Brain activation on pre‐reading tasks reveals at‐risk status for dyslexia in 6‐year‐old children

Specht, Karsten; Hugdahl, Kenneth; Ofte, Sonja H.; Nygård, Merethe; Bjørnerud, Atle; Plante, Elena; Helland, Turid

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.2008.00688.x

Cited by 50 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Predictions about future reading skills with neuroimaging measures have already been demonstrated for preschool (Raschle et al, 2011;Specht et al 2009) and older children by using structural and functional MR measures (Hoeft et al, 2011;Hoeft et al, 2007) or for very young children based on ERP data on auditory processing (Guttorm et al, 2010;Guttorm et al, 2005;Maurer et al, 2009;Molfese, 2000;Benasich et al, 2006). Our data are thus in line with a series of recent articles that demonstrate the potential of neuroimaging measures to improve prediction.…”

Section: Accepted M Manuscriptsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…Together with the recent finding of clear functional and structural alterations in the left occipito-temporal cortex (Raschle et al, 2011;Specht et al, 2009) of preschool children with a familial risk of dyslexia, these studies thus clearly point to the potential power of print sensitivity as an index for successful reading acquisition.…”

Section: Accepted M Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite rapidly growing knowledge about structural (Raschle et al, 2010) and functional differences in brain networks (Guttorm et al, 2010;Guttorm et al, 2005;Guttorm et al, 2003;Maurer et al, 2003;Specht et al, 2009;Benasich et al, 2006) even before learning to read, few studies have combined direct (electroencephalography: EEG) or indirect (functional magnetic resonance imaging: fMRI) measures of neuronal activation, and/or characteristics of brain structure with behavioural measures to improve the prediction of reading outcome.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…An fMRI study by Specht and colleagues (Specht et al 2009) revealed a negative correlation of the strength of activation in the occipitotemporal cortex and the dyslexia risk index and a structural MRI study reported significantly reduced grey matter volume in the left occipito-temporal and bilateral parieto-temporal cortex, the left fusiform gyrus and the right lingual gyrus in familial at-risk children in preschool (Raschle et al, 2011). Interestingly, most areas with diminished grey matter volume in at-risk children, and especially the basal left occipito-temporal cortex often referred to as the visual word form system (VWFS) (Cohen et al, 2000;Vinckier et al, 2007), plays a key role in print processing when children learn to read (Brem et al, 2010;Maurer et al, 2006).…”

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Print-specific multimodal brain activation in kindergarten improves prediction of reading skills in second grade

et al. 2013

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Children who are poor readers usually experience troublesome school careers and consequently often suffer from secondary emotional and behavioural problems. Early identification and prediction of later reading problems thus are critical in order to start targeted interventions for those children with an elevated risk for emerging reading problems. In this study, behavioural precursors of reading were assessed in nineteen (aged 6.4 ± 0.3 years) non-reading kindergarteners before training letter-speech sound associations with a computerized game (Graphogame) for eight weeks. The training aimed to introduce the basic principles of letter-speech sound correspondences and to initialize the sensitization of specific brain areas to print. Event-related potentials (ERP) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were recorded during an explicit word/symbol processing task after the training. Reading skills were assessed two years later in second grade. The focus of this study was on clarifying whether electrophysiological and fMRI data of kindergarten children significantly improve prediction of future reading skills in 2nd grade over behavioural data alone. Based on evidence from previous studies demonstrating the importance of initial print sensitivity in the left occipito-temporal visual word form system (VWFS) for learning to read, the first pronounced difference in processing words compared to symbols in the ERP, an occipito-temporal negativity (N1: 188-281 ms) along with the corresponding functional activation in the left occipito-temporal VWFS were defined as potential predictors. ERP and fMRI data in kindergarteners significantly improved the prediction of reading skills in 2nd grade over behavioural data alone. Together with the behavioural measures they explained up to 88% of the variance. An additional discriminant analysis revealed a remarkably high accuracy in classifying normal (n=11) and poor readers (n=6). Due to the key limitation of the study, i.e. the small group sizes, the results of our prediction analyses should be interpreted with caution and regarded as preliminary despite cross-validation. Nevertheless our results indicate the potential of combining neuroimaging and behavioural measures to improve prediction at an early stage, when literacy skills are acquired and interventions are most beneficial. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT2 Abstract:Children who are poor readers usually experience troublesome school careers and consequently often su...

