Predicting and Preventing the Development of Learning D*

描述（由申请人提供）：FCRR多学科学习障碍中心的长期目标是：(1)比较在解码、阅读理解、拼写和书面写作方面定义、分类和预防学习障碍的不同方法；(2)确定学习障碍在困难读者中的普遍程度；(3)确定学习障碍与学习能力之间的关系；(4)确定某一领域的学习障碍与其他领域的学习障碍之间的关系；(5)识别影响学习障碍发生和表现的关键环境负债和资产；(6)识别影响学习障碍发生和表达的关键遗传负担和遗传资产，以及遗传与环境的相关性。这些目标将在大规模的、发展的、多元的背景下实现，这些背景将区分和解决理论和实践问题，并明确解决严重程度。项目一在一项对1500名学龄前儿童进行的大规模研究中探讨了分类和预防的替代方法，其中包括新兴识字和对教学的反应的新措施。项目二探讨了分类的替代方法，有效教学在预防或减少学习障碍表现中的作用，以及在对1,420名小学生进行的两项大规模研究中对教学模型反应的基本假设。项目III在全州范围内对阅读第一学校的10万多名儿童进行了病因学、鉴定和分类研究，并对9000对双胞胎进行了大规模的、基于双胞胎的定量遗传研究。项目四在500个先证者的家庭研究中解决了深度阅读障碍的分子遗传学和行为特征。项目V关注词汇量和流畅性表现的潜在维度，并在一项对300名一年级至四年级儿童进行的为期四年的纵向研究中测试了阅读和写作发展的其他模型。这一应用与公共卫生的相关性在于，它有可能改善学习障碍的预防、早期识别和有效补救。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-range objectives of the FCRR Multidisciplinary Learning Disabilities Center are to (1) compare alternative approaches for defining, classifying, and preventing learning disabilities in decoding, reading comprehension, spelling, and written composition; (2) determine how prevalent learning disabilities are among struggling readers; (3) determine how learning disabilities are related to learning abilities; (4) determine how learning disabilities in one domain are related to learning disabilities in other domains; (5) identify key environmental liabilities and assets that affect the occurrence and expression of learning disabilities; and (6) identify key genetic liabilities and assets, and genetic-environmental correlations that affect the occurrence and expression of learning disabilities. These objectives will be pursued in large-scale, developmental, multivariate contexts that distinguish and address both theoretical and practical issues, and that explicitly address level of severity. Project I addresses alternative approaches to classification and prevention that include new measures of emergent literacy and response to instruction in a large-scale study of 1,500 preschool-age children. Project II addresses alternative approaches to classification, the role of effective instruction in preventing or minimizing the expression of learning disabilities, and a fundamental assumption of response to instruction models in two large-scale study of 1,420 elementary-school children. Project III addresses etiology, identification, and classification in a state-wide sample of over 100,000 children in Reading First schools, and in a large-scale, twin-based quantitative genetic study of 9,000 pairs of twins. Project IV addresses the molecular genetics and behavioral characteristics of profound reading impairment in a family study of 500 probands. Project V addresses underlying dimensions of performance in vocabulary and fluency, and tests alternative models of the development of reading and writing in a four-year longitudinal study of 300 children from first through fourth grade. The relevance of this application to public health is its potential for improving prevention, early identification, and effective remediation of learning disabilities.