Neurocognitive Predictors of Reading Outcomes for Children With Reading Disabilities

This study reports on several specific neurocognitive process predictors of reading outcomes for a sample of 278 children with reading disabilities. Three categories of response (i.e., poor, average, and good) were formed via growth curve models of six reading outcomes. Two nested discriminant function analyses were conducted to evaluate the predictive capability of the following models: (a) an intervention and phonological processing model that included intervention group, phonological awareness, and rapid naming and (b) an additive cognitive neuropsychological model that included measures of memory, visual processes, and cognitive or intellectual functioning. Over and above the substantial explanatory power of the base model, the additive model improved classification of poor and good responders. Several of the cognitive and neuropsychological variables predicted degree of reading outcomes, even after controlling for type of intervention, phonological awareness, and rapid naming

Use of the Nurse Entrance Test and Other Factors as Predictors of Academic Success of Nursing Students

Attrition from schools of nursing continues to affect almost one third of students enrolled. Attrition is costly financially and personally to the student, to the educational institution, the health care consumer and the profession. The purpose of this study was to identify variables measurable at time of admission which might alone or together be predictive of successful persistence until graduation from a nursing program. The variables included cognitive and noncognitive characteristics measured by the Nurse Entrance Test (NET) as well as demographic and other academic achievement measurements. A convenience sample of associate degree nursing students admitted into two successive classes of a large, urban community college was used. Two hundred sixty seven students participated, with successful students defined as those who succeeded in each course of the program and continued in enrollment in an uninterrupted fashion until graduation. Cognitive factors included preadmission grade point average (GPA), California Achievement Test score, and measurements on the Nurse Entrance Test (NET) for Math Skills, Reading Comprehension and Rate, Testtaking Skill and Preferred Learning Style. Noncognitive factors were NET self-perceived scores on five areas of Life Stress and a Social Interaction Profile of passive and aggressive styles. Demographics were age, gender and race. Using univariate analysis of variance and discriminant analysis, the same six characteristics were found to be significantly different between the groups of successful and nonsuccessful students and predictive of success or nonsuccess: Reading Comprehension, preadmission GPA, age and stress in three areas -academic, family and social. When a discriminant analysis using a stepwise inclusion procedure was performed, these six were included among the ten variables found together to be useful in a prediction equation. Added to these six were Testtaking Skill, Money Stress, Social Interaction Profile and gender. By measurements in all types of analyses used, Academic Stress and Reading Comprehension were consistently the strongest of the predictors of group membership. Group membership was successfully predicted in 74.33% of the cases when the reduced set of ten variables was used. Findings from this research could be used as a basis for developing a risk profile for students either for use in making admission decisions or for identifying students at risk for nonsuccess. Nursing educators should become alert to the finding that the students in this study were at risk for failure because of noncognitive as well as because of cognitive characteristics. Future research could focus on the multifactorial influences in a student\u27s life which affect success. Research could focus also on the examination, implementation and evaluation of intervention strategies designed to increase retention and improve academic performance

Diferencias neuropsicológicas entre muestras de niños lectores y disléxicos mediante el NEPSY

