This longitudinal study investigated the bidirectional relationships between executive functioning (EF), visual skills, Chinese and English word reading abilities in children transitioning to primary school. A total of 165 children in Hong Kong were followed from the third year of kindergarten (Time 1) (mean age: 62.80 months, SD: 3.74) to the first year of primary school (Time 2) (mean age: 77.25 months, SD: 4.60). Assessments for measuring EF, visual skills, phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and Chinese and English word reading were administered to the children at the two time points. Results of cross-lagged panel analyses revealed that after age, phonological awareness, and morphological awareness were controlled, EF and visual skills exhibited a bidirectional relationship. Furthermore, EF and word reading in Chinese or English reciprocally predicted each other during the school transition period after other skills were controlled. However, visual skills and word reading in Chinese or English did not predict each other. These findings highlight the close associations between EF and visual skills as well as the importance of EF in learning to read Chinese and English in kindergarten and early primary school. Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

This study examined visual orthographic skills in Chinese primary school students with spelling difficulties. One hundred and fourteen children with spelling difficulties from grades one, three and five were compared to 114 non-disabled children matched with sex, same school enrollment and grade. All participants were asked to perform on four visual orthographic tasks. Findings revealed significant difference between those with spelling difficulties and those without in various aspects of visual orthographic skills. Data indicated that students with spelling difficulties, in general, tended not to be aware of features of strokes within a Chinese character and not to be aware of the constructional legalities within an unfamiliar radical over different grades. It was also noted that these students in grade one had difficulties with the spatial position of a radical within a Chinese character and lacked knowledge about positional legality of a radical. The findings led to the conclusion that deficits of visual orthographic skills were apparent among Chinese students with spelling difficulties when compared to those without such difficulties. 本研究探討香港小學一、三、五年級，有中文書寫困難學生(n=114)，及對照組非殘障生(n=114) 的視覺拼字能力。對照組學生有性別、就讀學校、及年級之相同組成。全體學生(N=228) 均做四項視覺拼字能力測驗。結果發現兩組學生有顯著差異。一般而言，所選各不同年級，有中文書寫困難的學生，均較缺中文字筆劃和組成方面的基本概識。而一年級學生，已面對中文字體結構空間與方位上的困難。總結是中文書寫困難比對照組學生有較多的視覺拼字能力缺陷。
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