Browsing by Subject "lukivaikeus"

Aim of the study. Nowadays, dyslexias are diagnosed more often compared to previous times due to advanced test methods. According to previous studies, dyslexic students are not often applying for higher education. The aim of this work was to define features that have made it possible for few dyslexic students to get in university despite the dyslexia and how dyslexic students could be integrated better into education system. In this study, it was determined, how the pathways of dyslexic students are composed, which resources of students had assisted them and how the agency of students had developed through school pathway. Further, the connection between resources and agency was investigated. The agency was investigated from the point of views of education history, prevailing environment and active agency. Resources were classified into practical resources, resources of meanings and symbols as well as resources of habits and practices. Used methods. The research data was collected by interviewing five Finnish dyslexic university students, who attended comprehensive school between years 1997 and 2011. Narrations, collected with interviews, included the school pathway from starting school to current period in university. Narrations were analyzed with holistic and thematic narrative research method. Results and conclusions. It was found that the education histories of students differed, though the pathways of students were mostly similar. In addition, the agencies of dyslexic students changed and developed through their pathways, especially the meaning and relation of different pieces of agencies varied. It was found that resources had dependency on the agency of students, since the increase in amount or volume of resources resulted in enhanced agency, and contrariwise. The students were able to turn their dyslexia into resource due to their strengthen self-esteem, pro-dyslexia, clear knowledge of their career as well as their strengths and weaknesses. As conclusions, quadripartite activity guide was formed in order to integrate dyslexic students into our education system. Dyslexia should be diagnosed as early as possible in order to provide students with required support already from the start of their pathways. Further, dyslexic students should also be encouraged to reveal their dyslexia in order to integrate them better into school society. Additionally, knowledge of dyslexia should be increased in every school stage in order to ease diagnosing of dyslexia and revealing of it, when the attitude towards dyslexia would be more positive. By increasing knowledge of dyslexia and its effects, pro-dyslexia could be enhanced. Finally, general action guides should be created as well as the relation of action guide and their actions in practice should be supervised and evaluated

Objectives. The aim of this Master's thesis was to investigate whether there is a connection between dyslexia and reading motivation in young people aged 12-16. Previous studies have found that improving reading skills is associated with increased reading motivation, and difficulties in reading have been found to cause avoidance of reading. Dyslexia and learning difficulties have been found to be related to self-esteem and self-efficacy. Methods. The study was conducted as a systematic literature review. The study material consisted of 8 articles, which were found in 4 different databases. These databases were: SCOPUS (Elsevier), Eric, Helka and Education database. The search terms used were: “(dyslex* OR “reading difficul*” OR "reading disorder*" OR "reading disabilit*") AND motivat* AND (“junior high school*” OR “middle school*” OR “upper comprehensive school*” OR "upper level comprehensive school*" OR "lower secondary school*" OR "lower secondary education*")”. Results and conclusions. In the articles used in the study, a connection was found between dyslexia and reading motivation. According to the research, dyslexia reduces leisure reading and increases the likelihood of experiencing more negative emotions during reading tasks. During the intervention study, the motivation of students with dyslexia decreased, while those without dyslexia did not show the same result. The studies also found a positive correlation between improved reading skills and improved reading motivation. In one study, results were obtained where a reading intervention could improve different aspects of reading skills as well as reading motivation in children with dyslexia. These studies provide evidence that dyslexia has a negative impact on reading motivation and that improved reading skills increase reading motivation.

The purpose of the study was to examine university students and recent graduates with reading difficulties. The aim was to explore what factors have contributed to the students and recent graduates applying for university studies despite their dyslexia. The aim was additionally to study strategies and means of compensation used by the students, their experiences with support received from the educational institutions, and the educational paths the students had taken. The hypothesis was that dyslexic students have had a slower and more laborious educational path than other students. Previous research on the subject has shown that dyslexic students have used a large variety of study strategies and compensatory measures, and family support, in particular, has played an important role in the study path. Timing of the dyslexia diagnosis has also affected the course of education. The study is a multi-case study with thematic interviews using narrative analysis. The research material consisted of seven theme interviews, which were transcribed and organized using the atlas.ti program. Narrative, chronologically progressive accounts were produced of the interviewees' educational paths. The narrative analysis of the material was based on the compilation of materials founded on twenty themes and examination of the narrative reports. The educational paths of the interviewees formed two clear groups. In one group, education progressed directly from primary school to high school and university. Students in the second group experienced long breaks in education and all did not attend high school. Almost all interviewees were diagnosed after elementary school, but the material does not indicate that the education process suffered from a late diagnosis. Not all interviewees needed support for their study paths because of dyslexia. On the other hand, certain students would have needed support but had not received enough. The interviewees had a variety of learning strategies and means of compensation. The study confirms that teaching early learning strategies and early implementation and design support would support dyslexic pupils. Family support was an essential resource for the interviewees during their educational paths.

