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Early identification of children with reading and learning problems seems imperative. By using early identification predictors, a high risk group of children with possible reading problems could be located. This would facilitate placement and appropriate educational strategies for this group of children. By proper placement and planning, educators then would be able to set up remedial and/or preventive programs for these children before the pattern of unsuccessful attempts and improper training becomes irreversible. This study was designed to determine if verbal sequencing ability was a valid predictor of reading ability for a group of 31 preschool children. Secondarily, the investigation attempted to determine whether such verbal sequencing ability was predictive of general academic ability for this group of children. Reliability of the Blakeley Verbal Sequencing Ability Tests was determined. Thirty one children who were originally tested for verbal sequencing ability in 1965 when they were five years old were located in the Portland Public Schools. The children. now 13 years old, were administered the Blakeley Verbal Sequencing Ability Tests and the Gilmore Oral Reading Test. Records of school achievement were obtained from each child's cumulative school file. A least squares linear regression equation was used to analyze the data obtained. When the predictive value of the original verbal sequencing score was studied in relation to reading accuracy, reading comprehension, and general academic achievement, results for the total group of 31 children were not promising. Verbal sequencing ability in preschool children, in general was not significantly predictive of reading accuracy, reading comprehension, and school achievement eight years later. Examination of the results obtained on the Blakeley Verbal Sequencing Ability by Blakeley and this investigator suggested that inter-examiner reliability is extremely high. The most significant finding of this study was found through a comparison of the results of the male and female groups. The original sequencing score was a much better predictor of reading ability and school achievement for 'the males. The correlations were higher in all three area: comparing original sequencing ability with reading accuracy, reading comprehension, and school achievement. This trend may indicate that the sequencing test was not discriminative enough for five year old females, due to the advanced rate of physical and neurological development at that age. More significantly, the children used in this follow-up study may not have been representative of the original group tested, due to problems in locating the original subjects.

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The purpose of this current study was to first examine through assessments and the use of school-based disability criteria, the quantitative and qualitative patterns in phonological processing, phonological working memory, oral retellings, and oral and written narratives in middle school-aged children with reading disabilities (RD; N=10) and those with language impairments (LI; N=5) in order to provide data to further explain the complex profiles of these two clinical populations. Secondly, a single-subject multiple baseline across subjects design study examined the effectiveness of an intervention program targeting expository and narrative discourse in adolescents with language and reading deficits (N=4). Expository and narrative discourse assessments were replicated at post-intervention for pre and post comparisons of performance. The findings will assist speech-language pathologists in accurately and efficiently evaluating and treating these two clinical populations in linguistic areas that are critical to successful academic and social development.

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The present study investigated the brain-behavior relationships between cerebellar vermal volume, phonological processing, and verbal working memory in children with Reading Disability (RD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It was hypothesized that there would be differences in inferior posterior vermal volume between those with and without ADHD. Individuals with and without RD were not expected to differ in posterior inferior vermal volume and an interaction in the RD/ADHD group was expected. Children with RD/ADHD were expected to have similar volumes to children who have ADHD. It also was hypothesized that inferior posterior vermal volumes would be correlated with verbal working and phonological short-term memory; anterior vermal volumes were hypothesized to be correlated with elision, and superior posterior vermal volumes were hypothesized to be correlated with rapid object and rapid letter naming. Results indicated that there were no group differences in posterior inferior vermal volume between children with and without RD as well as with and without ADHD. There were also no relationships between phonological processing and verbal working memory. The findings in this study were unexpected and suggest the need for further study between phonological processing, verbal working memory, and vermal volume in children with ADHD and RD.

