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Developmental Lag Versus Deficit Models of Reading Disability: A Longitudinal, Individual Growth Curves Analysis

Authors:
David J Francis at University of Houston
David J Francis
Sally E. Shaywitz
Sally E. Shaywitz
Sally E. Shaywitz
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Karla Stuebing at University of Houston
Karla Stuebing
Bennett Shaywitz at Yale-New Haven Hospital
Bennett Shaywitz
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Abstract

Individual growth curves were used to test whether the development of children with reading disabilities is best characterized by models of developmental lag or developmental deficit. Developmental changes in reading ability were modeled by using 9 yearly longitudinal assessments of a sample of 403 children classified into three groups representing (a) deficient reading achievement relative to IQ expectations (RD-D), (b) deficient reading achievement consistent with IQ expectations (LA), and (c) no reading deficiency (NRI). Using a model of quadratic growth to a plateau, the age and level at which reading scores plateaued were estimated for each child. Reading-disabled children differed on average from nondisabled children in the level but not in the age at which reading skills plateaued. The RD-D and LA groups did not differ in reading plateau or age at plateau. The subgroup of RD-D children scoring below the 25th percentile in reading differed from LA children only in reading plateau. Results suggest that the developmental course of reading skills in children with reading disability is best characterized by deficit as opposed to lag models. In addition, no support for the validity of classifications of reading disability based on IQ discrepancies was apparent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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... As children age, their vocabulary knowledge increases (Song et al., 2015;Westrupp et al., 2020). Likewise, children's reading comprehension improves as they progress through primary and continue to secondary school (Francis et al, 1996;Larsen & Little, 2023;Ricketts et al., 2020). However, whether rapid growth of vocabulary in early childhood leads to faster progress in later reading ability has not been extensively examined. ...
... In these theoretical descriptions, however, the developmental nature of both vocabulary (or word knowledge) growth and reading comprehension growth are less emphasised. Nonetheless, skill in both these domains generally increases as students grow older, regardless of whether they start ahead or behind others (e.g., Christensen et al., 2017;Francis et al., 1996;Larsen & Little, 2023;Song et al., 2015). Whether more rapid increases in vocabulary knowledge in early childhood predicts faster reading growth as students progress through primary and into secondary school has not been extensively examined. ...
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Conference Paper
Full-text available
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Evaluating the Reliability of Name Writing Rubric Scoring
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Article
  • Jul 2024
  • IEEE T BIO-MED ENG
italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Objective: Both structural and functional brain changes have been individually associated with developing cognitive processes such as reading. However, there is limited research about the combined influence of resting-state functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI and sMRI) features in reading development, which could provide insights into the interplay between brain structure and function in shaping cognitive growth. We propose a method called inter-modality source coupling (IMSC) to study the coupling between the rs-fMRI and sMRI and its relationship to reading ability in school-age children. Methods: This approach is applied to baseline data from four thousand participants (9-11 years) and replicated in a second group. Our analysis focused on the relationship of IMSC to overall reading score. Results: Our findings indicate that higher reading ability was linked with increased function-structure coupling among higher-level cortical regions, particularly those links between the inferior parietal lobule and inferior frontal areas, and conversely, lower reading ability was associated with enhanced function-structure coupling among the fusiform and lingual gyrus. Our study found evidence of spatial correspondence between the data indicating an interplay between brain structure and function in our participants. Conclusion: Our approach revealed a linked pattern of whole brain structure to the corresponding functional connectivity pattern that correlated with reading ability. This novel IMSC analysis method provides a new approach to study the multimodal relationship between brain function and structure. Significance: These findings have interesting implications for understanding the multimodal complexity underlying the development of the neural basis for reading ability in school-aged children.
