title: Predicting Reading and Spelling Disorders: A 4-Year Prospective Cohort Study.
abstract: In this 4-year prospective cohort study, children with a reading and spelling disorder, children with a spelling impairment, and children without a reading and/or spelling disorder (control group) in a transparent orthography were identified in third grade, and their emergent literacy performances in kindergarten compared retrospectively. Six hundred and forty-two Italian children participated. This cohort was followed from the last year of kindergarten to third grade. In kindergarten, the children were assessed in phonological awareness, conceptual knowledge of writing systems and textual competence. In third grade, 18 children with a reading and spelling impairment and 13 children with a spelling impairment were identified. Overall, conceptual knowledge of the writing system was the only statistically significant predictor of the clinical samples. No differences were found between the two clinical samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, University of Florence Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bigozzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, University of Florence Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tarchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health, University of Florence Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Corrado
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caudek
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, University of Florence Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuliana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pinto
keywords: invented spelling; phonological awareness; predictors; reading disorder; spelling disorder; textual competence