Minna Torppa

University of Jyväskylä, Teacher Education, Post-Doc

Followers

Following

Co-authors

Public Views

Address: Jyväskylä, Southern Finland, Finland

less

Daniel D. Hutto

University of Wollongong

Douglas H Clements

University of Denver

David Seamon

Kansas State University

Adam M Croom

Case Western Reserve University

Santiago Arango Muñoz

Universidad de Antioquia

Karen Wohlwend

Indiana University

Simon Baron-Cohen

University of Cambridge

Michael Shanks

Stanford University

Viacheslav Kuleshov

Stockholm University

Handoyo Puji Widodo

Shantou University

Interests

Uploads

Papers by Minna Torppa

The development and alignment of pedagogical conceptions of health education

Teaching and Teacher Education, 2015

University Students with Reading Difficulties: Do Perceived Supports and Comorbid Difficulties Predict Well-Being and GPA?

Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 2015

Early temperament and age at school entry predict task avoidance in elementary school

Learning and Individual Differences, 2016

Dyslexia—Early Identification and Prevention: Highlights from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia

Current Developmental Disorders Reports, 2015

Over two decades of Finnish research, monitoring children born with risk for dyslexia has been ca... more Over two decades of Finnish research, monitoring children born with risk for dyslexia has been carried out in the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia (JLD). Two hundred children, half at risk, have been assessed from birth to puberty on hundreds of measures. The aims were to identify measures of prediction of later reading difficulty and to instigate appropriate and earliest diagnosis and intervention. We can identify at-risk children from newborn electroencephalographic brain recordings (Guttorm et al., J Neural Transm 110:1059-1074, 2003). Predictors are also apparent from late-talking infants who have familial background of dyslexia (Lyytinen and Lyytinen, Appl Psycolinguistics 25:397-411, 2004). The earliest easy-to-use predictive measure to identify children who need help to avoid difficulties in learning to read is letter knowledge (Lyytinen et al., Merrill-Palmer Q 52:514-546, 2006). In response, a purpose-engineered computer game, GraphoGame(™), provides an effective intervention tool (Lyytinen et al., Scand J Psychol 50:668-675, 2009). In doubling as a research instrument, GraphoGame provides bespoke intervention/reading instruction for typical/atypically developing children. Used extensively throughout Finland, GraphoGame is now crossing the developed and developing world to assist children, irrespective of the cause (environmental or genetic) of their failing to learn to read (Ojanen et al., Front Psychol 6(671):1-13, 2015).

Oppimisvaikeudet – suotuisan kehityksen ja hyvinvoinnin uhkia?

Early cognitive risk and protective factors in predicting dyslexia

Late-Emerging and Resolving Dyslexia: A Follow-Up Study from Age 3 to 14

by Minna Torppa, Elsje van Bergen, and Kenneth Eklund

This study focuses on the stability of dyslexia status from Grade 2 to Grade 8 in four groups: (a... more This study focuses on the stability of dyslexia status from Grade 2 to Grade 8 in four groups: (a) no dyslexia in either grade (no-dyslexia, n=127); (b) no dyslexia in Grade 2 but dyslexia in Grade 8 (late-emerging, n=18); (c) dyslexia in Grade 2 but not in Grade 8 (resolving, n=15); and (d) dyslexia in both grades (persistent-dyslexia, n=22). We examined group differences from age 3.5 to age 14 in (a) reading, vocabulary, phonology, letter knowledge, rapid naming, IQ, verbal memory; (b) familial and environmental risk and supportive factors; and (c) parental skills in reading, phonology, rapid naming, verbal memory, and vocabulary. Our findings showed group differences both in reading and cognitive skills of children as well as their parents. Parental education, book reading frequency, and children’s IQ, however, did not differentiate the groups. The children in the persistent-dyslexia group exhibited widespread language and cognitive deficits across development. Those in the resolving group had problems in language and cognitive skills only prior to school entry. In the late-emerging group, children showed clearly compromised rapid naming. Additionally, their parents had the most severe difficulties in rapid naming, a finding that suggests strong genetic liability. The findings show instability in the diagnosis of dyslexia. The members of the late-emerging
group did not have a distinct early cognitive profile,
so late-emerging dyslexia appears difficult to predict. Indeed, these children are at risk of not being identified and not receiving required support. This study suggests the need for continued monitoring of children’s progress in literacy after the early school years.

