A b s t r a c t This thesis is a part of the project concerning risk factors of manifestation of specific learning disabilities in children at risk of dyslexia. Specifically, it deals with the development of morphology in children with family history of specific learning disabilities. Children in preschool and early school age have been repeatedly within three years tested with a diagnostic tool called Test of morphological awareness based on the Test of language (Žlab, 1992). The aim of the study was to map the development of several sub-areas of morphological skills (gender forms, plural nouns, past tense and 3rd person singular verb, adjectives derivation and grammatical agreement). Several issues were concerned. First, whether the development of children in this age group is still ongoing and so if the performance is improving. Second, whether there are differences in the development of children from an intact group (with normal speech development) and a risk group (children from families where at least one parent has suffered from specific learning disabilities). Third, whether is the development influenced by intelligence or sex. Performance of children was also assessed qualitatively with respect to specific language features included in the monitored areas of morphology. The conclusions of each...

This thesis deals with the so called "positive aspects" of dyslexia, specifically enhanced creativity in dyslexics. It has recently become common to associate dyslexia not only with its symptoms and deficits, but also to emphasize its possible gains. Anecdotal evidence refers to enhanced creativity and more specific abilities of individuals with dyslexia. Based on the results of foreign studies that suggest a relationship between dyslexia and increased creativity, this research study was carried out in the environment of Czech secondary schools. The research group consisted of 67 adolescents with dyslexia and 67 intact counterparts at the age range from 17 to 20 years (including 108 boys and 26 girls). The data were obtained via figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. We then compared levels obtained within experimental and comparison groups in three specific fields - originality, elaboration and provision of non-standard and unusual responses. This was to lead to confirmation (or refusal) of a presumption that dyslexics show significantly higher scores in all three areas. Although the overall results of the research did not demonstrate a significant difference between the groups, we observed a trend indicating a higher score in dyslexics in all the defined areas. Results of our research study...

A b s t r a c t This thesis is based on two projects which follow one another and which deal with study of development of language and literacy skills in children at risk of dyslexia. The thesis describes the development of morphological awareness in children with specific language impairment. The level of morphological awareness was repeatedly tested during three years at children in preschool and early school age with the Test of morphological awareness. This method was prepared on the basis of Žlab's Test of language awareness (1992) and maps development of several subareas of morphological skills - gender forms, plural nouns, past tense and third person singular verb, adjective derivation and gramatical agreement. Several issues were concerned. First, whether the development of children in this age group is still ongoing and whether the Test of morphological awareness can measure this ongoing. Second, whether there are differences in the performance of children from normal speech development group (control group) and specific language impairment children group, where according to the disorder the morphological deficits can be expected. Qualitative analysis of observed subareas of morphology was also performed. The conclusions of analysis are discussed in the context of theoretical approaches, current...

The purpose of this research paper is to investigate how dyslexia is currently being defined and debated by both the academic and scientific communities. Additionally, this thesis analyzes how dyslexia is presently being dealt with in the classroom and how this disability is represented in children's literature.

In the context of both projects Enhancing literacy development in European languages, work package 2 and The early literacy development and its variability in children at risk of specific learning disabilities, we monitored child development of literacy in preschool age and during the first years of school attendance in a four-stage process. The research group (n = 76) compound of typically developing children (BV = 37), children with the family risk of dyslexia (RR = 22) and children with specific language impairment (NVŘ = 17). We evaluated development of phonemic/phonological, lexical/semantic and morphological/syntactic skills, preliteracy skills and early literacy skills. The last fifth test stage included the assessment of literacy development in 3rd graders. First, a group of children with literacy deficits (n = 9) was identified via the latent profile analysis method. Subsequently, four predictive models of literacy deficits for each stage were created by means of lasso or L-1 penalized regression method. Predictive models follows the trend that until literacy skills are fully automatized (preschool age and the 1st grade), phonemic and phonological skills predominate, but later - after the formal learning to read and write proceeds - early literacy skills are becoming more and more...

