Cognitive Profiles of Developmental Dysgraphia

Developmental dysgraphia is a disorder of writing/spelling skills, closely related to developmental dyslexia. For developmental dyslexia, profiles with a focus on phonological, attentional, visual or auditory deficits have recently been established. Unlike for developmental dyslexia, however, there are only few studies about dysgraphia, in particular about the variability of its causes. Research has demonstrated high similarity between developmental dyslexia and dysgraphia. Thus, the aim of the study was to investigate cognitive deficits as potential predictors of dysgraphia, analogously to those for dyslexia, in order to identify dysgraphia profiles, depending on the particular underlying disorder. Different tests were carried out with 3rd and 4th grade school children to assess their spelling abilities, tapping into phonological processing, auditory sound discrimination, visual attention and visual magnocellular functions as well as reading. A group of 45 children with developmental dysgraphia was compared to a control group. The results showed that besides phonological processing abilities, auditory skills and visual magnocellular functions affected spelling ability, too. Consequently, by means of a two-step cluster analysis, the group of dysgraphic children could be split into two distinct clusters, one with auditory deficits and the other with deficits in visual magnocellular functions. Visual attention was also related to spelling disabilities, but had no characteristic distinguishing effect for the two clusters. Together, these findings demonstrate that a more fine-grained diagnostic view on developmental dysgraphia, which takes the underlying cognitive profiles into account, might be advantageous for optimizing the outcome of individuum-centered intervention programs

Performance in Sound-Symbol Learning Predicts Reading Performance 3 Years Later

To master the task of reading, children need to acquire a coding system representing speech as a sequence of visual symbols. Recent research suggested that performance in the processing of artificial script that relies on the association of sound and symbol may be associated with reading skill. The current longitudinal study examined the predictive value of a preschool sound-symbol paradigm (SSP) of reading performance 3 years later. The Morse-like SSP, IQ, and letter knowledge (LK) was assessed in young preschool children. Reading outcome measures were examined 3 years later. Word reading, pseudoword reading, and reading comprehension were predicted with age, IQ, LK, and SSP. The results showed that SSP substantially predicted reading fluency and reading comprehension 3 years later. For reading fluency measures, the influence of further predictor variables was not significant and SSP served as a sole predictor. Reading comprehension was best explained by SSP and age. The amount of variance SSP explained in reading 3 years later was remarkably high, with an explained variance between 63 and 82%, depending on the outcome reading variable. SSP turned out to be a substantial predictor of later reading performance in a language with statistically reliable spelling-to-sound relations. As LK is highly dependent on educational support, we assume that children in our socioeconomically diverse sample did not have much opportunity to acquire LK in their home environment. In contrast, the SSP challenges students to acquire new spelling-to-sound relations, simulating a core aspect of natural reading acquisition. Future work will test this paradigm in less transparent languages like English and explore its potential as a future standard assessment in the study of early reading development

Effectiveness of Stuttering Modification Treatment in School-Age Children Who Stutter:A Randomized Clinical Trial

PURPOSE: This study investigated the effectiveness of the stuttering modification intervention Kinder Dürfen Stottern (KIDS) in school-age children who stutter. METHOD: Seventy-three children who stutter were included in this multicenter, two-group parallel, randomized, wait-list controlled trial with a follow-up of 12 months. Children aged 7-11 years were recruited from 34 centers for speech therapy and randomized to either the immediate-treatment group or the 3 months delayed-treatment group. KIDS was provided by 26 clinicians who followed a treatment manual. Although the primary outcome measure was the impact of stuttering (Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering-School-Age [OASES-S]), the secondary outcomes included objective and subjective data on stuttering severity. RESULTS: At 3 months postrandomization, the mean score changes of the OASES-S differed significantly between the experimental (n = 33) and control group (n = 29; p = .026). Furthermore, treatment outcomes up to 12 months were analyzed (n = 59), indicating large effects of time on the OASES-S score (p &lt; .001, partial η2= .324). This was paralleled by significant improvements in parental ratings and objective ratings (stuttering severity, frequency, and physical concomitants). CONCLUSIONS: The significant short-term treatment effects in the OASES-S are in line with the (initial) focus of KIDS on cognitive and affective aspects of stuttering. Over 12 months, these changes were maintained and accompanied by behavioral improvements. The results suggest that individual treatment with KIDS is an adequate treatment option for this age group. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24207864.</p

Spring snow cover duration and tundra greenness in the Lena Delta, Siberia: two decades of MODIS satellite time series (2001–2021)

