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Gender differences in spatial abilities favor males in both childhood and adulthood. During early development, this discrepancy can be attributed, among other things, to the influence of an early testosterone surge in boys, societal stereotypes, and expectations about gender. In the present work, we created a spatial task (including letter rotation and letter mirroring) which used letters as stimuli and evaluated the performance of school-aged children (6-10 years old). During this age period, children are being taught literacy skills which rely on the reorganization of cortical networks and the breakdown of mirror generalization. We divided our sample (N = 142, 73 females) into two age groups: 1st-2nd (literacy acquisition; N = 70, 33 females) and 3rd-5th (literacy consolidation; N = 72, 40 females) graders. While boys performed significantly better in letter rotation in the older group, girls' performance remained substandard in both groups. This pattern is reversed for the mirror task, with older girls outperforming their younger counterparts and boys having similar performance in the two groups. Since the age period of our sample is not associated with large variations in the levels of reproductive steroids, we propose that the similarity of performance between younger and older girls in mental rotation of letters could be associated with society's traditional attitudes and expectations on the relationship between visual-spatial skills and gender. As for the mirror task, while only girls had a significant difference between the two age groups, boys did show an improvement, as expected for the inhibition of mirror generalization for letters during reading acquisition.

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RESUMO: A fluência de leitura é tida como uma meta no desenvolvimento da leitura oral e pode, de forma mais rápida e objetiva, indicar a evolução do desempenho dos estudantes. A Base Nacional Comum Curricular do Brasil prevê que, entre o 3º e 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental, o escolar deve ler de forma autônoma e fluente com textualidade adequada. Assim sendo, o objetivo deste estudo é verificar se a fluência leitora pode ser utilizada como um indicador de competência com o avanço do ano letivo para os estudantes do Ensino Fundamental I. Trata-se de um estudo observacional, longitudinal e descritivo. Participaram 36 crianças matriculadas do 3º ao 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental, sendo 18 do público-alvo da Educação Especial ou contemplados pela política no Distrito Federal, Brasil. A fluência de leitura textual foi avaliada com intervalo de cinco meses com as variáveis Taxa de leitura e Acurácia. A comparação intergrupo demonstrou resultados superiores para o Grupo de Controle em ambas a variáveis, já a intragrupo indicou evolução estatisticamente significante somente para o Grupo de Interesse. Foi desenvolvido o Coeficiente de Progressão, cujos resultados mostraram evolução nas medidas de fluência de leitura. Assim, a fluência de leitura parece ser um indicador de competência de leitura para a Educação Especial.

ABSTRACT: Reading fluency is seen as a goal in the development of oral reading and can, more quickly and objectively, indicate the evolution of student performance. The National Common Curricular Base of Brazil provides that between the 3rd and 5th grade of Elementary School the student must read autonomously and fluently with adequate textuality. Thus, the objective of this study is to verify whether reading fluency can be used as a competency indicator with the advancement of the school year for Elementary School students. This is an observational, longitudinal and descriptive study. Thirty-six children enrolled from the 3rd to the 5th grade of Elementary School participated, 18 of whom were the target population of Special Education or contemplated by the policy in the Distrito Federal, Brazil. The fluency of textual reading was assessed with an interval of 5 months with the variables reading rate and accuracy. The intergroup comparison showed superior results for the Control Group in both variables, whereas the intragroup indicated a statistically significant evolution only for the Interest Group. The Progression Coefficient was developed, whose results showed an evolution in the reading fluency measures. Thus, reading fluency seems to be an indicator of reading competence for Special Education.

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Resumen El presente estudio tiene dos objetivos: a) Construir un Test de Capacidad de Lectura -TCL, para medir el nivel de memoria de trabajo (MT) y b) analizar la relación entre MT y la inteligencia general fluida -Gf (medido a través de Test de Matrices Progresivas de Raven, para niños), en un grupo de 124 niños lectores escolarizados del nivel primario. Dado el carácter primordial de este segundo objetivo, se procedió a emplear el método correlacional, que sugiere la medición y descripción de las variables MT y Gf, cuyo índice correlacional establece el nivel de dicha relación. En cuanto a la justificación de la presente tesis, se sustenta en la constatación empírica de la presencia previa de la MT, como un factor explicativo de la varianza que sufre la Gf. La validez de contenido del nuevo TCL se estableció mediante el criterio de juicio de expertos; mientras que, la confiabilidad del mismo instrumento está dentro del nivel de confianza y seguridad. Finalmente, se puede afirmar que la relación entre MT y Gf es sustancial, en la medida que sugiere que la MT es un factor importante que explica la varianza de los puntajes Gf.

