The strong differences in manifestation, prevalence, and incidence in dyslexia across languages invite studies in specific writing systems. In particular, the question of the role played by emergent literacy in opaque and transparent writing systems remains a fraught one. This research project tested, through a 4-year prospective cohort study, an emergent literacy model for the analysis of the characteristics of future dyslexic children and normally reading peers in Italian, a transparent writing system. A cohort of 450 children was followed from the last year of kindergarten to the third grade in their reading acquisition process. Dyslexic children were individuated (Grade 3), and their performances in kindergarten in textual competence, phonological awareness, and conceptual knowledge of the writing system were compared with a matched group of normally reading peers. Results showed the predictive relevance of the conceptual knowledge of the writing system. The study’s implications are discussed.
BarbieroC.LonciariI.MonticoM.MonastaM.MonastaL.PengeR.. . . RonfaniL. (2012). The submerged dyslexia iceberg: How many children are not diagnosed? Results from an Italian study. PLOS ONE, 7(10), e48082.
2.
BerningerV. W.NielsenK. H.AbbottR. D.WijsmanE.RaskindW. (2008). Writing problems in developmental dyslexia: Under-recognized and under-treated. Journal of School Psychology, 46, 1–21.
3.
BoetsB.De SmedtB.CleurenL.VandewalleE.WoutersJ.GheseuièreP. (2010). Towards a further characterization of phonological and literacy problems in Dutch-speaking children with dyslexia. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 28, 5–31.
4.
BorellaE.ChicherioC.ReA. M.SensiniV.CornoldiC. (2011). Increased intraindividual variability is a marker of ADHD but also of dyslexia: A study on handwriting. Brain and Cognition, 77, 33–39.
BrizzolaraD.ChilosiA.CiprianiP.Di FilippoG.GasperiniF.MazzottiM.ZoccolottiP. (2006). Do phonologic and rapid automatized naming deficits differentially affect dyslexic children with and without a history of language delay? A study of Italian dyslexic children. Cognitive & Behavioral Neurology, 19, 141–149.
7.
BruceD. J. (1964). The analysis of word sounds by young children. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 34, 158-170.
8.
CaravolasM.VolinJ.HulmeC. (2005). Phoneme awareness is a key component of alphabetic literacy skills in consistent and inconsistent orthographies: Evidence from Czech and English children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 92, 107–139.
9.
CarlsonP.AnisfeldM. (1969). Some observation on the linguistic competence of a two-year-old child. Child Development, 40, 565–575.
CornoldiC.ColpoG., & MT Group. (1998). Prove di lettura MT per la scuola elementare-2 [MT reading tests for primary school]. Florence, Italy: Organizzazioni Speciali.
12.
de JongP. F.van der LeijA. (1999). Specific contributions of phonological abilities to early reading acquisition: Results from a Dutch latent variable longitudinal study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 450–476.
13.
DowkerA. (1989). Rhyme and alliteration in poems elicited in young children. Journal of Child Language, 16, 182–202.
14.
EdmonstonN.ThaneN. L. (1988). Test of Relational Concepts. Austin, TX: Communication Skills Builders.
15.
EdwardsL. (2003). Writing instruction in kindergarten: Examining an emerging area of research for children with writing and reading difficulties. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36, 136–148.
16.
FacoettiA.TrussardiA. N.RuffinoM.LorussoM. L.CattaneoC.GalliR. . . . ZorziM. (2010). Multisensory spatial attention deficits are predictive of phonological decoding skills in developmental dyslexia. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22, 1011–1025.
17.
FletcherJ. M. (2005). Predicting math outcomes: Reading predictors and comorbidity. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 38, 308–312.
18.
FoxB.RouthD. K. (1975). Analyzing spoken language into words, syllables and phonemes: A developmental study. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 4, 331–342.
19.
GallagherA.FrithU.SnowlingM. J. (2000). Precursors of literacy delay among children at genetic risk for dyslexia. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 203–213.
20.
GoswamiU. (2008). Reading, dyslexia and the brain. Educational Research, 50, 135–148.
21.
GoswamiU.WangH.-L. S.CruzA.FoskerT.MeadN.HussM. (2011). Language-universal sensory deficits in developmental dyslexia: English, Spanish, and Chinese. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23, 325–337.
