The effect of audio-support on strategy, time, and performance on reading comprehension in secondary school students with dyslexia

The use of adequate reading comprehension strategies is important to read efficiently. Students with dyslexia not only read slower and less accurately, they also use fewer reading comprehension strategies. To compensate for their decoding problems, they often receive audio-support (narration written text). However, audio-support linearly guides readers from beginning to end through texts, possibly hindering the use of reading comprehension strategies in expository texts and negatively impacting reading time and reading comprehension performance. We examined to what extent audio-support affects reading comprehension strategies, reading times, and reading comprehension performance in 21 secondary school students with dyslexia and 22 typically developing controls. Participants were provided with three types of assignments (summarizing, open-ended questions, statement questions) in each condition (written text with and without audio-support). SMI RED-500 eye tracker captured eye movements during reading. The standard deviation of the weighted fixation duration times on the three paragraphs was considered indicative of the disparity of readers’ attention within the text. Following a discrimination based on experts’ reading behavior and hand-coded validation, these scores visualized whether students used the intensive reading strategy (reading whole text) or selective reading strategy (focusing on part of the text). In open-ended assignments, students divided their attention more over the whole text instead of focusing on one specific part when audio was added. In addition, audio-support increased reading time in students with and without dyslexia in most tasks, while in neither of the tasks audio-support affected reading comprehension performance. Audio-support impacts reading comprehension strategy and reading time in all students.

The role of grit and resilience in children with reading disorder: a longitudinal cohort study

Prior studies have suggested that grit and resilience predict both academic and career success. However, these qualities have not been examined in children with reading disorder (RD). We therefore investigated whether grit and resilience were associated with anxiety, depression, academic performance, and quality of life (QOL) in these students. This 3-year longitudinal cohort study included 163 participants with RD from 3 schools. Evaluations were completed by parents and/or teachers every 3 months. The Grit and Resilience Scale was adapted from the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and the 12-item Grit Scale. Outcome measures included anxiety (School Anxiety Scale – Teacher Report and the 8-item Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale), depression (Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire), academic performance, and QOL (Pediatric QOL Inventory 4.0). Multivariate linear regression models (adjusting for age and sex) assessed the associations at baseline. Repeated measures analysis using mixed-effects models assessed the relationship longitudinally. There were statistically significant associations between grit and resilience and all outcomes at baseline and over time. After adjusting for age and sex, improved grit and resilience was associated with decreased anxiety (β = − 0.4, p < 0.001) and improved academic performance (β = 0.5, p < 0.001) when grit and resilience was measured by teachers, as well as decreased depression (β = − 0.3, p < 0.001) and improved QOL (β = 0.6, p < 0.001) when grit and resilience was measured by parents. Grit and resilience are significantly related to mental health, academic performance, and QOL in children with RD. This suggests that interventions to improve grit and resilience may lead to positive benefits.