Richard K. Wagner’s research while affiliated with Florida State University and other places

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Publications (132)


Revisiting the definition of dyslexia
  • Article

January 2024

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653 Reads

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17 Citations

Annals of Dyslexia

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Christopher J Lonigan

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The International Dyslexia Association definition of dyslexia was updated 20 years ago and has been referenced frequently in research and practice. In this paper, researchers from the Florida Center for Reading Research consider the components of the definition and make recommendations for revisions. These include recognizing the persistence of word-reading, decoding, and spelling difficulties, acknowledging the multifactorial causal basis of dyslexia, clarifying exclusionary factors, and denoting comorbidity with other developmental disorders. It is also suggested that the academic and psychosocial consequences of dyslexia be highlighted to reinforce a preventive service delivery model. Lastly, the inclusion of dyslexia within a specific learning disability category is supported.


Advancements in Identification and Risk Prediction of Reading Disabilities
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  • Full-text available

January 2023

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71 Reads

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7 Citations

Scientific Studies of Reading

Advancing reading disabilities identification and risk prediction has been the focus of reading disabilities research for over three decades. Despite considerable research effort, approaches to identification and classification that primarily rely on a single factor have not proved to have sufficient reliability (Schatschneider et al., 2016). No single risk factor or risk assessment approach has demonstrated superiority. This finding is not surprising because when cut points are placed on an underlying continuous distribution, measurement error will result in cases ending up on opposite sides of the cut point upon repeated assessments (Francis et al., 2005). In recent years, new models have emerged that combine multiple risk factors, leading to better accuracy and positive predictive levels than approaches that primarily rely on single factors (Schatschneider et al., 2016). One possible explanation of why the identification and risk prediction of reading disabilities have remained inaccurate may be

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A Bayesian Probabilistic Framework for Identification of Individuals with Dyslexia

December 2022

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87 Reads

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7 Citations

Scientific Studies of Reading

Purpose Bayesian-based models for diagnosis are common in medicine but have not been incorporated into identification models for dyslexia. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate Bayesian identification models that included a broader set of predictors and that capitalized on recent developments in modeling the prevalence of dyslexia. Method Model-based meta-analysis was used to create a composite correlation matrix that included common predictors of dyslexia such as decoding, phonological awareness, oral language, but also included response to intervention (RTI) and family risk for dyslexia. Bayesian logistic regression models were used to predict poor reading comprehension, unexpectedly poor reading comprehension, poor decoding, and unexpectedly poor decoding, all at two levels of severity. Results Most predictors made independent and substantial contributions to prediction, supporting models of dyslexia that rely on multiple rather than single indicators. RTI was the strongest predictor of poor reading comprehension and unexpectedly poor reading comprehension. Phonological awareness was the strongest predictor of poor decoding and unexpectedly poor decoding, followed closely by family risk. Conclusion Bayesian-based models are a promising tool for implementing multiple-indicator models of identification. Ideas for improving prediction and implications for theory and practice are discussed.


Impact of Predictor Variables on L2 English Reading Acquisition for Grades 3 and 5

December 2022

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16 Reads

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1 Citation

Reading Psychology

This study was part of a larger longitudinal study in which we focused on measuring reading acquisition and observing the impact of SES, curriculum and gender on reading subtest scores. In Part 1 of our study (in review), we reported on findings for students in Grade 1. For Part 2 of our study, we report on our findings for students in Grades 3 and 5 and offer a comparison across the three elementary grades. Participants for the current study included 657 students from Grade 3 (n = 328) and 5 (n = 329) representing low-cost, middle-cost and high-cost schools in Bangalore, India. The students’ reading skills were measured using progress-monitoring tools and we utilized a mixed-effects hierarchical growth model to observe reading growth. The results suggested that both SES and curriculum had the most significant and positive effect on skills acquisition. These results will shed light on reading assessment and intervention practices in the Indian context.


Early Identification of Children with Dyslexia: Variables Differentially Predict Poor Reading Versus Unexpected Poor Reading

October 2022

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131 Reads

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9 Citations

Reading Research Quarterly

Definitions of dyslexia typically make reference to unexpected poor reading, although how best to operationalize unexpected remains an issue. When operationally defined as reading below expectations based on level of oral language, cases of unexpected poor reading make up fewer than half of cases of poor reading, and cases of unexpected poor reading occur throughout the range of reading proficiency. An implication is that what optimally predicts poor reading may not optimally predict unexpected poor reading. The goal of the three presented studies was to test this implication empirically. In Study 1, a model-based meta-analysis, phonological awareness accounted for 40% of the variance in decoding but only 1% of the variance in decoding that was unexpected based on level of vocabulary. Conversely, unexpected phonological awareness accounted for 34% of the variance in unexpected decoding but only 1% of the variance in decoding. An analogous pattern of results occurred for reading comprehension. In Study 2, a study of 766 children in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, latent variables were used to represent oral vocabulary, phonological awareness, and decoding. As was seen in Study 1, unexpected decoding was better predicted by unexpected phonological awareness than by phonological awareness. In Study 3, a longitudinal study of 1,025 children followed from preschool through grade 2, the pattern of results mirrored those of Studies 1 and 2. An important implication of these studies is that typical assessments may be better at identifying poor reading than they are at identifying unexpected poor reading or dyslexia.


