Reading Disabilities in Zambian Children

描述(由申请人提供)：建议的工作是三大洲的研究团队之间的合作：非洲(赞比亚大学(UNZA)和马查教会医院([MMH]，赞比亚)，北美(耶鲁大学，美国塔夫茨大学)和欧洲(英国利兹城市大学和芬兰Jyvéskyl大学)。它建立在现有的耶鲁-UNZA R21 TW006764的基础上，该项目于2003年获得资助，构成了组建团队、发展合作关系、转让专业知识、开发评估工具、进行实地研究和收集初步数据的基础。在此基础上，在本申请中，我们建议(1)使用我们在R21中开发/验证的评估工具，确定两组先证者：有特定阅读障碍的学生(+SRD，n=400)和没有SRD的学生(-SRD，n=400)。只有智力功能至少达到平均水平并且至少有一个兄弟姐妹年龄在6-21岁之间的儿童才被视为这一组的先证者。根据我们的试点数据，我们预计筛查3,000名儿童将使我们有机会确定这两个先证者样本，并招募至少两个这些先证者的家庭成员。构建了这两个+/-SRD先证者及其家人的样本后，我们将能够调查赞比亚SRD的表现、流行病学和病原学。具体地说，我们将(1)使用构成SRD基础的相对成分过程的认知模型来描述赞比亚的Nyanja、Tongo和英语语言中的SRD特征；(2)描述赞比亚SRD儿童的家庭、学校和社区社会环境和经历；以及(3)通过考虑环境(例如贫困、孤儿、环境毒性)和遗传因素来调查SRD的病因学基础。这一应用程序的所有研究活动将有助于加强团队成员之间的合作关系，并在UNZA和MHH机构、教员和研究生层面提供相关技能的培训和能力建设。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed work is a collaboration between research teams on three continents: Africa (the University of Zambia (UNZA) and Macha Mission Hospital ([MMH], Zambia), North America (Yale University, Tufts University, U.S.), and Europe (Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, and University of Jyv¿skyl¿, Finland). It builds on the existing Yale-UNZA R21 TW006764, which was funded in 2003 and constituted the foundation for forming a team, developing collaborative relationships, transferring expertise, developing assessment instruments, conducting field research, and collecting preliminary data. Building on this foundation, in this application, we propose to (1) identify, using the assessment instruments developed/validated in our R21, two groups of probands: students with Specific Reading Disability (+SRD, n=400) and students without SRD (- SRD, n=400). Only children with at least an average level of intellectual functioning and with at least one sibling in the age range of 6-21 years will be considered as probands in this grouping. Given our pilot data, we anticipate that screening 3,000 children will provide us with an opportunity to ascertain these two samples of probands and recruit at least 2 family members of these probands. Having constructed these two samples of +/-SRD probands and their families, we will be able to investigated manifestation, epidemiology, and etiology of SRD in Zambia. Specifically, we will (1) characterize SRD in the Nyanja, Tongo, and English languages in Zambia using cognitive models of relative componential processes whose deficits form SRD's foundation; (2) describe the home, school, and community social environment and experience of children with SRD in Zambia; and (3) investigate etiological bases of SRD by considering both environmental (e.g., poverty, orphanhood, environmental toxicity) and genetic factors. All research activities in this application will contribute to strengthening collaborative relationships between the team members and providing training and capacity building for relevant skills at the UNZA and MHH institutional, faculty, and graduate student levels.