The Same yet Different: Oral and Silent Reading in Children and Adolescents with Dyslexia

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - Dyslexia is characterized by poor word reading. In research, education, and diagnosis, oral reading is commonly assessed, and outcomes are generalized to...     

Co-occurrence of developmental disorders: The case of Developmental Dyscalculia

Five to seven percent of children experience severe difficulties in learning mathematics and/or reading. Current trials that are focused on identifying biological markers suggest that these learning disabilities, known as Developmental Dyscalculia (DD) and Dyslexia (for reading), are due to underlying brain dysfunctions. One ongoing controversy concerns the extent to which arithmetic impairments are specific to DD or shared with other developmental disorders such as Dyslexia. This review explores and develops a hypothesis for cases of DD + Dyslexia. Three factors warrant consideration: (a) the behavioral factor, including definitions of the disabilities and assessment tools; (b) the cognitive factor, including whether co-occurrence of DD and other developmental disorders such as Dyslexia derive from similar or different cognitive risk factors; (c) the biological factor, including consideration of static vs. developmental neuropsychology. Better understanding of the causes of co-occurrence of DD and Dyslexia, or other developmental disorder such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), can have an important influence on research that examine the two disorders, including research on therapy and etiology.     

Erratic eye movements and dyslexia: factors determining their relationship

Studies of dyslexia often produce contradictory results. Studies of eye movement are not an exception to this rule. The differences between Black, et al.'s 1984 and Pavlidis's 1981 eye-movement results are mainly due to differences in: (a) unquantifiable and variable criteria for selection of subjects, (b) incompatible experimental designs and procedures, (c) varying stimulus characteristics, and (d) major differences in the methods of data acquisition and analysis. The solution of these problems requires the establishment of quantifiable Research Diagnostic Criteria for Dyslexia and the use of compatible methods of data acquisition and analysis. The adoption of these standards would lead to a better understanding of dyslexia and would also make possible meaningful replications of major studies.     

How Psychological Science Informs the Teaching of Reading

Contents:
Introduction, p.31
Writing Systems and the Alphabetic Principle, p.32
The Development of Reading Skills, p.34
Development Dyslexia, p.43
Skilled Reading, p.45
Using Connectionist Models to Understand Reading and Dyslexia, p.52
Methods of Teaching Reading, p.55
What Happens in Classrooms During Reading Instruction?, p.57
Reading Instruction Is a Politically Charged Issue, p.61
Research Findings on Teaching Reading, p.63
Summary and Conclusions, p.68     

Dyslexic children fail to comply with the rhythmic constraints of handwriting

In this study, we sought to demonstrate that deficits in a specific motor activity, handwriting, are associated to Developmental Dyslexia. The linguistic and writing performance of children with Developmental Dyslexia, with and without handwriting problems (dysgraphia), were compared to that of children with Typical Development. The quantitative kinematic variables of handwriting were collected by means of a digitizing tablet. The results showed that all children with Developmental Dyslexia wrote more slowly than those with Typical Development. Contrary to typically developing children, they also varied more in the time taken to write the individual letters of a word and failed to comply with the principles of isochrony and homothety. Moreover, a series of correlations was found among reading, language measures and writing measures suggesting that the two abilities may be linked. We propose that the link between handwriting and reading/language deficits is mediated by rhythm, as both reading (which is grounded on language) and handwriting are ruled by principles of rhythmic organization.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Education and mind in the knowledge age: By C. Bereiter Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder — A practical guide for teachers: By P. Cooper & K.M. Bilton Dyslexia and inclusion: Assessment and support in higher education: By M. Farmer, B. Riddick & C. Sterling Special educational needs, inclusion and diversity: A textbook: By N. Frederickson & T. Cline Learning and child development: A cultural‐historical study: By M. Hedegaard Dyslexia and literacy: Edited by E. Hjelmquist & C. von Euler Technology applications in education: A learning view: Edited by H. O'Neil & R. Perez Intentional conceptual change: Edited by G.M. Sinatra & P.R. Pintrich     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Child development: Thinking about theories By Phillip Slee and Rosalyn Shute Disorders of learning in childhood (2nd edition) By Archie A. Silver and Rosa A. Hagin Growing minds ‐ An introduction to cognitive development By Stephanie Thornton Children of immigration By Carola Suárez‐Orozco and Mareclo M. Suárez‐Orozco The cultural nature of human development By Barbara Rogoff Dyslexia and literacy: Theory and practice Edited by Gavin Reid and Janice Wearmouth     