The Lena Delta in Siberia is the largest delta in the Arctic and as a snow-dominated ecosystem particularly vulnerable to climate change. Using the two decades of MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite acquisitions, this study investigates interannual and spatial variability of snow-cover duration and summer vegetation vitality in the Lena Delta. We approximated snow by the application of the normalized difference snow index and vegetation greenness by the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). We consolidated the analyses by integrating reanalysis products on air temperature from 2001 to 2021, and air temperature, ground temperature, and the date of snow-melt from time-lapse camera (TLC) observations from the Samoylov observatory located in the central delta. We extracted spring snow-cover duration determined by a latitudinal gradient. The ‘regular year’ snow-melt is transgressing from mid-May to late May within a time window of 10 days across the delta. We calculated yearly deviations per grid cell for two defined regions, one for the delta, and one focusing on the central delta. We identified an ensemble of early snow-melt years from 2012 to 2014, with snow-melt already starting in early May, and two late snow-melt years in 2004 and 2017, with snow-melt starting in June. In the times of TLC recording, the years of early and late snow-melt were confirmed. In the three summers after early snow-melt, summer vegetation greenness showed neither positive nor negative deviations. Whereas, vegetation greenness was reduced in 2004 after late snow-melt together with the lowest June monthly air temperature of the time series record. Since 2005, vegetation greenness is rising, with maxima in 2018 and 2021. The NDVI rise since 2018 is preceded by up to 4 °C warmer than average June air temperature. The ongoing operation of satellite missions allows to monitor a wide range of land surface properties and processes that will provide urgently needed data in times when logistical challenges lead to data gaps in land-based observations in the rapidly changing Arctic.GeoXREKLIMBMBFERCPeer Reviewe

The influence of bilingualism on gray matter volume in the course of aging: a longitudinal study

BackgroundBilingualism is associated with higher gray matter volume (GMV) as a form of brain reserve in brain regions such as the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the inferior parietal lobule (IPL). A recent cross-sectional study reported the age-related GMV decline in the left IFG and IPL to be steeper for bilinguals than for monolinguals. The present study aimed at supporting this finding for the first time with longitudinal data.MethodsIn the current study, 200 participants aged 19 to 79 years (87 monolinguals, 113 sequential bilinguals, mostly native German speakers with variable second language background) were included. Trajectories of GMV decline in the bilateral IFG and IPL were analyzed in mono- and bilinguals over two time points (mean time interval: 3.6 years). For four regions of interest (left/right IFG and left/right IPL), mixed Analyses of Covariance were conducted to assess (i) GMV changes over time, (ii) GMV differences for language groups (monolinguals/bilinguals), and (iii) the interaction between time point and language group. Corresponding analyses were conducted for the two factors of GMV, surface area (SA) and cortical thickness (CT).ResultsThere was higher GMV in bilinguals compared to monolinguals in the IPL, but not IFG. While the left and right IFG and the right IPL displayed a similar GMV change in mono- and bilinguals, GMV decline within the left IPL was significantly steeper in bilinguals. There was greater SA in bilinguals in the bilateral IPL and a steeper CT decline in bilinguals within in the left IPL.ConclusionThe cross-sectional observations of a steeper GMV decline in bilinguals could be confirmed for the left IPL. Additionally, the higher GMV in bilinguals in the bilateral IPL may indicate that bilingualism contributes to brain reserve especially in posterior brain regions. SA appeared to contribute to bilinguals’ higher GMV in the bilateral IPL, while CT seemed to account for the steeper structural decline in bilinguals in the left IPL. The present findings demonstrate the importance of time as an additional factor when assessing the neuroprotective effects of bilingualism on structural features of the human brain

Summer-drought constrains the phenology and growth of two coexisting Mediterranean oaks with contrasting leaf habit: implications for their persistence and reproduction

13 páginas, 9 figuras, 5 tablas.-- El PDF es la versión post-print.This study analyses how coexisting evergreen and deciduous oaks adjust their phenology to cope with the stressful Mediterranean summer conditions. We test the hypothesis that the vegetative and reproductive growth of the winter deciduous (Quercus faginea Lam.) is more affected by summer drought than that of the evergreen [Quercus ilex L. subsp. ballota (Desf.) Samp.]. First, we assessed the complete aboveground phenology of both species during two consecutive years. Shoot and litter production and bud, acorn and secondary growth were monitored monthly. Second, we identified several parameters affected by summer conditions: apical bud size, individual leaf area (LA), leaf mass per area (LMA) and acorn yield in both species, and leaf-fall in Q. faginea; and analysed their variation over 10 years. Q. ilex performed up to 25% of shoot growth and most leaf development during summer, whereas Q. faginea completed most of both phenophases during spring. Secondary growth was arrested in summer under drought conditions. Approximately, 30–40% of bud and 40–50% of acorn growth was undertaken during summer in both species. Summer drought related to differences in LA, LMA and leaf senescence, but not to acorn yield. Both species had similar year-to-year patterns of acorn production, though yields were always lower in Q. faginea. Bud size decreased severely in both species during extremely dry years. In Q. ilex, bud size tended to alternate between years of large and small buds, and these patterns were followed by opposite trends in stem length. In Q. faginea, bud size was more stable through time. Q. ilex was more phenologically active during summer than Q. faginea, indicating a higher tolerance to drought. Furthermore, bud and fruit growth (the only two phenophases that both species performed during summer) were more severely affected by summer drought in Q. faginea than in the evergreen. The differential effects of summer drought on key phenophases for the persistence (bud growth) and colonization ability (fruit production) of both species may have consequences for their coexistence.This study was possible thanks to the collaboration within the GLOBIMED network (Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Spain) and it was supported by the MEC-CICyT projects AGF96-0399, CGL2007-66066-C04/BOS and CGL2008- 04847-C02-01, DGA projects P-038/96 and GA-LC-011/2008, and INIA projects RTA2005-00100-C02-00 and SUM2006-00025-00-00. JJC acknowledges the support of the ‘‘Fundación Aragón I+D’’. SP and RM were funded by MEC by a postdoc (SEUI-FECYT) and a Juan de la Cierva contract, respectively. JA was funded by DGA.Peer reviewe