The effect of a family-based mindfulness intervention on children with attention deficit and hyperactivity symptoms and their parents: design and rationale for a randomized, controlled clinical trial (Study protocol)

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The DCDC2 deletion is not a risk factor for dyslexia

Dyslexia is a specific impairment in learning to read and has strong heritability. An intronic deletion within the DCDC2 gene, with ~8% frequency in European populations, is increasingly used as a marker for dyslexia in neuroimaging and behavioral studies. At a mechanistic level, this deletion has been proposed to influence sensory processing capacity, and in particular sensitivity to visual coherent motion. Our re-assessment of the literature, however, did not reveal strong support for a role of this specific deletion in dyslexia. We also analyzed data from five distinct cohorts, enriched for individuals with dyslexia, and did not identify any signal indicative of associations for the DCDC2 deletion with reading-related measures, including in a combined sample analysis (N=526). We believe we conducted the first replication analysis for a proposed deletion effect on visual motion perception and found no association (N=445 siblings). We also report that the DCDC2 deletion has a frequency of 37.6% in a cohort representative of the general population recruited in Hong Kong (N=220). This figure, together with a lack of association between the deletion and reading abilities in this cohort, indicates the low likelihood of a direct deletion effect on reading skills. Therefore, on the basis of multiple strands of evidence, we conclude that the DCDC2 deletion is not a strong risk factor for dyslexia. Our analyses and literature re-evaluation are important for interpreting current developments within multidisciplinary studies of dyslexia and, more generally, contribute to current discussions about the importance of reproducibility in science

The nature of the automatization deficit in Chinese children with dyslexia

Clarifying whether automatization deficits constitute the primary causes or symptoms of developmental dyslexia, we focused on three critical issues of the dyslexic automatization deficit, namely universality, domain specificity, and severity. Thirty Chinese dyslexic children (mean age 10 years and 5 months), 30 chronological-age-, and 30 reading-level-matched children were tested in 4 areas of automaticity: motor, visual search, Stroop facilitation effects, and automatic word recognition. The results showed that the dyslexic children performed significantly worse than the CA-controls but not the RL-controls in all the tasks except for Stroop congruent-color words, on which they performed worse than children in both control groups. The deficits reflect a lag in reading experiences rather than a persistent cognitive deficit. © 2010 Psychology Press.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Central executive and speed of processing deficit in Chinese developmental dyslexia: Its impact on word decoding and reading comprehension

Interactive PaperThis study examined central executive (CE) and speed of processing (SOP), and their impacts on word decoding and reading comprehension among Chinese dyslexic children. Thirty dyslexic children, 30 chronological age-controls and 30 reading level-controls were recruited. Group comparisons showed that dyslexic children showed impairments of SOP and CE components such as inhibition of irrelevant information, handling two tasks simultaneously, long-term memory retrieval and working memory span. Regression analyses showed that CE and SOP had direct effects on word decoding; their effects on reading comprehension were mediated by word decoding. Results implied that untreated CE and SOP problems would magnify reading problems

A twin study of reading in Chinese children learning English as a second language

Posters: no. 56A fundamental issue for reading research concerns the heredity of language and reading acquisition. Despite the emerging behavioral genetics research on English as a first language, the roles of heredity and environment in learning English as a second language remain unknown. This study extends past research by employing a twin study design to examine the relative contributions of genetic and environmental effects on Chinese children learning English as a second language. We tested 150 pairs of monozygotic (MZ) and 150 pairs of same-sex dizygotic (DZ) twins aged from 4 to 11. We assessed children's word decoding skills, vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness, orthographic skills, naming speed with a battery of tasks in English and we also measured children's nonverbal IQ. Zygosity was estimated by parent and confirmed with saliva swab. In addition, we asked the parents to complete a demographic and home literacy questionnaire. A series of univariate statistics will be computed and the data will be fitted in the framework of the ACE model to identify the variances of genetic, common environmental, unique environmental factors and gene x environmental interaction controlling for age effect. Based on the results, we will discuss how much genes account for the individual variations in learning to read in a second language and whether an affluent environment can foster the growth of reading abilities in a second language. Fossilization (the phenomenon of which learners of second language are constrained with the cognitive limitations on acquiring a language as native-like) will also be discussed.The 16th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Studies of Reading (SSSR 2009), Boston, MA., 25-27 June 2009

The understanding of peak oxygen uptake in children aged 8–16

202105 bchyVersion of RecordRGCOthersRGC: General Research Fund (Ref no. 18608018)Publishe

The effects of family-based mindfulness intervention on ADHD symptomology in young children and their parents : a randomized control trial

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