Performance of children at risk for reading difficulties submitted to an intervention program

DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20162015274 Original Article Artigo Original Nathane Sanches Marques Silva1 Patrícia Abreu Pinheiro Crenitte1 Performance of children at risk for reading difficulties submitted to an intervention program Desempenho de crianças com risco para dificuldade de leitura submetidas a um programa de intervenção Keywords ABSTRACT Preschooler Purpose: To assess the applicability of an intervention program to children at risk for reading disabilities. Methods: This experimental study compared 10 children at risk for reading difficulty submitted to a phonological decoding intervention program (study group) with 10 other children at risk for reading difficulty not submitted to the program (control group). The intervention program was based on two international studies. It comprised 24 sessions: the first 12 sessions were conducted with groups of two to three children, whereas the others were performed individually. The sessions lasted 50 minutes and were held twice a week. Statistical analysis was conducted using the Student’s t-test and the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test. Results: Children at risk for reading difficulties submitted to the phonological decoding intervention program showed statistically significant improvement at post-assessment in the performance of the following skills: letter naming; phoneme-grapheme relationship; phonological awareness; phonological working memory for non-words; phonological working memory for digits in direct order; alphabet recognition in sequence; writing under dictation of words and pseudowords; reading of words and pseudowords. Conclusion: The phonological decoding intervention program showed applicability to improve the prerequisite skills of reading and writing of children at risk for reading disabilities. Child Reading Learning Disorders Early Intervention Descritores Pré-escolar Criança Leitura Transtornos de Aprendizagem Intervenção Precoce Correspondence address: Patrícia Abreu Pinheiro Crenitte Al. Octávio Pinheiro Brisolla, 9-75, Vila Universitária, Bauru (SP), Brazil, CEP: 17012-901. E-mail: RESUMO Objetivo: Comparar a aplicabilidade de um programa de intervenção em crianças com risco para dificuldade de leitura. Método: Trata-se de uma pesquisa experimental, na qual o grupo estudado de crianças com risco para dificuldade de leitura (formado por 10 crianças) foi submetido ao programa de intervenção de decodificação fonológica para a comparação com o grupo controle de crianças com risco para dificuldade de leitura (formado por 10 crianças), não submetido ao programa de intervenção. O programa foi elaborado com base em dois estudos internacionais, contém 24 sessões, sendo que as 12 primeiras sessões são realizadas em grupos de duas a três crianças e as demais individualmente, as sessões apresentaram duração de 50 minutos e foram realizadas duas vezes por semana. Aplicou-se o teste “t” de Student e o teste de Wilcoxon. Resultados: As crianças com risco para dificuldade de leitura, submetidas ao programa de intervenção de decodificação fonológica, demonstraram melhora na pós-testagem estatisticamente significativa para o desempenho das habilidades de: nomeação de letras; relação grafema-fonema; consciência fonológica; memória de trabalho fonológica para não palavras; memória de trabalho fonológica para dígitos na ordem direta; escrita do alfabeto em sequência; escrita sob ditado de palavras e pseudopalavras; leitura de palavras e pseudopalavras. Conclusão: O programa de intervenção de decodificação fonológica mostrou ter aplicabilidade para aprimorar as habilidades de pré-requisitos e as habilidades de leitura e escrita de crianças com risco para dificuldade de leitura. Study carried out at Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru, Universidade de São Paulo – USP - Bauru (SP), Brazil. 1 Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Faculdade de Odontologia de Bauru, Universidade de São Paulo – USP Bauru (SP), Brazil. Financial support: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), process no 2013/11165-0. Conflict of interests: nothing to declare. Received: November 08, 2015 Accepted: March 05, 2016 CoDAS 2016;28(5):517-525 Silva NSM, Crenitte PAP 518 INTRODUCTION National and international researchers have reported that the performance of different abilities is a predictor of the acquisition and development of reading and writing. Phonological processing, phonological awareness, rapid access to mental lexicon, and phonological working memory are among the most frequently cited skills(1,2). Oral language, phonological awareness, and letter knowledge are the three key domains of early literacy that should be developed to improve the education of children who are at risk for reading problems during preschool(3). Three risk profiles have been defined for reading difficulties(4). The first profile comprises children with delayed language development, phonological disorder or specific language impairment (expressive and/or receptive), with difficulty in one or more phonological processing skills, who present non-verbal intelligence scores below, appropriate or above average and absence of primary auditory, visual and motor disabilities. The second profile consists of children who present difficulties typical of the first profile, but with apparently appropriate language development until they are faced with the requirement for segmentation of words into smaller units, thereby presenting difficulties at the beginning of the literacy process, particularly those regarding letter knowledge and sound-letter (phoneme‑grapheme) association. In general, these children present phonological disorder history and family history with respect to reading difficulties, have non-verbal intelligence scores below, appropriate or above average, and show no primary auditory, visual and motor impairment. Finally, the third profile refers to children with insufficient experience in preschool, which results in global difficulties in pre-academic skills, with or without phonological disorder history and with history of inadequate exposure to oral language and literacy. These children also present non-verbal intelligence scores below, appropriate or above average and absence of primary auditory, visual and motor disabilities(4). In this context, any child with difficulties in oral language, phonological awareness, or sound-letter constructions is considered at risk for future disability in reading or writing. Once these difficulties are identified, early intervention should be conducted to minimize or eliminate their impact on school life(4). Children at risk for reading failure can be identified prior to the literacy process if the following signs are observed during preschool: language delay; phonological disorders; low lexicon level; difficulty learning the alphabet, numbers, colors, days of the week, and shapes; difficulty learning to write their own names, reciting nursery rhymes, or with rhymes; and difficulty with segmentation (...truncated)