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Children
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Dyslexia and Comorbid Disorders: Transdisciplinary Assessment and Treatment
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Dyslexia and Comorbid Disorders: Transdisciplinary Assessment and Treatment

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Child Neurology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2019) | Viewed by 29268

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Tim Conway

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
University of Florida
Interests: dyslexia; learning disabilities; reading; spelling; written expression; dysgraphia; dyspraxia; dyscalculia; neurorehabilitation; transdisciplinary assessment and treatment; phonological alexia; fMRI; charter schools

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Dyslexia is the most common learning disability, affecting as many as one in five children with a range of mild, moderate and severe dyslexia. More than 70% of children in 4th grade and 8th grade USA public school settings do not have proficient reading skills. Likewise, dyslexia is highly prevalent in the juvenile justice, high school dropout, teenage suicide and incarcerated adult populations. In addition to the well-established evidence of a speech-language processing basis to developmental dyslexia, there are also reports of sensory motor difficulties, speech-language difficulties, ADHD, executive function difficulties, poor working memory, auditory processing and visual tracking or visual motor integration skill deficits. Recent publications question the utility of comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations that commonly screen for some of these comorbid disorders, if such comprehensive evaluations are used only for diagnosing dyslexia and not for comprehensive treatment planning. Therefore, a better understanding of the presence of co-morbid disorders that may be screened for with comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations and may contribute to treatment resistance are of increasing interest and could assist with comprehensive and transdisciplinary evidence-based interventions for dyslexia.

This Special Issue is interested in identifying established or pilot studies of comprehensive transdisciplinary approaches to the assessment and treatment of dyslexia. By identifying collaborative teams that are cross-trained within the fields of neuropsychology, speech-language pathology, and occupational therapy, then we can begin to determine new models of assessment and treatment that might lead to larger scale studies of a transdisciplinary approach to assessment and treatment and begin establishing comprehensive treatment models and outcomes. A transdisciplinary approach may inform evidence-based recommendations for the early intervention and treatment of dyslexia in young children and guide clinicians, public health researchers and policy makers in their implementation.

The focus of this Special Issue is on how a transdisciplinary approach to assessment and treatment of dyslexia can lead to more comprehensive gains for children in terms of both early intervention/prevention and remediation. Increasing our knowledge of the transdisciplinary features of dyslexia, its assessment and its treatment will assist in developing evidence-based guidelines for children and adolescents.

This issue will include original research, pilot studies, reviews of the relationships between comorbid diagnoses with dyslexia, and theoretical models to guide transdisciplinary assessment and treatment. This can include epidemiological studies of the association between academic, speech–language, sensory motor, and neuropsychological abilities, effectiveness of transdisciplinary early intervention or remediation programs, studies examining factors associated with treatment resistance, and obstacles to implementation of evidence-based practices across a range of age, public school and private school settings.

Dr. Tim Conway
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Dyslexia
  • Transdisciplinary
  • Assessment
  • Treatment
  • Learning Disabilities
  • Reading
  • Spelling
  • Written Expression
  • Dysgraphia
  • Dyspraxia
  • Dyscalculia
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • ADHD
  • OCD
  • Tourette
  • Neurorehabilitation
  • Phonological Alexia
  • fMRI
  • Charter Schools
  • Visual Perception
  • Visual Motor Integration
  • Auditory Processing
  • Psychological Well-being
  • Rapid Naming
  • Language Disorder
  • Executive Functions
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder
  • Fine Motor Skills
  • Anosognosia
  • Speech Sound Disorder