Download

Psychosocial Functioning of Children with and without Dyslexia: A Follow-up Study from Ages Four to Nine

Dyslexia (Chichester, England), Jan 27, 2014

This longitudinal study compares developmental changes in psychosocial functioning during the tra... more This longitudinal study compares developmental changes in psychosocial functioning during the transition into school of children with and without dyslexia. In addition, it examines the effects of gender and family risk for dyslexia in terms of the associations between dyslexia and psychosocial functioning. Children's psychosocial functioning (social skills, inattention and externalizing and internalizing problems) was evaluated by their parents at ages 4, 6 and 9, and diagnosis for dyslexia was made at age 8 (in grade 2). The findings indicated that children with dyslexia were already rated as having poorer social skills and being more inattentive than were typical readers before their entry into school. Significant interactions of gender and diagnosis of dyslexia emerged for social skills and inattention. The social skills of boys with dyslexia improved after school entry as compared to the level of girls without dyslexia, whereas the social skills of girls with dyslexia did no...

Reading skills in children with risk for familial dyslexia and at school age differ in poor readers

by Minna Torppa and Anne Puolakanaho

Journal of Psychophysiology

The impact of adolescents’ dyslexia on parents’ and their own educational expectations

Reading and Writing, 2013

ABSTRACT The present study examined the role that adolescents’ dyslexia plays in their educationa... more ABSTRACT The present study examined the role that adolescents’ dyslexia plays in their educational expectations, as well as their parents’ expectations concerning their offspring’s future education. To investigate this, 170 adolescents were asked to report their educational expectations on two occasions while they were still attending comprehensive school (in 7th and 9th grade). Forty-five of the 170 adolescents were diagnosed as having dyslexia. The adolescents’ mothers and fathers also filled in questionnaires concerning their educational expectations for their offspring. The results showed that parents of boys with dyslexia had lower expectations about their sons’ future education than parents of typically reading boys. However, parents of girls with dyslexia and parents of typically reading girls did not differ in this respect. Parents’ expectations also predicted the adolescents’ own educational expectations. Moreover, dyslexia was associated with boys’ academic achievement (GPA), which further predicted their educational expectations.

Symposia

Books of Abstracts of the 16th World Congress of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP), 2004

The Nature of and Factors Related to Reading Difficulties Among Adolescents in a Transparent Orthography

Scientific Studies of Reading, 2013

We examined the nature of and factors related to adolescents’ reading difficulties in a highly tr... more We examined the nature of and factors related to adolescents’ reading difficulties in a highly transparent orthography. We compared word, pseudoword, and text reading speed and accuracy, rapid naming (RAN) and phonological processing between poor readers (n = 80) and normally developing readers (n = 189). Reading problems were manifested in reading speed and in timed pseudoword reading accuracy. RAN predicted speed, and phonological processing predicted accuracy of reading in both groups. Among poor readers, RAN also explained reading accuracy. For the normally developing sample, phonological processing also predicted reading speed.

Modeling the early paths of phonological awareness and factors supporting its development in children with and without familial risk of dyslexia

by Anne Puolakanaho and Minna Torppa

Scientific Studies of …, 2007

Download

A candidate gene for developmental dyslexia encodes a nuclear tetratricopeptide repeat domain protein dynamically regulated in brain

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2003

Approximately 3-10% of people have specific difficulties in reading, despite adequate intelligenc... more Approximately 3-10% of people have specific difficulties in reading, despite adequate intelligence, education, and social environment. We report here the characterization of a gene, DYX1C1 near the DYX1 locus in chromosome 15q21, that is disrupted by a translocation t(2;15)(q11;q21) segregating coincidentally with dyslexia. Two sequence changes in DYX1C1, one involving the translation initiation sequence and an Elk-1 transcription factor binding site (؊3G 3 A) and a codon (1249G 3 T), introducing a premature stop codon and truncating the predicted protein by 4 aa, associate alone and in combination with dyslexia. DYX1C1 encodes a 420-aa protein with three tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) domains, thought to be protein interaction modules, but otherwise with no homology to known proteins. The mouse Dyx1c1 protein is 78% identical to the human protein, and the nonhuman primates differ at 0.5-1.4% of residues. DYX1C1 is expressed in several tissues, including the brain, and the protein resides in the nucleus. In human brain, DYX1C1 protein localizes to a fraction of cortical neurons and white matter glial cells. We conclude that DYX1C1 should be regarded as a candidate gene for developmental dyslexia. Detailed study of its function may open a path to understanding a complex process of development and maturation of the human brain.

