PREREADERS READING RELATED PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES

这项应用的长期目标是利用实验、心理测量学和统计学方法的进步，将与阅读相关的语音过程与更一般的语言和认知能力分开，并将这一努力的结果应用于改善(A)早期识别有发展性阅读障碍或阅读障碍的儿童，以及(B)我们对语音过程的发展和开始阅读技能获得之间的因果关系的理解。有四个具体目标，其中两个具有主要的理论意义，两个具有主要的实践意义。第一个具体目标是确定如何最好地衡量阅读前儿童的语音处理能力，以及如何将语音处理与更一般的语言和智力能力区分开来。这将通过比较研究一中不同的评估和评分模式，并将研究二、研究三和研究四中涉及匹配控制任务的实验设计与高级统计分析相结合来实现。第二个具体目标是将语音加工能力的本质模型推广到预读读者。这一目标将通过验证性因素分析来实现，在研究二、研究三和研究四中，将使用验证性因素分析来测试阅读前儿童语音加工能力的替代模型。第三个具体目标是测试阅读前儿童的语音处理能力和原始识字技能之间因果关系发展的替代模型。我们将通过对研究三和研究四的纵向数据进行结构方程建模来实现这一目标。第四个也是最后一个具体目标是确定何时以及如何最好地识别有发展性阅读障碍或阅读障碍风险的阅读前儿童。我们将在研究三和研究四中使用纵向预测性设计来实现这一目标。成功地将与阅读相关的语音过程从更一般的语言和智力能力中分离出来，对于提高我们对阅读障碍的认识，超出了拟议的研究范围，具有重要意义。例如，为基因连锁研究提供更精确的行为表型，为功能磁共振研究提供更有针对性的目标和控制任务。

The long-term objective of this application is to use advances in experimental, psychometric, and statistical methods to isolate reading-related phonological processes from more general language and cognitive abilities, and to apply the results of this effort to improving (a) the early identification of children at risk for developmental dyslexia or reading disability, and (b) our understanding of causal relations between the development of phonological processes and the acquisition of beginning reading skills. There are four specific aims, two of primarily theoretical importance and two of primarily practical importance. The first specific aim is to determine how prereaders' phonological processing abilities can best be measured in general, and how phonological processing can be isolated from more general language and intellectual abilities, in particular. This will be achieved by comparing alternative modes of assessment and scoring in study one, and by combining an experimental design involving matched control tasks with advanced statistical analyses in studies two, three, and four. The second specific aim is to extend and expand a model of the nature of phonological processing abilities to prereaders. This aim will be achieved using confirmatory factor analysis to test alternative models of the nature of prereaders' phonological processing abilities in studies two, three, and four. The third specific aim is to test alternative models of developing causal relations between prereaders' phonological processing abilities and proto-literacy skills. We will achieve this aim using structural equation modeling of longitudinal data from studies three and four. The fourth and final specific aim is to determine when and how best to identify prereaders who are at risk for developmental dyslexia or reading disability. We will achieve this aim using a longitudinal predictive design in studies three and four. Success in isolating reading-related phonological processes from more general language and intellectual abilities has implications for advancing our knowledge of reading disability that extend beyond the proposed studies. Examples include providing more precise behavioral phenotypes for genetic linkage studies and more focused target and control tasks for fMRI studies.