Dyslexia and other reading disorder concepts are used to describe the difficulties of children who cannot read, despite their cognitive capacity and after having spent a long period of learning and practicing. This paper evaluates the neuropsychological performance in NEPSY subtests and the differences between dyslexic and reader children. The evaluation involved a sample of 30 children: 1) control group of 10 reader children; 2) group of 10 children with low probability of being diagnosed as dyslexic; and 3) group of 10 children with probable and very probable dyslexia, according to the criteria of Bongo Test. Comparing group 1 to 3, the 20 subjects are correctly classified in the expected group by discriminant analysis, but the Stepwise Wilks’ lambda method only selects 6 of the NEPSY subtests: Oromotor Sequences (better performance of the of readers children) and Fingertip Tapping, Visuomotor Precision, Finger Discrimination (non preferred hand) Arrows, and Route Finding (better performance of dyslexic children). Despite all, the Mann- Whitney rank-sum U tests point significant differences between groups in Tower, Knok and Tap, and Manual Motor Sequences (better performance of reader children), and Finger Discrimination-non preferred hand (better performance of dyslexic children). Finally, multiple regression analysis carried out with the NEPSY subtests as predictor variables and each one of the reading Bongo test as dependent variables, with the sample of two groups of dyslexic children (n =20), select different NEPSY variables for each dependent Bongo Literacy Test: Spelling mistakes, writing errors, reading time, reading errors, and reading comprehension.La dislexia y otros conceptos relacionados con los trastornos de lectura son utilizados para describir las dificultades de los niños que no pueden leer, a pesar de su capacidad cognitiva y después de haber pasado un largo periodo de tiempo de aprendizaje y práctica. Este artículo evalúa el rendimiento neuropsicológico en los subtest del NEPSY y las diferencias entre los niños disléxicos y los lectores. La evaluación implica una muestra de 30 niños: 1) grupo de control formado por 10 niños lectores; 2) grupo de 10 niños con baja probabilidad de ser diagnosticados como disléxicos; y 3) grupo de 10 niños con probable y muy probable diagnóstico de dislexia, según los criterios del Test Bongo. Comparados el grupo 1 con el 3, los 20 sujetos son correctamente clasificados en el grupo esperado mediante un análisis discriminante, pero el método de pasos Wilks’ lambda solamente selecciona 6 subtests del NEPSY: Secuencias Oromotrices (mejor rendimiento de los niños lectores), y Golpeteo con los Dedos, Precisión Visomotriz, Discriminación de Dedos (mano no preferentes), Flechas, y Encontrar la Ruta (mejor rendimiento de los niños disléxicos). A pesar de todo, el test de Mann-Whitney señala diferencias significativas entre dichos grupos en Torres, Nudillos y Palmadas, y en Secuencias Motrices Manuales (mejor rendimiento de los niños lectores), y Discriminación de Dedos de la mano no preferente (mejor rendimiento de los niños disléxicos). Finalmente, con la muestra de los dos grupos de niños disléxicos (n=20), los análisis de regresión múltiple llevados a cabo con los subtest del NEPSY como predictores y cada una de las variables del Test Bongo como dependientes seleccionan diferentes variables del NEPSY para cada una de las dependientes de dicho test de lecto-escritura: faltas de ortografía, errores de escritura, tiempo lector, errores de lectura, y comprensión lectora

Neuropsychological differences between samples of dyslexic and reader children by means of NEPSY

Dyslexia and other reading disorder concepts are used to describe the difficulties of children who cannot read, despite their cognitive capacity and after having spent a long period of learning and practicing. This paper evaluates the neuropsychological performance in Nepsy subtests and the differences between dyslexic and reader children. The evaluation involved a sample of 30 children: 1, control group of 10 reader children; 2, group of 10 children with low probability of being diagnosed as dyslexic; and 3, group of 10 children with probable and very probable dyslexia, according to the criteria of Bongo Test. Comparing group 1 to 3, the 20 subjects are correctly classified in the expected group by discriminant analysis, but the Stepwise Wilks' lambda method only selects 6 of the NEPSY subtests: Oromotor Sequences (better performance of the of readers children) and Fingertip Tapping, Visuomotor Precision, Finger Discrimination (non preferred hand) Arrows, and Route Finding (better performance of dyslexic children). Despite all, the Mann-Whitney rank-sum U tests point significant differences between groups in Tower, Knok and Tap, and Manual Motor Sequences (better performance of reader children), and Finger Discrimination-non preferred hand (better performance of dyslexic children). Finally, multiple regression analysis carried out with the NEPSY subtests as predictor variables and each one of the reading Bongo test as dependent variables, with the sample of two groups of dyslexic children (n =20), select different NEPSY variables for each dependent Bongo Literacy Test: Spelling mistakes, writing errors, reading time, reading errors, and reading comprehension

Logopenic and nonfluent variants of primary progressive aphasia are differentiated by acoustic measures of speech production