Mothers speak differently to infants at‐risk for dyslexia

Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental disorder manifested in deficits in reading and spelling skills that is consistently associated with difficulties in phonological processing. Dyslexia is genetically transmitted, but its manifestation in a particular individual is thought to depend on the interaction of epigenetic and environmental factors. We adopt a novel interactional perspective on early linguistic environment and dyslexia by simultaneously studying two pre‐existing factors, one maternal and one infant, that may contribute to these interactions; and two behaviours, one maternal and one infant, to index the effect of these factors. The maternal factor is whether mothers are themselves dyslexic or not (with/without dyslexia) and the infant factor is whether infants are at‐/not‐at family risk for dyslexia (due to their mother or father being dyslexic). The maternal behaviour is mothers’ infant‐directed speech (IDS), which typically involves vowel hyperarticulation, thought to benefit speech perception and language acquisition. The infant behaviour is auditory perception measured by infant sensitivity to amplitude envelope rise time, which has been found to be reduced in dyslexic children. Here, at‐risk infants showed significantly poorer acoustic sensitivity than not‐at‐risk infants and mothers only hyperarticulated vowels to infants who were not at‐risk for dyslexia. Mothers’ own dyslexia status had no effect on IDS quality. Parental speech input is thus affected by infant risk status, with likely consequences for later linguistic development.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Applied psychology — Current issues and new directions: Edited by R. Bayne & I. Horton Dyslexia in different languages: Cross‐linguistic comparisons: Edited by N. Goulandris Cognitive science‐A philosophical introduction: By R. Harré Learning in classrooms. A cultural‐historical approach: Edited by M. Hedegaard Conflict resolution communication: Patterns promoting peaceful schools: By M. Lincoln Active learning in secondary and college science classrooms: A working model for helping the learner to learn: By J.A. Michael & H.I. Modell     

Dyslexia linked to talent: global visual-spatial ability

Dyslexia has long been defined by deficit. Nevertheless, the view that visual-spatial talents accompany dyslexia has grown, due to reports of individuals with dyslexia who possess visual-spatial strengths, findings of elevated incidence of dyslexia in certain visual-spatial professions, and the hypothesis that left-hemisphere deficits accompany right-hemisphere strengths. Studies have reported superior, inferior, and average levels of visual-spatial abilities associated with dyslexia. In two investigations, we found an association between dyslexia and speed of recognition of impossible figures, a global visual-spatial task. This finding suggests that dyslexia is associated with a particular type of visual-spatial talent-enhanced ability to process visual-spatial information globally (holistically) rather than locally (part by part).     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Supporting effective learning: By Eileen Carnell & Caroline Lodge Dyslexia. Theory and practice: Edited by Angela Fawcett Internet research methods: By C. Hewson, P. Yule, D. Laurent & C. Vogel Scaling procedures — Issues and applications: By Richard G. Netemeyer, William O. Bearden & Subhash Sharma Early intervention practices around the world: Edited by S.L. Odom, M.J. Hanson, J.A. Blackman & S. Kaul Perspectives on object‐centred learning in museums: Edited by Scott G. Paris Essentials of behavioural assessment: By Michael C. Ramsay, Cecil R. Reynolds & R.W. Kamphaus Reading through colour: By Arnold Wilkins     

Early communicative gestures and play as predictors of language development in children born with and without family risk for dyslexia

The present study investigated early communicative gestures, play, and language skills in children born with family risk for dyslexia (FR) and a control group of children without this inheritable risk at ages 12, 15, 18, and 24 months. Participants were drawn from the Tromsø Longitudinal study of Dyslexia (TLD) which follows children's cognitive and language development from age 12 months through Grade 2 in order to identify early markers of developmental dyslexia. Results showed that symbolic play and parent reported play at age 12 months and communicative gestures at age 15 months explained 61% of the variance in productive language at 24 months in the FR group. These early nonlinguistic measures seem to be potentially interesting markers of later language development in children born at risk for dyslexia.     

Clinical significance of test refusal among young children.

The present study describes the incidence of test refusal at neuropsychological assessment, investigates its correlates, and its stability. The participants were 124 children aged 3.5 years whose development has been followed from birth in the Jyv?skyl? Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia (JLD). The frequency of test refusal on the Finnish version of the NEPSY was analyzed with respect to the children's concurrent and earlier cognitive and language skills, assessed using tests and parental ratings. Refusal during test-taking was found to be relatively common at this age, and high frequency of refusal at an earlier age was associated with similar tendency at a later age. High test refusal was associated with compromised neuropsychological and linguistic test scores. Missing data due to refusal were more common in neuropsychological tasks requiring verbal production. It is concluded that test refusals reflect a child's poor underlying skills and an attempt to avoid failure, rather than noncompliant or oppositional behavior.     

