Research Article Analysis and Evaluation

Longitudinal Models of Developmental Dynamics Between Reading and Cognition From Childhood to Adolescence

Teresa Froehlke Boise State University

ED-CIFS 503 Ted Singletary February 10, 2009

Research Article Analysis and Evaluation

In this article the authors examined the dynamics of reading and cognition from 1st to 12th grade by applying linear dynamic models to longitudinal data. The longitudinal data from the Connecticut Longitudinal Study by S.E. Shaywitz et al. was used to correlate the dynamic relationship of various scales of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children and specific markers of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho Educational Battery-Revised reading cluster (i.e., Letter-Word ID, Decoding, and Comprehension). The results from this study support that there is a positive dynamic relation between reading and cognition in the age groups which were studied. The relationship from cognition to reading

is stronger when considering the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children Performance and weaker with the Verbal Scale. The influences from cognition are more evident in the following reading subtests: Letter word Id and Comprehension and less perceptible for Decoding. An another important finding in this study was that this symbiotic relationship between reading and cognition appear to be strongest during 1st to 3rd grade, less strong during 4th to 8th grade and weakest from 9th to 12th grade. The importance of this study shows how dynamic modeling can be used to describe developmental processes and test academic hypotheses. There are many levels of analysis that can be implemented. One level, such as in this study, can be used to map dynamics of a particular cognition as it relates to other processes. Another level to investigate is the neural changes that are involved in the development of a certain cognitive process. These levels of analyses will produce a more complete picture of developmental processes. This study supported the need for dynamic modeling to further research the complex relationships in developmental processes.

Research Article Analysis and Evaluation

1. What is the purpose of the research, the research question(s) or hypothesis(es)? The purpose of this research was to examine the dynamics of reading and cognitive abilities from childhood to adolescence using longitudinal models of developmental dynamics. 2. What type of research is this? This type of research in this article is descriptive. 3. Who or what is the population and sample being studied and how was the sample selected? The data was collected from participants in the Connecticut Longitudinal Study, which is an ongoing project involving a group of Connecticut children that focuses on the study of learning and attention and the diagnosis of reading disabilities. The individuals in this study were first assessed in 1st grand and followed up annually up to 12th grade. 4. What types of data were collected? Descriptive information for each of the selected WJ-R and WISC-R scales and the participants ages. 5. What methods were used to collect data? Data was collected from three Reading subtests from the WJ-R (Woodcock & Johnson, 1989) to compute a scale of Reading: Letter-Word ID, Decoding and Comprehension. These measures were collected annually from 1st to 12th grade. In addition to the Reading subtests, we assessed participants on the WISC-R (Wechsler, 1974) at 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th grade. 6. How were the data analyzed? Dynamic models based on latent difference scores were used to examine the interrelations of fluid abilities and reading over time. What methods were used and if numeric data were collected, what statistical procedures or analyses were applied? Linear dynamic models were used in this research and the statistical analyses applied was the descriptive statistics for the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children all the values were based on z scores computed from Time
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Research Article Analysis and Evaluation References Shaywitz, B. A., Holahan, J. M., Marchione, K., & Shaywitz, S. E. (2007). Longitudinal models of developmental dynamic between reading and cognition from childhood to adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 43(6), 1460-1473.