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Research Article Analysis and Evaluation 1

Longitudinal Models of Developmental Dynamics Between Reading

and Cognition From Childhood to Adolescence

Teresa Froehlke

Boise State University

ED-CIFS 503

Ted Singletary

February 10, 2009

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Research Article Analysis and Evaluation 2

In this article the authors examined the dynamics of reading and cognition from 1stto 12

th

grade by applying linear dynamic models to longitudinal data. The longitudinal data from the

Connecticut Longitudinal Study by S.E. Shaywitz et al. was used to correlate the dynamic

relationship of various scales of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children and specific

markers of the Woodcock-Johnson PsychoEducational Battery-Revised reading cluster (i.e.,

Letter-Word ID, Decoding, and Comprehension).

The results from this study support that there is a positive dynamic relation between reading

and cognition in the age groups which were studied. The relationship from cognition to reading

is stronger when considering the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children Performance and

weaker with the Verbal Scale. The influences from cognition are more evident in the following

reading subtests: Letter word Id and Comprehension and less perceptible for Decoding. An

another important finding in this study was that this symbiotic relationship between reading and

cognition appear to be strongest during 1stto 3

rdgrade, less strong during 4

thto 8

thgrade and

weakest from 9thto 12thgrade.

The importance of this study shows how dynamic modeling can be used to describe

developmental processes and test academic hypotheses. There are many levels of analysis that

can be implemented. One level, such as in this study, can be used to map dynamics of a

particular cognition as it relates to other processes. Another level to investigate is the neural

changes that are involved in the development of a certain cognitive process. These levels of

analyses will produce a more complete picture of developmental processes. This study

supported the need for dynamic modeling to further research the complex relationships in

developmental processes.

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Research Article Analysis and Evaluation 3

1. What is the purpose of the research, the research question(s) or hypothesis(es)? The purpose of this research was to examine the dynamics of reading and

cognitive abilities from childhood to adolescence using longitudinal models of

developmental dynamics.2. What type of research is this? This type of research in this article is descriptive.3. Who or what is the population and sample being studied and how was the sample

selected?

The data was collected from participants in the Connecticut Longitudinal Study,which is an ongoing project involving a group of Connecticut children that

focuses on the study of learning and attention and the diagnosis of reading

disabilities. The individuals in this study were first assessed in 1stgrand and

followed up annually up to 12th

grade.

4. What types of data were collected? Descriptive information for each of the selected WJ-R and WISC-R scales and the

participants ages.

5. What methods were used to collect data? Data was collected from three Reading subtests from the WJ-R (Woodcock &

Johnson, 1989) to compute a scale of Reading: Letter-Word ID, Decoding and

Comprehension. These measures were collected annually from 1stto 12

thgrade.

In addition to the Reading subtests, we assessed participants on the WISC-R

(Wechsler, 1974) at 1st, 3

rd, 5

th, 7

thand 9

thgrade.

6. How were the data analyzed?

Dynamic models based on latent difference scores were used to examine theinterrelations of fluid abilities and reading over time. What methods were used

and if numeric data were collected, what statistical procedures or analyses were

applied? Linear dynamic models were used in this research and the statistical

analyses applied was the descriptive statistics for the Wechsler Intelligence

Scales for Children all the values were based on z scores computed from Time

1.

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Research Article Analysis and Evaluation 4

References

Shaywitz, B. A., Holahan, J. M., Marchione, K., & Shaywitz, S.

E. (2007). Longitudinal models of developmental dynamic

between reading and cognition from childhood to

adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 43(6), 1460-1473.