Electrophysiological correlates of dyslexic subtypes.

The construct validity of Boder's typology of dyslexia was investigated using quantified EEG. Thirty-nine children, ranging in age from 7-0 to 10-11, were recorded during a contextual reading task and at rest. During reading, children with dyslexia were expected to show increased theta and beta amplitude compared to nondisabled readers. These differences were expected in regions of presumed strength for each subtype as a sign of overengagement in task. Children with phonological deficits (dysphonetic dyslexia) were expected to adopt visuospatial processing strategies (right occipital-parietal activation), those with orthographic deficits (dyseidetic dyslexia) to emphasize phonetic strategies (left temporal-parietal activation). Results supported beta frequency differences in anticipated regions by subtype during the reading task. However, the direction of difference hypothesis was not supported. Decreased amplitudes in both groups with dyslexia compared to normally achieving readers suggest reconceptualization of the theoretical base for the Boder subtyping system.     

The adolescent dyslexic: Strategies for spelling

The adolescent dyslexic student’s problems with spelling are very different from those of a young dyslexic child, as he already has considerable knowledge of the English spelling system. But this knowledge is very often random and confused, so he needs to acquire a logical structure which will enable him to generate spelling for himself and to communicate effectively in writing. It will be suggested that accuracy is not always attainable, but the student can be taught to recognize and use the main components of the spelling system and can learn to employ all available resources. The general aim is to provide the dyslexic adolescent with the tools he needs to cope with his spelling requirements, both in school and outside; to make informed deductions; to think for himself. In short, to spell independently and logically.     

Development of dyslexic subgroups:

There is a consensus that dyslexia is on a continuum with normal reading skill and that dyslexics fall at the low end of the normal range in phonological skills. However, there is still substantial variability in phonological skill among dyslexic children. Recent studies have focused on the high end of the continuum of phonological skills in dyslexics, identifying a “surface” dyslexic, or “delayed” profile in which phonological skills are not out of line with other aspects of word recognition. The present study extended this work to a longitudinal context, and explored differences among subgroups of dyslexics on a battery of component reading skills. Third grade dyslexics (n=72) were classified into two subgroups, phonological dyslexics and delayed dyslexics, based on comparisons to younger normal readers at the same reading level (RL group). The children were tested at two points (in third and fourth grade). The results revealed that the classification of dyslexics produced reliable, stable, and valid groups. About 82 percent of the children remained in the same subgroup category when retested a year later. Phonological dyslexics were lower in phoneme awareness and expressive language. Delayed dyslexics tended to be slower at processing printed letters and words but not at rapid automatic naming of letters, and relied more heavily on phonological recoding in reading for meaning than did phonological dyslexics. A subset of the delayed dyslexics with the traditional “surface dyslexic” pattern (relatively high pseudoword and low exception word reading) was also identified. The surface subgroup resembled the RL group on most measures and was not very stable over one year. The results are discussed in light of current models of dyslexia and recent subgrouping schemes, including the Double-Deficit Hypothesis.     

The spelling strategies of francophone dyslexic students

The development of spelling skill is a very difficult task for students with dyslexia. Spelling in French involves the consideration of various types of knowledge, procedures and strategies. This study aims to describe the spelling strategies of 32 dyslexic students (DYS) aged from 8 to 12 years and to establish links between spelling strategies and spelling skill. Students had to spell 24 dictated words and provide comments on the strategy employed for each word. The performances of DYS were compared to 25 children of the same chronological age (CA) and of 24 children of the same reading age (RA). The results show that phonological strategies are the most commonly used by all groups of participants. If no particular strategy is related to the spelling skill of DYS, visuo-orthographic strategy generally accounts for the spelling skill results of CA and RA.     

The mathematical abilities of dyslexic 10-year-olds

Seventy-two items testing various aspects of mathematics were given to 12,131 ten-year-old children. Criteria for specific developmental dyslexia (SDD) and for other groupings are specified. Despite the absence of differences in intelligence level, the mean score on the mathematics test for the dyslexics was not only lower than that of the normal achievers but lower also than that of underachievers believed not to be dyslexic. On some of the 72 items, there was little difference in percentage pass rate between the groups; on others, however, there were wide differences. On the basis of ratings carried out “blind” by a panel of experienced teachers of dyslexic children, and in the light of other considerations, some tentative suggestions are put forward as to what it is about certain mathematical items that makes them relatively hard or easy for children with dyslexia.     

自我的神经心理学研究进展

本文介绍了自我的神经心理学研究,并解释了神经心理学的研究方法如何促进理解自我的本质。自我的神经心理学研究主要集中在两个方面自我参照加工和自我面孔再认,发现尽管许多病人的认知存在缺陷,但他们的自我人格特质知识保存完好;另外,还发现大脑右半球与自我面孔再认有密切的关系。     

Dyslexia and psychodynamics: A case study of a dyslexic adult

The interaction between dyslexia and its secondary emotional problems, especially those arising from unproductive defenses, is illustrated in the history and successful treatment of an adult dyslexic male. At the start of treatment, the 33-year-old subject was illiterate, despite an average IQ and a history of many previous educational and therapeutic interventions. Psychological problems, including low self-esteem, alcohol abuse, temper outbursts, and poor relationships with women were seen as largely secondary to the subject’s learning problem. A review of the treatment, consisting of remediation concurrent with psychodynamic psychotherapy, reveals specific ways in which these emotional problems hindered educational efforts, as well as ways in which their exploration and resolution in psychotherapy helped the remediation. Similarly, ways in which the subject’s learning problem contributed to the development of his emotional problems are discussed. Finally, with reference to the psychoanalytic concept of sublimation, the relationship between improvement in the subject’s reading skill and improvement in his impulse control is described.     