Download

Infant brain responses associated with reading-related skills before school and at school age

by Anne Puolakanaho, Minna Torppa, and A. Tanskanen

Neurophysiologie clinique = Clinical neurophysiology

In Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia, we have investigated neurocognitive processes relate... more In Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia, we have investigated neurocognitive processes related to phonology and other risk factors of later reading problems. Here we review studies in which we have investigated whether dyslexic children with familial risk background would show atypical auditory/speech processing at birth, at six months and later before school and at school age as measured by brain event-related potentials (ERPs), and how infant ERPs are related to later pre-reading cognitive skills and literacy outcome.

A genome scan for developmental dyslexia confirms linkage to chromosome 2p11 and suggests a new locus on 7q32

Journal of Medical Genetics, 2003

Developmental dyslexia is a distinct learning disability with unexpected difficulty in learning t... more Developmental dyslexia is a distinct learning disability with unexpected difficulty in learning to read despite adequate intelligence, education, and environment, and normal senses. The genetic aetiology of dyslexia is heterogeneous and loci on chromosomes 2, 3, 6, 15, and 18 have been repeatedly linked to it. We have conducted a genome scan with 376 markers in 11 families with 38 dyslexic subjects ascertained in Finland. Linkage of dyslexia to the vicinity of DYX3 on 2p was confirmed with a nonparametric linkage (NPL) score of 2.55 and a lod score of 3.01 for a dominant model, and a novel locus on 7q32 close to the SPCH1 locus was suggested with an NPL score of 2.77. The SPCH1 locus has previously been linked with a severe speech and language disorder and autism, and a mutation in exon 14 of the FOXP2 gene on 7q32 has been identified in one large pedigree. Because the language disorder associated with the SPCH1 locus has some overlap with the language deficits observed in dyslexia, we sequenced the coding region of FOXP2 as a candidate gene for our observed linkage in six dyslexic subjects. No mutations were identified. We conclude that DYX3 appears to be important for dyslexia susceptibility in many Finnish families, and a suggested linkage of dyslexia to chromosome 7q32 will need verification in other data sets. D evelopmental dyslexia is a distinct learning disability with unexpected difficulty in learning to read despite adequate intelligence, education, environment, and normal senses. The impairment in dyslexia appears to be in phonological processing, which interferes with the function of the linguistic system at the higher level, such as semantics. 1 Functional brain imaging studies have shown that dyslectic subjects have a common neuroanatomical basis. 2 Dyslexia is relatively common affecting 5-10% of the population depending on the definition. 3 Previous twin and family studies have established a large genetic component in the aetiology of dyslexia. 4 Although at least two loci have shown clearly dominant transmission (DYX3 and DYX5), the mode of inheritance seems to be non-Mendelian for other loci. Therefore, the aetiology of dyslexia is likely to be heterogeneous 5 and at least five loci have consistently been linked to dyslexia: DYX1 on 15q21, DYX2 on 6p21.3, DYX3 on 2p16-p15, DYX5 on 3p12-q13, and DYX6 on 18p11.2 (http//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/omim).

Download

Language Development, Literacy Skills, and Predictive Connections to Reading in Finnish Children With and Without Familial Risk for Dyslexia

Journal of Learning Disabilities, 2010

Discriminative language markers and predictive links between early language and literacy skills w... more Discriminative language markers and predictive links between early language and literacy skills were investigated retrospectively in the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia in which children at familial risk for dyslexia have been followed from birth. Three groups were formed on the basis of 198 children&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s reading and spelling status. One group of children with reading disability (RD; n = 46) and two groups of typical readers from nondyslexic control (TRC; n = 84) and dyslexic families (TRD; n = 68) were examined from age 1.5 years to school age. The RD group was outperformed by typical readers on numerous language and literacy measures (expressive and receptive language, morphology, phonological sensitivity, RAN, and letter knowledge) from 2 years of age onward. The strongest predictive links emerged from receptive and expressive language to reading via measures of letter naming, rapid naming, morphology, and phonological awareness.

