Carolina Alves Ferreira de Carvalho

Níveis de compreensão de leitura em escolares

BACKGROUND: important reading performance measurements are related to how and to what extent a child understands a written text. AIM: to study the performance of primary school (Ensino Fundamental) students in reading comprehension tasks according to the variables grade and type of school. METHOD: 160 students from the 3rd to the 6th grades were screened and later evaluated based on the retelling and question answering about a given text. RESULTS: students of the 5th and 6th grades of private schools presented a better performance on issues related to implicit information when compared to students of public schools. The overall analysis of the educational level revealed, through the retelling task, a better performance of the 6th grade students in terms of the number of present macro propositions and a low performance of the 5th grade students in terms of the achieved comprehension level, in both types of school. When answering text-derived questions, the 4th, 5th and 6th grade students performed better than the 3rd grade students regarding explicit questions. When considering implicit questions, the 4th grade students performed better than all the other grades, in both types of school. These results gave evidence to the influence of the different texts used in each grade. CONCLUSION: the 5th and 6th grades from private schools were the only grades that performed better when compared to public schools in general, regarding answering implicit knowledge questions. All students achieved some level of reading comprehension.

Parâmetros de fluência e tipos de erros na leitura de escolares com indicação de dificuldades para ler e escrever

OBJETIVO: Caracterizar o desempenho de escolares com indicacao de dificuldades de leitura e escrita, segundo o ano escolar, categorias de erros, parâmetros de fluencia leitora e as correlacoes entre essas variaveis. METODOS: Foram avaliadas 60 criancas (48% meninas), do 3o ao 5o ano do Ensino Fundamental da rede publica. Trinta (dez de cada ano) que apresentavam indicios de dificuldades relacionadas ao aprendizado ou desempenho de leitura e escrita, compuseram o Grupo Pesquisa. Trinta, pareadas por idade e ano escolar, indicadas pelos professores como boas leitoras, compuseram o Grupo Controle. Todas leram, oralmente, duas listas de itens isolados (38 palavras e 29 pseudopalavras) e um texto. As leituras foram gravadas, transcritas e os parâmetros e erros, analisados. RESULTADOS: Foram encontradas diferencas entre os grupos, com pior desempenho do Grupo Pesquisa em todas as variaveis estudadas. Os tipos de erros de leitura: desrespeito a regra de correspondencia independente do contexto, omissoes e adicoes, desrespeito a acentuacao, erros complexos e recusas foram mais frequentes nesse grupo. As taxas e valores de fluencia mostraram-se mais baixos nos escolares com queixas em relacao aos bons leitores. Correlacoes negativas foram identificadas entre as variaveis de fluencia de leitura e os diferentes erros, com diferentes valores para cada grupo e mostraram nessa amostra de escolares, que o numero total de erros diminuiu com a progressao da escolaridade. CONCLUSAO: Os escolares com indicacao de dificuldades de leitura e de escrita apresentaram piores desempenhos de fluencia na leitura, e maior numero de erros em todos os anos escolares estudados. As correlacoes encontradas evidenciaram a influencia do tipo de erro sobre a fluencia da leitura, segundo diferentes padroes para cada grupo.

Tipologia de erros de leitura de escolares brasileiros considerados bons leitores

TEMA: avaliacao da leitura oral. OBJETIVO: caracterizar, segundo as variaveis rede de ensino e escolaridade, os tipos de erro na leitura de palavras isoladas, apresentados por escolares tipicos do ensino fundamental, considerados competentes por seus professores. METODO: participaram da pesquisa 151 escolares com idade entre oito e doze anos, matriculados do quarto ao setimo ano do ensino fundamental das redes publica e particular. Os escolares leram uma lista com 38 palavras. As leituras orais foram transcritas e os erros analisados, segundo a frequencia de erros cometidos calculada com base na possibilidade de erros oferecida pela lista apresentada. RESULTADOS: os resultados encontrados evidenciaram a presenca de erros quando analisadas as leituras dos escolares tipicos de ambas as redes de ensino e de todas as series estudadas. Houve reducao progressiva e estatisticamente significante dos erros de decodificacao ortografica em funcao da progressao da escolaridade (p < 0,0001). Considerando a rede de ensino, os escolares da rede particular apresentaram menor numero de erros que os de escola publica quando comparado o desempenho na decodificacao ortografica global na prova de leitura de palavras (p < 0,0001). CONCLUSAO: os resultados demonstraram que os erros de leitura fazem parte do aprendizado das regras de decodificacao ortografica e sao superados, progressivamente, com o aumento da escolaridade. O dominio da decodificacao da ortografia independente do contexto ocorreu mais precocemente que o da dependente do contexto grafemico.