The focused-attention dichotic listening technique was used to investigate auditory-linguistic and hemi-attentional asymmetries in reading-disabled (RD) and non reading-disabled (nonRD) children. Subjects were defined as RD according to a statistical formula which determined whether IQ and reading achievement scores were significantly discrepant. None of the subjects evidenced hyperactivity and attentional problems according to teacher ratings of behavior. Although both groups showed a right ear advantage (REA) for the consonant-vowel dichotic syllables under standard non-focused conditions, the RD group showed a weaker REA. When instructed to attend to the right side, the RD group accentuated their REA while the nonRD group did not. A ceiling effect was suggested as a possible reason for the nonRD group's lack of REA accentuation. When instructed to attend to the left ear, the nonRD group attenuated their REA, but the RD group did not. Based on the effects of the attentional instructions on the dichotic listening task and performance on other measures, the findings were interpreted as suggesting left hemisphere linguistic and right hemisphere hemi-attentional dysfunction in the RD group. / M.S.

Based on Luria's notion of functional neuronal systems, reading has been hypothesized to require the adequate functioning of both the anterior and posterior cerebrum. Failure to be able to read has been hypothesized to be the result of dysfunction occurring anywhere throughout those functional units. In adults, anterior and posterior language problems have been established by assessing verbal fluency. Nonfluent output has been associated most often with anterior dysfunction, while fluent output has occurred with posterior dysfunction. The primary purpose of the present exploratory study was to evaluate the utility of verbal fluency as a dimension on which to classify children with the language problem of dyslexia. Subjects first were identified as dyslexic readers (DR) or normal readers (NR) based on a statistical formula which determined whether IQ and reading achievement scores were significantly discrepant. A traditional measure of verbal fluency then was used to determine that the DR children were less fluent than NR children. DR children subsequently were classified into nonfluent (NF) and fluent (F) subgroups. Initial validation for die fluency construct then was established by examining children's performance on other language and motor tasks associated with anterior and posterior functioning. As predicted, the DR-NF children performed more poorly or displayed specific deficits on tasks purported to tap anterior functioning (e.g. verbal memory, motor perseveration, and vigilance) while DR-F and NR children did not. A dual processing model was proposed to explain the findings for the DR-NF children. Limitations, implications for the treatment of DR children, and directions for future research are outlined / Ph. D.

Reading problems create difficulties for many learning disabled (LD) students. Little is known, however, about the causes of reading failure among LD students. Researchers have recently focused on the comprehension processes of this population, particularly the metacognitive processes involved in reading. An important area of investigation is how comprehension monitoring can be facilitated during reading. Research in reading and learning disabilities suggests that LD students do not adequately monitor their comprehension during reading. According to schema theory, the activation of readers' prior knowledge should enhance LD students' ability to monitor their comprehension during reading. This study assessed the effects of pre-reading schema activation and schema presentation tasks on the comprehension monitoring of LD adolescents. Specifically, this study investigated the effectiveness of self-questions, structured overviews + self-questions, and a control condition on subjects': 1) detection of passage errors and 2) accuracy on two statement identification tasks. Fifty-four LD adolescents in grades 9-12 from public schools in Southwest Virginia participated in this study. All subjects were required to meet specific placement, verbal IQ, reading comprehension and exclusionary criteria before they were included in the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to three experimental conditions (two pre-reading and one control) . Dependent variables were the number of embedded errors detected and accuracy on two statement identification tasks (SIT). The first set of SIT items measured subjects' recognition of information in the passages. The second set was designed to measure subjects' accuracy on determining the plausibility of information in the passages. Data were analyzed using a repeated measures MANOVA and one-way univariate tests. Post hoc tests were used to determine which means were significantly different from each other. In addition, the number and types of questions generated, probe data and interview responses were analyzed and reviewed. Major empirical findings include: 1) subjects in the structured overview and self-questioning condition identified significantly more embedded errors than subjects in either the self-questioning or the control condition; 2) subjects in the control condition recognized less passage information (SIT 1) than subjects in either the self-questioning or the structured overview and self-questioning condition; and 3) no significant differences were found among groups in the identification of statement plausibility (SIT 2) . / Ed. D.