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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Using Cholesky Decomposition to Explore Individual Differences in Longitudinal Relations between Reading Skills
Published on: September 17, 2019
A longitudinal study of reading skills among very-low-birthweight children: is there a catch-up?
Stefan Samuelsson1, Orvar Finnström, Olof Flodmark
1Department of Behavioral Sciences, Linköping University, S-581 83 Linköping, Sweden. stesa@ibv.liu.se
Objective:
To examine the development of reading skills among very-low-birthweight (VLBW) children and to what extent reading difficulties at 9 years of age persist unchanged, are attenuated, or are enhanced at 15 years of age.
Methods:
Fifty-six VLBW and 52 normal birthweight (NBW) children were assessed on word decoding, word recognition, and reading comprehension at 9 and 15 years of age.
Results:
VLBW children showed deficits in reading skill at 9 years of age, while most differences obtained at 15 years of age did not reach significance. VLBW children improved their reading comprehension between 9 and 15 years of age more than NBW children, and when controlling for individual differences in IQ, VLBW children improved both their reading comprehension and word-recognition skill.
Conclusion:
The results suggest that VLBW children display positive changes over time in reading skills.
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