Children with reading difficulties: A six-year follow-up from early primary school to secondary school

This paper reports on the stability of learning difficulties from 7-8 to 13 -13 years of age, and the factors associated with recovery versus persisten ce, among children from the Australian Temperament Project, a community-bas ed longitudinal study. Children identified as having reading difficulties ( RD) at 7-8 years were re-assessed at 13-14 years of age using school achiev ement and intelligence tests. Almost half of the children with RDs at 7-8 y ears had reading difficulties at 13-14 years, almost two thirds had spellin g difficulties, and a majority had arithmetic difficulties. When achievemen t over all three areas was considered, more than 80% of early RD children h ad a learning difficulty of some kind. The contributions of intelligence, i nitial severity of reading problems, early externalising behaviour problems (Brs), and family factors to the persistence of learning difficulties were investigated. For boys, intelligence and presence of early BPs contributed to the persistence of reading difficulties; spelling difficulties were rel ated to these two factors and to initial severity and family socioeconomic status (SES), while arithmetic difficulties were related to intelligence, e arly BPs and family SES. However, none of these factor differentiated recov ered and persistently RD girls. A risk index developed from these factors i ndicated that, as the number of risks increased, so did the incidence of le arning difficulties among both boys and girls.