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

8 pages, 246 KiB  
Article
Cognitive Processes Underlying Reading Improvement during a Rhythm-Based Intervention. A Small-Scale Investigation of Italian Children with Dyslexia
by Alice Cancer, Giulia Stievano, Gabriella Pace, Alessia Colombo and Alessandro Antonietti
Children 2019, 6(8), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/children6080091 - 8 Aug 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5683
Abstract
Music and rhythm-based training programs to improve reading are a novel approach to treatment of developmental dyslexia and have attracted the attention of trainers and researchers. Experimental studies demonstrating poor basic auditory processing abilities in individuals with dyslexia suggest they should be effective. [...] Read more.
Music and rhythm-based training programs to improve reading are a novel approach to treatment of developmental dyslexia and have attracted the attention of trainers and researchers. Experimental studies demonstrating poor basic auditory processing abilities in individuals with dyslexia suggest they should be effective. On this basis, the efficacy of a novel rhythm-based intervention, Rhythmic Reading Training (RRT), was recently investigated and found to improve reading skills in Italian children with dyslexia, but its mode of action remains somewhat unclear. In this study, 19 children and preadolescents with dyslexia received 20 sessions of RRT over 10 weeks. Gains in a set of reading-related cognitive abilities—verbal working memory, auditory, and visual attention, and rhythm processing—were measured, along with reading outcomes. Analysis of the specific contribution of cognitive subprocesses to the primary effect of RRT highlighted that reading speed improvement during the intervention was related to rhythm and auditory discrimination abilities as well as verbal working memory. The relationships among specific reading parameters and the neuropsychological profile of participants are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dyslexia and Comorbid Disorders: Transdisciplinary Assessment and Treatment)
15 pages, 253 KiB  
Article
Training Working Memory of Children with and without Dyslexia
by Claudia Maehler, Christina Joerns and Kirsten Schuchardt
Children 2019, 6(3), 47; https://doi.org/10.3390/children6030047 - 20 Mar 2019
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 9166
Abstract
For the future school performance of a child in the fields of literacy and numeracy, the operational efficiency of working memory is a central predictor. Children affected by dyslexia exhibit specific deficits in the functions of working memory. A software application for elementary [...] Read more.
For the future school performance of a child in the fields of literacy and numeracy, the operational efficiency of working memory is a central predictor. Children affected by dyslexia exhibit specific deficits in the functions of working memory. A software application for elementary school-age children has been specifically developed for this study, attempting to improve the working memory’s operational efficiency. Based on Baddeley’s model of working memory (1986), the phonological loop, the visuo-spatial sketchpad, and the central executive were trained in 18 sessions over a period of six weeks. The group of test subjects undergoing this training was composed of third-graders, of which 43 were and 27 were not affected by dyslexia. The untrained control group was made up of 41 third-graders with dyslexia and 28 without dyslexia. While the short-term effects of the program could not be proven, the present analyses focus on long-term effects. The results obtained from a pre-test/follow-up design reveal that no long-term increases in performance regarding phonological and central executive working memory could be confirmed. Only the visuo-spatial Corsi block span exhibited a training effect over a period of three months. Additionally, training did not show any long-term effect of performance improvement, not even for a subgroup of children with dyslexia and an especially low working memory performance. Thus, even after this study, the question whether working memory can be trained or not remains partly unanswered but leaves us predominantly pessimistic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dyslexia and Comorbid Disorders: Transdisciplinary Assessment and Treatment)
13 pages, 265 KiB  
Article
Strategies for Coping with Time-Related and Productivity Challenges of Young People with Learning Disabilities and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
by Consuelo M. Kreider, Sharon Medina and Mackenzi R. Slamka
Children 2019, 6(2), 28; https://doi.org/10.3390/children6020028 - 13 Feb 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 13407
Abstract
Learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are characterized by neurological differences that result in difficulties meeting learning and productivity expectations. Young people with LD and ADHD experience difficulties in self-managing academic, social, daily living, and health/wellness demands. Students with LD/ADHD [...] Read more.
Learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are characterized by neurological differences that result in difficulties meeting learning and productivity expectations. Young people with LD and ADHD experience difficulties in self-managing academic, social, daily living, and health/wellness demands. Students with LD/ADHD must work longer and harder than peers, which makes managing time and productivity a critical skill for school success. This study examined the strategies that college students with LD/ADHD used to overcome obstacles related to time and productivity within their everyday life contexts. A qualitative phenomenological design was used to examine the phenomenon of coping and productive-task performance through strategy use among 52 college students with LD/ADHD. Strategies classified as habit and routine use, reframing, and symptom-specific strategies were identified. Strategy use for addressing time-related and productivity challenges are multidimensional and entailed a mix of cognitive, behavioral, psychological, and socio-environmental strategies. Effective strategy use across life’s contexts was critical to self-managing as a young person with a chronic developmental condition within a college context. The findings provide a much-needed understanding of the multi-faceted challenges and solutions within young adult contexts that are important for guiding the development of interventions for young people with LD/ADHD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dyslexia and Comorbid Disorders: Transdisciplinary Assessment and Treatment)
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