Developmental Dyslexia

May 2022

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185 Reads

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11 Citations

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability characterized by deficits that are limited to specific processes and areas of achievement as opposed to being representative of an individual's general level of language or intellectual functioning. Phonological processing is a signature cognitive/linguistic skill that is essential for the development of reading regardless of the script, and a deficit in phonological processing is regarded as a contributor to most cases of dyslexia. Model‐based meta‐analyses were used to estimate the population correlation between listening and reading comprehension, and simulated data sets were then created based on the estimated population correlation between listening and reading comprehension. Co‐occurring mathematics disorder is the most observed co‐occurring condition with dyslexia. A solution to the problem of unreliability of definitions based primarily on a single criterion is to use definitions based on multiple criteria. Assistive technology in the form of text‐to‐speech readers and speech‐to‐text writers may mitigate some of these negative concomitants of dyslexia.


Developmental relations between facets of morphological awareness in Chinese: a latent change score modeling study

February 2022

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60 Reads

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1 Citation

Applied Psycholinguistics

Chinese morphological awareness is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct but there is a lack of understanding of how its dimensions are related. Latent change score modeling was used to examine the bivariate relationships of two facets of oral morphological awareness, namely morpheme and structure awareness in Chinese children in grades one through three. Two hundred and three children in China completed morpheme (homonym awareness) and structure awareness (lexical compounding) tasks across the three grades (M = 6.66, SD = .30 at the first time point). Results indicated that growth in structure awareness was predicted in part by previous levels of morpheme awareness, suggesting that morpheme awareness leads the growth of structure awareness. Educational implications are discussed.


Reconceptualizing the Prevalence of Dyslexia as a Distribution Rather than a Number

August 2021

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19 Reads

How prevalent is dyslexia? Published estimates range from 3 to 30 percent. A new approach to estimating prevalence argues that prevalence is a distribution rather than a single number, and that the distribution can be approximated by the distribution of the discrepancy between listening comprehension (LC) and reading comprehension (RC). The goal of the present study was to examine the distributional approach to understanding the prevalence of dyslexia using samples of children in 3rd, 7th, and 10th grade. The results supported viewing the prevalence of dyslexia as a distribution. Implications for screening and identification are discussed.


A model-based meta-analytic examination of specific reading comprehension deficit: how prevalent is it and does the simple view of reading account for it?

June 2021

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55 Reads

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22 Citations

Annals of Dyslexia

Many individuals with poor reading comprehension have levels of reading comprehension that are consistent with deficits in their ability to decode the words on the page. However, there are individuals who are poor at reading comprehension despite being adequate at decoding. This phenomenon is referred to as specific reading comprehension deficit (SRCD). The two purposes of this study were to use a new approach to estimate the prevalence of SRCD and to examine the extent to which SRCD can be explained by the simple view of reading. We used model-based meta-analysis of correlation matrices from standardized tests to create composite correlation matrices for the constructs of reading comprehension, decoding, and listening comprehension. Using simulated datasets generated from the composite correlation matrices, we used residuals from regressing reading comprehension on decoding to create a continuous index of SRCD. The prevalence of SRCD is best represented not as a single number but as a continuous distribution in which prevalence varies as a function of the magnitude of the severity of the deficit in reading comprehension relative to the level of decoding. Examining the joint distribution of the residuals with reading comprehension makes clear that the phenomenon of reading comprehension that is poor relative to decoding occurs throughout the distribution of reading comprehension skill. Although the simple view of reading predictors of listening comprehension and decoding makes significant contributions to predicting reading comprehension, nearly half of the variance is unaccounted for.



Citations (90)


... Dyslexia is often characterised as a difficulty in learning to decode/encode print (Snowling and Hulme 2024), or as a learning difficulty that impacts an individual's ability to develop reading accuracy and fluency (Shaywitz, Shaywitz, and Shaywitz 2021). However, when viewed through a social relational model of disability (Haegele and Hodge 2016), dyslexia is understood to be both neurological in nature and influenced by environmental factors (Abetz 2022: Catts et al. 2024. The social relational model of disability posits that it is the coming together of the impairment (dyslexia) and the interactions with the context (a school setting where literacy skills are an expectation) that form the lived disability experience (Thomas 2004). ...