22.
HelmuthL. (2011). Dyslexia: Same brains, different languages. Science, 291, 2064–2065.
23.
KirbyJ. R.ParrilaR. K.PfeifferS. L. (2003). Naming speed and phonological awareness as predictors of reading development. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 453–464.
24.
LanderlK.RamusF.MollK.LyytinenH.LeppänenP. H. T.LohvansuuK.. . . Schulte-KorneG. (2012). Predictors of developmental dyslexia in European orthographies with varying complexity. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54, 686–694.
25.
LanderlK.WimmerH. (2000). Deficits in phoneme segmentation are not the core problem of dyslexia: Evidence from German and English children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21, 243–262.
26.
LenelJ. C.CantorJ. H. (1981). Rhyme recognition and phonemic perception in young children. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 10, 57-67.
27.
LepolaJ.NiemiP.KuikkaM.HannulaM. M. (2005). Cognitive-linguistic skills and motivation as longitudinal predictors of reading and arithmetic achievement: A follow-up study from kindergarten to grade 2. International Journal of Educational Research, 43, 250–271.
28.
LibermanI. Y.ShankweilerD. P.FisherF. W.CarterB. (1974). Reading and the awareness of linguistic segments. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 18, 201-212.
29.
LindgrenS. D.De RenziE.RichmanL. C. (1985). Cross-national comparisons of developmental dyslexia in Italy and the United States. Child Development, 56, 1404–1417.
30.
LoniganC. J.BurgessS. R.AnthonyJ. L. (2000). Development of emergent literacy and early reading skills in preschool children: Evidence from a latent-variable longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 36, 596–613.
31.
LoniganC. J.PurpuraD. J.WilsonS. B.WalkerP. M.Clancy-MenchettiJ. (2013). Evaluating the components of an emergent literacy intervention for preschool children at risk for reading difficulties. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 114, 111–130.
32.
LyytinenH. T.AhonenK.EklundT.GuttormP.KuljuM.-L.LaaksoM.ViholainenH. (2004). Early development of children at familial risk for dyslexia. Follow-up from birth to school age. Dyslexia, 10, 146–178.
33.
McBride-ChangC.LamF.LamC.ChanB.FongC. Y.-C.WongT. T.WongS. W. (2011). Early predictors of dyslexia in Chinese children: Familial history of dyslexia, language delay, and cognitive profiles. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52, 204–211.
34.
MuterV.SnowlingM. J. (2009). Children at familial risk of dyslexia: Practical implications from an at-risk study. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 14(1), 37-41.
OuletteG.SénéchalM. (2008). Pathways to literacy: A study of invented spelling and its role in learning to read. Child Development, 79, 899–913.
37.
PaulesuE.DémonetJ.-F.FazioF.McCroryE.ChanoineV.BrunswickN.. . . FrithU. (2001). Dyslexia: Cultural diversity and biological unity. Science, 291, 2165–2167.
38.
PintoG.BigozziL.Accorti GamannossiB.VezzaniC. (2009). Emergent literacy and learning to write: A predictive model for Italian language. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 24, 61–78.
39.
PintoG.BigozziL.Accorti GamannossiB.VezzaniC. (2011). Emergent literacy and early writing skills. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 173, 330–354.
40.
PuolakanahoA.AhonenT.AroM.EklundK.LeppänenP. H. T.PoikkeuaA.-M.. . . LyytinenH. (2007). Very early phonological and language skills: Estimating individual risk of reading disability. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48, 923–931.
41.
PuolakanahoA.AhonenT.AroM.EklundK.LeppänenP. H. T.PoikkeuaA.-M.. . . LyytinenH. (2008). Developmental links of very early phonological and language skills to second grade reading outcomes. Strong to accuracy but only minor to fluency. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 41, 353–370.
42.
RamusF. (2003). Developmental dyslexia: Specific phonological deficit or general sensorimotor dysfunction?Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 13, 212–218.
43.
Rustioni Metz LancasterD. (1994). Prove di valutazione della comprensione linguistica [Test for the evaluation of linguistic comprehension]. Florence, Italy: Organizzazioni Speciali.
44.
