Aprendizaje de la Lecto-Escritura Inicial como Factor Pronostico del Rendimiento Escolar Ulterior

Abstract

Early Ability to Read and to Whrite as Index of Late Academic PerformanceOne hundred nineteen mentally normal cliildren, from middle low and low socioeconomic strata, living in the urban northern area of Santiago, were evaluated in 1975 for reading and writting competence, during the second term of the third grade elementary schooling.A developmental multifaced follow-up was provided for them since their elementary school entrance in 1973 up to now.Besides, in 1982 they were examined through a test battery in order to get an evenly appraisal of their acquaintance in reading, writting, solving basic arithmetical tasks and ability, to design simple tridimensional objects.Direct, analogous and significant statistical correlations were found between reading and writting performance at the third elementary grade and those parameters selected as index of academic progress seven years after.Most of the children disabled in reading and writting at mean ages of 8.9 yr.showed later a rather poor academic performance on the average and no one reached optimal total scores.The lowest scores were got in arithmethic solving abilities and in designing usual models.On the contrary, children that easily learned how to read and write did much better, even when some of them performed not so well, requiring individualized analysis under work-up.These relationship appear to be in some way independent of the late reading and writting level, since more than half of the subjects (53%) were able to manage easily on the matter.