Project 5 (Epigenetics) is a new, but integral part of the Texas Center for Learning Disabilities, which now moves into the field of genetics. As such is highly responsive to the RFA-HD-17-006 in that it focuses on adolescents with severe reading problems in Grades 7-8 who are English learners (Els), i.e., an understudied and underserved subpopulation of US adolescents. It has been designated a high-risk?high-reward project because it offers a novel line of research attempting to investigate the correlations between the dynamics of response to intervention (RTI) and DNA methylation across 21 months, sampling behavior, the brain, and the methylome at three time points (prior to the beginning, in the middle, and upon completion of a high-quality intensive reading intervention). Project 5 offers a set of objectives and hypotheses formulated around this opportunity (SA1). In addition to content contributions that will be generated while achieving SA1, Project 5 offers two methodological aims (SA2 and SA3) to address issues concerning the specificity and generality of the characteristics of the methylome when ascertained from different populations of cells. These issues are central to and remain unresolved in the bourgeoning field of behavioral epigenetics. To achieve its Specific Aims, Project 5 will recruit a sample of 672 adolescents stratified into three groups: typically developing students (recruited from Project 2, Attention) and Els with persistent reading difficulties (recruited from Project 3, Intervention), who are further subdivided into treated and untreated (business as usual) students. Capitalizing on the conceptualizations of learning disabilities and of RTI developed in Project 1 (Integration), Project 5 aims to investigate both categorical (group) and continuous (dimensional) indicators of reading performance and related processes cross-sectionally, as well as longitudinally at multiple levels of analyses? the epigenome, the brain, and behavior, seeking to understand individual differences in instructional response. It is hypothesized, in general, that both categorical and dimensional approaches to reading difficulties will be marked by specific characteristics of the DNA methylation profile, captured by indicators of hyper- and hypomethylation. We hypothesize that through the analyses of these characteristics, it will be possible to identify genes and gene networks that substantiate learning in general and learning to read in particular.

Public Health Relevance

Project 5 is aimed at enhancing the field's understanding of the etiology of individual differences in reading performance in general and differences in response to reading intervention in particular. Conceptually, its main premise is that individual differences in the methylome are associated with and, perhaps, drive, at least partially, individual differences in reading performance. Methodologically, Project 5 advances understanding of methylome-behavior associations as observed through analyses of various tissue types, as well as of temporal variation in the methylome captured by a single cell type (T lymphocytes) versus complex cells (saliva).

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Specialized Center (P50)
Project #
5P50HD052117-14
Application #
10104540
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHD1)
Project Start
2006-06-01
Project End
2022-12-31
Budget Start
2021-01-01
Budget End
2021-12-31
Support Year
14
Fiscal Year
2021
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Houston
Department
Type
DUNS #
036837920
City
Houston
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
77204
Roe, Mary Abbe; Martinez, Joel E; Mumford, Jeanette A et al. (2018) Control Engagement During Sentence and Inhibition fMRI Tasks in Children With Reading Difficulties. Cereb Cortex 28:3697-3710
Quinn, Jamie M (2018) Differential Identification of Females and Males with Reading Difficulties: A Meta-Analysis. Read Writ 31:1039-1061
Vaughn, Sharon; Roberts, Garrett J; Miciak, Jeremy et al. (2018) Efficacy of a Word- and Text-Based Intervention for Students With Significant Reading Difficulties. J Learn Disabil :22219418775113
Hernandez, Arturo E; Claussenius-Kalman, Hannah L; Ronderos, Juliana et al. (2018) Symbiosis, Parasitism and Bilingual Cognitive Control: A Neuroemergentist Perspective. Front Psychol 9:2171
Cirino, Paul T; Ahmed, Yusra; Miciak, Jeremy et al. (2018) A framework for executive function in the late elementary years. Neuropsychology 32:176-189
Williams, Victoria J; Juranek, Jenifer; Cirino, Paul et al. (2018) Cortical Thickness and Local Gyrification in Children with Developmental Dyslexia. Cereb Cortex 28:963-973
Cho, Eunsoo; Capin, Philip; Roberts, Greg et al. (2018) Examining Predictive Validity of Oral Reading Fluency Slope in Upper Elementary Grades Using Quantile Regression. J Learn Disabil 51:565-577
Quinn, Jamie M; Wagner, Richard K (2018) Using Meta-analytic Structural Equation Modeling to Study Developmental Change in Relations Between Language and Literacy. Child Dev 89:1956-1969
Wanzek, Jeanne; Stevens, Elizabeth A; Williams, Kelly J et al. (2018) Current Evidence on the Effects of Intensive Early Reading Interventions. J Learn Disabil 51:612-624
Fletcher, Jack M; Grigorenko, Elena L (2017) Neuropsychology of Learning Disabilities: The Past and the Future. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 23:930-940

Showing the most recent 10 out of 128 publications