El impacto del TDAH sobre la lectura / The impact of ADHD on reading

Resumen Más allá de la frecuente coexistencia del trastorno por déficit de atención con hiperactividad (TDAH) y el trastorno específico del aprendizaje de la lectura, la presente revisión pretende examinar la evidencia empírica disponible sobre cómo el TDAH impacta negativamente sobre el aprendizaje de la lectura. Los datos existentes apuntan a que la presencia del trastorno (especialmente los síntomas de falta de atención), puede afectar a i) la correcta adquisición de lectura, ya sea de manera directa o a través de su influencia sobre los precursores de la lectura; ii) las propias habilidades de decodificación (precisión y fluidez lectora), tanto de manera directa como indirecta a través de su influencia sobre procesos cognitivos como la distracción o las funciones ejecutivas; y ii) la comprensión lectora, probablemente de manera indirecta por las dificultades eje cutivas y en la memoria de trabajo verbal características del TDAH. Estas conclusiones presentan importantes implicaciones para caracterizar e intervenir mejor sobre las dificultades lectoras en el TDAH, ya sean clínicas o subclínicas.

Abstract Beyond the frequent coexistence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading dis order (dyslexia), the present review aims to examine the available empirical evidence on how ADHD negatively impacts on learning to read. Existing data suggest that the presence of the disorder (especially inattention symp toms), may affect i) the correct acquisition of reading, either directly or through its influence on the precursors to reading; ii) decoding skills themselves (reading accuracy and fluency), both directly and indirectly through its influence on cognitive processes such as distractibility or executive functions; and iii) reading comprehension, probably indirectly through the executive and verbal memory difficulties characteristic of ADHD. These findings have important implications for better characterizing and intervening on reading difficulties in ADHD, whether clinical or subclinical.

Las relaciones entre prosodia y comprensión lectora en alumnos hispanohablantes: revisión sistemática y metaanálisis / Relations between prosody and reading comprehension in Spanish-speaking students: systematic review and meta-analysis

Resumen La fluidez ha sido considerada como uno de los factores relevantes que interviene en la comprensión lectora. Actualmente se incluye en la fluidez, además de la velocidad y la precisión, la prosodia como uno de los componentes que actúa de forma preponderante en la construcción del significado de la lectura. El propósito de este estudio fue realizar una revisión sistemática y un metaanálisis para determinar, por un lado, la situación de la agenda investigativa en la materia y, por el otro, mensurar la magnitud de la relación entre prosodia y comprensión lectora en alumnos hablantes nativos del español. Se realizó para ello un rastreo bibliográfico en las bases de datos Dialnet, Redalyc, SciELO, ERIC, Scopus y PubMed, sin restricciones temporales. En la revisión sistemática se incluyeron 18 estudios. Con los estudios correlacionales (n = 12) se llevó a cabo un metaanálisis multinivel, en el que se examinaron 59 coeficientes de correlación. El análisis mostró una asociación significativa entre prosodia y comprensión lectora (t(58) = 9.77, p < .001) con un efecto moderado de .46 (Z de Fisher = .49 [95 % CI = .39, .59]). Ni el nivel escolar al que asisten los alumnos (primario o secundario), ni el nivel en el que se evaluó la comprensión (oración o texto) moderaron la relación entre las variables. En suma, los resultados sostienen que las habilidades prosódicas contribuyen al procesamiento semántico de las oraciones y textos en español, más allá del nivel educativo del que se trate.

Abstract Fluency has been considered one of the relevant factors involved in reading comprehension, by providing a bridge between decoding and comprehension. At present, fluency includes, alongside rate and accuracy, prosody as one the parts which plays a preponderant role in the construction of meaning during the reading process. Prosodic reading is the use of oral language features when reading a text, such as pausing, stress and intonation, in order that the text will be read aloud with the tonal and rhythmic characteristics of speech. Furthermore, prosodic reading makes it possible to organize word sequences into syntactically cohesive units of meaning. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis, firstly, in order to determine the situation of research articles which enquire into the relation between prosody and reading comprehension, and secondly, to measure the significance of that relation in students who are native speakers of Spanish. To that end, a bibliographic search was performed without time restrictions in the following databases: Dialnet, Redalyc, SciELO, ERIC, Scopus and PubMed. The systematic review included 18 studies. The qualitative synthesis showed four categories of articles: (1) validation studies of instruments to assess reading fluency; (2) intervention studies on different prosodic aspects and enquiries into their impact on reading comprehension; (3) comparisons of good and poor comprehenders; and (4) correlational studies. A multilevel meta-analysis was performed in the correlational studies (n = 12), examining 59 correlation coefficients. The analysis showed a significant association between reading comprehension and prosody (t(58) = 9.77, p < .001) with a moderate effect of .46 (z = .49 [95 % CI = .39, .59]). Once outlier values had been removed, no variation was found in the size of the estimated effect (r = .46). Two additional models were adjusted, including as moderating variables, respectively, the type of assessment performed on comprehension (sentence or text level) and the educational level (primary or secondary). The results obtained from these models suggest the association between comprehension and prosody is neither moderated by the type of assessment carried out (F(1, 57) = 1.51, ρ = .22), nor by the educational level (F(1, 57) = 0.10, ρ = .75). In summary, the meta-analysis showed a moderate relation between prosody and reading comprehension. These relations continued beyond the level at which the latter variable (sentence or text) was examined, and throughout the school trajectory. In other words, and in contrast to other aspects of fluency, such as accuracy and rate, prosody seems to maintain its contribution to comprehension. In sum, the findings support the claim that suprasegmental skills, both at lexical level (i. e. the skills related to the identification, stress and manipulation of stressed syllables in words) and at metrical level (the capabilities responsible for processing intonation, rhythm and pausing when reading), contribute to the semantic processing of sentences and texts in Spanish, regardless of the educational level under analysis. These results should be moderated given the limited number of studies found and the smaller amount of research carried out at secondary school level. In spite of these limitations, the relationships observed among the variables studied support the importance of prosodic reading to psychoeducational diagnosis and intervention in reading comprehension, and they provide significant background for future research.

