Protracted Neural Development of Dorsal Motor Systems During Handwriting and the Relation to Early Literacy Skills

Handwriting is a complex visual-motor skill that affects early reading development. A large body of work has demonstrated that handwriting is supported by a widespread neural system comprising ventral-temporal, parietal, and frontal motor regions in adults. Recent work has demonstrated that this neural system is largely established by 8 years of age, suggesting that the development of this system occurs in young children who are still learning to read and write. We made use of a novel MRI-compatible writing tablet that allowed us to measure brain activation in 5–8-year-old children during handwriting. We compared activation during handwriting in children and adults to provide information concerning the developmental trajectory of the neural system that supports handwriting. We found that parietal and frontal motor involvement during handwriting in children is different from adults, suggesting that the neural system that supports handwriting changes over the course of development. Furthermore, we found that parietal and frontal motor activation correlated with a literacy composite score in our child sample, suggesting that the individual differences in the dorsal response during handwriting are related to individual differences in emerging literacy skills. Our results suggest that components of the widespread neural system supporting handwriting develop at different rates and provide insight into the mechanisms underlying the contributions of handwriting to early literacy development.

The differential relations between ADHD and reading achievement: A quantile regression and quantile genetic approach.

This paper extends the understanding of the relation between ADHD and reading disability, through examining how this relation differs depending on the quantile an individual falls in for each. Samples from three twin projects around the United States were used (Florida Twin Project, Colorado component of International Longitudinal Twin Study of Early Reading Development, & Western Reserve Reading and Math Projects). Phenotypic analysis using quantile regression showed relations between ADHD related behaviors and reading comprehension to be stronger in the lower quantiles of reading comprehension in two of three samples. A new method was developed extending this analysis into the bivariate genetic space. Results of this quantile genetic analysis revealed that overlapping common environmental influences accounted for a larger proportion of variance in the lower quantiles of these variables in two of three samples. Finally, in all three samples the phenotypic relation was strongest when shared environmental influences accounted for a larger proportion of the overall variance.

A Culturally Relevant Picture Book for Children’s Early Literacy

This research aimed at designing a picture book which is based on local folktales to support children’s early literacy. With observation and one group pre-test post-test experimental design, the main field test was carried out to a total of 120 preschool children aged 5 and 6 years old. Of the total, 43 children were chosen as the control group, while the other 77 children were as the experimental group. An independent sample t-test was used to determine the score difference between the two groups. The findings show that there is an improvement in reading readiness among the experimental group. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of the local folktale picture book developed in this study can give a positive impact on children’s early reading development. The implication of this study is expected to shed light on the importance of local culture in children language development.

The influence of intergenerational transfer of white matter tracts on early reading development

Parents have large genetic and environmental influences on their children’s cognition, behavior, and brain. Previous studies have indicated intergenerational transfer of the behavior of reading. Despite a close coupling between brain and behavior however, the intergenerational transfer of reading-related structural brain networks have not been investigated. Therefore, we investigated its parent-child associations for the first time. We examined how white matter tracts i.e., Arcuate Fasciculus (AF) and Inferior Fronto-Occipital Fasciculus (IFOF), are associated with children’s early reading development from Kindergarten to Grade 3 in 33 families. First, we observed in our sample of children -who all had typical reading skills despite half of them having an increased risk for dyslexia- that fractional anisotropy in bilateral IFOF and right AF correlated with reading development. Second, parent-child correlations were observed for bilateral IFOF but not for AF. Finally, we demonstrated that the relation between children’s IFOF and reading development was largely explained by parental IFOF. The findings preliminarily suggest that white matter organization in IFOF represents a pre-existing protective factor in children at risk, as it is mainly determined by biological parental factors. Large-scale intergenerational, multi-level and longitudinal studies are needed to understand the dynamic interrelations between brain, environment and behavior.

The Relationship Between Speech, Language, and Phonological Awareness in Preschool-Age Children With Developmental Disabilities

Purpose A number of intrinsic factors, including expressive speech skills, have been suggested to place children with developmental disabilities at risk for limited development of reading skills. This study examines the relationship between these factors, speech ability, and children's phonological awareness skills. Method A nonexperimental study design was used to examine the relationship between intrinsic skills of speech, language, print, and letter–sound knowledge to phonological awareness in 42 children with developmental disabilities between the ages of 48 and 69 months. Hierarchical multiple regression was done to determine if speech ability accounted for a unique amount of variance in phonological awareness skill beyond what would be expected by developmental skills inclusive of receptive language and print and letter–sound knowledge. Results A range of skill in all areas of direct assessment was found. Children with limited speech were found to have emerging skills in print knowledge, letter–sound knowledge, and phonological awareness. Speech ability did not predict a significant amount of variance in phonological awareness beyond what would be expected by developmental skills of receptive language and print and letter–sound knowledge. Conclusion Children with limited speech ability were found to have receptive language and letter–sound knowledge that supported the development of phonological awareness skills. This study provides implications for practitioners and researchers concerning the factors related to early reading development in children with limited speech ability and developmental disabilities.

How executive control predicts early reading development

Attentional and action control are two levels of executive control that are essential to early reading development. Together these levels enable the construction and monitoring of cognitive representations and of efficient task-behavior, which are both necessary to benefit from reading instruction. The longitudinal and unique contributions of this internal and external level of executive control to early reading are still unclear. We therefore examined how these control capacities facilitate reading development from kindergarten to second-grade. Attentional and action control and multiple early reading skills were assessed at all three time points. Structural Equation Modeling showed a mediation effect for attentional control and an indirect effect for action control to subsequent reading skills via the contributions to the precursor of phonological awareness. From these results it can be concluded that both types uniquely allowed for the emergence of kindergarten preliteracy skills, which in turn provided children with a better starting point for reading development in first- and second-grade.