Research byte: Rise time perception and reading disabilities

Another article implicating auditory temporal processing abilities and readind disabilities...rise time perception problems.

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Dissertation dish: Temporal processing and early reading development

An interesting unpublished dissertation that highlights the relationship between temporal processing (click here for link to relevant portion of IQ Brain Clock EWOK; click here for other "temporal processing" posts at this blog; click here for other "reading" and timing posts at this blog) and early reading development. PDF copy can be downloaded from the original cite (click here). Thanks to Amy V. for forwarding me information about this dissertation. This is the first "dissertation dish" post at the IQ Brain Clock. Dissertation dish posts are a semi-regular feature at IQ's Corner.

As is often the case, this dissertation has a nice literature review on the role of auditory and temporal processing and reading, as well as the well-known role of phonological processing and reading. Of particular interest was the finding that temporal processing explained additional variance unique from phonological processing variance. That is - both temporal and phonological processing were found to be important sources in understanding early reading development.

Title	The Role of Temporal and Phonological Processing In Early Reading Development: A Longitudinal Study
Author	Hood, Michelle H
Institution	Griffith University
Date	2005
Abstract

• [Blogmaster note - bold font added by me] This study investigated the ability of auditory and visual temporal processing measured before school entry (mean age 5.36 years) to predict early reading development in an unselected sample of children. There were 142 children at the first phase (Preschool), 125 at the second phase 6 - 8 months later (early Grade 1; mean age 5.94 years), and 105 at the third phase12 months later (Grade 2; mean age 6.94 years). There were similar numbers of males and females. Visual and auditory temporal order judgement (TOJ) and Temporal Dot accuracy (rapid visual sequencing task) measured at Preschool explained a significant percentage of the variance in letter identification (an important pre-reading skill) measured concurrently. These measures also predicted a significant percentage of the variance in letter and word identification (word reading accuracy) and reading rate (fluency) measured in early Grade 1, even after controlling for the effects of age, environment, memory, attentional vigilance, non-verbal ability, and speech and language problems. They also significantly discriminated between groups of children at Grade 1 who could and could not use phonological decoding to read non-words. By Grade 2, these Preschool measures accounted for significant variance in word reading accuracy and fluency and in non-word decoding. Only Preschool auditory temporal processing accounted for significant unique variance in the reading measures at Preschool or Grade 1, but by Grade 2, visual temporal processing (Temporal Dot) also accounted for significant unique variance. Temporal Dot accuracy also explained unique variance in the rate of growth in these reading measures across this period.
• These changes in predictive ability by the auditory and visual temporal processing measures were interpreted as reflecting developmental changes in their roles in reading as reading develops. Auditory temporal processing was important in early pre-reading and reading and remained important throughout. Visual temporal processing only became important in the later phase, possibly because of increasing need to analyse letter sequences. Preschool temporal and phonological processing measures accounted for approximately equal percentages of variance in the reading measures at Preschool and Grade 1, but by Grade 2, the Preschool phonological processing measures accounted for significantly more variance in all reading measures, except Pseudohomophone Choice (orthographic processing). Very little of the variance that was explained in the reading measures was common to temporal and phonological processing. The variance that each uniquely explained in reading was more important than the variance they explained in common. Therefore, utilising both temporal and phonological processing predictors optimised prediction of early reading skills.
• The study also showed there was significant linear development occurring in temporal processing from Preschool to Grade 2. The correlations of scores on the temporal measures from Preschool to Grade 1 were moderate. The relative position of children within the distribution on these skills showed moderate stability over the short-term, but less stability over the long-term. The majority of children who fell in the bottom quartile on the temporal and phonological processing measures at Preschool remained in the bottom half of the distribution on those measures by Grade 2. These children may represent those who are at most risk for reading difficulties. Letter Word Identification showed high stability from Preschool to Grade 2.
• There was little difference in the percentage of variance explained in subsequent reading between temporal processing measures obtained at Preschool or Grade 1. However, performance on the Visual temporal order judgement task was more likely to account for significant unique variance in reading when measured after school entry than before. This was consistent with the expected developmental changes in reading. When measured after school-entry, phonological processing measures accounted for greater percentages of variance in the reading measures than when measured before. There were also developmental changes in which phonological processing measures were important predictors of reading skills. When measured at Grade 1, rhyme and alliteration detection and phonemic segmentation were the most important predictors. However, when measured at Grade 2, performance on the Rhyme and Alliteration task had reached ceiling, so would no longer be a useful predictor of later reading. These results were consistent with developmental models of reading and of phonological processing.
• The results provided support for a causal role of temporal processing in reading development. They also showed that measures of visual and auditory temporal processing obtained close to school-entry would be a useful addition to predicting risk of early reading difficulties. However, additional work is needed to determine the most suitable temporal processing measures for this younger age group.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, temporal processing, brain clock, IQ Brain Clock, phonological processing, Ga, Grw, reading, dyslexia, dissertation