Velocidad lectora en voz alta y silente: su relación con la comprensión de textos como herramientas para evaluar la fluidez / Oral and silent Reading speed: its relationship with reading comprehension as a tool to assess reading fluency

La lectura fluida se caracteriza por ser comprensiva, rápida y sin errores. Este trabajo se propone estudiar la fluidez lectora en voz alta y silente con medidas de comprensión de textos y velocidad. Además, se identificará cómo la precisión y la velocidad lectora en voz alta y silente están implicadas en la comprensión en cada modalidad. Participaron 41 niños y niñas de 3° grado que respondieron una tarea estandarizada de lectura de palabras y no palabras y dos tareas de lectura y comprensión de texto diseñadas ad hoc. Los resultados indican que la velocidad lectora no varía según la modalidad, pero evidencian un mejor rendimiento en comprensión al leer de manera silente. Asimismo, las medidas de precisión de lectura de palabras y no palabras aisladas se asocian con la velocidad en voz alta y silente, mientras que la precisión al leer palabras en el texto está relacionada con la comprensión lectora silente

Fluent text reading is fast, accurate and comprehensive. The aim of this research is to study oral and silent reading fluency using comprehension and speed measures to establish differences between reading modalities. It will also identify the role of word accuracy and speed measures in reading comprehension in both modalities. A sample of 41 children from 3rd grade was evaluated with a standardized word and nonword reading task, and with an oral and a silent reading comprehension ad hoc designed tasks. Measures of oral and silent reading speed and reading comprehension scores were compared. Results showed no differences between speed reading rates and a better performance in silent reading comprehension. Additionally, reading accuracy measures of word and nonwords have been associated with time reading measures in both modalities, while reading accuracy measures of words in the text have been found involved in silent reading comprehension

Análisis comparativo de estudios sobre la velocidad de nombrar en español y su relación con la adquisición de la lectura y sus dificultades / Comparative Analysis of Rapid Automatized Naming Studies in Spanish and Reading Acquisition and Reading Difficulties

La relación entre las tareas de Velocidad de Nombrar (VN) y la lectura se estudió por primera vez, en lengua inglesa, en la década de los 70, descubriéndose que los niños con dislexia eran lentos e inconsistentes en estas tareas. Posteriormente, algunos estudios han confirmado que la VN es el mejor predictor de la lectura en lenguas trasparentes, consecuentemente, se convierte en una medida de gran interés para la ortografía española. Acorde con lo expuesto, se analizan las investigaciones publicadas sobre VN y lectura en español, con el objetivo de extraer conclusiones para el diagnóstico y el tratamiento de las dificultades de lectura. Los estudios revisados muestran que la VN es un potente indicador para predecir la adquisición posterior de la lectura en edades tempranas y para discriminar entre lectores típicos y aquellos con dificultades. La VN es una medida fácil de administrar, útil tanto para el diagnóstico como para la prevención de las dificultades de lectura en nuestra lengua.

The relationship between Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) tasks and reading proficiency was first studied for English during the 70s, one finding being that children with dyslexia were slow and inconsistent in the RAN tasks. Later on, some studies have confirmed that RAN is the best predictor for transparent ortographies - and so of particular interest for Spanish. The research done so far on RAN and reading in Spanish is therefore reviewed here in order to draw conclusions for the diagnosis and treatment of reading difficulties. Our review shows that RAN is both a powerful early predictor of future reading outcomes and capable of discriminating between typical and poor readers. Being very easy to test, RAN is thus of great use in the diagnosis and prevention of reading disorders in Spanish.