Using a Multidimensional Measure of Resilience to Explain Life Satisfaction and Academic Achievement of Adults With Reading Difficulties

Journal of Learning Disabilities, 2014

We assessed the impact of intrapersonal and interpersonal resilience, persistence, and number of ... more We assessed the impact of intrapersonal and interpersonal resilience, persistence, and number of difficulties in addition to reading problems on life satisfaction (general, social, and self) and academic achievement. A total of 120 adults with reading difficulties who either were completing a university degree or were recent graduates responded to an in-lab or online survey. Results indicated that intrapersonal resilience correlated positively with interpersonal resilience and persistence, and both resilience factors were negatively associated with number of difficulties. Using structural equation modeling, intrapersonal resilience explained general satisfaction, intrapersonal resilience and number of difficulties explained self satisfaction, and interpersonal resilience explained social satisfaction. Academic achievement did not correlate with any of the included variables.

Developmental Links of Very Early Phonological and Language Skills to Second Grade Reading Outcomes: Strong to Accuracy but Only Minor to Fluency

by Anna-Maija Poikkeus, Anne Puolakanaho, and Minna Torppa

Journal of Learning Disabilities, 2008

The authors examined second grade reading accuracy and fluency and their associations via letter ... more The authors examined second grade reading accuracy and fluency and their associations via letter knowledge to phonological and language predictors assessed at 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5 years in children in the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia. Structural equation modeling showed that a developmentally highly stable factor (early phonological and language processing [EPLP]) behind key dyslexia predictors (i.e., phonological awareness, short-term memory, rapid naming, vocabulary, and pseudoword repetition) could already be identified at 3.5 years. EPLP was significantly associated with reading and spelling accuracy and by age with letter knowledge. However, EPLP had only a minor link with reading fluency, which was additionally explained by early letter knowledge. The results show that reading accuracy is well predicted by early phonological and language skills. Variation in fluent reading skills is not well explained by early skills, suggesting factors other than phonological core skills. Future research is suggested to explore the factors behind the development of fast and accurate decoding skills.

Download

Predicting Reading Disability: Early Cognitive Risk and Protective Factors

Dyslexia, 2013

This longitudinal study examined early cognitive risk and protective factors for Grade 2 reading ... more This longitudinal study examined early cognitive risk and protective factors for Grade 2 reading disability (RD). We first examined the reading outcome of 198 children in four developmental cognitive subgroups that were identified in our previous analysis: dysfluent trajectory, declining trajectory, unexpected trajectory and typical trajectory. We found that RD was unevenly distributed among the subgroups, although children with RD were found in all subgroups. A majority of the children with RD had familial risk for dyslexia. Second, we examined in what respect children with similar early cognitive development but different RD outcome differ from each other in cognitive skills, task-focused behaviour and print exposure. The comparison of the groups with high cognitive risk but different RD outcome showed significant differences in phonological skills, in the amount of shared reading and in task-focused behaviour. Children who ended up with RD despite low early cognitive risk had poorer cognitive skills, more task avoidance and they were reading less than children without RD and low cognitive risk. In summary, lack of task avoidance seemed to act as a protective factor, which underlines the importance of keeping children interested in school work and reading. a The classification of children into four groups was based on mixture modelling of cognitive development before school age (for details, see . 6 K. M. Eklund et al.

Download

The development and alignment of pedagogical conceptions of health education

Teaching and Teacher Education, 2015

University Students with Reading Difficulties: Do Perceived Supports and Comorbid Difficulties Predict Well-Being and GPA?

Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 2015

Early temperament and age at school entry predict task avoidance in elementary school

Learning and Individual Differences, 2016

Dyslexia—Early Identification and Prevention: Highlights from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia

Current Developmental Disorders Reports, 2015

Oppimisvaikeudet – suotuisan kehityksen ja hyvinvoinnin uhkia?

Early cognitive risk and protective factors in predicting dyslexia

Late-Emerging and Resolving Dyslexia: A Follow-Up Study from Age 3 to 14

by Minna Torppa, Elsje van Bergen, and Kenneth Eklund

Download

Psychosocial Functioning of Children with and without Dyslexia: A Follow-up Study from Ages Four to Nine

Dyslexia (Chichester, England), Jan 27, 2014

Reading skills in children with risk for familial dyslexia and at school age differ in poor readers

by Minna Torppa and Anne Puolakanaho

Journal of Psychophysiology

The impact of adolescents’ dyslexia on parents’ and their own educational expectations

Reading and Writing, 2013

Symposia

Books of Abstracts of the 16th World Congress of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP), 2004

The Nature of and Factors Related to Reading Difficulties Among Adolescents in a Transparent Orthography

Scientific Studies of Reading, 2013