Early Identification and Prevention of Reading Problems

Abstract

1Such consequences can have a long-term impact on educational career, the learning of skills, and ultimately, the employment status that could otherwise be achieved. For a substantial number of children, the acquisition of reading and spelling is a difficult challenge. The consequences and length of delay in this acquisition vary as a function of the nature of the writing system (orthography) being learned. In a highly regular orthography, such as Finnish, roughly 6% of children have difficulties with acquisition, while more than 3% have severe difficulties and may continue to read too slowly to facilitate the adequate comprehension of demanding text. Most, if not all, of these children have a familial (genetic) background to their difficulties. By contrast, among children who acquire reading skills in less orthographically regular languages, such as English, the proportion of spontaneous learners is smaller and the number of delayed early learners is relatively larger, with more than 10% of young readers of English facing problems in achieving sufficient accuracy and fluency of reading and spelling. 2 Children in need of preventive training can be identified early by using two sources of information: the history of parents and/or other close relatives, such as siblings, in relation to reading (familial background); and the development of those skills that can predict reading acquisition. The Finnish prospective data, on which the present report is based, reveal that even very early indices may be predictive.