Fade the Butcher
02-11-2006, 12:00 AM
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411419/658322
Genetics can play a bigger role in determining a child's reading ability than teaching, an Australian researcher says.
An international study showed some children were born with "an unfortunate deal of the genetic deck" when it comes to reading skills, said study co-author Brian Byrne, professor of psychology at the University of New England in northern NSW.
No "magic bullet" of encouragement and tutoring would fully improve their reading abilities, he said.
Published in the latest issue of the British-based Journal of Research in Reading, the study showed the influence of parents reading to their children diminished significantly a year or so after they started school.
"The home environment doesn't leave its mark much on children as they start to go through school, which is surprising to a lot of people," Byrne said.
"What seems to determine most of the differences amongst children, just in the normal school setting in terms of their reading skills, are genetics."
The research examined more than 600 pairs of identical and non-identical twins in Australia, the United States, Norway and Sweden from different racial and socio-economic backgrounds.
Byrne said bed-time stories early in a child's life, encouragement to read and remedial teaching would never totally make up for a child's genetic "bad deal".
"It just reinforces the idea that teaching is going to need to be more intensive for some children and it's probably going to have to be continued for a fair bit of their early schooling," he said.
"There's no single magic bullet that's going to fix their kids up."
Byrne said good genes for reading did not wholly determine a child's intelligence or success at school.
"We are not saying that genes are the whole story by any means and maybe account for something like 70% of the variability amongst children.
"This leaves a fair chunk left over for parent-encouraged activities and school-encouraged activities," he said.
The formulation of tests which would determine whether children needed extra help was still some years away, Byrne said.
Genetics can play a bigger role in determining a child's reading ability than teaching, an Australian researcher says.
An international study showed some children were born with "an unfortunate deal of the genetic deck" when it comes to reading skills, said study co-author Brian Byrne, professor of psychology at the University of New England in northern NSW.
No "magic bullet" of encouragement and tutoring would fully improve their reading abilities, he said.
Published in the latest issue of the British-based Journal of Research in Reading, the study showed the influence of parents reading to their children diminished significantly a year or so after they started school.
"The home environment doesn't leave its mark much on children as they start to go through school, which is surprising to a lot of people," Byrne said.
"What seems to determine most of the differences amongst children, just in the normal school setting in terms of their reading skills, are genetics."
The research examined more than 600 pairs of identical and non-identical twins in Australia, the United States, Norway and Sweden from different racial and socio-economic backgrounds.
Byrne said bed-time stories early in a child's life, encouragement to read and remedial teaching would never totally make up for a child's genetic "bad deal".
"It just reinforces the idea that teaching is going to need to be more intensive for some children and it's probably going to have to be continued for a fair bit of their early schooling," he said.
"There's no single magic bullet that's going to fix their kids up."
Byrne said good genes for reading did not wholly determine a child's intelligence or success at school.
"We are not saying that genes are the whole story by any means and maybe account for something like 70% of the variability amongst children.
"This leaves a fair chunk left over for parent-encouraged activities and school-encouraged activities," he said.
The formulation of tests which would determine whether children needed extra help was still some years away, Byrne said.