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Full-text available
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A Matthew Effect for IQ But Not for Reading: Results from a Longitudinal Study
Article
  • Oct 1995
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Decoding, Reading, and Reading Disability
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Developmental Changes in the Cognitive Correlates of Reading Ability and the Developmental Lag Hypothesis
Article
  • Jun 1986
Groups of third- and fifth-grade children were administered tasks assessing receptive vocabulary, phonological awareness, general name-retrieval ability, decoding skill, word-recognition speed, and the ability to use context to speed word recognition. All of the tasks were significantly related to reading achievement except name retrieval in the third-grade sample. Reading ability in the third-grade children was most strongly related to vocabulary and word-recognition speed, whereas the strongest predictors of reading ability in the fifth-grade sample were vocabulary and decoding skill. The skilled third-grade readers and less skilled fifth-grade readers were approximately matched on overall reading level, providing an opportunity to test a developmental lag model of individual differences in reading skill. The cognitive profiles of these two groups were very similar. Although the traditional domain of developmental lag models has been dyslexia (i.e., severe reading disability), it is argued that this type of model is actually more helpful as an aid to understanding the normal achievement variations observed among nondyslexic children. /// [French] Des groupes d'élèves de troisième et cinquième années ont été soumis à des exercices évaluant l'appréhension du vocabulaire, la discrimination phonologique, le repérage de noms, le décodage, la vitesse d'identification des mots et la capacité d'utiliser le contexte pour accélérer cette identification. Tous les exercices se rapportaient directement à la lecture sauf l'activité de repérage de noms pour le groupe de troisième année. La capacité de lecture des élèves de troisième année était étroitement reliée au vocabulaire et à la vitesse d'identification des mots, alors qu'en cinquième année, la prédiction de cette capacité se basait sur le vocabulaire et le décodage. Suite à une évaluation des différences individuelles en lecture, basée sur un modèle de délai de développement, on a pu situer les élèves de troisième année les plus habiles à peu près au même niveau que les plus faibles de cinquième. Les profils cognitifs de ces deux groupes se ressemblaient beaucoup. Bien que traditionnellement, les modèles de délai de développement se soient basés sur la dyslexie, ce modèle-ci s'avère en fait plus utile pour comprendre les variations de rendement normal observé chez des enfants non-dyslexiques. /// [Spanish] Se administraron tareas a grupos de niños de tercero y quinto grado para medir: vocabulario receptivo, percepción fonológica, habilidad general de recuperación de nombres, habilidad de decodificación, velocidad de reconocimiento de palabras, y habilidad de usar contextos para acelerar el reconocimiento de palabras. Todas las tareas resultaron significativamente relacionadas con el aprovechamiento en la lectura exceptuando recuperación de nombres en la muestra de tercer grado. La habilidad de lectura en los niños de tercer grado estaba más fuertemente relacionada con vocabulario y velocidad de reconocimiento de palabras, mientras que los mejores predictores de la habilidad de lectura en la muestra de quinto grado fueron vocabulario y habilidad de decodificación. Los mejores lectores de tercer grado y los peores de quinto grado estaban cercanamente apareados en su nivel general de lectura, dándonos la oportunidad de probar un modelo de retardo en el desarrollo de diferencias individuales en la habilidad de lectura. Los perfiles cognitivos de estos dos grupos fueron muy similares. Aunque el dominio tradicional para los modelos de retardo en el desarrollo ha sido la dislexia (en otras palabras, inhabilidad severa en la lectura), se argumenta que este tipo de modelo es en realidad más útil para entender las variaciones en al aprovechamiento normal que se observa entre los niños no disléxicos. /// [German] Gruppen von kindern der dritten und fünften Klassen wurden Aufgaben vorgelegt, die das rezeptive Vokabular, phonologisches Bewußtsein, allgemeine Namenserinnerungsfähigkeit, Entschlüsselungsfertigkeit, Geschwindigkeit des Wörtererkennens und die Fähigkeit im Gebrauch des Kontexts zum Erkennen von Wörtern bestimmen. Alle Aufgaben waren eng mit Leseleistung verbunden mit Ausnahme des Namensgedächtnisses in der Testgruppe der dritten Klasse. Das Lesenkönnen hatte bei Kindern der dritten Klasse am stärksten mit Vokabular und Worterkennungsgeschwindigkeit zu tun, während die sichersten Vorhersagen für Lesenkönnen in der Gruppe der fünften Klasse Vokabular und Entschlüsselungsfertigkeit waren. Die guten Leser der dritten Klasse und weniger guten Leser der fünften Klasse waren ungefähr auf dem gleichen Stand in der Leseleistung, was eine Möglichkeit ergab, ein Modell verzögerter Entwicklung in Bezug auf individuelle Unterschiede in den Lesefertigkeiten zu testen. Die kognitiven Profile dieser zwei Gruppen waren sehr ähnlich. Obwohl die traditionelle Domäne von Modellen verzögerter Entwicklung Legasthenie ist (d.h. starke Lesebehinderung), wird die Behauptung aufgestellt, daß dieser Modelltyp hilfreicher ist als Verständnishilfe normaler Leistungsabweichungen, die bei nichtlegasthenen Kindern zu beobachten sind.
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Discrepancy Definitions of Reading Disability: Has Intelligence Led Us Astray?
