Dear colleagues,
Can you help us recruit deaf children to participate in our exciting new study looking how reading and language skills develop in middle childhood? The study is called “Understanding Reading Success study” https://ladder-lab.com/understanding-reading-success/ It is being run by Dr Fiona Kyle, Dr Kate Rowley, Dr Katie Mason, Prof Ros Herman and Prof Nikki Botting at DCAL, University College London and City, University of London. Our main aim is to understand which combination of cognitive and language skills help children to succeed with reading.
We’ve recently been awarded a £1m research grant from the ESRC to look at how reading and language skills develop in middle childhood for deaf and hearing children. Reading outcomes vary widely, and it is important to understand which language and cognitive factors enable children to become successful readers. We’re focusing on reading comprehension in Key Stage 2. The reason for this is that some children do really well with reading in the early stages and then their progress levels off. But other children continue to make good progress and become successful readers. We want to understand which combination of skills help children to succeed with reading.
We are conducting a ground-breaking longitudinal study following 100 deaf and 200 hearing children from year four through to the end of primary school. We will assess them on a range of tasks measuring language (BSL and English), cognitive skills and reading ability. The research team see children in schools and administer these tests over three or four short sessions each lasting 20-30 minutes. We will then re-asses them in year 5 and year 6. All assessments are very child-friendly and children have enjoyed completing them in our past studies. We will share the test results and the overall findings with the parents/schools. We would also be happy to come and present the findings to your team/parents/teachers/school governors at an inset day or similar.
We are looking for deaf children currently in Year 4 to take part in the study. If you are a parent, teacher, or other professional who would like their child or school to take part, or if you are looking for more information about the project, please contact us:
Dr Katie Mason
Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre,
University College London
49 Gordon Square
London WC1H 0PD
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
You can go to our website for further details https://ladder-lab.com/understanding-reading-success/ including a BSL version of this information. You can follow us on Twitter for research updates @LADDER_Lab
We hope to hear from you soon!
Many thank and best wishes,
Dr Fiona Kyle, Dr Kate Rowley, Prof Ros Herman and Dr Katie Mason
