34). The relationships between these children's adaptive behavior, academic achievement and cognitive ability indicators are compared to those usually observed in US samples. Results reflect no association between adaptive behavior and cognitive ability indicators, but a strong relationship between high adaptive behavior and reading-related measures. Six case studies of children with high and low scores on the Vineland-II are presented to illustrate the possible factors affecting these outcomes.

Generally accepted as universal, the construct of adaptive behavior differs in its manifestations across different cultures and settings. The Vineland-II (Sparrow et al. in Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second edn. AGS Publishing, Circle Pines, MN, 2005) was translated into Chitonga and adapted to the setting of rural Southern Province, Zambia. This version was administered to the parents/caregivers of 114 children (grades 3-7, mean age = 12.94, SD = 2.34). The relationships between these children's adaptive behavior, academic achievement and cognitive ability indicators are compared to those usually observed in US samples. Results reflect no association between adaptive behavior and cognitive ability indicators, but a strong relationship between high adaptive behavior and reading-related measures. Six case studies of children with high and low scores on the Vineland-II are presented to illustrate the possible factors affecting these outcomes. Keywords Adaptive behavior * Reading * Zambia, Introduction Adaptive behavior is the performance of an individual in daily activities pertaining to personal and social functioning. An important aspect essential to its definition and assessment is that it [...]

Differences in learning patterns of vocabulary acquisition in children at risk (+ SRD) and not at risk (− SRD) for Specific Reading Disability ( SRD) were examined using a microdevelopmental paradigm applied to the multi-trial Foreign Language Learning Task ( FLLT; Baddeley et al., 1995). The FLLT was administered to 905 children from rural Chitonga-speaking Zambia. A multi-group Latent Growth Curve Model ( LGCM) was implemented to study interindividual differences in intraindividual change across trials. Results showed that the + SRD group recalled fewer words correctly in the first trial, learned at a slower rate during the subsequent trials, and demonstrated a more linear learning pattern compared to the − SRD group. This study illustrates the promise of LGCM applied to multi-trial learning tasks, by isolating three components of the learning process (initial recall, rate of learning, and functional pattern of learning). Implications of this microdevelopmental approach to SRD research in low-to-middle income countries are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The educational trajectories and developmental milestones of children outside of Western communities and cultures need to be represented by developmental and educational science research. Through the application of structural-equation modeling techniques to cognitive and academic data collected in rural Tanzania, this study adds insight into the crosscultural relationship between cognitive skills and academic achievement. The fitted models are not excellent, but they account for a large amount of the variance observed. The results indicate that the three domains of academic achievement (reading, spelling, mathematics) have a high amount of shared variance and that the cognitive indicators predicting individual differences in these domains are consistent in structure and magnitude of the predictions they exert. These findings are expected based on previous studies with one exception - the Categorical Word Fluency Test does not contribute to the predictions of numeracy or literacy. As expected, in these data from a cultural and school-setting that differs dramatically from those that have been more extensively studied there are many findings reaffirmed, but also some interesting differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading, from the early stages of phonological awareness and alphabet learning to more advanced reading comprehension, has been studied in developed, highly literate communities; however, less is known about reading in resource-limited settings such as those of rural sub-Saharan Africa. In this article, we report on reading related-skills in farming communities of Southern Province, Zambia, highlighting characteristics of the learning and living environments that contribute to reading development in children. The corresponding analyses were conducted on a set of nested datasets. Children were screened for the pre-literacy skills of phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge (N = 689) and subsequently, if a certain threshold was made, included in a screening of a smaller subset from the total sample for word reading and pseudoword decoding (N = 166). Relationships among the reading-related measures, age, grade, gender, and memory were investigated using a correlation analysis. Regression analyses predicting reading comprehension were completed on yet an even smaller subset of the original sample (N = 74). Results show that in this rural, resource-poor, linguistically complex learning environment, readingrelated assessments were highly correlated with each other, generating a pattern of correlations similar to those in better studied languages (i.e., English) in more controlled environments. Moreover, grade more often than age was significantly correlated with literacy levels (at p < .001 level), and long-term memory contributed to reading comprehension, while working memory ultimately did not. Delays in reading development were observed at each level of reading when compared to Western educational systems, which are likely due to differences in the learning and living context for the children in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the analyses of a school readiness screener, assessing a variety of psychological indicators associated with school performance, in use in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. First, we investigated whether the screener administered in the 1st year of schooling predicted academic performance in a variety of subject areas in the 6th year of schooling. Second, we performed a commonality analysis on data from 1st graders to determine which subtests of the screener explained variability in vocabulary knowledge concurrently. Vocabulary knowledge is a key component of later academic skills, meaning that early vocabulary assessment can identify children who are likely at risk for academic difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]