The Impact of Early Classroom Inattention on Phonological Processing and Word-Reading Development

Objective: The present study investigated the longitudinal relationships between inattention, phonological processing and word reading across the first 2 years of formal reading instruction. Method: In all, 136 school entrants were administered measures of letter knowledge, phonological awareness, phonological memory, rapid naming, and word reading at the start and end of their 1st year of school, and the end of their 2nd year, while teachers completed rating scales of inattention. Results: School entry inattentiveness predicted unique variance in word reading at the end of first grade, after controlling for verbal ability, letter knowledge, and phonological processing. End-of-first-grade inattention predicted a small but significant amount of unique variance in second-grade word reading and word-reading efficiency. Inattention, however, was not a reliable predictor of phonological processing in either first or second grade. Conclusion: Early classroom inattentiveness influences learning to read independent of critical developmental precursors of word-reading development.