SartoriG.JobR.TressoldiP. E. (1995). Batteria per la valutazione della dislessia e della disortografia evolutiva [Battery for the assessment of developmental reading and spelling disorders]. Florence, Italy: Organizzazioni Speciali.
45.
ScalisiT. G.PelagaggiD.RomanoL.De ConnoP.CarrieriR. (2005). Predittori delle difficoltà di apprendimento della lingua scritta in una ortografia “trasparente” [Predictors of learning difficulties in reading in a “transparent” writing system]. Rivista di Psicolinguistica Applicata, 5, 43–64.
46.
ScarboroughH. S. (1990). Very early language deficits in dyslexic children. Child Development, 61, 1728–1734.
47.
SeymourP. H. K.AroM.ErskineJ. M. (2003). Foundation literacy acquisition in European orthographies. British Journal of Psychology, 94, 143–174.
48.
ShareD. L. (2008). On the anglocentricities of current reading research and practice: The perils of overreliance on an “outlier” orthography. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 584–615.
49.
SinclairA.Berthoud-PapandropoulouI. (1984). Children’s thinking about language and their acquisition of literacy. In DowningJ.ValtinR. (Eds.), Language awareness and learning to read (pp. 79–92). New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.
50.
SnowC. E.BurnsM. S.GriffinP. (Eds.). (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
51.
SpinilloA. G.PintoG. (1994). Children’s narratives under different conditions: A comparative study. British Journal of Development Psychology, 12, 177–193.
52.
SwansonH. L.TraininG.NecoecheaD. M.HammillD. D. (2003). Rapid naming, phonological awareness, and reading: A meta-analysis of the correlation evidence. Review of Educational Research, 73, 407–440.
53.
Tolchinsky-LandsmannL.LevinI. (1987). Writing in four to six years old: Representation of semantic and phonetic similarities and differences. Journal of Child Language, 14, 127–144.
54.
TomblinJ. B.ZhangX.BuckwalterP.CattsH. (2000). The association of reading disability, behavioral disorders, and language impairment among second-grade children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 41, 473–482.
55.
TorppaM.LyytinenP.ErskineJ.EklundK.LyytinenH. (2010). Language development, literacy skills, and predictive connections to reading in Finnish children with and without familial risk for dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 43, 308–321.
56.
TressoldiP. E.StellaG.FaggellaM. (2001). The development of reading speed in Italians with dyslexia. A longitudinal study. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34, 414–417.
57.
TressoldiP. E.VioC.IozzinoR. (2007). Efficacy of an intervention to improve fluency in children with developmental dyslexia in a regular orthography. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 40, 203–209.
58.
WagnerR. K.TorgesenJ. K.RashotteC. A.HechtS. A.BarkerT. A.BurgessS. R.. . . GaronT. (1997). Changing relations between phonological processing abilities and word-level reading as children develop from beginning to skilled readers: A 5-year longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 33, 468–479.
59.
WechslerD. (2006). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–III. Florence, Italy: Giunti.
60.
WhitehurstG. J.LoniganC. J. (1998). Child development and emergent literacy. Child Development, 69, 848–872.
61.
WimmerH.SchurzM. (2010). Dyslexia in regular orthographies: Manifestation and causation. Dyslexia, 16, 283–299.
62.
World Health Organization. (1992). The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders. Clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. Geneva, Switzerland: Author.
63.
ZakopoulouV.AnagnostopoulouA.ChristodoulidesP.StavrouL.SarriI.MavreasV.TzoufiM. (2011). An interpretative model of early indicators of specific developmental dyslexia in preschool age: A comparative presentation of three studies in Greece. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32, 3003–3016.
64.
ZieglerJ. C.BertrandD.TòthD.CsépeV.ReisA.FaiscaL.. . . BiomertL. (2010). Orthographic depth and its impact on universal predictors of reading: A cross-language investigation. Psychological Science, 21, 551–559.
65.
ZieglerJ. C.GoswamiU. (2006). Becoming literate in different languages: Similar problems, different solutions. Developmental Science, 9, 429–436.
66.
ZoccolottiP.De LucaM.Di PaceE.JudicaA.OrlandiM.SpinelliD. (1999). Markers of developmental surface dyslexia in a language (Italian) with high grapheme-phoneme correspondence. Applied Psycholinguistic, 20, 191–216.
