Contribution of temporal processing skills to reading comprehension in 8-year-olds: evidence for a mediation effect of phonological awareness

The role of tone duration in dichotic temporal order judgment II: Extending the boundaries of duration and age

Temporal order judgment (TOJ) measures the ability to correctly perceive the order of consecutive stimuli presented rapidly. Our previous research suggested that the major predictor of auditory dichotic TOJ threshold, a paradigm that requires the identification of the order of two tones, each of which is presented to a different ear, is the time separating the onset of the first tone from the onset of the second tone (stimulus-onset-asynchrony, SOA). Data supporting this finding, however, was based on a young adult population and a tone duration range of 10–40 msec. The current study aimed to evaluate the generalizability of the earlier finding by manipulating the experimental model in two different ways: a) extending the tone duration range to include shorter stimulus durations (3–8 msec; Experiment 1) and b) repeating the identical testing procedure on a different population with temporal processing deficits, i.e., older adults (Experiment 2). We hypothesized that the SOA would predict the TOJ threshold regardless of tone duration and participant age. Experiment 1 included 226 young adults divided into eight groups (each group receiving a different tone duration) with duration ranging from 3–40 msec. Experiment 2 included 98 participants aged 60–75 years, divided into five groups by tone duration (10–40 msec). The results of both experiments confirmed the hypothesis, that the SOA required for performing dichotic TOJ was constant regardless of stimulus duration, for both age groups: about 66.5 msec for the young adults and 33 msec longer (100 msec) for the older adults. This finding suggests that dichotic TOJ threshold is controlled by a general mechanism that changes quantitatively with age. Clinically, this has significance because quantitative changes can be more easily remedied than qualitative changes. Theoretically, our findings show that, with dichotic TOJ, tone duration affects threshold by providing more time between the onsets of the consecutive stimuli to the two ears. The findings also imply that a temporal processing deficit, at least among older adults, does not elicit the use of a different mechanism in order to judge temporal order.

Children With Persistent Versus Transient Early Language Delay: Language, Academic, and Psychosocial Outcomes in Elementary School

Purpose The objective of this study was to compare children with persistent versus transient preschool language delay on language, academic, and psychosocial outcomes in elementary school. Method Children with persistent language delay (n = 30), transient language delay (n = 29), and no language delay (controls; n = 163) were identified from a population-based sample of twins. They were compared on language skills, academic achievement, and psychosocial adjustment in kindergarten and Grades 1, 3, 4, and 6. Results Children with persistent language delay continued to show language difficulties throughout elementary school. Furthermore, they had academic difficulties, in numeracy, and psychosocial difficulties (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder behaviors, externalizing behaviors, peer difficulties) from Grade 1 to Grade 6. Children with transient language delay did not differ from controls on language and academic performance. However, they showed more externalizing behaviors in kindergarten and peer difficulties in Grade 1 than controls. Conclusion Difficulties at school age are widespread and enduring in those with persistent early language delay but appear specific to psychosocial adjustment in those with transient language delay.

Auditory, Visual, and Cross-Modal Temporal Processing Skills Among Chinese Children With Developmental Dyslexia

The present study examined whether temporal processing (TP) is associated with reading of a non-alphabetic script, that is, Chinese. A total of 126 primary school-aged Chinese children from Taiwan (63 children with dyslexia) completed cross-modal, visual, and auditory temporal order judgment tasks and measures of Chinese reading and literacy-related skills. The results showed that typically developing children and children with dyslexia differed in all TP skills. Structural equation modeling indicated that cross-modal TP contributed independently to character recognition in the entire sample if the significant effects of phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and rapid automatized naming were considered. The multi-sample analysis showed that TP did not predict reading in the typical group after controlling for literacy-related skills, but visual and cross-modal TP skills independently contributed to reading in the group with dyslexia in addition to literacy-related skills. Finally, the path analysis indicated that in the typical group, separate TP skills affected reading through literacy-related skills, but visual and cross-modal TP skills had direct effects on character reading in the group with dyslexia. These findings suggest that TP is more important for reading in children with dyslexia than in typically developing children, and the roles of TP in dyslexia require further examination.

Auditory temporal perceptual learning and transfer in Chinese-speaking children with developmental dyslexia

Perceptual learning refers to the improvement of perceptual performance as a function of training. Recent studies found that auditory perceptual learning may improve phonological skills in individuals with developmental dyslexia in alphabetic writing system. However, whether auditory perceptual learning could also benefit the reading skills of those learning the Chinese logographic writing system is, as yet, unknown. The current study aimed to investigate the remediation effect of auditory temporal perceptual learning on Mandarin-speaking school children with developmental dyslexia. Thirty children with dyslexia were screened from a large pool of students in 3th-5th grades. They completed a series of pretests and then were assigned to either a non-training control group or a training group. The training group worked on a pure tone duration discrimination task for 7 sessions over 2 weeks with thirty minutes per session. Post-tests immediately after training and a follow-up test 2 months later were conducted. Analyses revealed a significant training effect in the training group relative to non-training group, as well as near transfer to the temporal interval discrimination task and far transfer to phonological awareness, character recognition and reading fluency. Importantly, the training effect and all the transfer effects were stable at the 2-month follow-up session. Further analyses found that a significant correlation between character recognition performance and learning rate mainly existed in the slow learning phase, the consolidation stage of perceptual learning, and this effect was modulated by an individuals' executive function. These findings indicate that adaptive auditory temporal perceptual learning can lead to learning and transfer effects on reading performance, and shed further light on the potential role of basic perceptual learning in the remediation and prevention of developmental dyslexia.

