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）比较用于定义、分类和预防解码、阅读理解、拼写和书面作文中学习障碍的替代方法;（2）确定学习障碍在挣扎的读者中的普遍程度;（3）确定学习障碍如何与学习能力相关;（4）确定一个领域的学习障碍如何与其他领域的学习障碍相关;（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现的关键遗传负债和资产，以及遗传-环境相关性。这些目标将在大规模的，发展的，多元的背景下，区分和解决理论和实践问题，并明确解决严重程度追求。项目一涉及分类和预防的替代办法，其中包括新的紧急识字措施和对1 500名学龄前儿童的大规模研究中的教学反应。项目二涉及分类的替代方法、有效教学在预防或尽量减少学习障碍表现方面的作用，以及对两项涉及1 420名小学儿童的大规模研究中的教学模式作出反应的基本假设。项目III在全州范围内对阅读优先学校的10万多名儿童进行了病因学、鉴定和分类，并对9,000对双胞胎进行了大规模的基于双胞胎的定量遗传研究。第四计划在一项对500名先证者的家族研究中探讨了严重阅读障碍的分子遗传学和行为特征。项目V解决了词汇和流利性表现的基本维度，并在一项为期四年的纵向研究中测试了阅读和写作发展的替代模型，该研究对300名一至四年级的儿童进行了研究。这一应用与公共卫生的相关性在于其改善学习障碍的预防、早期识别和有效补救的潜力。

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.