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Letter-symbol sound learning trajectories and static reading precursors as early predictors of reading potential in kindergartners
Poster Session D, Thursday, October 1, 4:30 - 6:30 pm, Wangari Maathai
Leandra Zinke1, Jurgen Tijms2, Bob Kapteijns1, Roos De Jong3, Tieme Janssen3, Marjolein Tool1, Nienke Van Atteveldt3, Milene Bonte1; 1Maastricht University, 2University of Amsterdam, 3Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Currently, reading difficulties (e.g., dyslexia) are diagnosed and treated only after a child has failed to respond adequately to reading instruction (around 8-9 years). Reading difficulties often affect children’s motivation and self-beliefs about whether they can improve their reading abilities with time and effort. Earlier prediction and support for reading difficulties are thus essential. In this talk, we examine whether assessing children’s early reading potential via dynamic assessment (DA) of letter symbol – sound (LSS) association learning can be used to improve early prediction and foster reading and motivational outcomes. Within the three-year longitudinal “Project Leeskans”, together with children, teachers, and game developers, we developed a novel digital DA tool (“Wikki’s Wondertaal”) consisting of a short LSS learning task during which children learn the associations between six artificial letter symbols and Dutch speech sounds (10 Blocks; 150 trials in total). At baseline, 243 Dutch-speaking pre-readers (5-6 years old) across the Netherlands completed the DA tool, revealing their within-task LSS learning trajectories. We also administered static tests of reading precursors (letter knowledge, rapid naming, and phonemic awareness) traditionally used to predict children’s later reading skills. Further, we assessed children’s reading-related self-beliefs and motivation using age-appropriate tasks and questionnaires. Within the DA tool, average accuracy scores for all trials per block were modelled with latent growth curve modelling to estimate individual latent intercept and slope parameters of children’s LSS learning trajectories. Our results demonstrate significant learning throughout the task, with most learning occurring in the earlier blocks and significant inter-individual variability in both the latent intercept and slope parameters. A significant negative correlation between the latent intercept and slope indicated a ceiling effect, in which children who started with higher initial learning showed less improvement throughout the remainder of the task. Preliminary analyses revealed that the DA-derived learning parameters are significantly associated with the static reading precursors. In planned analyses (completed by early September 2026), we aim to perform latent profile analysis to classify latent profiles of children’s DA-derived learning parameters and static reading precursors. This analysis intends to effectively differentiate kindergartners based on their unique profiles, combining their reading potential and already acquired skills to identify children who might have an elevated risk of developing reading difficulties. To track the children’s actual reading development and to understand how and when individual differences in reading potential interact with reading-related self-beliefs and motivation, we currently follow the children longitudinally until second grade (August 2027). In further planned analyses of this longitudinal follow-up data, we will investigate how the variability in the DA-derived learning parameters and the latent profiles predict the dynamic, interrelated developmental pathways of reading, mindset, and motivation in young children. Taken together, these insights lay the foundation for earlier targeted interventions to create fairer chances for children from diverse backgrounds.
Topic Areas: Reading, Disorders: Developmental