Early predictors in language-based learning disabilities: a bibliometric analysis

Maryam Alabbad; Muhammad Ajmal Khan; Nadeem Siddique; Jaber Abou Hassan; Shahid Bashir; Turki Abualait

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1229580

Early predictors in language-based learning disabilities: a bibliometric analysis

Front Psychiatry. 2023 Dec 4:14:1229580. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1229580. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Maryam Alabbad^{1

2}, Muhammad Ajmal Khan³, Nadeem Siddique⁴, Jaber Abou Hassan¹, Shahid Bashir⁵, Turki Abualait²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Rehabilitation and Long-Term Care, Al-Ahsa Health Cluster, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
² College of Applied Medical Sciences, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
³ Deanship of Library Affairs, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Library Department, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan.
⁵ Neuroscience Center, King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Introduction: Language-based learning disabilities (LBLD) refers to a spectrum of neurodevelopmental-associated disorders that are characterized by cognitive and behavioral differences in comprehending, processing and utilizing spoken and/or written language. The focus of this work was on identifying early predictors of three main specific LBLD including dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia.

Methods: The Web of Science (WoS) was searched for literature related to (neurocognitive, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging) measurements used to identify early predictors of LBLD from 1991 to 25 October 2021. A retrospective bibliometric analysis was performed to analyze collaboration among countries, institutions, authors, publishing journals, reference co-citation patterns, keyword co-occurrence, keyword clustering, and burst keywords using Biblioanalytics software.

Results: In total, 921 publications related to the identification of LBLD using (neurocognitive, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging) modalities were included. The data analysis shows a slow growth in research on the topic in the 90s and early 2000 and growing trend in recent years. The most prolific and cited journal is Neuroimage, followed by Neuropsychologia. The United States and Finland's Universities Jyvaskyla and Helsinki are the leading country and institution in this field, respectively. "Neuroimaging," "brain," "fMRI," "cognitive predictor," "comorbidity," "cortical thickness" were identified as hotspots and trends of (neurocognitive, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging) modalities in the identification of LBLD.

Discussion: Early predictors of LBLDs would be useful as targets for specific prevention and intervention programs to be implemented at very young ages, which could have a significant clinical impact. A novel finding of neuroimaging predictors combined with neurocognitive and neuropsychological batteries may have implications for future research.

Keywords: dyscalculia; dysgraphia; dyslexia; early predictors; modalities.