Temporal representation impairment in developmental dyslexia for unisensory and multisensory stimuli

Dyslexia has been associated with a problem in visual–audio integration mechanisms. Here, we investigate for the first time the contribution of unisensory cues on multisensory audio and visual integration in 32 dyslexic children by modelling results using the Bayesian approach. Non‐linguistic stimuli were used. Children performed a temporal task: they had to report whether the middle of three stimuli was closer in time to the first one or to the last one presented. Children with dyslexia, compared with typical children, exhibited poorer unimodal thresholds, requiring greater temporal distance between items for correct judgements, while multisensory thresholds were well predicted by the Bayesian model. This result suggests that the multisensory deficit in dyslexia is due to impaired audio and visual inputs rather than impaired multisensory processing per se. We also observed that poorer temporal skills correlated with lower reading skills in dyslexic children, suggesting that this temporal capability can be linked to reading abilities.     

Time Perception in Boys With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder According to Time Duration,Distraction and Mode of Presentation

The present study describes the incidence of test refusal at neuropsychological assessment, investigates its correlates, and its stability. The participants were 124 children aged 3.5 years whose development has been followed from birth in the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia (JLD). The frequency of test refusal on the Finnish version of the NEPSY was analyzed with respect to the children's concurrent and earlier cognitive and language skills, assessed using tests and parental ratings. Refusal during test-taking was found to be relatively common at this age, and high frequency of refusal at an earlier age was associated with similar tendency at a later age. High test refusal was associated with compromised neuropsychological and linguistic test scores. Missing data due to refusal were more common in neuropsychological tasks requiring verbal production. It is concluded that test refusals reflect a child's poor underlying skills and an attempt to avoid failure, rather than noncompliant or oppositional behavior.     

Comparing children with and without dyslexia on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children and the Test of Gross Motor Development

Dyslexia is the most commonly occurring learning disability in the United States, characterized by difficulties with word recognition, spelling, and decoding. A growing body of literature suggests that deficits in motor skill performance exist in the dyslexic population. This study compared the performance of children with and without dyslexia on different subtests of the Test of Gross Motor Development and Movement Assessment Battery for Children and assessed whether there were developmental changes in the scores of the dyslexic group. Participants included 26 dyslexic children (19 boys and 7 girls; 9.5 yr. old, SD = 1.7) and 23 age- and sex-matched typically developing (17 boys and 6 girls; 9.9 yr. old, SD = 1.3) children as a control group. Mann-Whitney U tests indicated that the dyslexic group performed significantly lower than the control group only on the Total Balance subtest of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children. Additionally, the young dyslexic group performed significantly better on the Total Balance subtest, compared to the older dyslexic group. These results suggest that cerebellar dysfunction may account for differences in performance.     

In search of a science‐based application: A learning tool for reading acquisition

This is a story about the fate of a psychological application: from its conception to the optimistic vision surrounding its future. We hope that this application – an enjoyable learning game (www or mobile phone‐based, available free of charge to the end users) for children – can at best help millions of children in their reading acquisition in the future. Its basis was created by following intensively the development of children with (N = 107) and without (N = 92) genetic (familial) risk for dyslexia from birth to puberty in the Jyväskylä Longitudinal study of Dyslexia (JLD)‐project. We summarize some of the major findings of the JLD in order to facilitate understanding of the reasons and logic behind the development of the game. Originally intended as a research tool for reading acquisition, its potential for prevention of reading difficulties was quickly recognized.     

Neural Mechanisms in Dyslexia

ABSTRACT— Within the last two decades, evidence from many laboratories has converged to indicate the cognitive basis for dyslexia: Dyslexia is a disorder within the language system and, more specifically, within a particular subcomponent of that system, phonological processing. Converging evidence from a number of laboratories using functional brain imaging indicates that there is a disruption of left-hemisphere posterior neural systems in child and adult dyslexic readers when they perform reading tasks. The discovery of a disruption in the neural systems serving reading has significant implications for the acceptance of dyslexia as a valid disorder—a necessary condition for its identification and treatment. Brain-imaging findings provide, for the first time, convincing, irrefutable evidence that what has been considered a hidden disability is "real," and these findings have practical implications for the provision of accommodations, a critical component of management for older children and young adults attending postsecondary and graduate programs. The utilization of advances in neuroscience to inform educational policy and practices provides an exciting example of translational science being used for the public good.     

小脑与发展性阅读障碍

发展性阅读障碍是学龄儿童面临的学习问题之一。近年来,许多行为和神经生理学、影像学实验都发现,发展性阅读障碍的儿童有明显的运动功能失调,如平衡性差、身体灵敏度不够以及自动化水平低。Nicolson等人提出的小脑理论认为,阅读障碍者的小脑功能失调影响了书写及发音,导致语音及阅读能力不足,而且小脑与时间控制有关,阅读障碍者的时间估计能力有缺陷与他们的小脑功能失调有关。本文回顾了有关小脑理论的研究,并指出小脑的认知功能还有待进一步的研究。