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Phonologically related reading problems: Persistence and relevance for students with

dyslexia.Åke Olofsson

Umeå University, Sweden

Part of this research was supported by the Swedish Research Council project grant # Dnr 721-2008-5344.

Summer Seminars 2015 Dyslexia in different perspectives. San Marino, June 18-20

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The modern history of phonological awarenress

The modern history of phonological reading problems

The old history of phonological writing

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The modern history of phonological awarenress

History of phonological awareness

Ortgeist (Boston, Moscow)

Zeitgeist (Cognitive psychology, Developmental psychology)

Linguistic awareness:phonological and phonemic aw.

The concept was presented in:Kavanagh & Mattingly (1972). Language by ear and by eye.

Phonological awareness- Ill defined- The combination of two problematic

concepts

How could such a construct survive?

Stanovich, K. (2000) Progress in understandingreading. NY: Guilford

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PrecursorsBruce, D. J. (1964). The analysis of word sounds by young children. Br J of Educ Psychol

Zhurova, L. E. (1963/1967). The development of analysis of words into their sounds by preschool children. Soviet Psychology and Psychiatry, 2, 17–27

Liublinskaya, A. A. (1957). The development of children’s speech and thought. In Brian Simon (Ed.), Psychology in the Soviet Union. (Stanford University Press)

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Precursors

Elkonin, D. D. The psychology of mastering the elements of reading. In Simon and Simon, Educational psychology in the USSR. Stanford: Stanford Univer., 1963. Pp. 165-179.

-Brian Simon (1915 – 2002) was an English educationist and historian.-John A Downing (1922-1987)-Liberman, Isabelle and Alvin.

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Pioneering work by L.E. Zhurova

Talking to children, and playinggames, about ”the first sound in a word”. E.g. What sounds first when you aresaying your name?

Журова, Л. Е. (1963). Развитие звукового анализа слов у детей дошкольного возраста. Вопросы психологии (3), 21–33.

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What is the first sound in …

• Кошка (cat) [gatto] кролик (rabbit) [coniglio]

• лиса (fox) [volpe]

• Панда (panda)

• Тигр (tiger) [tigre]

See Chirkina & Grigorenko (2014) for a recent review of early reserch in Russia and it’sdissemination in English research literature.

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Non successful attemts to replicate … ?

• Chapman, R. S. & Kamm, M. R. (1972). An Evaluation of Methods for Teaching Initial Sound Isolation. TR-212.Wisconsin Univ.

• Dubbeix, D. D., & Murphy, Helen A. The auditory discrimination factor in reading readiness and reading disability. Education, 1953, 73, 556-560.

• McNeil, J. D., & Stone, J. (1965). Note on teaching children to hear separate sounds in spoken words. Journal of Educational Psychology, 56, 13-15.

• Davydov, V. V. (1986). Problems of developmental teaching: The experience of theoretical and experimental psychological research. Soviet Education, 30(8), 15–43.

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Scandinavian research

• Lundberg, Olofsson & Wall (1980). Reading and spelling in the first school years predicted from phonemic awareness skills in kindergarten. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 21, 159-173.

• Lundberg, I., Frost, J., & Petersen, O.-P. (1988). Effects of an extensive program for stimulating phonological awareness in preschool children. Reading Research Quarterly, 23, 263–284. doi:10.1598/RRQ.23.3.1

• Kjeldsen, A-C., Niemi, P., & Olofsson, Å. (2003). Training phonological awareness in kindergarten level children:Consistency is more important than quantity. Learning and Instruction, 13, 349–365.

• Elbro, C., & Klint Petersen, D. (2004). Long-term effects of phoneme awareness and letter sound training: An intervention study with children at risk for dyslexia. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 660–670.

• Kjeldsen, Kärnä, Niemi, Olofsson, & Witting. (2014). Gains from training in phonological awareness in kindergarten predict reading comprehension in grade 9. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18, 452-467.

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ReferencesBruce, D. J. (1964). The analysis of word sounds by young children. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 1964, 34,158-170.Chirkina, G.V. & Grigorenko, E.L. (2014). Tracking citations: A science detective story. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 47 (4), 366-373. DOI: 10.1177/0022219412471995Downing, J- (Ed.). (1988). Cognitive Psychology and Reading in the USSR. Elsevier. (posthumously)Elkonin, D. D. The psychology of mastering the elements of reading. Educational psychology in the USSR. Stanford: Stanford Univer. Press, 1963. Pp. 165-179.Kavanagh, J.F. & Mattingly, I.G.: (1972). Language by ear and by eye. Cambridge, MA.: MIT PressLiberman, A. M., Cooper, F. S., Shankweiler, D. P., & Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1967). Perception of the speech code. Psychological Review, 74, 431–461.Liublinskaya A.A. (1957). The Development of Children’s Speech and Thought. In S Brian (Ed.), Psychology in the Soviet Union. (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA), pp 197–204.Lundberg, Larsman & Strid (2012). Development of phonological awareness during the preschool year: the influence of gender and socio-economic status. Reading and Writing, 25, 2, 305 – 320. Zhurova, L. E. (1963). The development of analysis of words into their sounds by preschool children. Soviet Psychology and Psychiatry, 2, 17–27.