Abstract The present study have two objectives: a) Elaborate a Reading Span Test -RST, that measure the level of working memory (WM), and b) analyze the relation between WM and fluid general intelligence -Gf (measured with Raven´s Progressive Matrices Test, for children), in a group of 124 children of the primary school level. The first objective was reached according to the theoretical and techniques suggestions offered by Daneman & Carpenter (1980) in order to construct a new version of RST, sustained by WM model, originally proposed by Baddeley & Hitch (1974). WM is a cognitive system of limited capacity, in which acts simultaneously, storage and processing information mechanisms. This cognitive system is involved in diverse complex cognitive activities, such as, reading comprehension, learning, and reasoning. The content validity of the new RST was done through expert judgment; while the reliability of same instrument was got accord Kuder/ Richardson-20 coefficient r 11 = 0.87, that guarantee the reliability of the instrument. Respect to the second objective, it was found a coefficient of correlation Eta2 = 0.525, which means that relation is substantial, therefore confirms that WM is an important factor by which cause the variance of scores of the Gf is 27.6%.

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BACKGROUND: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is frequently associated with poorer reading ability; however, the specific neuropsychological domains linking this co-occurrence remain unclear. This study evaluates information-processing characteristics as possible neuropsychological links between ADHD symptoms and RA in a community-based sample of children and early adolescents with normal IQ (⩾70). METHOD: The participants (n = 1857, aged 6-15 years, 47% female) were evaluated for reading ability (reading single words aloud) and information processing [stimulus discriminability in the two-choice reaction-time task estimated using diffusion models]. ADHD symptoms were ascertained through informant (parent) report using the Development and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA). Verbal working memory (VWM; digit span backwards), visuospatial working memory (VSWM, Corsi Blocks backwards), sex, socioeconomic status, and IQ were included as covariates. RESULTS: In a moderated mediation model, stimulus discriminability mediated the effect of ADHD on reading ability. This indirect effect was moderated by age such that a larger effect was seen among younger children. CONCLUSION: The findings support the hypothesis that ADHD and reading ability are linked among young children via a neuropsychological deficit related to stimulus discriminability. Early interventions targeting stimulus discriminability might improve symptoms of inattention/hyperactivity and reading ability.

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This study investigated the contribution of phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) to the persistence of beginning reading difficulties in Portuguese. The study was longitudinal and involved 13 children who had shown little progress in learning to read during their 1st school year, and 13 children with typical reading development. At the beginning of the study, when participants were, on average, six years and nine months of age, their ability to read and spell words, and their PA and RAN skills were assessed. One year later, the children who had shown difficulties in learning to read were divided into two groups, based on their progress in learning to read during the course of the study: a group with persistent reading difficulties and a group whose difficulties had been overcome. Results showed that both groups performed equally poorly and below controls on the PA tasks at the beginning of the study. In contrast, only the children with persistent reading difficulties performed more poorly than controls on the RAN tasks at that time. (AU)

Este estudo investigou a contribuição da consciência fonológica (CF) e da nomeação automatizada rápida (RAN) para a persistência de dificuldades na aprendizagem inicial da leitura em português. O estudo foi longitudinal e envolveu 13 crianças que haviam apresentado dificuldades na aprendizagem da leitura durante o ano da alfabetização e 13 crianças com desenvolvimento típico da leitura. A habilidade de ler e escrever palavras, a CF e a RAN foram avaliadas no final do ano de alfabetização, quando as crianças tinham, em média, seis anos e nove meses de idade. Um ano mais tarde, as crianças que haviam apresentado dificuldades na alfabetização foram divididas em dois grupos, com base em seu progresso na habilidade de ler palavras ao longo estudo: um grupo de crianças com dificuldades persistentes e um grupo cujas dificuldades iniciais haviam sido superadas. Os resultados mostraram que ambos os grupos apresentaram déficits na CF no início do estudo. Por outro lado, apenas as crianças com dificuldades persistentes de leitura manifestaram déficits na RAN naquela ocasião. (AU)

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