Effects of Bottom-Up and Top-Down Intervention Principles in Emergent Literacy in Children at Risk of Developmental Dyslexia: A Longitudinal Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Turid Helland ◽  
Tomas Tjus ◽  
Marit Hovden ◽  
Sonja Ofte ◽  
Mikael Heimann

This longitudinal study focused on the effects of two different principles of intervention in children at risk of developing dyslexia from 5 to 8 years old. The children were selected on the basis of a background questionnaire given to parents and preschool teachers, with cognitive and functional magnetic resonance imaging results substantiating group differences in neuropsychological processes associated with phonology, orthography, and phoneme—grapheme correspondence (i.e., alphabetic principle). The two principles of intervention were bottom-up (BU), “from sound to meaning”, and top-down (TD), “from meaning to sound.” Thus, four subgroups were established: risk/BU, risk/TD, control/BU, and control/TD. Computer-based training took place for 2 months every spring, and cognitive assessments were performed each fall of the project period. Measures of preliteracy skills for reading and spelling were phonological awareness, working memory, verbal learning, and letter knowledge. Literacy skills were assessed by word reading and spelling. At project end the control group scored significantly above age norm, whereas the risk group scored within the norm. In the at-risk group, training based on the BU principle had the strongest effects on phonological awareness and working memory scores, whereas training based on the TD principle had the strongest effects on verbal learning, letter knowledge, and literacy scores. It was concluded that appropriate, specific, data-based intervention starting in preschool can mitigate literacy impairment and that interventions should contain BU training for preliteracy skills and TD training for literacy training.

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-31
Author(s):  
S.A. Morozov ◽  
S.S. Morozova ◽  
T.I. Morozova

Early help for children with autism spectrum disorders is the most effective way of intervention for disorders. In the process of identifying children at risk of autistic disorders, correctional work should begin before the official diagnosis has been made. It should start in the process of diagnosis, which leads to the risk of noting false-positive cases. The empirical and theoretical grounds for the necessity for early care in autism spectrum disorders are examined. Features of early care for children at high risk of developing disorders are also de¬scribed. The stages of early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders are identified and compared with the stages of early care for such children. The strategy of early care methodological support for children at risk is defined. Propositions for practical realizations of the Concept of developing early support in Russian Federation in the period until 2020 for the risk group concerning autism spectrum disorders.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Howell ◽  
Li Ying Chua ◽  
Kaho Yoshikawa ◽  
Hannah Hau Shuen Tang ◽  
Taniya Welmillage ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 194 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Broome ◽  
Pall Matthiasson ◽  
Paolo Fusar-Poli ◽  
James B. Woolley ◽  
Louise C. Johns ◽  
...  

BackgroundPeople with prodromal symptoms have a very high risk of developing psychosis.AimsTo use functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neurocognitive basis of this vulnerability.MethodCross-sectional comparison of regional activation in individuals with an ‘at-risk mental state’ (at-risk group: n=17), patients with first-episode schizophreniform psychosis (psychosis group: n=10) and healthy volunteers (controls: n=15) during an overt verbal fluency task and an N-back working memory task.ResultsA similar pattern of between-group differences in activation was evident across both tasks. Activation in the at-risk group was intermediate relative to that in controls and the psychosis group in the inferior frontal and anterior cingulate cortex during the verbal fluency task and in the inferior frontal, dorsolateral prefrontal and parietal cortex during the N-back task.ConclusionsThe at-risk mental state is associated with abnormalities of regional brain function that are qualitatively similar to, but less severe than, those in patients who have recently presented with psychosis.


2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 308-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail T. Gillon

Purpose: This study investigated the phonological awareness and early literacy development of 12 children who presented at 3 years of age with moderate or severe speech impairment. The children’s response to early intervention that included specific activities to facilitate phoneme awareness and letter knowledge, in addition to improving speech intelligibility, was examined. Method: Using a 3-year longitudinal design, the children’s development in phonological awareness was monitored and compared to that of a group of 19 children without speech impairment. During the monitoring period from 3 to 5 years of age, the children with speech impairment received, on average, 25.5 intervention sessions. At 6 years of age, the children’s performance on phonological awareness, reading, and spelling measures was also compared to that of the 19 children without impairment as well as to a matched control group of children with speech impairment who had not received any specific instruction in phonological awareness. Results: The results indicated that (a) phoneme awareness can be stimulated in children with speech impairment as young as 3 and 4 years of age, (b) facilitating phoneme awareness development can be achieved concurrently with improvement in speech intelligibility, and (c) enhancing phoneme awareness and letter knowledge during the preschool years is associated with successful early reading and spelling experiences for children with speech impairment. Clinical Implications: The data provide evidence to support the clinical practice of integrating activities to develop phoneme awareness and letter knowledge into therapy for 3- and 4-year-old children with moderate or severe speech impairment.


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