Which term refers to the pattern where early reading success or difficulty influences future reading development?

Which term refers to the pattern where early reading success or difficulty influences future reading development?

• A. Antisocial
• B. Mathew Effect
• C. Learned Helplessness
• D. Visual Errors in Composition and Spelling

Answer: (B)

The pattern is the Matthew Effect: early reading success or difficulty tends to shape how reading develops later. When a child reads well early, they accumulate more practice, exposure to a wider range of texts, and positive feedback, which boosts vocabulary, decoding fluency, and confidence, leading to faster progress over time. On the flip side, early struggles can reduce practice opportunities, limit access to challenging texts, and lower motivation, causing reading growth to slow and gaps to widen as children move forward. This idea—small early advantages or disadvantages becoming larger over time—helps explain why initial reading levels can set the course for future development. The other terms describe different concepts: antisocial relates to behavior, learned helplessness to perceived lack of control, and visual errors in composition and spelling to specific writing mistakes rather than growth trajectories.

The pattern is the Matthew Effect: early reading success or difficulty tends to shape how reading develops later. When a child reads well early, they accumulate more practice, exposure to a wider range of texts, and positive feedback, which boosts vocabulary, decoding fluency, and confidence, leading to faster progress over time. On the flip side, early struggles can reduce practice opportunities, limit access to challenging texts, and lower motivation, causing reading growth to slow and gaps to widen as children move forward. This idea—small early advantages or disadvantages becoming larger over time—helps explain why initial reading levels can set the course for future development. The other terms describe different concepts: antisocial relates to behavior, learned helplessness to perceived lack of control, and visual errors in composition and spelling to specific writing mistakes rather than growth trajectories.