Article
  • Jan 1991
Current definitions of reading disability or dyslexia all involve the existence of a discrepancy between reading ability and measured intelligence. It is argued here that the use of intelligence as an aptitude benchmark in the definition of dyslexia conceals illogical assumptions about the concept of potential. The author suggests instead the use of a more educationally relevant aptitude measure, such as listening comprehension. However, all discrepancy definitions predicated on mismatches between aptitude and achievement are called into question by findings that the acquisition of literacy fosters the very cognitive skills that are assessed on aptitude measures. These findings undermine the logic of discrepancy measurement by weakening the distinction between aptitude and achievement. The author concludes that the validity of a severe discrepancy between aptitude and achievement as the defining feature of dyslexia has yet to be established to a degree that would justify differential educational classification or treatment. /// [French] Les définitions actuelles des troubles de lecture ou dyslexie postulent généralement des écarts entre le niveau d'aptitudes intellectuelles tel que mesuré par les tests standardisés et le niveau d'habiletés en lecture. Le point de vue défendu dans cet article est que le fait d'utiliser l'intelligence comme critère dans la définition de la dyslexie repose sur des postulats non fondés quant au concept de potentiel intellectuel. L'auteur propose d'utiliser plutôt des critères académiques, tels que la compréhension verbale. Malgré tout, toutes hypothèses prédisant des écarts entre des types d'aptitudes et des habiletés interreliées sont sujettes à caution dans la mesure où des données de recherche montrent que le développement des habiletés écrites influence le développement des aptitudes cognitives qui sont mesurées par les tests standardisés. Ces données jettent un doute sur la logique qui sous-tend ces hypothèses quant à l'existence d'écarts entre aptitudes cognitives et habiletés en lecture en minimisant la distinction entre aptitudes et habiletés. L'auteur conclut que l'existence de différences importantes entre aptitudes cognitives et habiletés en lecture comme critère de définition de la dyslexie reste à démontrer si l'on veut justifier le bien fondé de classements et de traitements différents des enfants dyslexiques. /// [Spanish] Las definiciones actuales de dificultades de lectura o dislexia envuelven todas la existencia de una discrepancia entre habilidad de lectura e inteligencia medida. Se argumenta aquí que el uso de la inteligencia como una marca de aptitud en la definición de dislexia esconde razonamientos ilógicos acerca del concepto de potencial. El autor sugiere en cambio, el uso de una medida más relevante educativamente de medición de aptitudes, tal como la comprensión oral. Sin embargo, todas las definiciones de discrepancia predicadas en las uniones equivocadas entre aptitud y logro son cuestionadas por los hallazgos de que la adquisición de la lectura promueve las mismas habilidades cognitivas que se miden en las medidas de aptitud. Estos hallazgos minan la lógica de la medida de discrepancia al debilitar la distinción entre aptitud y logro. El autor concluye que la validez de una severa discrepancia entre aptitud y logro como la marca que define a la dislexia aún está por establecerse a un grado tal que justificara la clasificación educativa o el tratamiento diferencial. /// [German] In allen derzeitigen Definitionen über Lesestörung oder Legasthenie ist eine Diskrepanz zwischen Lesefähigkeit und gemessener Intelligenz vorhanden. An dieser Stelle wird argumentiert, daß die Verwendung des Faktors Intelligenz-als eine Eignungsbewertung bei der Definition von Legasthenie-die unlogische Annahme eines Potentialkonzepts verschleiert. Stattdessen schlägt der Verfasser vor, eine Eignungsmaßnahme anzuwenden, die stärker auf die Schulbildung anwendbar ist, wie z.B. das Hörverständnis. Alle Diskrepanzdefinitionen, die auf der Fehlanpassung zwischen Eignung und Leistung basieren, wurden durch die Feststellung in Frage gestellt, daß der Erwerb der Lesefähigkeit genau diejenigen kognitiven Fertigkeiten fördert, die anhand von Eignungsmaßnahmen festgelegt werden. Der Verfasser schließt daraus, daß die Gültigkeit einer wesentlichen Diskrepanz zwischen Eignung und Leistung als das definierende Merkmal für Legasthenie noch in gewissem Grade festgelegt werden muß, damit eine differentielle Bildungsklassifizierung oder Bildungsmaßnahme berechtigt wäre.
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Some Prerequisites for Interpreting Results from Reading Level Matched Designs
Article
  • Dec 1989
The present paper discusses conflicting interpretations of specific patterns of results from contrasts of poor and normal readers matched either for chronological age (CA) or reading level (RL). Of general concern is the ambiguity inherent in interpreting results comparing CA- and RL-matched groups on cognitive tasks that could be affected by reading ability. It is argued that causal inferences that might be prompted by a given pattern of results are permissible only when (a) that pattern is observed with a high degree of consistency on a wide variety of relevant cognitive tasks; at least some of which are not readily influenced by experience in reading, (b) if the data are organized by a reasonably plausible theory of reading disability; and (c) if the hypotheses generated by this theory are supported by independent research.
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The Developmental Lag Hypothesis in Reading: Longitudinal and Matched Reading-Level Comparisons
Article
  • Feb 1988
Groups of third-, fifth-, and seventh-grade children (ages 8-11, 10-10, and 13-0, respectively) who were matched on reading ability were administered tasks assessing receptive vocabulary, strategic memory, nonstrategic memory, articulation speed, rhyming ability, name-retrieval ability, decoding skill, word-recognition efficiency, reliance on phonological information in decoding, and the use of context in word recognition. The cognitive profiles of the 3 groups were strikingly similar. The results support a developmental lag model of the reading problems of non-dyslexic children. Subgroups of the fifth- and seventh-grade children had been tested 2 years earlier as skilled third- and less-skilled fifth-grade children who were matched on reading ability. In the subsequent testing 2 years later, the younger children had shown more growth in reading ability, a rate difference predicted by the lag model. An examination of the cognitive profiles of these 2 groups indicated that the more rapid growth in reading displayed by the younger children was accompanied by superior growth in word recognition. It is argued that any attempt to integrate the results from studies employing reading-level match designs must carefully distinguish the different populations of children used in the older, less-skilled groups and must differentiate decoding-level matches from comprehension-level matches.
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