The research described in this proposal is designed to provide new information about both preventive and remedial instructional strategies for children who are either at-risk for the development of reading problems, or who are identified with serious reading disabilities. It is based directly on what is currently known about the environmental and biological factors that are associated with difficulties in learning to read, and it also reflects research based knowledge about effective methods of instruction in reading. Within pre-school, early elementary school, and remedial contexts, the research has three broad aims: 1) to determine which instructional programs, or combination of programs, have the largest immediate impact on word level reading skills and long-term impact on fluency and comprehension skills, of children in the studies; 2) to determine the factors (child characteristics, demographic variables) that are most strongly predictive of individual differences in both immediate and long-term response to the instructional programs we examine; and, 3) to examine the proportion of children within the most effective interventions for whom the intervention was insufficient to support reading growth within the normal range Four multi-year studies will be carried out to accomplish these aims. Experiment 1 examines the relative effectiveness of four treatment combinations to stimulate the growth of emergent literacy skills in a sample of 300 children attending pre-school centers that serve primarily economically disadvantaged children. Experiment 2 will use a second sample of 300 children to examine the outcomes from the most effective intervention from Experiment 1 when it is implemented under three conditions that vary in level of supervision and training/experience of the pre-school teachers. Experiment 3 will evaluate the effectiveness of two types of intensive preventive reading-instruction for 288 first grade children selected because of phonological weaknesses. It will also determine the contextual effects of classroom reading instruction that varies significantly in the degree to which it provides systematic and explicit instruction in alphabetic, or phonetic, reading skills. Experiment 4 will examine the effects of two different approaches to increasing reading fluency and comprehension in a sample of 60 seriously disabled older readers who also receive intensive instruction to increase the accuracy of their word reading strategies. All subjects in these studies will undergo assessments for a variety of emergent literacy and reading outcomes as well as a range of demographic, family, attentional/behavioral, and cognitive factors that will help to understand individual differences in response to the interventions.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD030988-10
Application #
6629085
Study Section
Human Development and Aging Subcommittee 3 (HUD)
Program Officer
Lyon, Reid G
Project Start
1993-08-01
Project End
2005-01-31
Budget Start
2003-02-01
Budget End
2005-01-31
Support Year
10
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$418,363
Indirect Cost
Name
Florida State University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
790877419
City
Tallahassee
State
FL
Country
United States
Zip Code
32306
Lonigan, Christopher J; Purpura, David J; Wilson, Shauna B et al. (2013) Evaluating the components of an emergent literacy intervention for preschool children at risk for reading difficulties. J Exp Child Psychol 114:111-30
Phillips, Beth M; Piasta, Shayne B; Anthony, Jason L et al. (2012) IRTs of the ABCs: children's letter name acquisition. J Sch Psychol 50:461-81
Torgesen, Joseph K; Wagner, Richard K; Rashotte, Carol A et al. (2010) Computer-assisted instruction to prevent early reading difficulties in students at risk for dyslexia: Outcomes from two instructional approaches. Ann Dyslexia 60:40-56
Purpura, David J; Wilson, Shauna B; Lonigan, Christopher J (2010) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms in preschool children: examining psychometric properties using item response theory. Psychol Assess 22:546-58
Purpura, David J; Lonigan, Christopher J (2009) Conners' Teacher Rating Scale for preschool children: a revised, brief, age-specific measure. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 38:263-72
Lonigan, Christopher J; Phillips, Beth M (2009) Reducing Children's Risk for Later Reading Disabilities: The Role of Tier 1 and Tier 2 Instruction in Preschool. Perspect Lang Lit 35:21-26
Conway, Tim; Heilman, Kenneth M; Gopinath, Kaundinya et al. (2008) Neural substrates related to auditory working memory comparisons in dyslexia: an fMRI study. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 14:629-39
McDowell, Kimberly D; Lonigan, Christopher J; Goldstein, Howard (2007) Relations among socioeconomic status, age, and predictors of phonological awareness. J Speech Lang Hear Res 50:1079-92
Torgesen, J K; Alexander, A W; Wagner, R K et al. (2001) Intensive remedial instruction for children with severe reading disabilities: immediate and long-term outcomes from two instructional approaches. J Learn Disabil 34:33-58, 78