title: Kindergarteners' performance in a sound-symbol paradigm predicts early reading.
abstract: The current study examined the role of serial processing of newly learned sound-symbol associations in early reading acquisition. A computer-based sound-symbol paradigm (SSP) was administered to 243 children during their last year of kindergarten (T1), and their reading performance was assessed 1 year later in first grade (T2). Results showed that performance on the SSP measured before formal reading instruction was associated with later reading development. At T1, early readers performed significantly better than nonreaders in learning correspondences between sounds and symbols as well as in applying those correspondences in a serial manner. At T2, SSP performance measured at T1 was positively associated with reading performance. Importantly, serial application of newly learned correspondences at T1 explained unique variance in first-grade reading performance in nonreaders over and above other verbal predictors, including phonological awareness, verbal short-term memory, and rapid automatized naming. Consequently, the SSP provides a promising way to study aspects of reading in preliterate children.
authors.affiliation: Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany. Electronic address: jhorbach@ukaachen.de.
authors.forename: Josefine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Horbach
authors.affiliation: Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Scharke
authors.affiliation: Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cröll
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany; Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA)-Translational Brain Medicine, 52428 Jülich, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, 52428 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heim
authors.affiliation: Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany; Faculty of Health, Zuyd University, 6419 DJ Heerlen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Günther
mesh_terms: D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D011932:Reading; D013016:Sound; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Early reading development; Phonological awareness; Predictors of reading; Rapid automatized naming; Serial processing; Sound–symbol learning