Mental timing and dyslexia - another study

Another article (Jamkowski & Rusiak, 2008; Psychological Research journal) investigating the role of temporal processing in reading and reading disabilities (click here for prior related posts). The literature review (intro) is worth a read just to get a quick overview of the potential role of temporal processing in a number of clinical disorders and human cognitive functioning.



Abstract (italics added by the Time Doc blog dictator)

• Hari et al. (Brain 174:1373–1380, 2001) demonstrated that dyslexics showed a sluggish attention capture in both visual hemiWelds. Additionally, they indicated a left–right asymmetry in the perception of temporal order of two visual stimuli (they performed worse than controls only if the stimulus in the left hemiWeld preceded that in right hemiWeld). They suggested that a left-sided minineglect is associated with dyslexia. We hypothesized that if a kind of neglect syndrome is responsible for the asymmetry they found, dyslexics should not only show a left–right asymmetry in temporal order judgment of two laterally presented stimuli but also perform equally well as controls when the stimuli are vertically aligned. Our results indicated that in both tasks dyslexics performed generally worse than normal readers. The results suggest that dyslexics suffer from a more general problem of order discrimination.

Technorati Tags: psychology, education, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, temporal processing, brain clock, reading, dyslexia, learning disabiilities, reading disability, intelligence, IQ, brain clock, mental time keeping

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Metronome training improves reading achievement

I previously blogged (a self-serving plug) about an "in press" research article that demonstrated that a mental-timing based intervention (Interactive Metronome; IM) improved reading achievement in elementary school children. The research summarized in this article suggests that a brain-based intervention may improve the resolution of a school child's internal brain clock and, in turn, produce positive reading achievement outcomes. [Check out my prior post for a necessary conflict of interest disclosure.] Also...click here for additional IM-related posts (@ the IQ Brain Clock) and mental time-keeping posts at my sister blog (IQ's Corner).

Below is the reference citation (with link to pdf copy of the article) and abstract.

This is exciting stuff. If the reader wants additional information regarding possible reasons for the success of this intervention, check out the Time Doc's recent IM Keynote PowerPoint presentation.

In addition, I've added this article to the "key research articles" section of this blog.

• Taub, G., McGrew, K. & Keith, T. (2007). Improvements in interval time tracking and effects on reading achievement, Psychology in the Schools, 44 (8), 849-863. (click here to view)

