Dyslexia—Early Identification and Prevention: Highlights from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia

Abstract

Over two decades of Finnish research, monitoring children born with risk for dyslexia has been carried out in the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia (JLD). Two hundred children, half at risk, have been assessed from birth to puberty on hundreds of measures. The aims were to identify measures of prediction of later reading difficulty and to instigate appropriate and earliest diagnosis and intervention. We can identify at-risk children from newborn electroencephalographic brain recordings (Guttorm et al., J Neural Transm 110:1059–1074, 2003). Predictors are also apparent from late-talking infants who have familial background of dyslexia (Lyytinen and Lyytinen, Appl Psycolinguistics 25:397–411, 2004). The earliest easy-to-use predictive measure to identify children who need help to avoid difficulties in learning to read is letter knowledge (Lyytinen et al., Merrill-Palmer Q 52:514–546, 2006). In response, a purpose-engineered computer game, GraphoGame™, provides an effective intervention tool (Lyytinen et al., Scand J Psychol 50:668–675, 2009). In doubling as a research instrument, GraphoGame provides bespoke intervention/reading instruction for typical/atypically developing children. Used extensively throughout Finland, GraphoGame is now crossing the developed and developing world to assist children, irrespective of the cause (environmental or genetic) of their failing to learn to read (Ojanen et al., Front Psychol 6(671):1–13, 2015).

(Swiss) GraphoLearn: an app-based tool to support beginning readers

“…Because of this, it is well suited to be utilized as a preventive tool for those children at risk of becoming impaired without additional support outside school. The GraphoLearn environment was originally developed in Finnish (Lyytinen, Erskine, Hämäläine, Torppa, & Ronimus, 2015;Richardson & Lyytinen, 2014) and has been adapted for several other languages. In school-children of different backgrounds, GraphoLearn has mainly improved decoding and spelling skills (Jere-Folotiya et al, 2014;Kyle, Kujala, Richardson, Lyytinen, & Goswami, 2013;Ojanen, Kujala, Richardson, & Lyytinen, 2013;Saine et al, 2011) or letter knowledge (Patel, Torppa, Aro, Richardson, & Lyytinen, 2018;Saine et al, 2011;Kamykowska, Haman, Latvala, Richardson, & Lyytinen, 2013), but in some reports, the significant improvements extended to reading skills of young poor readers (Ruiz et al, 2017;Saine, Lerkkanen, Ahonen, Tolvanen, & Lyytinen, 2010).…”

Screening for Slow Reading Acquisition in Norway and Finland – a Quest for Context Specific Predictors

“…The pre-reading skills discussed above have been found to predict word-reading development across a range of different alphabetical orthographies (Caravolas et al, 2012), but the transparency of orthographies has been found to affect prediction patterns (Caravolas et al, 2013;Lyytinen et al, 2015). This is, in all likelihood, because it is easier to learn how to read in orthographies that reflect a transparent relationship between phonemes and graphemes (e.g., Finnish or Spanish) than languages where that relationship is more opaque (e.g., English) (Caravolas et al, 2013;Seymour et al, 2003).…”

Challenges Associated with Reading Acquisition in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…In European countries like Finland, as many as 15% of children need additional support for their learning in order to keep up with the grade-level expectations. In Europe, learning difficulties are linked to reading difficulty or dyslexia, which can have a genetic origin (e.g., Lyytinen et al, 2015). In Africa, the prevalence of children who have inherited learning difficulties is currently unknown in most countries, and support services are not available.…”