Poor reading and anxiety (PRAX): building a theory and practice

ABSTRACT

Clinicians, teachers, and researchers have long suspected that there may be some kind of association between poor reading and emotional health. However, for many years, studies of this association were generally sporadic and poor in quality. This article outlines how – over the last 5 years or so – national and international associates of the PRAX (poor reading and anxiety) research group have made significant progress in our understanding of whether there is a genuine association between poor reading and emotional problems, what type of emotional problem is most closely related to poor reading, how this problem can be detected by appropriate assessment, and how it might be treated effectively. It also describes how these gains in understanding have informed an evidence-based theory for why children with poor reading are at risk for emotional problems.

Acknowledgments

The number of people who have contributed to the research below – directly or indirectly – is so great that it feels overwhelming. First, all the children and their carers who have been collaborators in all the research studies mentioned below. Children who volunteer to face their problems with reading and anxiety in research studies are very brave. Second, national and international collaborators of the PRAX group who are recognised in the citations below. On their own, problems with reading or anxiety are proving difficult to understand – I thought trying to tackle both at the same time might be impossible. And yet, as a group, we are making good progress. Third, I would like to thank the Australian Research Council (DP200102241) and Macquarie University (PhD scholarships) for the funds that support this PRAX research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council [DP200102241]; Macquarie University [PhD scholarships].