Early Reading Development

Many parents are concerned about reading development in their children and wonder if they are progressing appropriately. If your child is in grade one how do you know what to look for and when should you worry?

There are two core skills that children must acquire if they are to become effective readers. They must be able to identify individual, familiar words both accurately and rapidly.  In fact “the most recent conceptualizations of Reading Disability view it as a significant difficulty in the acquisition of accurate and fluent word reading skills.” The most recent research in the area of reading acquisition indicates that “reading fluency is considered critical to skilled reading, given its correlational if not causal connection to comprehension.”

Children who are at risk in their reading development begin to show differences from normal readers in reading fluency almost immediately and the differences are large. Information from a study in this area shows how large these differences are. The chart compares the growth of At Risk readers and Not At Risk (normal) readers. AR and NAR groups differed both on the number of words they could read in 1 min in May of first grade and on their rate of growth. By the end of first grade, students identified as at risk in the fall of first grade were, on average, reading less than half as many words per minute (22.5 vs. 56.9) and growing at approximately half the rate (0.78 vs. 1.50 words per week) of typically achieving peers. 

ADHD

Parents probably hear and read more about this disorder than any other childhood problem. What is it really, how does it affect children and what can be done about it?

Our knowledge about this disorder has been growing now for about 100 years since it was first described by German physician. As our understanding has grown we have changed the name of the disorder and its description. It has been known as Minimal Brain Damage, Hyperkinetic Syndrome, Attention Deficit Disorder and most recently as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, with 3 subtypes.

In one of the most recent publication in the area Dr Joel Nigg summarizes the research about its causes and nature. Large scale studies indicate that there is a strong genetic component involved in ADHD and brain studies reveal a 10% smaller brain volume in key areas related to ADHD symptoms as well as somewhat different brain wave activity. It thus seems that we are now beginning to see the physical, brain based differences in ADHD individuals. It is real!

The main problems identified include:

• Difficulty staying alert. This helps us understand why ADHD children can do well in highly stimulating situations but not in low interest ones. (Think how you would respond if you were very sleepy all the time)
• Difficulties in executive systems. These are the brain systems involved in planning and behavioural regulation. Children with ADHD show real weaknesses in these areas, they have trouble keeping information “straight” in their minds (working memory problems); they have trouble stopping impulses and responding flexibly.
• Some also respond differently to rewards than most children. Many seem to need almost instant rewards and do not respond well to punishment.
• Finally many children show problems with motor control and sense of time. They may well have difficulty with handwriting and are very poor at estimating how long things will take.

In addition to these primary problems there can be associated and secondary problems. Children who have ADHD are at higher risk to have learning problems, anxiety issues and behavioural difficulty. Because the core problems can make it difficult for children to cope in complex, demanding situations (like school and social situations) we sometimes see the development of secondary issues. These issues do not always develop, they are more associated with some types of ADHD than others and they develop because of how people respond to or deal with the main problems. Potential secondary problems include:

• Creating distress and conflict in families and impacting negatively on marital relationships. The kind of out of control, impulsive and sometimes aggressive behaviour is highly disruptive and difficult for parents to deal with. This can create high levels of tension and distress as well as causing significant levels of disagreement between parents in how to manage the situation.
• The development of oppositional behaviour and increased aggression. The difficulty children have with remembering things, with following through with activities and with controlling their emotions often lead to frustration and anger in adults. As a result adults can easily become more controlling and negative in their approaches. In response to the impulse control and self regulation problems adults (parents and teachers) tend to use more power based, controlling, directive and intrusive approaches. These approaches result in increased confrontation, argumentativeness and emotional outbursts. As behavioural cycles become more negative and angry, there is an increase in oppositional and aggressive behaviour.
• Classroom functioning can be compromised as students have difficulty complying with teacher requests, staying on task and not interrupting others. Work is often not done in time periods provided. Much in the same way as parents feel forced into becoming more controlling and negative, so can teachers. Students who receive frequent, negative, controlling messages such as "No", "Stop", "Don't do that" tend to be rejected by their peers and they can develop a strong aversion to learning and school.
• Significant impairments to social relationships can occur. Children often begin to avoid children with ADHD since they are more boisterous, may have more difficulty taking turns, may not listen to others and can be quite aggressive when they are frustrated. This has profound long term implications for the development of self esteem and adjustment.

In order to protect children against the development of these secondary problems it is important to intervene very early. This disorder cannot be cured and it doesn’t go away over time. It does however change the way it looks over time and it is possible to learn how to manage it. Helping children with ADHD requires considerable ongoing effort from a number of people. It is necessary to be more involved, to be more caring, more organized, to plan, structure, guide and monitor the child's behaviour to a high degree. However the structure and management will only work effectively if it occurs within a strong and positive bond.

What Causes ADHD? Joel T Nigg. The Guillford Press, New York 2006