Rhythm production at school entry as a predictor of poor reading and spelling at the end of first grade.

Rhythm plays an organisational role in the prosody and phonology of language, and children with literacy difficulties have been found to demonstrate poor rhythmic perception. This study explored whether students' performance on a simple rhythm task at school entry could serve as a predictor of whether they would face difficulties in word reading and spelling at the end of grade 1. The participants were 479 Norwegian 6-year-old first graders randomized as controls in the longitudinal RCT on track (n = 1171).

What can Parents' Self-report of Reading Difficulties Tell Us about Their Children's Emergent Literacy at School Entry?

Research has linked family risk (FR) of reading difficulties (RD) with children's difficulties in emergent literacy development. This study is the first to apply parents' self-report of RD as a proxy for FR in a large sample (n = 1171) in order to test group differences in children's emergent literacy. Emergent literacy, the home literacy environment and children's interest in literacy and letters were compared across different groups of FR children around the school entry.

Relationship between literacy skills and self-reported health in the Nordic countries.

Aims: This study investigated the association between literacy skills and self-reported health among Danish ( n = 7284), Finnish ( n = 5454), Norwegian ( n = 4942) and Swedish ( n = 4555) participants aged 16-65 years.

Methods: Logistic regression models were used to assess the association between literacy skills and self-reported health after adjusting for sex, age and educational level.

Results: Nordic participants aged 16-65 years with literacy skills at the lowest level reported sub-optimal health more often (28-37%) than those with literacy skills at the highest level (7-9%).