Differentiation of logopenic (lvPPA) and nonfluent/agrammatic (nfvPPA) variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia is important yet remains challenging since it hinges on expert based evaluation of speech and language production. In this study acoustic measures of speech in conjunction with voxel-based morphometry were used to determine the success of the measures as an adjunct to diagnosis and to explore the neural basis of apraxia of speech in nfvPPA. Forty-one patients (21 lvPPA, 20 nfvPPA) were recruited from a consecutive sample with suspected frontotemporal dementia. Patients were diagnosed using the current gold-standard of expert perceptual judgment, based on presence/absence of particular speech features during speaking tasks. Seventeen healthy age-matched adults served as controls. MRI scans were available for 11 control and 37 PPA cases; 23 of the PPA cases underwent amyloid ligand PET imaging. Measures, corresponding to perceptual features of apraxia of speech, were periods of silence during reading and relative vowel duration and intensity in polysyllable word repetition. Discriminant function analyses revealed that a measure of relative vowel duration differentiated nfvPPA cases from both control and lvPPA cases (r2 = 0.47) with 88% agreement with expert judgment of presence of apraxia of speech in nfvPPA cases. VBM analysis showed that relative vowel duration covaried with grey matter intensity in areas critical for speech motor planning and programming: precentral gyrus, supplementary motor area and inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally, only affected in the nfvPPA group. This bilateral involvement of frontal speech networks in nfvPPA potentially affects access to compensatory mechanisms involving right hemisphere homologues. Measures of silences during reading also discriminated the PPA and control groups, but did not increase predictive accuracy. Findings suggest that a measure of relative vowel duration from of a polysyllable word repetition task may be sufficient for detecting most cases of apraxia of speech and distinguishing between nfvPPA and lvPPA

Number skills and knowledge in children with specific language impairment

The number skills of groups of 7 to 9 year old children with specific language impairment (SLI) attending mainstream or special schools are compared with an age and nonverbal reasoning matched group (AC), and a younger group matched on oral language comprehension. The SLI groups performed below the AC group on every skill. They also showed lower working memory functioning and had received lower levels of instruction. Nonverbal reasoning, working memory functioning, language comprehension, and instruction accounted for individual variation in number skills to differing extents depending on the skill. These factors did not explain the differences between SLI and AC groups on most skills

The Relationship of Prosodic Reading to Reading Rate and Other Constructs of Reading Ability

This study reports how well the results of an adapted rating scale of fluent reading would correspond to objective measures of those same readings. A trained investigating team listened to taped recordings of fourth- and fifth-grade students reading fourth- and fifth-grade texts. The team used the adjusted rating scale to evaluate the prosodic quality of the reading. Results from the prosody rating scale produced distinct groups of fluent readers, from which descriptive profiles for each group were developed. In addition, statistical cluster analysis procedures were used to form fluency groups based on objective measures of reading rate, reading accuracy, and number of pauses. Discriminant function analyses revealed that all three measures predicted fluency group membership, but reading rate and pauses were much better predictors than reading accuracy. Comparisons between groups formed by subjective prosody ratings and groups formed from the cluster analyses showed a high degree of overlap and agreement, validating the prosody ratings. Results from this study suggest that rating scales can be used accurately and productively in measuring young readers’ fluency and prosody. In addition, the data reveal that the online measure of reading rate is a valid and reliable proxy measure for reading fluency

An Investigation of what Relationships Exist Between a Child\u27s Performance of Selected tasks of Conservation and Selected Factors in Reading Readiness

Problem: The purpose of this study was to determine what relationships exist between a child\u27s performance of selected tasks of conservation and selected factors in reading readiness. Comparisons were also made between conservation and reading readiness to selected variables such as mental age, sex, chronological age, and teacher prediction. Procedure: The research population for this study was comprised of 81 first grade subjects enrolled in four classrooms of the Grand Forks Public Schools during the 1970-1971 school year. The students were selected to be representative of the total Grand Forks, North Dakota school population. Due to changes in school populations between kindergarten, May, 1970 and first grade, September, 1970 only 63 of the 81 first grade students were ranked on their comparative readiness for reading by their kindergarten teachers during May, 1970. All of the 81 first grade children participating in the study received the following battery of tests in September, 1970: Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests: Readiness Skills, SRA Primary Mental Abilities Test: Grades K - 1, and Procedures of Conservation of Number and Substance with First Grade Children. The statistical procedure utilized in the investigation consisted of a multiple linear regression to find the multiple correlation coefficients and the zero-order coefficients for all hypotheses. A stepwise regression was employed to find the variables which contributed most to prediction. Discriminant analysis by multiple linear regression was used to predict the number of conservers and nonconservers. Conclusions: 1. A child\u27s performance of selected tasks of conservation is significantly related to selected factors in reading readiness. 2. Mental age is significantly related to conservation and reading readiness. 3. Sex differences are significantly related to conservation and reading readiness. 4. Chronological age is positively but not significantly related to conservation and reading readiness. 5. Teacher prediction is significantly related to reading readiness, but more closely related to mental age