Abstract
Research demonstrated that a dyslexia diagnosis is mainly given after the most effective time for intervention has passed, referred to as the dyslexia paradox. Although some pre-reading cognitive measures have been found to be strong predictors of early literacy acquisition, i.e., phonological awareness (PA), letter knowledge (LK), and rapid automatized naming (RAN), more insight in the variability of pre-reading profiles might be of great importance for early identification of children who have an elevated risk for developing dyslexia and to provide tailor-made interventions. To address this issue, this study used a latent profile analysis (LPA) to disentangle different pre-reading profiles in a sample of 1091 Dutch-speaking kindergartners. Four profiles emerged: high performers (16.50%), average performers (40.24%), below-average performers with average IQ (25.57%), and below-average performers with below-average IQ (17.69%). These results suggested two at-risk profiles diverging in IQ, which are presumably more likely to develop dyslexia later on. Although below-average profiles differed significantly in rapid naming and IQ, no clear evidence for the double-deficit theory was found in Dutch-speaking kindergartners. Educational level and reading history of the parents appeared to be predictive for children’s classification membership. Our results point towards the heterogeneity that is already present in kindergartners and the possibility to identify at-risk profiles prior to reading instruction, which may be the foundation for earlier targeted interventions. However, more extended research is needed to determine the stability of these profiles across time and across different languages.
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Acknowledgments
Special thanks to all children and their parents who kindly participated in this study and the students who helped with data collection.
Funding
This study was funded by the Research Council of KU Leuven (Grant C14/17/046). Jolijn Vanderauwera was a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO) (12T4818N).
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FVB, SK, ME, MV, JW, PG, and JV were involved in the conception and design of the study. CV, FVB, and SK collected the data. CV performed the analyses and wrote the first version of the manuscript. All authors commented on the manuscript and approved the final version.
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Verwimp, C., Vanden Bempt, F., Kellens, S. et al. Pre-literacy heterogeneity in Dutch-speaking kindergartners: latent profile analysis. Ann. of Dyslexia 70, 275–294 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-020-00207-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-020-00207-9