Intercampus Program in Communicative Disorders
Faculty Research Laboratories
Hugh W. Catts, Ph.D., Director
Language and Reading Disorders Laboratory
The Language and Reading Disorders Laboratory is located on the first and fourth floors of Dole Human Development Center. The PI, student researchers (Ph.D., Master, and undergraduate students), and full- and part-time employees are engaged in various projects related to the nature and early identification of language and reading disabilities. Current and recent projects are listed below.
Reading for understanding. PI: Catts.
This five-year project is funded by the Institute of Education Sciences and is designed to increase fundamental understanding of the role of language skills in reading comprehension, and knowledge of how to effectively increase reading comprehension through systematic classroom-based instruction. The project involves a consortium of researchers from the University of Kansas, Ohio State University, University of Nebraska, and Arizona State University. A series of three studies are being conducted. Study 1 uses a longitudinal research design to examine the contributions of language, cognitive, and environmental factors to individual differences in the development and achievement of reading/listening comprehension in approximately 1000 children from preschool through third grade. Studies 2 and 3 develop and test a set of language-based instructional approaches in preschool through third grade classrooms that can effectively increase children's reading and/or listening comprehension.
Early identification of reading disabilities within a RTI framework. PI: Catts.
In this project, which is funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, we are examining the effectiveness of Response to Intervention (RTI) as a framework for the identification of kindergarten children at risk for reading disabilities (RD). At the beginning of the school year 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, all kindergarten children in a local school district were administered a brief initial assessment. Based on this initial assessment, we recruited a large group of high-risk children and a smaller sample of low-risk children into the study. These participants were administered a battery of screening measures, including multivariate static assessments, dynamic assessments, and progress monitoring tools. Children deemed to be at high risk based on initial assessment were randomly assigned to an RTI or control condition. Those in the RTI condition received small-group Tier 2 intervention for twenty-two weeks. This intervention targeted phonological awareness and letter knowledge, as well as vocabulary and language comprehension/production. Progress monitoring and follow-up assessments were given at the end of kindergarten to assess response to intervention. Children are being followed through third grade and criterion measures of reading achievement are administered yearly. Analyses examine which combination of screening approaches and response to intervention most accurately identify children with RD at each grade.
The Use of a Dynamic Screening of Phonological Awareness to Predict Reading Risk for Kindergarten Students. PI: Dr. Mindy Sittner Bridges, currently Assistant Research Scientist, Life Span Institute, University of Kansas.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the usefulness and predictive validity of a dynamic screening of phonological awareness. This measure was recently administered to 161 kindergarten students. Graduated prompts were provided in the screening, and children's responses were scored in relation to the prompts. Children were followed until the end of kindergarten, and the predictive validity of the dynamic screening measure was examined and compared to a static measure containing the same test items. The results indicated that the dynamic screening measure significantly improved the prediction of reading outcomes over and above the static measure, suggesting that the dynamic nature of the former contributed to the prediction accuracy. The predictive validity of the dynamic screening measure was also compared to a commonly used phonological awareness screening measure. Results showed that the dynamic screening measure added significantly to the prediction of reading outcomes. Additional analyses examined the use of the dynamic screening measure as a supplemental measure. The findings demonstrated that the dynamic screening measure reduced the number of false positives, and in some cases, predicted reading outcomes as well as a combination of the two measures. The results of this study provide preliminary support for the usefulness of a dynamic screening of phonological awareness within an RTI framework for kindergarten students. Additional research is ongoing.