title: Cognitive, social, and other correlates of specific reading retardation.
abstract: Children with specific reading retardation were matched with controls on the basis of age, sex, intelligence, and (less successfully) parental education. All subjects were tested on a variety of automated performance tests including the Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) Task, Auditory-Visual Integration, Short-Term Memory, the Continuous Performance Task (CPT), and Motor Performance. All children were assessed socially using the Conners Teacher Questionnaire, and reading-retarded children were rated on the Behavior Problem Checklist. Finally, all children were screened with the Finger Twitch Test and were assessed for left-right awareness. Statistical analysis suggested that the following performance tests discriminated between the groups in this respective order of importance: MFF (Accuracy), Auditory-Visual Integration, and the CPT. The Short-Term Memory Task, MFF Decision Time, and Motor Performance did not distinguish between the groups. Multiple regression equations suggested that scores on the performance tests could account for about 40% of the variance in reading attainment. Several factors from the rating scales (notably those pertaining to attention and anxiety) and left-right awareness also discriminated between the groups.
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D002819:Chorea / Q000523:psychology; D003071:Cognition; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009048:Motor Skills; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment