Reading and spelling skills of prematurely born children in light of the underlying cognitive factors

Abstract

Prematurity is a serious risk factor for learning difficulties. Within the academic skills reading has the greatest impact on the prospects of the students; therefore, studying the reading skills in the risk populations is very important. The aim of our study was to investigate reading and spelling skills of prematurely born children. Our target group consisted of 8–11-year-old children (n = 23) who were born preterm with very low birthweights (VLBW). For comparison 57 full-term children (27 good readers and 30 dyslexics) were included in the study sample. To assess the reading and spelling abilities the Hungarian version of the 3DM (Dyslexia Differential Diagnosis) was used. Cognitive abilities were tested using the Hungarian adaptation of the WISC-IV and the Rey Complex Figure Test. The data were analyzed with a novel statistical approach using the R program. In the cognitive measures the mean performances of all three groups fell within the normal range. In the WISC-IV Full-scale IQ as well as in some other cognitive measures the good readers significantly outperformed both the dyslexics and the preterms. The findings of the study did not confirm our expectation that VLBW prematurity should lead to developmental disadvantages in the acquisition of reading and spelling skills since in the reading and spelling performances of the good readers and the preterms did not differ, while both the good readers and the preterms scored higher than the dyslexics. The results suggest that the cognitive assets of the preterm children contributing to their reading and spelling performances were their good spatial–visual memory, working memory, and processing speed. The identification of the cognitive mechanisms underlying reading and spelling abilities is of crucial importance for designing intervention for children with deficits in these academic skills.

Eye-Movements in a Text Reading Task: A Comparison of Preterm Children, Children with Dyslexia and Typical Readers

“…However, the delay in reading is residual and persistent, with lower text reading speed and comprehension scores compared to typically developing children. Contrasting results were found in a second study [ 11 ], as 8–11-year-old preterm children did not show delays in reading and spelling compared to typically developing readers, whereas the difference between preterm children and children with dyslexia was confirmed. The comparison between preterm children and children with dyslexia is particularly enriching as dyslexia involves specific difficulties in reading or spelling that are not primarily due to intellectual disability or global developmental delay, neurological, motor, or sensory disorders, or a lack of opportunity for learning/inadequate instruction [ 12 ].…”

“…Starting from these new lines of research, the present study combined, for the first time to our knowledge, a cross-population study with a multi-modal approach, using eye-tracking in a reading task. Indeed, two studies have compared preterm children, children with dyslexia, and typically developing children in reading tasks [ 9 , 11 ] without analyzing eye movements. In addition, only one study investigated eye movements in the preterm population compared to control groups without including the comparison with children with dyslexia [ 20 ].…”

Memoria de trabajo en escolares con dislexia

“…La calificación de cada prueba implica la conversión de puntuaciones directas a puntuaciones escalares. La confiabilidad de la escala fue realizada con el test -retest, tiene validez de contenido (Romero-González et al, 2021;Gráf et al, 2020).…”

Monitoring of Communication Precursors in Extremely Low Birth Weight (ELBW) Newborns by Video Analysis Method: Preliminary Results

“…The survival of preterm newborns has increased worldwide, and premature birth (before 37 weeks of pregnancy) is the most common perinatal risk [1]. Preterm infants frequently suffer from delay of neuromotor and language development, and the severity of problems increases with decreasing gestational age [2].…”