title: Predicting the reading skill of Japanese children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To clarify cognitive processes underlining the development of reading in children speaking Japanese as their first language, we examined relationships between performances of cognitive tasks in the preschool period and later reading abilities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-one normally developing preschoolers (41 girls and 50 boys; 5years 4months to 6years 4months, mean 5years 10months) participated as subjects. We conducted seven cognitive tasks including phonological awareness tasks, naming tasks, and working memory tasks in the preschool period. In terms of reading tasks, the hiragana naming task was administered in the preschool period; the reading times, which is a composite score of the monomoraic syllable reading task, the word and the non-word reading tasks, and the single sentence reading task, was evaluated in first and second grade; and the kanji reading task (naming task) was tested in second grade. Raven's colored progressive matrices and picture vocabulary test revised were also conducted in first grade. Correlation analyses between task scores and stepwise multiple regression analyses were implemented.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Tasks tapping phonological awareness, lexical access, and verbal working memory showed significant correlations with reading tasks. In the multiple regression analyses the performances in the verbal working memory task played a key role in predicting character naming task scores (the hiragana naming task and the kanji reading task) while the digit naming task was an important predictor of reading times. Unexpectedly, the role of phonological (mora) awareness was modest among children speaking Japanese.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cognitive functions including phonological awareness, digit naming, and verbal working memory (especially the latter two) were involved in the development of reading skills of children speaking Japanese.
authors.affiliation: Department of Children Studies, Faculty of Children Studies, Chugokugakuen University, Okayama, Japan. Electronic address: tatsu@cjc.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ogino
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Neurology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hanafusa
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Support, Okayama University Hospital, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Teruko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morooka
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, Okayama Medical Center, National Hospital Organization, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Akihito
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Neurology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Makio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oka
authors.affiliation: Asahigawaso Rehabilitation and Medical Center, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohtsuka
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011932:Reading; D013067:Speech Perception
keywords: Digit naming; Japanese; Phonological awareness; Reading development; Verbal working memory