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. 2021 Mar;147(3):e20201641.
doi: 10.1542/peds.2020-1641. Epub 2021 Feb 4.

Validation of The Reading House and Association With Cortical Thickness

John S Hutton  1   2 , Jonathan Dudley  2   3 , Guixia Huang  4 , Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus  5   2   3   6 , Thomas DeWitt  5   2 , Richard F Ittenbach  4 , Scott K Holland  7
Affiliations

Validation of The Reading House and Association With Cortical Thickness

John S Hutton et al. Pediatrics. 2021 Mar.

Abstract

Background and objectives: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends literacy and school readiness promotion during well visits. The Reading House (TRH) is a children's book-based screener of emergent literacy skills in preschool-aged children. Vocabulary, rhyming, and rapid naming are core emergent skills, and reading abilities are associated with thicker cortex in the left hemisphere. Our objective was to expand validity of TRH relative to these skills and explore association with cortical thickness.

Methods: Healthy preschool-aged children completed MRI including a T1-weighted anatomic scan. Before MRI, TRH and assessments of rapid naming (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, Second Edition), rhyming (Pre-Reading Inventory of Phonological Awareness), vocabulary (Expressive Vocabulary Test, Second Edition), and emergent literacy (Get Ready to Read!) were administered. Analyses included Spearman-ρ correlations (r ρ) accounting for age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES). MRI analyses involved whole-brain measures of cortical thickness relative to TRH scores, accounting for covariates.

Results: Seventy children completed assessments (36-63 months old; 36 female) and 52 completed MRI (37-63 months; 29 female). TRH scores were positively correlated with Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, Second Edition (r ρ = 0.61), Expressive Vocabulary Test, Second Edition (r ρ = 0.54), Get Ready to Read! (r ρ = 0.87), and Pre-Reading Inventory of Phonological Awareness scores (r ρ = 0.64; all P < .001). These correlations remained statistically significant across age, sex, and SES groups. TRH scores were correlated with greater thickness in left-sided language and visual cortex (P-family-wise error <.05), which were similar for higher SES yet more bilateral and frontal for low SES, reflecting a less mature pattern (P-family-wise error <.10).

Conclusions: These findings expand validation evidence for TRH as a screening tool for preschool-aged children, including associations with emergent skills and cortical thickness, and suggest important differences related to SES.

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Conflict of interest statement

POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Dr Hutton conceived, wrote, and edited the children’s book featured in this study. Dr Hutton is the founder of blue manatee press, the publisher and distributor of The Reading House, although he receives no salary or other compensation for this role. The Reading House is not intended for sale in retail, library, or other direct-to-consumer channels. Its intended use is as a screening tool, distributed at low cost to clinical practices, preschools, and organizations. Royalties, if any, are determined via intellectual property policies at Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation; the other authors have indicated they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

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