Work

Language difficulties are a shared risk factor for both reading disorder and mathematics disorder

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Disorders of reading and mathematics co-occur at greater than chance rates, but they are often studied separately. This article reports the reading and arithmetic outcomes at 9 years of age from a longitudinal study of 224 children at high risk for dyslexia. Using a cutoff at the 10th centile, groups of children with reading disorder (RD), mathematics disorder (MD), and comorbid reading disorder and math disorder (RD&MD) were identified. The risk of these disorders was elevated in children selected in preschool with language difficulties or at family risk for dyslexia. There was a high degree of comorbidity between RD and MD, and many cases-particularly in the comorbid group-also reached the diagnostic threshold for developmental language disorder (DLD). On measures of language, phoneme awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN) digits, and rated inattention, there was a stepwise pattern: RD > MD > RD&MD. Poor language was associated with each disorder and appears to be a cognitive risk factor for RD, MD, and RD&MD. These findings suggest that there are shared genetic risk factors operating for both RD and MD.

Source: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105009

Authors: Margaret J. Snowling, Kristina Moll, Charles Hulme

Institutions: University of Oxford, LMU Klinikum, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Language: English

Topic: Reading and Literacy Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,650