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The old history of phonological writing

The old Egyptians could write alphabetically witha subset of hieroglyphs that coded phonemes.

They did not understand how great this idea was, but the Phonesians did, and they ”invented” the alphabet.

- to Greece.- to Etruscans in e.g. San Marino and Rome

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The Vikings learned to read – no school?

Thanks to the futhork (alphabet) and phonological awareness

F U q O r k

h n i A s

t b m L y

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Norwegian runic inscriptions on wood sticks, 12 to 14-century

All types of literacy• religious, secular, commercial

correspondence, everyday messages and intimate communications including pornography and obscenities,

• writing exercises and indecipherable hocus-pocus

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NIYR VI

The Vikings learned to read – no school?

Fuqo R khnieÄ sbPmtlNy fuþo r khnieø sbpmtlæy

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Fjellhammer Seim K. The west-nordic futhark-inscriptions,347, Number A24.

A fuþork (below) with additional characters (new letters) inserted

a vowel after the ia labial consonant (p) inserted after the ba vowel inserted before the final y

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As the spoken language changed …

Voicing of stops was marked by a dot but the similar dot marking was also used for devoicing

That is,k. = gt. = db. = p

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The alphabet as a teaching device

The structural stability of the fuþark can be an indication of the runic writers’ explicit awareness of the importance of fuþark as a primary tool in literacy learning.

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References

Fjellhammer Seim, Kari. De vestnordiske futhark-innskriftene fra vikingtid og middelalder – form og funksjon. Ph.D. diss., University of Trondheim, Norway, 1998.

Miller, G. D. Ancient scripts and phonological knowledge. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1994.

National Library of Norway. Database of the Bergen inscriptions. http://www.nb.no/baser/runer/eindex.html

Olofsson, Å. Early Writing Among Ancient Vikings and Today's Pre-schoolers: a Cognitive Developmental Perspective on Reading Acquisition and Alphabets as Effective Artefacts. Paedagogica Historica. International Journal of the History of Education Vol. 44, No.1-2.

Sanness Johnsen, I. Bryggen i Bergen: Forrettningsbrev og eiermerker (The wharf district in Bergen: Business letters and owners mark; in Norwegian). In Norges innskrifter med de yngre runer, edited by J.E. Knirk. Oslo: Kjeldeskriftfondet, 1989.

Spurkland, Terje. Norwegian runes and runic inscriptions. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2005

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The modern history of phonological reading problems

Phonological awareness predict readingdevelopment

Kindergarten training in phonological awarenessgive positive effects on learning to read- especially if combined with the teaching of

letter knowledge- Especially for children at risk for reding

problems

Phonological awareness and other reading relatedphonological tasks is a distinctive feature in dyslexia-- Problems with phonology tend to be presistent

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University students with dyslexia: Reading skills, learning

strategies, outcomes and implications for teaching

Åke Olofsson, Astrid Ahl and Karin TaubeUmeå University

This research was supported by the Swedish Research Council project grant # Dnr 721-2008-5344.

Open higher education (HE) welcomes everybody equally

International trend

• increasing recruitment generally • increasing recruitment from under-

represented groups • regardless of … functional disability,

Dyslexia.

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The Discrimination Act 2008:567 The Equality ombudsman (diskrimineringsombudsman) www.do.se

• ..”to ensure that discrimination associated with sex, transgender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age does not occur in any areas of the life of society. ”

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Students with dyslexia in H.E. in Sweden 2010-2012 (out of approx 350 000)

female male Total

2010 2 800 1 570 4 370

2011 2 589 1 558 4 417

2012 3 274 1 665 4 939

Prevalence. 1 – 1.4% in Sweden.1.5 - 2.18% in England (Mortimore & Crozier, 2006; Singleton, 1999)

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Problem

• Students:Skills, strengths, weakness, strategies

• Institutions: need for new kind of support and teaching. Counselling

• Outcome. Study rate. Attainment? Dropout? “Right person in the right place“?

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Aims• to survey the reading skills, study

behavior, difficulties and support needs of a sample of university students with dyslexia

• to describe the university teachersview on students with dyslexia

• to describe the study outcome after 2-3 years in H. E.

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Method.Participants

Teacher programme N=22Nursing programme N=13

others N=15

• 50 students with dyslexia (15m 35f, age M=27, range 19-49, SD=7,5)from 3 universities in northern Sweden.Tests, interviews, questionnaires, arc

• 42 Lecturers and student councellors(14m 28f)Interviews

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ResultsUniversity students with dyslexia.

- Poor word decoding speedand non-word reading

- Poor spelling ability- Poor vocabulary (phonol)- Slow naming (RAN digits)

Conclusion: Previous research findings validated

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University students with dyslexia.

- have the same amount of foreignlanguage courses as students without dyslexia.

- have more foreign languagecourses than non-students withdyslexia.

- have a longer period of studies before university.

- 84% report dyslexia in the family

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University students with dyslexia

• Far from all tell about their problems.

