Reading Disabilities in Zambian Children

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的工作是三大洲研究团队之间的合作：非洲(赞比亚大学（UNZA）和Macha教会医院（[MMH]，赞比亚），北美（耶鲁大学，塔夫茨大学，美国）和欧洲（英国利兹城市大学和芬兰Jyv¿skyl¿大学）。它建立在现有的Yale-UNZA R21 TW006764的基础上，该项目于2003年获得资助，为组建团队、发展合作关系、转移专业知识、开发评估工具、进行实地研究和收集初步数据奠定了基础。在此基础上，在本申请中，我们建议(1)使用我们在R21中开发/验证的评估工具来确定两组先证：特殊阅读障碍学生（+SRD, n=400）和没有SRD的学生（- SRD, n=400）。只有智力功能达到平均水平且至少有一个6-21岁的兄弟姐妹的孩子才会被视为先证者。根据我们的试点数据，我们预计筛选3,000名儿童将为我们提供确定这两个先证者样本的机会，并招募至少2名这些先证者的家庭成员。通过构建这两个+/-SRD先证者及其家庭样本，我们将能够调查赞比亚SRD的表现，流行病学和病因学。具体而言，我们将(1)使用相关成分过程的认知模型来表征赞比亚尼亚语、汤戈语和英语的SRD，这些认知模型的缺陷构成了SRD的基础；(2)描述赞比亚SRD儿童的家庭、学校和社区社会环境和经历；(3)通过考虑环境因素（如贫困、孤儿、环境毒性）和遗传因素，调查SRD的病因基础。本申请中的所有研究活动将有助于加强团队成员之间的合作关系，并为UNZA和MHH机构，教师和研究生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.