Latent class analysis of reading, decoding, and writing performance using the Academic Performance Test: concurrent and discriminating validity

Aim To explore and validate the best returned latent class solution for reading and writing subtests from the Academic Performance Test (TDE). Sample A total of 1,945 children (6–14 years of age), who answered the TDE, the Development and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA), and had an estimated intelligence quotient (IQ) higher than 70, came from public schools in São Paulo (35 schools) and Porto Alegre (22 schools) that participated in the ‘High Risk Cohort Study for Childhood Psychiatric Disorders’ project. They were on average 9.52 years old (standard deviation = 1.856), from the 1st to 9th grades, and 53.3% male. The mean estimated IQ was 102.70 (standard deviation = 16.44). Methods Via Item Response Theory (IRT), the highest discriminating items (‘a’>1.7) were selected from the TDE subtests of reading and writing. A latent class analysis was run based on these subtests. The statistically and empirically best latent class solutions were validated through concurrent (IQ and combined attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD] diagnoses) and discriminant (major depression diagnoses) measures. Results A three-class solution was found to be the best model solution, revealing classes of children with good, not-so-good, or poor performance on TDE reading and writing tasks. The three-class solution has been shown to be correlated with estimated IQ and to ADHD diagnosis. No association was observed between the latent class and major depression. Conclusion The three-class solution showed both concurrent and discriminant validity. This work provides initial evidence of validity for an empirically derived categorical classification of reading, decoding, and writing performance using the TDE. A valid classification encourages further research investing correlates of reading and writing performance using the TDE.

Fluência e compreensão leitora em escolares com dificuldades de leitura

PURPOSE To characterize the performance of students with reading difficulties in decoding and reading comprehension tasks as well as to investigate the possible correlations between them. METHODS Sixty students (29 girls) from 3rd to 5th grades of public Elementary Schools were evaluated. Thirty students (Research Group - RG), ten from each grade, were nominated by their teachers as presenting evidences of learning disabilities. The other thirty students were indicated as good readers, and were matched by gender, age and grade to the RG, composing the Comparison Group (CG). All subjects were assessed regarding the parameters of reading fluency (rate and accuracy in words, pseudowords and text reading) and reading comprehension (reading level, number and type of ideas identified, and correct responses on multiple choice questions). RESULTS The RG presented significantly lower scores than the CG in fluency and reading comprehension. Different patterns of positive and negative correlations, from weak to excellent, among the decoding and comprehension parameters were found in both groups. In the RG, low values of reading rate and accuracy were observed, which were correlated to low scores in comprehension and improvement in decoding, but not in comprehension, with grade increase. In CG, correlation was found between different fluency parameters, but none of them was correlated to the reading comprehension variables. CONCLUSION Students with reading and writing difficulties show lower values of reading fluency and comprehension than good readers. Fluency and comprehension are correlated in the group with difficulties, showing that deficits in decoding influence reading comprehension, which does not improve with age increase.

Phonological working memory and reading in students with dyslexia

Purpose: To investigate parameters related to fluency, reading comprehension and phonological processing (operational and short-term memory) and identify potential correlation between the variables in Dyslexia and in the absence of reading difficulties. Method: One hundred and fifteen students from the third to eighth grade of elementary school were grouped into a Control Group (CG) and Group with Dyslexia (GDys). Reading of words, pseudowords and text (decoding); listening and reading comprehension; phonological short-term and working memory (repetition of pseudowords and Digit Span) were evaluated. Results: The comparison of the groups showed significant differences in decoding, phonological short-term memory (repetition of pseudowords) and answers to text-connecting questions (TC) on reading comprehension, with the worst performances identified for GDys. In this group there were negative correlations between pseudowords repetition and TC answers and total score, both on listening comprehension. No correlations were found between operational and short-term memory (Digit Span) and parameters of fluency and reading comprehension in dyslexia. For the sample without complaint, there were positive correlations between some parameters of reading fluency and repetition of pseudowords and also between answering literal questions in listening comprehension and repetition of digits on the direct and reverse order. There was no correlation with the parameters of reading comprehension. Conclusion: GDys and CG showed similar performance in listening comprehension and in understanding of explicit information and gap-filling inference on reading comprehension. Students of GDys showed worst performance in reading decoding, phonological short-term memory (pseudowords) and on inferences that depends on textual cohesion understanding in reading. There were negative correlations between pseudowords repetition and TC answers and total score, both in listening comprehension.