Linguistic profiles of dyslexic and good readers

Linguistic profiles of 60 boys with average intelligence were examined at kindergarten, grade 2, and grade 4. The subjects were 7 dyslexic, 7 mildly dyslexic, 30 average, and 16 good readers, defined in terms of the discrepancy between standardized reading and intelligence scores. Across the three ages, reader groups did not differ in language comprehension, but did differ in confrontation and rapid automatized naming (RAN), three syntactic measures, and verbal memory. Group strengths and weaknesses were, with few exceptions apparent in kindergarten and maintained throughout. The kindergarten tasks which most effectively predicted reading group membership at grade 4 were giving letter sounds, and rapid naming; these predicted 4th grade reading group at close to 100 percent accuracy. The study, together with a further comparison of average and high IQ good readers, provides an interesting contrast between the role of RAN and Confrontation naming in reading. This work was supported in part by NIHCD grants RO1HD18761 to F. H. Duffy, RO1HD18654 to H. Als, and the Mental Retardation Grant P30HD18655 to C. F. Barlow.     

新日语能力考试N1的特征及应对策略

改革后的新日语能力考试一级(N1)在内容、题型、计分等方面变化很大。有效把握新N1的变化、特征,并"对症下药",才能合理、高效地备考。本文主要从应试者角度来探讨应对策略。     

Chinese international students in the United States: demographic trends,motivations, acculturation features and adjustment challenges

Asia Pacific Education Review - To date, few studies have focused solely upon understanding the unique characteristics of Chinese international students in the United States. This inquiry examines...     

Writing through retellings: an exploratory study of language-impaired and dyslexic populations

This study was designed to examine differences and similarities in the writing of 15 language-impaired, 17 dyslexic and 15 typically developing control subjects matched on chronological age. Subjects ranging in age from 11 to 21 years were required to produce a written language sample using an expository text-retell procedure. The writing of these groups was compared on eight variables across discourse, T-unit, sentence, and word levels. Control subjects performed better than language-impaired and dyslexic subjects on all writing variables. Dyslexic subjects showed better performance than the language-impaired subjects on several variables including, (a) number of T-units, (b) number of ideas, (c) total number of words, and (4) number of different words while showing comparable performance on percentage of spelling and production of grammatically correct sentences. These findings support Bishop and Snowling’s [Psychol. Bull. 130 (2004) 858] position that the differences between these two clinical populations exist in the non-phonological dimensions of language.     

Spanish dyslexic spelling abilities: the case of consonant clusters

This paper investigates Spanish dyslexic spelling abilities: specifically, the influence of syllabic linguistic structure (simple vs consonant cluster) on children's spelling performance. Consonant clusters are phonologically complex structures, so it was anticipated that there would be lower spelling performance for these syllabic structures than in simple ones, because of the poor phonological processing of dyslexic children. The participants were 31 dyslexic children, 31 chronological age‐matched children and 31 reading level‐matched children. A dictation task with words and pseudowords (with and without consonant clusters) was used. Word lexical frequency was controlled. The results show that the spelling of consonant clusters presents difficulties for dyslexic spelling performance despite this structure being orthographically consistent. Dyslexic children present a higher performance difference in items with consonant clusters than in simple items, compared with typically developing children. The work raises questions about the items used for the identification of dyslexic children's difficulties.     

The lexical status of basic Arabic verb morphemes among dyslexic children

A central focus in remedial teaching is the generalisation of responses to contexts in which a student has never been explicitly instructed. Remarkably little is known about how and when generalisation occurs. In this article we examine generalisation effects in the context of spelling. Three areas are discussed: generalisation between spelling and reading, generalisation to untrained sound-letter-correspondences and generalisation to untrained unpredictable words. The research presented indicates both that reading training often leads to spelling improvements and that spelling training leads to reading improvements. There is a tendency for spelling training to be more likely to induce changes in reading than vice versa. In addition, for unpredictable words, generalisation is more likely to occur for words of high frequency and words that are orthographically similar to many other words. We conclude that a better understanding of how generalisation occurs will enable us to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of remedial spelling programmes.     

The interaction of vocabulary and short-term memory in predicting phonological awareness: a comparison of dyslexic and non-dyslexic children

Using data from a longitudinal comparative study of children at risk of dyslexia ( Snowling, Gallagher & Frith, 2003 ), this paper reports some replication of work by Gibbs (2004) . It was found that the development of phonological awareness might, for children between the ages of 6 and 8 years of age and not considered to be at risk of dyslexia, be facilitated by an interaction of memory span and lexical knowledge. This effect was not, however, found for children of the same age who were considered to be at risk of dyslexia. For these children an interaction, with contrasting implications, was found between the ages of 3 years 9 months and 6 years. Some theoretical and practical implications of these findings are outlined.     

The role of feedback in implicit and explicit artificial grammar learning: a comparison between dyslexic and non-dyslexic adults

The importance of feedback for learning has been firmly established over the past few decades. The question of whether feedback plays a significant role in the statistical learning abilities of adults with dyslexia, however, is currently unresolved. Here, we examined the role of feedback in grammaticality judgment, type of structural knowledge, and confidence rating in both typically developed and dyslexic adults. We implemented two artificial grammar learning experiments: implicit and explicit. The second experiment was directly analogous to the first experiment in all respects except training format: the standard memorization instruction was replaced with an explicit rule-search instruction. Each experiment was conducted with and without performance feedback. While both groups showed significantly improved learning in the feedback-based explicit artificial grammar learning task, only the typically developed adults demonstrated higher levels of conscious structural knowledge. The present study demonstrates that the basis for the grammaticality judgment of adults with dyslexia differs from that of typically developed adults, regardless of increase in the level of explicitness.