Perception of phonemic length and its relation to reading and spelling skills in children with family risk for dyslexia in the first three grades of school.

Purpose To examine the ability to discriminate phonemic length and the association of this ability with reading accuracy, reading speed, and spelling accuracy in Finnish children throughout Grades 1–3. Method Reading-disabled (RDFR, n = 35) and typically reading children (TRFR, n = 69) with family risk for dyslexia and typically reading control children (TRC, n = 80) were tested once in each grade of Grades 1–3 using a phonemic length discrimination task. Reading, spelling, IQ, verbal short-term memory, phonological memory, and naming speed were assessed. Results The RDFR group made more errors in phonemic length discrimination than the TRC group in Grades 2 and 3. After taking into accoun…

Tietokoneavusteinen suomen kielen kvantiteetin harjoittelu: venäjänkielisen suomea opettelevan lapsen ja suomenkielisen luku- ja kirjoitushäiriöisen lapsen vertailu

Kaksi ensiluokkalaista lasta, oppimispulmaton venäjänkielinen suomenoppija ja suomenkielinen luku- ja kirjoitushäiriöinen lapsi, joilla kummallakin oli ongelmia vokaalikvantiteetin tunnistustaidossa, osallistuivat tietokonepohjaiseen kvantiteettipeli-interventioon. Tunnistustaito mitattiin jakson aikana seitsemän kertaa, ja kielelliset ja kognitiiviset taidot alku-, loppu- ja seurantamittauksessa. Venäjänkielisen lapsen tunnistustaito sekä kvantiteetin yleinen erottelutaito paranivat heti harjoittelun myötä. Myös kvantiteetin luku- ja oikeinkirjoitustarkkuus, foneemien ja grafeemien tuntemus ja fonologinen tietoisuus parantuivat. Lukuja kirjoitushäiriöisellä lapsella tunnistustaito parantui…

Precursors and consequences of phonemic length discrimination ability problems in children with reading disabilities and familial risk for dyslexia.

Purpose The authors investigated the importance of phonemic length discrimination ability on reading and spelling skills among children with reading disabilities and familial risk for dyslexia and among children with typical reading skills, as well as the role of prereading skills in reading and spelling development in children with reading disabilities. Method Finnish children with reading disabilities and discrimination problems (RDDP, n = 13), children with reading disabilities and typical discrimination abilities (RDTD, n = 27), and children with typical reading skills (TR, n = 140) were assessed between the ages of 1 and 6.5 years for language, phonological awareness, IQ, verbal memor…

Computer game as a tool for training the identification of phonemic length.

Computer-assisted training of Finnish phonemic length was conducted with 7-year-old Russian-speaking second-language learners of Finnish. Phonemic length plays a different role in these two languages. The training included game activities with two- and three-syllable word and pseudo-word minimal pairs with prototypical vowel durations. The lowest accuracy scores were recorded for two-syllable words. Accuracy scores were higher for the minimal pairs with larger rather than smaller differences in duration. Accuracy scores were lower for long duration than for short duration. The ability to identify quantity degree was generalized to stimuli used in the identification test in two of the childr…

Infant brain responses associated with reading-related skills before school and at school age

Summary Introduction In Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia, we have investigated neurocognitive processes related to phonology and other risk factors of later reading problems. Here we review studies in which we have investigated whether dyslexic children with familial risk background would show atypical auditory/speech processing at birth, at six months and later before school and at school age as measured by brain event-related potentials (ERPs), and how infant ERPs are related to later pre-reading cognitive skills and literacy outcome. Patients and methods One half of the children came from families with at least one dyslexic parent (the at-risk group), while the other half belonge…

Study in children with reading disabilities and familial risk for dyslexia and Russian second-language