In Kannada, visual features are arranged in blocks called "akshara," making this a visually more complex writing system than typical alphabetic orthographies. Akshara knowledge was assessed concurrently and 8 months later in 113 children in the first years of reading instruction (aged 4-7 years). Mixed effects logistic regression models…

Design of a screening test for identifying students with writing difficulty in Malayalam and validation thereof among upper primary students of Kerala is made to help schools to understand factors leading to such difficulty and to intervene with such students. A battery of tests was developed based on extant literature on screening tests, reviewed…

This study was designed to investigate potential reading differences between low-achieving and typically achieving first-grade Korean-speaking children by (1) comparing their speed of lexical access on alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric tests of rapid automatized naming and (2) comparing relationships between the two groups' performance on…

This study explored the viability of using kindergarten measures of phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, and orthographic knowledge, administered in English, to predict first grade reading achievement of Spanish-speaking English language learners. The primary research question was: Do kindergarten measures of early literacy skills in…

This research investigated whether text reading and copying involve visual attention-processing skills. Children in grades 3 and 5 read and copied the same text. We measured eye movements while reading and the number of gaze lifts (GL) during copying. The children were also administered letter report tasks that constitute an estimation of the…

This study explored the predictive effects of within- and cross-language early literacy indicators with regard to second language (L2) reading achievement in a Grade 3 entry-point French immersion (FI) program. Kindergarten students (N = 83) in a regular English program were administered English early literacy measures. Three years later, once…

Children's early motor competence is associated with social development and academic achievement. However, few studies have examined teacher reports of children's motor skills. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Motor Skills Rating Scale (MSRS), a 19-item measure of children's teacher-reported motor skills in the classroom.…

The present 4-year longitudinal study examined preschool predictors of Grade 1 dyslexia status in a Chinese population in Hong Kong where children started learning to read at the age of three. Seventy-five and 39 Chinese children with high and low familial risk respectively were tested on Chinese word reading, oral language skills, morphological…

In this study, we describe two studies used to select appropriate assessments to measure phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, and fluency in the Spanish language for students receiving literacy instruction in Spanish. We first describe two studies in which we use linear regression and correlations to examine the appropriateness of different…

Background: The dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) has been linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading disorders. In this study, we examined whether diminished anticipatory dopamine cell firing--typical of the long variant of the DRD4 allele--is related to emergent and advanced alphabetic skills, and whether executive…

The study monitored the eye movements of twenty 5-year-old children while reading an alphabet book to examine the manner in which the letters, words, and pictures were fixated and the relation of attention to print to alphabetic knowledge. Children attended little to the print, took longer to first fixate print than illustrations, and labeled…

This longitudinal study examined the development of phonology and literacy in Dutch-speaking children at family risk of dyslexia and in matched controls. Measures were administered in kindergarten (before the start of formal reading instruction), in first and in third grade. Children, diagnosed with dyslexia in third grade, showed impaired…