• This study examined the effect of improvements in timing/rhythmicity on students’ reading achievement. 86 participants completed pre- and post-test measures of reading achievement (i.e., Woodcock-Johnson III, Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, Test of Word Reading Efficiency, and Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency). Students in the experimental group completed a 4-week intervention designed to improve their timing/rhythmicity by reducing the latency in their response to a synchronized metronome beat, referred to as a synchronized metronome tapping (SMT) intervention. The results from this non-academic intervention indicate the experimental group’s post-test scores on select measures of reading were significantly higher than the non-treatment control group’s scores at the end of 4 weeks. This paper provides a brief overview of domain-general cognitive abilities believed effected by SMT interventions and provides a preliminary hypothesis to explain how this non-academic intervention can demonstrate a statistically significant effect on students’ reading achievement scores.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, education, neuropsychology, IQ, intelligence, reading, reading achievement, dyslexia, mental time keeping, brain clock, temporal processing, Interactive Metronome

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Cerebellum and dyslexia controversy

As noted in a prior post, there has been a recent firestorm surrounding the controversial Dore Achievement Centers cerebellum-based treatment approach to severe reading disabilities (dyslexia). The Myomancy blog has been particularly prominent in covering the controversy and issues surrounding the cerebellum-based Dore Achievement Centers treatment. Given the role of the cerebellum in certain forms of mental/interval time-keeping, I find this controversy and surrounding research of interest.

The mental/interval time-keeping research has implicated the cerebellum in behaviors that operate at the millisecond range of time keeping, but not at the interval levels. I think this point may be relevant to the whole Dore controversy. As summarized previously, more complex cognitive behaviors (e.g., reading) most likely involve both the millisecond and interval level time-keeping systems. The interval level system appears to be important for such cognitive abilities as working memory and executive function, higher-level cognitive functions important for intelligence and achievement.

Thus, if a treatment for dyslexia is based ONLY on the millisecond system (primarily the cerebellum), it is not surprising that there is controversy. Such a brain-based treatment may only be focusing on one brain-related component for reading....while ignoring others (cognitive abilities and functions more dependent on the interval timing system).

This hypothesis is supported by a recent meta-analysis re: the role of impaired balance (due to the cerebellum) and developmental dyslexia. The reference and abstract (and URL link) are provided below. Bottom line--according to this meta-analysis and the mental/interval time-keeping research presented previously at this blog---a treatment focused only on the functions/abilities mediated by the cerebellum is likely only touching on a small portion of the complex set of abilities involved in reading. Brain-based treatments for reading (and other academics) most likely need to also include activities that address cognitive abilities mediated by cognitively controlled interval time-keeping brain mechanisms. I believe the article speaks for itself (although I have added emphasis via italics).

• Rochell, K. & Talcott, J. (2006). Impaired balance in developmental dyslexia? A meta-analysis of the contending evidence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(11), 1159–1166 (click here to view)

Abstract

• Background: Developmental dyslexia is typically defined by deficits in phonological skills, but it is also associated with anomalous performance on measures of balance. Although balance assessments are included in several screening batteries for dyslexia, the association between impairments in literacy and deficits in postural stability could be due to the high co-occurrence of dyslexia with other developmental disorders in which impairments of motor behaviour are also prevalent. Methods: We identified 17 published studies that compared balance function between dyslexia and control samples and obtained effect-sizes for each. Contrast and association analyses were used to quantify the influence of hypothesised moderator variables on differences in effects across studies. Results: The mean effect-size of the balance deficit in dyslexia was .64 (95% CI ¼ .44–.78) with heterogeneous findings across the population of studies. Probable co-occurrence of other developmental disorders and variability in intelligence scores in the dyslexia samples were the strongest moderator variables of effect-size. Conclusions: Balance deficits are associated with dyslexia, but these effects are apparently more strongly related to third variables other than to reading ability. Deficits of balance may indicate increased risk of developmental disorder, but are unlikely to be uniquely associated with dyslexia. Keywords: Meta-analysis, dyslexia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, balance, postural stability. Abbreviations: ADHD: attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder; DCD: developmental coordination disorder; FSIQ: full-scale intelligence quotient.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, reading, dyslexia, Grw, cerebellum, brain fitness, Dore, Dore Achievement Centers, intelligence, cognition, mental time keeping, interval timing, temporal tracking, time perception, balance

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