Predicting reading comprehension academic achievement in late adolescents with velo-cardio-facial (22q11.2 deletion) syndrome (VCFS): a longitudinal study.
Teens with VCFS lose reading ground fast—screen working memory and self-monitoring yearly and weave those skills into every reading lesson.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hsieh et al. (2014) tracked reading scores in teens with velo-cardio-facial syndrome. They compared scores from childhood to late high school.
The team also tested working memory, attention, and self-monitoring. They wanted to see which skills predicted reading success.
What they found
Reading comprehension dropped steeply over time in the VCFS group. The control group held steady.
Weak working memory, poor interference control, and low self-monitoring predicted the slide. These three skills matter more than IQ.
How this fits with other research
Keintz et al. (2011) found boys with Fragile X hit working-memory walls early. Both studies show genetic syndromes attack memory loops that reading needs.
Cornish et al. (2012) saw FXS kids gain attention skills yet stay flat on behavior. K et al. now show VCFS teens can lose academics even when early scores look okay.
Ohan et al. (2015) report half of toddlers with ASD gain IQ points by age nine. That hopeful curve contrasts with the VCFS reading drop, flagging syndrome-specific paths.
Why it matters
If you serve teens with VCFS, do not trust early reading scores. Re-test yearly and watch working-memory tasks like digit span. Build in self-monitoring checks during reading: ask students to stop and paraphrase each paragraph. Target interference control with brief fluency drills that force quick shifts between topics. These small moves can slow or stop the slide.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The primary objective of the current study was to examine the childhood predictors of adolescent reading comprehension in velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS). Although much research has focused on mathematics skills among individuals with VCFS, no studies have examined predictors of reading comprehension. METHODS: 69 late adolescents with VCFS, 23 siblings of youth with VCFS and 30 community controls participated in a longitudinal research project and had repeat neuropsychological test batteries and psychiatric evaluations every 3 years. The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-2nd edition (WIAT-II) Reading Comprehension subtest served as our primary outcome variable. RESULTS: Consistent with previous research, children and adolescents with VCFS had mean reading comprehension scores on the WIAT-II, that were approximately two standard deviations below the mean and word reading scores approximately one standard deviation below the mean. A more novel finding is that relative to both control groups, individuals with VCFS demonstrated a longitudinal decline in reading comprehension abilities yet a slight increase in word reading abilities. In the combined control sample, WISC-III FSIQ, WIAT-II Word Reading, WISC-III Vocabulary and CVLT-C List A Trial 1 accounted for 75% of the variance in Time 3 WIAT-II Reading Comprehension scores. In the VCFS sample, WISC-III FSIQ, BASC-Teacher Aggression, CVLT-C Intrusions, Tower of London, Visual Span Backwards, WCST Non-perseverative Errors, WIAT-II Word Reading and WISC-III Freedom from Distractibility index accounted for 85% of the variance in Time 3 WIAT-II Reading Comprehension scores. A principal component analysis with promax rotation computed on the statistically significant Time 1 predictor variables in the VCFS sample resulted in three factors: Word reading decoding/Interference control, Self-Control/Self-Monitoring and Working Memory. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood predictors of late adolescent reading comprehension in VCFS differ in some meaningful ways from predictors in the non-VCFS population. These results offer some guidance for how best to consider intervention efforts to improve reading comprehension in the VCFS population.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2014 · doi:10.1111/jir.12134