Preschool twin study of the relation between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and prereading skills

Abstract

Numerous studies have examined the etiology of the association between reading difficulties and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in school-age children, but little is known about the relation between prereading skills and ADHD behaviors prior to the beginning of formal reading instruction. A population-based sample of 809 pairs of preschool twins completed an extensive battery of prereading measures, and the parent of each twin completed an ADHD rating scale. Phenotypic analyses revealed small but significant correlations between DSM-IV inattention ratings and six prereading composite measures, whereas hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms were not independently associated with any of the prereading scores. Multivariate twin analyses indicated that virtually all of the phenotypic correlation between inattention and prereading performance is attributable to common genetic influences, consistent with results obtained in studies of older twins. Although additional research is needed to test alternative causal models in children younger than five years old, these results are most consistent with the hypothesis that reading difficulties and inattention symptoms are attributable to common genetic influences.

The precursors of double dissociation between reading and spelling in a transparent orthography

“…It is possible that the RSD children had low motivation towards kindergarten literacy-related activities (reflected in the kindergarten teachers' evaluation) and also during individual assessment situations (reflected in the testers' evaluations). However, it is also possible that task avoidance taps self-regulation or inattention that co-exists with reading and spelling disability (e.g., Willcutt et al, 2007). Previous studies have shown links between task avoidance and reading (e.g., Onatsu-Arvilommi & Nurmi, 2000) as well as between task avoidance and spelling (e.g., Georgiou et al, 2010;Liao et al, 2013).…”

Psychiatric comorbidities in children with specific learning disability

“…7 Birçok çalışmada ÖÖB ile DEHB arasındaki ilişki incelenmiştir. [8][9][10][11][12] Bu çalışmalarda öğrenme güçlüğü çeken çocuklarda dikkat sorunlarının ya da DEHB tanısının daha sık olduğu gözlenmiştir. ÖÖB olan çocuklarda tüm içe atım ve dışa atım bozukluklarının belirtileri daha sık görülmekle birlikte, ÖÖB ve DEHB'nin birlikte görüldüğü hastalarda psikopatoloji daha yoğun seyretmektedir.…”

Response to early literacy instruction in the United States, Australia, and Scandinavia: A behavioral-genetic analysis

“…In this article, we continue to report on our International Longitudinal Twin Study (ILTS) of early language and literacy development (Byrne et al 2002;Byrne et al 2005;Byrne et al 2006;Byrne et al 2007;Samuelsson et al 2007;Willcutt et al 2007). The main purpose here was to compare genetic and environmental influences on early reading and spelling skills across three twin samples tested in the United States, Australia, and Scandinavia (i.e., Sweden and Norway) and across time of testing (i.e., kindergarten and Grade 1).…”