The objective of this study was to study the suitability of the measuring evaluation tools for mildly mentally handicapped children.

Aims. The purpose of this thesis is to identify and analyze the mathematical difficulties faced by pupils entering school. Special consideration was given to pre- and initial training, but younger children were also examined. The hypothesis was that mathematical difficulties produce difficulties for the pupil in the start-up phase of the school, appear in other learning, and make it more difficult to learn and to live in everyday life. The research question was refined several times and the interest in the subject was born when I met Hannele Ikäheimo, the special teacher of mathematics. The aim of the thesis is to examine the material widely and to deepen to particular questions through the descriptive literature review. Methods. The thesis was made using the descriptive literature review method. The data was collected from several databases. Some of the data was limited by the age of the participants and the year of publication of the study. Studies were found both in English and in Finnish. Most of the studies found were in English Results and conclusions. The studies were statistical surveys. On the basis of the results, mathematical difficulties complicate in catching school, causing anxiety at the emotional level, guiding the school path and affecting everyday life performance. The studies described mathematical difficulties in an unrelenting way, but at the same time they discussed ways to support mathematical competence. The mathematical difficulties are tough and long lasting. In addition, difficulties cause anxiety and fear of studying mathematics. Teaching should consider ways of supporting mathematical learning difficulties without causing bullying and anxiety in the pupil. Research and case studies of qualitative analysis would be needed. In addition, it would be interesting to study the subject using discourse analysis.

Tavoitteet. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tutkia lukivaikeuden komorbiditeettiä. Tutkimusongelma on mitä komorbiditeetteja lukivaikeudella on. Aiemmat tutkimukset ovat osoittaneet lukivaikeuden ilmenevän usein yhdessä matemaattisten vaikeuksien kanssa. Aiemmissa tutkimuksissa on havaittu ilmenevän yhdessä lukivaikeuksien kanssa myös käytöshäiriöitä sekä haasteita hienomotoriikassa ja vieraiden kielten opiskelussa. Lukivaikeuksien on havaittu vaikuttavan myös oppilaiden itsetuntoon negatiivisesti ja heikentävän motivaatiota koulunkäyntiä kohtaan. Menetelmät. Tutkimus toteutettiin kuvailevana kirjallisuuskatsauksena. Tutkimusaineistoksi valittiin 4 artikkelia, jotka löytyivät Google Scholarista hakusanoilla ”lukivaikeus komorbiditeetti”. Muista hakukoneista ei löydetty artikkeleita, jotka olisivat päätyneet tähän kandidaatin tutkielmaan. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Tutkimuksessa käytetyissä artikkeleissa löydettiin yhteys matemaattisten taitojen sekä kielellisten vaikeuksien välillä. Heikommat matemaattiset taidot esiintyivät usein kielellisten vaikeuksien kanssa yhdessä. Yhdessä artikkeleista löydettiin positiivinen yhteys lukutaidon kehityksen sekä motoristen taitojen välillä, kun taas vastaavasti yhdessä tutkimuksista havaittiin käytöshäiriöllä olevan yhteys kielellisiin vaikeuksiin. Tutkimuksen mukaan vaikutus oli vielä suurempi, jos samalla oppilaalla oli sekä käytöshäiriö että lukivaikeus tai tarkkaavaisuushäiriö. Kaikkien tutkimusten perusteella voidaan siis todeta kielellisten vaikeuksien vaikutusten ulottuvan usein useammalle eri osa-alueelle kuin pelkästään luku- ja kirjoitustaitoon.

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the dimensionality of linguistic skills in eight-year-old Finnish-speaking children. The study aimed to replicate a three-factor structure, consisting of low and high cognitive load phonological skills and other linguistic skills, that was previously found in a study conducted with English-speaking children. This study also explored whether familial risk for dyslexia is associated with an atypical structure of language abilities since the low performance of dyslexics in phonological tasks supports this possibility. Methods. The sample of this study consisted of 152 first grade children of which 84 were at increased familial risk for dyslexia (at-risk group). Language abilities were assessed with neurocognitive tests that measured phonological skills, rapid automatized naming, retrieval of words, understanding of instructions and working memory. A model of the dimensions of linguistic abilities was formed based on previous research by dividing the tests into low cognitive load phonological skills, high cognitive load phonological skills and other linguistic skills. Results and conclusions. Confirmatory factor analysis that was conducted to the entire sample did not support the hypothesized factor structure. According to explorative factor analyses threefactor structure fit the data in both groups but the observed factor structures were not consistent with the hypothesis. In both groups the observed factor structure contained factors that represented short-term memory and rapid automatized naming indicating that these skills are partially separate from other language abilities. In addition to these, in the control group the factor structure contained a factor that represented complex linguistic skills including both phonological and other language skills. In the at-risk group the observed factor structure did not include an equivalent factor but instead a factor that represented specifically phonological skills. The results indicate that in the control group phonological skills interweave with other complex language skills whereas in the at-risk group phonological skills form a separate set of abilities.