• There is a fear for negative treatment, discrimination or harrassment.

• Report normal leisure readingbut read less in inglish

• Report most problems with reading english text and taking notes during lectures

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Available support• Recorded literature• Note taking support• Translation software (and hardw.)• Spelling software• Support centre for inform.technol.• Extended time and a private room

at examinations• Tape recording of lectures• Support with language/writing• Mentorship

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Strategies

• Use a variety of functions available via internet

• Adjusted/tailored examination procedures

• Audio books

• Reduce the amount of reading (read summaries, alternative (shorter) texts, cooperate with classmates, see old exam questions)

• Attend all lectures (a few record lectures)

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Strategies, cont.

• Seek help from family and classmates for writing assignments

• Seek help from counsellers, librarians, and student center

• Be positive, fight and hold out

• Spend a lot of time on studying

• Try to keep your goal visible (dream)

• Never say ”I can’t”

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Staff: observed changes in students

• Increased differences in students’ skills

• Increased number of students with no study habits

• More students with great difficulties in expressing themselves in spoken and written Swedish

• Among the weak students there are manywith low motivation

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Staff: What difficulties are most apparent?

• Writing problems (difficulties with structure, scientific writing, sentence construction, spelling and splitting)

• Reading problems (difficulties with long texts, don’t get the meaning, don’t understand the words)

• Poor study habits

distriktssjuksköterskerekryteringssituationen

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Adjustments done with reference to students with dyslexia?

Several teachers responded ”No, I focus on the average student”There are techers who try to adjust withoutlowering the standards:• Use simple language• Stress clarity and structure• Make presentations available to students• Refer students to available support• The importance of dialogue

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Achievement Md=26 ECTS per semester9 Very low 1-15 hp. 15 Slow 16-24 hp. 25 Normal 25-35 hp

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18%

52%

30%

Outcome 2012/2013 for50 students with dyslexia

20 (40%) graduated14 (28%) still in programme16 (32%) left

Those who left:3 nursing programme7 teacher programme6 other

Analysis: Drop outs have lower scores on the reading comprehension test

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General conclusionHigher education institutions should

be prepared for students with dyslexia.

Students with dyslexia are not doing ”too” bad.

• The organisation of teaching• Student services• Staff training

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References

Beidas, H., Khateb, A., Breznitz, Z. (2013). The cognitive profile of adult dyslexics and its relation to their reading abilities. Reading and Writing, 26, 1487-1515. DOI 10.1007/s11145-013-9428-5

Erskine, J. M., & Seymour, P. H. K. (2005). Proximal analysis of developmental dyslexia in adulthood: the cognitive mosaic model. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 406–424.

Evans, W. (2014). ”I am not a dyslecix person I’m a person with dyslexia”: Identity constructionsof dyslexia among students in nurse education. Journal of Advanced Nursing 70, 360–372. doi: 10.1111/jan.12199

Kemp, N., Parrila, R., & Kirby, J. R. (2009). Phonological and orthographic spelling in high-functioning adult dyslexics. Dyslexia, 15, 105–128. doi:10.1002/dys.364.

Miller-Shaul, S. (2005). The characteristics of young and adult dyslexics readers on reading and reading related cognitive tasks as compared to normal readers. Dyslexia, 11, 132-151

Mortimore & Crozier (2006). Dyslexia and difficulties with study skills in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 32 (2), 235-251.

Olofsson, Å. (2002). Twenty years of phonological deficits: Lundberg’s sample revisited. In E. Hjelmquist and C. Von Euler (Eds.), Dyslexia and literacy (pp. 151-162). London: Whurr.

Parrila, R., Georgiou, G., & Crokett, J. (2007). University Students with a Significant History of Reading Difficulties: What is and is not compensated? Exceptionality Education Canada, 17, 195-220.

Re, A. M., Tressoldi, P. E., Cornoldi, C., & Lucangeli, D. (2011). Which tasks best discriminate between dyslexic university students and controls in a transparent language? Dyslexia, 17, 227-241.

Siegel, L. S. & Smythe, I. S. (2006) Supporting dyslexic adults – A need for clarity (and more research): A critical review of the Rice Report ‘Developmental Dyslexia in Adults: A Research Review’. Dyslexia, 12, 68-79.

Singleton, C.H. (Chair) (1999). Dyslexia in higher education: Policy, provision and practice (Report of the National Working Party on Dyslexia in Higher Education). Hull: University of Hull.

Swanson, H. L., & Hsieh, C. J. (2009). Reading disabilities in adults: A selective meta-analysis of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 79, 1362–1390.

Tops, W. et al. (2013). Beyond spelling: the writing skills of students with dyslexia in higher education. Reading and Writing, 26, 705-720. DOI 10.1007/s11145-012-9387-2

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To discuss:

• Should we be more ”service minded”?

• Increased demands combined with widening participation – dilemma?

• ”We can support them when they are in education but what about the future when they work as professionals without any safety net” ?

• Who is pleading the third part´s cause? (children at school, patients at the hosipital, etc.)

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