Individual differences in contextual facilitation: evidence from dyslexia and poor reading comprehension

Ninety-two 7- to 10-year-old children read words presented in isolation or following a spoken sentence context. In absolute terms, poor readers showed more contextual facilitation than good readers. However, when the relative benefit of context was assessed, this was greater for children with better reading skills, and comprehension was a better predictor of contextual facilitation than decoding. Study 2 compared the performance of dyslexics with that of reading-age matched poor comprehenders and normal readers. The dyslexics showed greater contextual facilitation than the normal readers who, in turn, showed more priming than poor comprehenders. The results show that dyslexic children use context to compensate for poor decoding skills, whereas children with poor reading comprehension skills fail to benefit from context as much as normal readers.     

工艺模拟技术用于SBR优化设计

在介绍了SBR工艺模拟技术的基础上,通过实例说明应用模拟技术进行SBR工艺设计的方法并给出了模拟结果。结果表明,模拟技术是对采用传统方法设计的污水处理SBR工艺进行评价和优化的有效工具。     

Word recognition in developmental dyslexia: a connectionist interpretation

We present a study of the accuracy, consistency, and speed of word naming in a dyslexic boy, JM, who has severe impairments in the ability to use sub-lexical, phonological reading strategies. For words that he can recognise, JM's naming latencies do not differ from those of control subjects matched for reading age, and he is generally consistent from one occasion to the next. He can also match printed homophones with their definitions--a skill that requires access to well-specified orthographic representations. The data are interpreted as evidence for the creation of efficient recognition devices for words within JM's sight vocabulary. However, he shows a continuing inability to use phonological decoding strategies to deal with words that he cannot recognize by sight. Overall we argue our results pose problems for stage models of reading development, and that they may best be interpreted within a connectionist framework of the development of word recognition skills.     

Developmental Dyslexia and Specific Language Impairment: Same or Different?

Developmental dyslexia and specific language impairment (SLI) were for many years treated as distinct disorders but are now often regarded as different manifestations of the same underlying problem, differing only in severity or developmental stage. The merging of these categories has been motivated by the reconceptualization of dyslexia as a language disorder in which phonological processing is deficient. The authors argue that this focus underestimates the independent influence of semantic and syntactic deficits, which are widespread in SLI and which affect reading comprehension and impair attainment of fluent reading in adolescence. The authors suggest that 2 dimensions of impairment are needed to conceptualize the relationship between these disorders and to capture phenotypic features that are important for identifying neurobiologically and etiologically coherent subgroups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Woodfuel consumption in Scotland 2005–8

Three surveys were done in 2004–5 to assess the use of wood for energy in Scotland. Businesses using more than 10,000 odt y^?1 dominated the sector, accounting for 131 thousand odt (k odt) which was used mainly for co-firing and heat production in the wood-processing industry. Within the category using 1000–10,000 odt y^?1 there were four developments using a total of 6 k odt y^?1. In the smallest category 33 projects used a total of 4 k odt y^?1. Of 4000 adults surveyed 4.8% used woodfuel at home. Data from a subset of users were combined with survey information to estimate domestic woodfuel usage (52 k odt y^?1). The total 2004–2005 woodfuel use in Scotland was therefore estimated as 193 k odt y^?1.Industrial and commercial usage was resurveyed in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Total woodfuel usage increased to 306 and 324 k odt in 2006 and 2007 due to an increase in the use of pellets for co-firing and also the number of projects in the two smaller size classes. The following year saw the commissioning of a dedicated biomass power plant, increasing use of recycled wood and decreasing use of pellets. The net effect within the industrial and commercial sector was an increase in demand to 413 k odt y^?1 by spring 2008. Domestic usage was reestimated in 2007. The number of households using woodfuel was static or decreasing slightly; we estimate an annual usage of 50 k odt. Total woodfuel usage in Scotland was estimated as 463 k odt y^?1 by spring 2008.     

A Cross-Linguistic Comparison of Children Learning to Read in English and Dutch.

The authors report on a cross-linguistic investigation of the reading skills of 6- to 11-year-old children of English (an opaque orthography) and of Dutch (a transparent orthography). Dutch children were relatively more accurate and faster than English children of the same age at reading words and nonwords and also faster to complete phoneme deletion tasks, but the language differences were smaller than expected and modified by age. The predictors of individual differences in reading were similar in the 2 languages; phoneme awareness (as measured by accuracy and response time measures) was a significant predictor of reading, whereas rapid naming of colors, animals, and objects was not. The authors conclude that phoneme awareness is a predictor of individual differences in reading skill in transparent as well as opaque orthographies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phonemes, Rimes, Vocabulary, and Grammatical Skills as Foundations of Early Reading Development: Evidence From a Longitudinal Study.

The authors present the results of a 2-year longitudinal study of 90 British children beginning at school entry when they were 4 years 9 months old (range = 4 years 2 months to 5 years 2 months). The relationships among early phonological skills, letter knowledge, grammatical skills, and vocabulary knowledge were investigated as predictors of word recognition and reading comprehension. Word recognition skills were consistently predicted by earlier measures of letter knowledge and phoneme sensitivity (but not by vocabulary knowledge, rhyme skills, or grammatical skills). In contrast, reading comprehension was predicted by prior word recognition skills, vocabulary knowledge, and grammatical skills. The results are related to current theories about the role of phonological, grammatical, and vocabulary skills in the development of early reading skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of phonological awareness in preschool children.

A short-term longitudinal study was carried out on a group of 67 preschool children. At three points in time over a 12-month period, the children were given tests measuring their syllable, rime, and phoneme awareness, speech and language skills, and letter knowledge. In general, children's rime skills developed earlier than their phoneme skills. Structural equation models showed that articulatory skills and syllable and rime awareness predicted later phoneme awareness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)