Early identification of children at risk for reading disabilities.
| Number | 1071 |
|---|---|
| Year | 1998 |
| Drawer | 20 |
| Entry Date | 06/29/1998 |
| Authors | Scarborough, H. S. |
| Contact | |
| Publication | In: Shapiro, B.K., Accardo, P.J. and Capute, A.J.(eds.). Specific Reading Disability, A View of the Spectrum. pp.75-119. York Press, Timonium, Maryland. |
| url | http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL1071.pdf |
| Abstract | [Introduction] Research over the past two decades on the crucial role of phonological awareness in learning to read has greatly expanded “the volume of our sphere of knowledge.” There is clear evidence that some degree of insight into the phonological structure of spoken words greatly enables a child to begin to discover the “alphabetic principle” (that printed letters ordinarily stand for phonemic segments of words), and that most children who have difficulty learning to read lack this insight (e.g., Adams and Bruck 1995; Brady and Shankweiler 1991; Liberman et al. 1974). Once the alphabetic principle has begun to be grasped, greater depths of phonological awareness are attained in conjunction with increasing mastery in the decoding of print, reflecting an apparent reciprocal relationship between the two developing abilities (e.g., Ehri and Wilce 1980, 1986, Perfetti et al. 1987). Not suprisingly, therefore, persistent weaknesses in both decoding and phonological awareness are defining characteristics of reading disability in both childhood and adulthood. (See Fowler and Scarborough 1993 for a review.) We also know that training novice readers and low achievers to attend to and manipulate phonemic segments, and to understand their relationship to letters, can facilitate reading acquisition (e.g., Blachman 1991; Torgensen in press). One current approach in circumventing dyslexia is to identify kindergartners who are weak in phonological awareness and provide them with such training. As we have gained volumes of knowledge about phonological awareness, however, I think that our research efforts have also revealed how much more there is to understand about the etiology of dyslexia and the prediction of reading achievement; that its, the “surface of of contact with the unknown” has also been enlarged. Without disagreeing with the insights gained about the role of phonological awareness, I think there is something more to be learned by looking at other findings from the recent literature on the prediction of reading (dis)abilities. That body of work indicates that, aside from phonological awareness, several other equally strong indicators of a young child’s risk for developing reading problems exist. This information is potentially useful for improving methods for the early identification and treatment of at-risk children, for raising new questions to be pursued in future research, and for arriving, ultimately, at a comprehensive theoretical explanation of reading disabilities. |
| Notes | No formal abstract. |
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