Reference:

‘Oh, what does dyslexia do?’: a qualitative investigation of ableist microaggressions towards Australian dyslexic children in primary school
Revisiting the definition of dyslexia
  • Citing Article
  • January 2024

Annals of Dyslexia

... KNN, on the other hand, relied on the similarity of data points to make predictions, effectively capturing local patterns in the dataset [38]. Logistic Regression and Naive Bayes offered probabilistic frameworks for estimating the likelihood of dyslexia based on observed features, facilitating straightforward interpretation and model validation [18]. Finally, Random Forest, as an ensemble method, combined multiple decision trees to improve prediction accuracy and robustness, particularly in the presence of noisy or correlated features [19]. ...

A Bayesian Probabilistic Framework for Identification of Individuals with Dyslexia
  • Citing Article
  • December 2022

Scientific Studies of Reading

... Finally, socio-economic status could also influence literacy development. A recent study by Shenoy, Wagner, Overton, and Rao (2023) examined the effects of socio-economic statuscomparing low, middle, and high cost schools-and gender on English reading sub-skills in Year 3 and 5 children in Bangalore. Socio-economic status was a significant predictor of all reading measures in both years, with children from low-cost schools underperforming. ...

Impact of Predictor Variables on L2 English Reading Acquisition for Grades 3 and 5
  • Citing Article
  • December 2022

Reading Psychology

... The results indicated that the BDT has a sensitivity of 96.4% and a specificity of 82.5% (Reynolds and Caravolas 2016). While highly sensitive and specific, the theoretical underpinning of this screening tool, with its focus on working memory deficits, is no longer consistent with the growing literature on the phonological and other deficits of dyslexia (Erbeli and Wagner 2023;Everatt and Denston 2020;Franzen, Stark, and Johnson 2021;Shaywitz and Shaywitz 2005;Siegel and Smythe 2005). ...

Advancements in Identification and Risk Prediction of Reading Disabilities

Scientific Studies of Reading

... Collage students only taught reading directly without a process that refers to mastering the correct reading process, which should be the main basis taught for early reading (Stutchbury et al., 2020;Wagner & Lonigan, 2023). ...

Early Identification of Children with Dyslexia: Variables Differentially Predict Poor Reading Versus Unexpected Poor Reading
  • Citing Article
  • October 2022

Reading Research Quarterly

... However, this appealingly simple characterization promotes dichotomous thinking about reading that masks the underlying complexity of each of these processes, the massive cognitive coordination required for reading, and the complexity inherent in coherence-building processes necessary for discourse comprehension, all of which are reflected in more contemporary, integrative reading theories (Duke & Cartwright, 2021;Perfetti & Stafura, 2014;van den Broek & Kendeou, 2022). In practice, simple, two-factor models are often applied in a monolithic manner to remediate reading difficulties, despite the fact that they account for less than half of the variance in reading outcomes for students with reading difficulties (Wagner et al., 2021). Indeed, such views lead practitioners to assume that reading problems arise from difficulties with code-or meaning-based processes, and that remediation should focus separately on these two types of skills (e.g., DiGillio, 2023;Farrell et al., 2024). ...

A model-based meta-analytic examination of specific reading comprehension deficit: how prevalent is it and does the simple view of reading account for it?
  • Citing Article
  • June 2021

Annals of Dyslexia

... This mechanism, referred to as self-learning by Share (1995), describes how children progress from novice reading to expert reading. This complex process requires linguistic and world knowledge, vocabulary (Spencer et al., 2017), and lexical quality 2 (Perfetti & Stafura, 2014). These skills often result from repeated, high-quality linguistic and social interactions with the child's family environment during verbal and non-verbal rituals, shared reading, and later independent reading (Campbell, 2014). ...

Vocabulary, morphology, and reading comprehension
  • Citing Chapter
  • July 2017

... Thus, reading difficulties constitute a consequential problem that deserves the attention of developmental scientists. However, translational work that positively impacts educational practice occurs infrequently (Roediger, 2013;Solari et al., 2020;Tseng, 2012) as do classroom implementations of research-based reading interventions (McCardle & Miller, 2009), despite their tremendous potential for informing the science and practice of reading instruction (Petscher et al., 2020;Solari et al., 2020). Furthermore, despite growing evidence of the role of executive functioning (EF) skills in reading (see Butterfuss & Kendeou, 2018, for a review), little causal work exists to indicate positive effects of EF interventions -particularly teacher-administered EF interventions -on reading performance (Jacob & Parkinson, 2015). ...

How the Science of Reading Informs 21st Century Education
  • Citing Preprint
  • May 2020

... Also, some of the guidance is contradictory. There is an emphasis on using decodable readers, but the research on their use is limited and the findings are not generalizable (Petscher et al, 2020); the authors explain this does not mean the books do not have value, but more information is needed about when they use is effective and for whom. This course corresponds with both the STR standards knowledge strand that requires the candidates to be familiar with the English and Language Arts TEKS and know how to apply them to teaching and assessment. ...

How the Science of Reading Informs 21st‐Century Education
  • Citing Article
  • September 2020

Reading Research Quarterly