PHONOLOGICAL & EARLY READING SKILLS IN YOUNG CHILDREN WITH OROFACIAL CLEFTS

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 患有口面部裂的儿童患各种神经认知缺陷的风险增加，这些缺陷可能与导致异常头面部结构的胚胎过程有关。一个特别令人关注的领域是阅读技能的获得--最近的研究表明，这些儿童中有三分之一到一半有学习障碍和/或学习成绩不佳，在阅读方面尤其脆弱(Broder等人，1998年)。然而，如下所述，这项研究在方法上受到了几个方面的限制。需要更多的数据来评估有裂隙儿童与对照儿童的早期阅读技能，澄清在裂隙儿童中观察到的技能缺陷的性质，产生关于这一群体阅读障碍的病因的假设，并开始制定适当的干预措施。这里提出的这项研究是第一次使用详细的神经心理学评估对患有唇裂的儿童和匹配的对照组儿童的阅读进行评估。我们将评估36名6-8岁患有非综合征性唇裂(CLO)、唇腭裂(CLP)或单纯腭裂(CPO)的儿童的语音加工和早期阅读能力，并与36名匹配的对照组进行比较。我们还将探索患有唇裂的儿童阅读的临床和人口统计学相关性。这些数据将被用来发展未来关于阅读障碍的神经科学和阅读干预对有裂隙的儿童的有效性的研究。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Children with orofacial clefts have elevated risk for a variety of neurocognitive deficts that may be associated with the embryonic processes leading to aberrant craniofacial structures. One area of particular concern is the acquisition of reading skills--recent studies suggest that between one third and one half of these children have a learning disability and/or suffer academic underachievement, with particular vulnerability in reading (Broder et al., 1998). However, as discussed below, this research has been methodologically limited in several respects. Further data are needed to evaluate early reading skills in children with clefts versus controls, to clarify the nature of the skills deficits observed among children with clefts, to generate hypotheses regarding the etiology of reading disability in this group, and to begin developing appropriate interventions. The study proposed here is among the first to use a detailed neuropsychological assessment of reading in children with clefts versus matched controls. We will evaluate phonological processing and early reading skills in a sample of 36 children ages 6-8 years with nonsyndromic clefts of the lip only (CLO), lip and palate (CLP), or palate only (CPO) and 36 matched controls. We will also explore the clinical and demographic correlates of reading in children with clefts. These data will be used to develop future studies on the neuroscience of reading disability and the efficacy of reading interventions for children with clefts.