Capacidade de automonitoramento da compreensão leitora no Ensino Fundamental

Purpose To investigate the capacity for self-monitoring reading comprehension in Brazilian Elementary School students. Methods Fifty-three Elementary students in the 5th and 9th grades from two Public Schools in the city of São Paulo were assessed. They were selected based on their oral reading rate and grouped according to their performance in reading comprehension in the following categories: Group with best comprehension: students with adequate rate and accuracy, without difficulties in reading comprehension; Group with worst comprehension: students with adequate rate and accuracy but with difficulties in reading comprehension. Two narrative texts followed by eight questions to assess reading comprehension were presented. Two sentences and two words were replaced by ungrammatical elements and pseudo-words. Under the condition of spontaneous monitoring, students read the text aloud and answered the questions. The analysis considered the calculation of hesitation, self-correction, repetitions and mistakes. Under the condition of directed monitoring, students were instructed to read the text, either aloud or silently, after being told that certain parts of the text could not make sense, and they were oriented to underline such parts. The analysis was carried out by counting of underlined items. The comparisons were made with the Mann-Whitney test. Results A difference was observed between the groups only at the sentence level among the 9th grade schoolchildren under the spontaneous monitoring and among the 5th grade schoolchildren under directed monitoring. Conclusion Students with worst comprehension had a poorer performance to monitor the presence of ungrammatical sentences than their peers with best comprehension.

Compreensão oral e leitora e consciência sintática nas alterações de leitura e escrita

Objetivo: investigar a presenca de deficits de habilidades metassintaticas em escolares com dificuldades de aprendizagem e analisar possiveis correlacoes entre essas habilidades e as de leitura e a compreensao oral. Metodos: foram avaliadas 29 criancas, indicadas por seus professores, por nao apresentarem queixas relacionadas a aprendizagem escolar - Grupo I (GI) e com queixas de comunicacao, oral e/ou mediada pela escrita, que constituiram o Grupo II (GII). As idades das criancas variaram entre 9 anos e 11 anos e 7 meses, de 4o e 5o ano do Ensino Fundamental. As criancas foram avaliadas por meio de testes de compreensao oral, consciencia sintatica e morfossintatica, taxa e acuracia de leitura e compreensao leitora. Para a analise estatistica foram utilizados: teste nao parametrico de Mann-Whitney, para caracterizacao da amostra e comparacao dos grupos com e sem queixa escolar quanto as variaveis, e Coeficiente de correlacao de Spearman, usado para medir o grau de associacao entre as variaveis em cada grupo. Resultados: observaram-se diferencas significantes entre os grupos, nas tarefas de compreensao oral, consciencia sintatica e morfossintatica, de maneira geral, taxa e acuracia de leitura e na prova de compreensao leitora, com melhor desempenho do do GI em todas as tarefas. Conclusao: com estes resultados, enfatiza-se a relevância da estimulacao de habilidades metassintaticas para o desenvolvimento da leitura e a inclusao de provas metassintaticas na avaliacao da leitura, tanto quanto a utilizacao de atividades metassitaticas como recurso terapeutico.

Psychometric equivalence of the Brazilian version of the Test of Pragmatic Language 2 - TOPL-2

INTRODUCTION Considering the relevance of the investigation about the pragmatic function for language disorders diagnosis, as well as the relevance of validity evidence for test interpretation, this paper aimed to explore the psychometric equivalence between the American and Brazilian versions of the Test of Pragmatic Language, Second Edition (TOPL-2). METHODS A total of 81 students from the third to seventh year from public elementary schools of São Paulo (63% girls; average age=9.42 years, SD=0.93) with no complaints or indicators of low school performance were selected. Students answered the verbal application of the TOPL-2 Brazilian-Portuguese version. Some of the psychometric inquiries reported in the original version of the test were reproduced focusing on the analyses of difficulty, internal consistency, discrimination, and differential item functioning. RESULTS Most of the items (86%) presented similar difficulties to the American version. The internal consistency index had acceptable values (0.70). Few items (26%) showed adequate discrimination, but 49% were close to the desirable cutoffs. Eight items showed differential functioning; of which, five were favorable to boys. CONCLUSION Despite sample limitations related to size and variability, almost half of the items showed psychometric equivalence to the American version.

Perda auditiva hereditária: relato de casos

PURPOSE: to describe the hearing findings of a family with autosome dominant hereditary hearing loss. METHODS: we evaluated 17 subjects. The evaluation was made by pure tone audiometry, Speech audiometry, tympanometry and acoustic reflex testing, in addition to genetic follow-up. RESULTS: from 17 evaluated subjects, 11 showed some degree of neurosensorial hearing loss (64.7%), being 8 female gender (73%) and 3 male gender (27%). The subject age varied from 5 to 68 years (average = 39.6) and the time from the complaints appearance varied from 20 to 38 years. The hearing loss was modified with age. We did not find normal hearing after the age of 41 years in the family. CONCLUSION: the hearing investigation regarding all members of the family regardless of any complaint is extremely indispensable due to the existence of hearing loss even when limited to isolated frequencies.