Neural Correlates of Visual Attention and Short-Term Memory in Children with Reading Difficulty.

Visual attention and memory of 20 children with reading difficulty (M = 134 months), 24 chronological (M = 138 months) and 19 reading-age controls (M = 92 months) were examined using object substitution masking; mask offset delay increases visual attention and visual short-term memory demands. ERP amplitude differences in the N1 (alerting), N2pc (N2-posterior-contralateral; selective attention), and SPCN (sustained posterior contralateral negativity; memory load) were expected between groups. Chronological controls performed best, but ERP results were mixed.

Coarse or fine? Grain size and morpho-orthographic segmentation in struggling readers.

Morpho-orthographic segmentation, rapid parsing of complex written words into their morphological components, is a potential source of difference in word recognition between struggling and typical readers. Although typical readers use morpho-semantic representations and morpho-orthographic segmentation in processing morphologically complex words, struggling readers typically rely on morpho-semantic processes involving coarse-grained processing of whole-word units rather than morpho-orthographic segmentation involving fine-grained letter processing. We tested this limitation in struggling readers, examining reading-ability differences among chronological-age, reading-age, and adult groups in morpho-orthographic segmentation in a primed lexical decision task.

Beyond Phonology: Visual Processes Predict Alphanumeric and Nonalphanumeric Rapid Naming in Poor Early Readers.

Visual processes in Grade 1 were examined for their predictive influences in nonalphanumeric and alphanumeric rapid naming (RAN) in 51 poor early and 69 typical readers. In a lagged design, children were followed longitudinally from Grade 1 to Grade 3 over 5 testing occasions. RAN outcomes in early Grade 2 were predicted by speeded and nonspeeded visual processing measures, after controlling for initial (Grade 1) RAN, matrix reasoning, phonological awareness, and word decoding abilities.

The reciprocal relations between morphological processes and reading.

Reciprocal relations between emerging morphological processes and reading skills were examined in a longitudinal study tracking children from Grade 1 through Grade 3. The aim was to examine predictive relationships between productive morphological processing involving composing and decomposing of inflections and derivations, reading ability for pseudoword and word decoding, and word and passage reading comprehension after controlling for initial abilities in reading, morphological processing, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. Reciprocal influences were indicated by predictive relations among initial morphological processes and later reading abilities co-occurring with relationships between initial reading abilities and later morphological processes.

French immersion experience and reading skill development in at-risk readers.

We tracked the developmental influences of exposure to French on developing English phonological awareness, decoding and reading comprehension of English-speaking at-risk readers from Grade 1 to Grade 3. Teacher-nominated at-risk readers were matched with not-at-risk readers in French immersion and English language programs. Exposure to spoken French phonetic and syllabic forms and to written French orthographic and morphological forms by children attending French immersion programs was expected to promote phonological, decoding and reading comprehension achievement.

The incidence and nature of letter orientation errors in reading disability.

Letter orientation confusions (reversals) in the reading and writing of 10-year-old children with and without reading disability were investigated to determine whether reading disability is associated with letter orientation errors and to identify the nature of the errors. In a variety of tasks measuring letter orientation confusions in reception (reversal detection and recognition) and production (controlled writing, copying), individuals with reading disability made more orientation confusions than average readers. Orientation errors were more frequent for reversible than for nonreversible items in tasks involving long-term memory processes.