Patricia Kuhl's hypothesis of native language neural commitment suggests that during the first year of life, linguistic exposure produces neural networks that are committed to the regularities in native language thus interfering with phonetic processing of another language. Infants begin to attend to the relevant aspects of their native language and thus native language learning is enhanced. In her social gating hypothesis Kuhl suggests that this process requires social interaction. These two hypotheses could shed light on early language disorders thus offering treatment possibilities. This review evaluates Kuhl's hypotheses in the light of brain research and developmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder and dyslexia. Evidence from brain research suggests that infants' ability to discriminate phonemes of their native language increases while their ability to discriminate phonemes of a foreign language decreases during their first year of life. Neural commitment could be explained by maturation of the nervous system, like mechanisms of synaptic pruning and synaptic reorganization, which depend on experience. Studies suggest, that native language neural commitment might require social interaction where adult and child attend to the same object thus helping the child to connect phonemes to their targets. However, adults also speak to infants in a way that highlights the relevant acoustic aspects of speech sounds. It's likely that native language learning is enhanced especially in situations where the adult and the child attend to the same object whilst the adult also stresses the relevant acoustic aspects of speech sounds. Children with autism spectrum disorder have problems in both social cognition and language development, but the evidence supporting an association between autism spectrum disorders and problems with social gating is still scarce. Evidence from brain research suggests that in dyslexia, aberrant processing of the speech signal is connected to problems in native language neural commitment. Understanding of early native language learning enables efficient and well-timed interventions for developmental disorders. Future studies should address on how to prevent language problems by promoting native language learning of infants at risk.

Aims. There are many individual, hereditary and environmental factors affecting children’s language development. However, there are relatively few studies studying background factors related to preschool-aged Finnish children’s language development. The aim of this study is to study the possible effect of background factors to language development of preschool-aged children. Background factors included to this study are gender, familial risk of dyslexia and education of parents. Methods. The data is part of the LEINIKKI study data. The participants (n = 50) were healthy, Finnish-speaking children aged 3;2–4;0. Participants were evaluated with LEINIKKI method, Reynell Developmental Language Scales and LUKIVA method’s subtest for familial dyslexia. Group differences were analyzed for each of the background factors by descriptive statics and Mann-Whitney test. Finally, all the variables were analyzed together with a linear regression model. Results and conclusions. Gender was statistically significantly correlating with language skills. Preschool-aged boys had weaker overall language skills and receptive language skills. In this study, risk for familiar dyslexia or parents’ education wasn’t affecting the language skills of the child. The explanatory power of the linear regression model was weak suggesting that there are also many other additional variables affecting the language development of the children in this age. The results of this study suggest that boys’ language development should be paid attention to. In this study, familial risk for dyslexia didn’t affect to chldren’s language skills. It seems that in Finland, education of parents isn’t as strongly correlated to preschool-aged healthy children’s language development as reported in international research. In addition to the background factors studied in this study, there seems to be also many other background factors that affect children’s language development in preschool age. Further studies on these background factors are needed to gain deeper understanding of children’s language development in preschool age.

Developmental dyslexia is a learning disability in which a person with normal intelligence and proper education has difficulties in learning to read and write. Usually these problems continue throughout the lifespan. Phonological problems are related to dyslexia but dyslexia seems to be a multifactorial disorder, and also executive function problems have been related to dyslexia. Executive functions are a group of different abilities related to planning, initiation and accomplishment of actions. Executive functions are generally regarded challenging to assess. Executive function problems are known to occur in children with dyslexia, but there is little data available concerning the executive functions of adults with dyslexia. The aim of this study is to investigate whether young adults with dyslexia have executive function problems. Based on the research among children a hypothesis is set: "Young adults with dyslexia have executive function problems". In addition it is examined 1) what kind of executive function problems occur in young dyslexic adults 2) does performance in cognitive executive tests predict the subjective experience of every day executive functioning. Executive functions of 35 young adults aged 18-36 were investigated (25 women, 10 men) as a part of a larger study of the effectiveness of neuropsychological rehabilitation for dyslexia. All participants have meda medical diagnosis of developmental dyslexia. Executive functions were assessed widely with cognitive executive function tests and a self-evaluation (BRIEF-A, Behavior rating inventory of executive functions – Adult version). Young adults with dyslexia demonstrated problems in executive functions according to hypothesis. Generally the performance in executive function tests were heterogeneous. Objectively problems was detected at group level in inhibition, working memory, fluency and shifting. Subjectively adults with dyslexia reported executive function problems in working memory, initiating and task monitoring. No statistically significant associations were found between cognitive executive function tests and self-evaluated problems. These results widen and confirm our knowledge of developmental dyslexia: adults as well as children with dyslexia have executive function problems. In our modern society where studying and working is usually cognitively demanding and requires usage of written material it is important to understand the diversity of deficits related to learning disabilities.