Poster #90 - Lost in translation: Language, phonological processing, and reading in childhood epilepsy.

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder that affects children (Plioplys et al., 2007). The abnormal brain activity associated with epilepsy has an impact on cognition and academic achievement. Indeed, children with epilepsy have an increased risk of language impairment (Caplan et al., 2009) and high rates of academic difficulty (Piccinelli et al., 2008). One particular area of concern is reading; the few studies that have been completed reveal that children with epilepsy struggle with both reading decoding (translating printed words into sounds) and reading comprehension (processing and understanding text: Currie et al., 2018; Reilly et al., 2014; Vanasse et al., 2005). Two skills have been shown to be important for these two aspects of reading, respectively: phonological processing (the ability to manipulate sounds in working memory) and oral language (Roth et al., 2002). Despite the importance of phonological processing and oral language for reading, the influence of these skills on reading achievement in children with epilepsy has not been examined. Given that reading proficiency is important for academic and life success, it is important to understand the underlying factors that contribute to the reading problems that children with epilepsy experience. In light of contradictory evidence regarding phonological processing in this population (Northcott et al., 2007; Vanasse et al., 2005), the current study seeks to confirm that children with epilepsy struggle not only with reading, but also the skills proposed to underlie reading success: phonological processing and oral language skill in comparison to children with typical development and with language problems.
Participants in the current study comprised three groups of children between the ages of 6 and 12 years: 1) six children with epilepsy (EP; 4 boys; Mage = 9.81 years, SD = 2.23 years), 2) 14 children with language problems (LP; 9 boys; Mage = 9.84, SD = 2.23 years), and 3) 15 children with typical development (TD; 8 boys; Mage = 9.93 years, SD = 1.88 years). Groups were comparable for age, nonverbal intelligence, and socioeconomic status. Children were administered measures of phonological processing, language, reading decoding, and reading comprehension. Analysis showed that both the EP and LP group performed worse than the TD group on measures of phonological processing, language, and reading; however, the EP group demonstrated the worst scores on reading comprehension. Multiple regression analysis indicated that language, followed by EP diagnosis contribute the most unique variance to reading comprehension whereas phonological processing, followed by EP diagnosis contributed the most unique variance to reading decoding.
Our findings suggest that children with epilepsy do indeed have poor phonological processing and language that contribute to their poor reading decoding and reading comprehension, respectively. This is consistent with the broader reading literature. More importantly, our results also indicate that children with epilepsy have reading comprehension problems that are not fully explained by their language deficits. Clearly, future research should consider other cognitive deficits (e.g., executive function) in this group that may influence their achievement in reading comprehension.

Authors

• Katharine Bailey, Queen's University/Trent University
  Presenting Author

• Taylor Crawford, Trent University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nancie Im-Bolter, Trent University
  Non-Presenting Author