Recent research suggests that visual-verbal paired associate learning (PAL) taps a crossmodal associative learning mechanism involved in reading acquisition. However, evidence from children with dyslexia indicates that deficits in visual-verbal PAL are strongly linked to the verbal demands of the task. The research presented in this thesis had two overarching aims: first, to dissociate crossmodal and verbal demands in driving the PAL-reading relationship, and second, to assess the hypothesis that visual-verbal PAL plays a causal role in reading development. To address the first aim, a series of experiments examined the relationship between reading ability and PAL tasks differing in modality (crossmodal, unimodal) and output demand (visual, verbal). The results supported a verbal account of the PAL-reading relationship. In typically developing children and children with dyslexia, only tasks with a verbal output demand (i.e., visual-verbal PAL, verbal-verbal PAL) demonstrated a relationship with reading ability. In children with dyslexia, poor performance was isolated to difficulties learning novel phonological forms, rather than difficulties specific to crossmodal associative learning. Furthermore, the ability to learn novel phonological forms was found to fully explain visual-verbal PAL performance across reading abilities. In a final experiment, the causal role of visual-verbal PAL in reading development was assessed. The results of a longitudinal study from the start to the end of kindergarten showed that visual-verbal PAL measured in pre-readers did not predict reading ability at the end of kindergarten. Instead, PAL performance was influenced by learning to read.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate in what manner librarians and pedagogues can cooperate in order to help students with reading and writing problems and consequently enhance their information literacy. I aimed to investigate why cooperation between these professions is necessary. Also, I wanted to find out how the general support is on the schools regarding students with reading and writing difficulties, and if the school librarian knows what the special educator can contribute with and vice versa. Lastly, I focused on what knowledge the performers of these professions have about reading and writing difficulties and to what degree their knowledge is based on scientifically proven methods. The two theoretical points of departure are 1) theory of cooperation built upon Louise Limberg’s and Lena Folkesson’s three categories of cooperation 2) and Aidan Chambers’s reading promoting model named the circle of reading. I have used a qualitative method based on semi-structured interviews with both school librarians and pedagogues, who are active at five upper secondary schools. The major findings are that it would be possible to develop the cooperation between these two professions. For example: Research shows that working in teams promotes student learning. Another result is that the informants have a limited knowledge of whether the technical compensatory devices are based on approved research. In conclusion, it was also found that particularly school librarians feel an anxiety about to target aid efforts, directly to students with reading and writing difficulties/dyslexia, because they believe that the students would feel singled out. Such thinking puts in my opinion too much responsibility on the students themselves, to ask for help. The study also revealed that, easy to read literature has a quite small part in supporting these students. The research was undertaken for a two-year master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

<p>Sammanfattning</p><p> </p><p>Syfte: Att undersöka två läsmetoders effekter på tolv elever från skolår 2, 3 och 4 avseende fonologisk och ortografisk läsförmåga, läsflyt, läsförståelse och RAN (Rapid Automatic Naming) samt jämföra resultaten med en grupp elever som fått traditionell specialundervisning under samma tid.</p><p> </p><p>Metod: 52 elever genomförde en screening med avseende att mäta läsflyt och läsförståelse. Av dessa valdes 12 elever ut som hade svårigheter i läsflyt och korrekt läsning, fyra elever från varje skolår, 5 pojkar och 7 flickor. Eleverna delades i två lika stora grupper som tränade ordavkodning med två olika metoder i en-en-undervisning, 20 minuter tre gånger per vecka i sex veckor. De 18 eleverna fick utföra ytterligare fem läs- och skrivtest före och efter interventionen.</p><p> </p><p>Resultat: De båda interventionsgrupperna förbättrade sina resultat på flera test mer än gruppen som fick traditionell specialundervisning. Elever som tränat Rydaholmsmetoden fick bättre resultat i alla högläsningstest utom ett. Elever som tränat datorprogrammet Hitta ord fick bättre resultat i nonsensordtestet samt de båda tystläsningstesten.</p><p> </p><p>Diskussion: Resultatet skulle kunna tydas så att Rydaholmsmetoden tränar artikulation, ordmobilisering och läsflyt i högläsning medan datorprogrammet Hitta Ord tränar den ortografiska och fonologiska läsningen mer. Vidare skulle studiens resultat kunna tolkas så att en-en-undervisning är effektivare än traditionell specialundervisning.</p> / <p>Abstract</p><p>Aim: To investigate two reading methods effect on twelve students from school year 2, 3 and 4 in phonologic and orthographic reading, reading fluency and RAN comparing to traditional special education.</p><p> </p><p>Method: 52 students were tested in reading fluency. Twelve students with reading problems were elected, four students from each class, 5 boys and 7 girls. They were divided in two groups and had an intervention in two different word reading program in a one-to-one-torturing for 20 minutes three times a week in six weeks. A group of six students, were chosen as a comparing group. All 18 students were testing the same battery of tests before and after the six weeks.</p><p> </p><p>Result: The result showed that both intervention groups were improved their result more than the group trained with traditional special education. Rydaholms method group improved more in all loud reading tests except Nonsen word reading test while the computer trained group improved more in both cilent reading test and made a small improve in Nonsen word reading test.</p><p> </p><p>Discussion: The result could interpret that Rydaholm method trained articulation, word mobilization and loud reading fluency more while the computer based program trained orthographic and phonological reading more. The result could also interpret that one-to-one-torturing improve reading ability more than traditional special education in this reading abilities.</p><p> </p>

M. Tech. Language Practice

This diploma thesis is focused on teaching English to dyslexic children, especially on the application of a special computer programme designed for dyslexic pupils, called Languages without Barriers. The aim of the theoretical part was to give a report on who dyslexic pupils are, what textbooks and other special materials that encourage dyslexic children are available in the Czech Republic and to outline the way dyslexic pupils should be approached in English lessons. The aim of the practical part was to look briefly into the current situation of teaching English to dyslexic children in the Czech Republic and find out whether Czech teachers have enough information on how to approach such pupils. The main aim of this part was to focus on the special computer programme Languages without Barriers. This diploma thesis aimed to find the optimal application of this programme. To accomplish this task a research was carried out. The programme was introduced to three lower secondary schools in Prague, where it was applied in several English lessons and later at home to help children prepare for their English lessons. The research was based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative analyses. The research shows that Languages without Barriers is a useful programme for dyslexic pupils as well as for...