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Section: Accepted M Manuscriptsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Accepted M Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Print-specific multimodal brain activation in kindergarten improves prediction of reading skills in second grade

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“…The children were subjected to a wide range of assessments, covering language and literacy development, in both first language (L1, Norwegian) and second language (L2, English) and neurocognitive skills. Brain scanning was performed at ages 6, 8 and 12 (Clark et al ., 2014; Morken, Helland, Hugdahl, & Specht, 2014; Specht et al ., 2009). Our analyses at the symptomatic and biological levels showed both group differences and changes by age.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurocognitive Development and Predictors of L1 and L2 Literacy Skills in Dyslexia: A Longitudinal Study of Children 5–11 Years Old

Helland

Morken

2015

Dyslexia

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The aim of this study was to find valid neurocognitive precursors of literacy development in first language (L1, Norwegian) and second language (L2, English) in a group of children during their Pre‐literacy, Emergent Literacy and Literacy stages, by comparing children with dyslexia and a typical group. Children who were 5 years old at project start were followed until the age of 11, when dyslexia was identified and data could be analysed in retrospect.The children's neurocognitive pattern changed both by literacy stage and domain. Visuo‐spatial recall and RAN appeared as early precursors of L1 literacy, while phonological awareness appeared as early precursor of L2 English. Verbal long term memory was associated with both L1 and L2 skills in the Literacy stage. Significant group differences seen in the Pre‐literacy and Emergent literacy stages decreased in the Literacy stage.The developmental variations by stage and domain may explain some of the inconsistencies seen in dyslexia research. Early identification and training are essential to avoid academic failure, and our data show that visuo‐spatial memory and RAN could be suitable early markers in transparent orthographies like Norwegian. Phonological awareness was here seen as an early precursor of L2 English, but not of L1 Norwegian. © 2015 The Authors. Dyslexia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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Kindergarten screening tools filled out by parents and teachers targeting dyslexia. Predictions and developmental trajectories from age 5 to age 15 years

2021

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The concept of early 'efforts' has led to discussions for and against introducing language assessment for all kindergarten children. Evidence-based kindergarten screening tools completed by close caregivers could solve this controversy as the children themselves would only be indirectly involved. The aim of this study was to see whether the scores of such early screening tools aiming at developmental dyslexia could predict school marks of literacy competence 10 years later, and to see whether these screening tools would reveal different dyslexia trajectories. The study is part of the Bergen Longitudinal Dyslexia Study, and the results from individual testing are reported elsewhere. Here, the caregivers' views isolated from the rest of the study are focused. Three tools were used: the RI-5, a questionnaire assessing the risk of dyslexia; the TRAS, a non-standardized observation tool of children's communication skills; and the CCC-2, a questionnaire assessing Developmental Language Disorders. Screening was performed at age 5 (TP1), age 11, (TP2) and age 15 (TP3). At TP2, when dyslexia was identified, 13 children formed the dyslexia group, and the rest formed the control group. At TP3, the RI-5 and CCC-2 turned out to be predictive of literacy competence as measured by school marks. Developmental trajectories were seen through the regroupings and

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Brain activation on pre‐reading tasks reveals at‐risk status for dyslexia in 6‐year‐old children

Cited by 50 publications

References 42 publications

Print-specific multimodal brain activation in kindergarten improves prediction of reading skills in second grade

Print-specific multimodal brain activation in kindergarten improves prediction of reading skills in second grade

Neurocognitive Development and Predictors of L1 and L2 Literacy Skills in Dyslexia: A Longitudinal Study of Children 5–11 Years Old

Kindergarten screening tools filled out by parents and teachers targeting dyslexia. Predictions and developmental trajectories from age 5 to age 15 years

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