Cognitive mechanisms underlying the associations between inattention and reading abilities

This study aims to test cognitive skills underlying the association between inattention and reading in early primary school. Teachers rated inattention symptoms when children (N = 523-962) were 6-7 years old. Children were assessed at age 7-8 on phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), rapid auditory and bimodal processing, vocabulary, and reading (decoding and comprehension). Phonological awareness, RAN of numbers, and vocabulary mediated the association between inattention and both decoding and comprehension. Rapid bimodal processing mediated the association between inattention and decoding, while RAN of colors mediated the association between inattention and comprehension. This study highlights mediators underlying inattention-reading associations.

Foundations of reading comprehension in children with intellectual disabilities

BACKGROUND

Knowledge about predictors for reading comprehension in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) is still fragmented.

AIMS

This study compared reading comprehension, word decoding, listening comprehension, and reading related linguistic and cognitive precursor measures in children with mild ID and typically developing controls. Moreover, it was explored how the precursors related to reading achievement.

METHOD AND PROCEDURES

Children with mild ID and typical controls were assessed on reading comprehension, decoding, language comprehension, and linguistic (early literacy skills, vocabulary, grammar) and cognitive (rapid naming, phonological short-term memory, working memory, temporal processing, nonverbal reasoning) precursor measures. It was tested to what extent variations in reading comprehension could be explained from word decoding, listening comprehension and precursor measures.

OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

The ID group scored significantly below typical controls on all measures. Word decoding was at or above first grade level in half the ID group. Reading comprehension in the ID group was related to word decoding, listening comprehension, early literacy skills, and temporal processing.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

The reading comprehension profile of children with mild ID strongly resembles typical early readers. The simple view of reading pertains to children with mild ID, with additional influence of early literacy skills and temporal processing.

Auditory discrimination predicts linguistic outcome in Italian infants with and without familial risk for language learning impairment

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Italian infants with familial risk for LLI show deficits in RAP abilities.

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Early multi-feature RAP skills predict to later expressive language skills.

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Different acoustical features are critical to normative language acquisition.

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Early RAP skills represent a stable cross-linguistic risk marker for LLI.

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Early intervention programs should be implemented based on these results.

Infants’ ability to discriminate between auditory stimuli presented in rapid succession and differing in fundamental frequency (Rapid Auditory Processing [RAP] abilities) has been shown to be anomalous in infants at familial risk for Language Learning Impairment (LLI) and to predict later language outcomes. This study represents the first attempt to investigate RAP in Italian infants at risk for LLI (FH+), examining two critical acoustic features: frequency and duration, both embedded in a rapidly-presented acoustic environment. RAP skills of 24 FH+ and 32 control (FH−) Italian 6-month-old infants were characterized via EEG/ERP using a multi-feature oddball paradigm. Outcome measures of expressive vocabulary were collected at 20 months.

Group differences favoring FH− infants were identified: in FH+ infants, the latency of the N2* peak was delayed and the mean amplitude of the positive mismatch response was reduced, primarily for frequency discrimination and within the right hemisphere. Moreover, both EEG measures were correlated with language scores at 20 months.

Results indicate that RAP abilities are atypical in Italian infants with a first-degree relative affected by LLI and that this impacts later linguistic skills. These findings provide a compelling cross-linguistic comparison with previous research on American infants, supporting the biological unity hypothesis of LLI.

Age, dyslexia subtype and comorbidity modulate rapid auditory processing in developmental dyslexia

The nature of Rapid Auditory Processing (RAP) deficits in dyslexia remains debated, together with the specificity of the problem to certain types of stimuli and/or restricted subgroups of individuals. Following the hypothesis that the heterogeneity of the dyslexic population may have led to contrasting results, the aim of the study was to define the effect of age, dyslexia subtype and comorbidity on the discrimination and reproduction of non-verbal tone sequences. Participants were 46 children aged 8–14 (26 with dyslexia, subdivided according to age, presence of a previous language delay, and type of dyslexia). Experimental tasks were a Temporal Order Judgment (TOJ) (manipulating tone length, ISI and sequence length), and a Pattern Discrimination Task. Dyslexic children showed general RAP deficits. Tone length and ISI influenced dyslexic and control children's performance in a similar way, but dyslexic children were more affected by an increase from 2 to 5 sounds. As to age, older dyslexic children's difficulty in reproducing sequences of 4 and 5 tones was similar to that of normally reading younger (but not older) children. In the analysis of subgroup profiles, the crucial variable appears to be the advantage, or lack thereof, in processing long vs. short sounds. Dyslexic children with a previous language delay obtained the lowest scores in RAP measures, but they performed worse with shorter stimuli, similar to control children, while dyslexic-only children showed no advantage for longer stimuli. As to dyslexia subtype, only surface dyslexics improved their performance with longer stimuli, while phonological dyslexics did not. Differential scores for short vs. long tones and for long vs. short ISIs predict non-word and word reading, respectively, and the former correlate with phonemic awareness. In conclusion, the relationship between non-verbal RAP, phonemic skills and reading abilities appears to be characterized by complex interactions with subgroup characteristics.