Sound links in reading and spelling with discrepancy-defined dyslexics and children with moderate learning difficulties

This study reports the effects of a highly structuredindividually administered remedial teaching programmefor children with reading difficulties. Thephonological awareness, reading accuracy and spellingattainments of 28 children diagnosed as having low IQ(Mean IQ = 66, SD = 5.3) were compared with those of29 children diagnosed as having discrepancy defineddyslexia (Mean IQ = 95, SD = 8.4). The responsivenessto intervention of each group was also compared withteacher-referred reading-delayed children matched forinitial literacy skills. For reading accuracy andphonological awareness the dyslexic group respondedmore successfully than the low IQ group. The twogroups did not differ significantly on spelling. It isargued that the reading accuracy and phonologicalawareness results are in keeping with thephonological-core variable-difference (Stanovich &Siegel 1994) model of reading disability and that thegains of all groups on all measures were such thatthere is no obvious benefit in using IQ to selectchildren for a programme of individual teaching whichcombines reading with phonological awarenesstraining.     

Can self-report data on deficits in reading and spelling predict spelling disability as defined by psychometric tests?

Questionnaire data concerning spelling and reading self-assessment, habits, and school history were obtained for 79 adults (54 women and 25 men). The items were used to predict affectedness as defined on the basis of psychometric tests. For this purpose, two different discriminant analytical approaches (linear discriminant analysis and hierarchical classification with CART) were compared using a cross-validation design. 86.8–92.6% of the learning sample and 87.5–88% of the cross-validation sample were classified correctly. The CART model was preferred due to a balanced relation of sensitivity and specificity. Our results support the conclusion that self-report data are appropriate to substitute psychometric tests if these cannot be administered.     

Acquisition of reading and written spelling in a transparent orthography: Two non parallel processes?

Reading and written spelling skills for words and non-words of varying length and orthographic complexity were investigated in normal Italian first and second graders. The regularity and transparency of the mapping between letters and phonemes make Italian orthography an unlikely candidate for discrepancies between reading and spelling to emerge. This notwithstanding, the results showed that reading accuracy is significantly better than spelling. The difference is particularly striking in first graders, but it is still evident in 2nd graders, though most strongly on non-words. The data show that reading and written spelling are non parallel processes and that the developmental asynchrony reflects a partial structural independence of the two systems.     

Exploring connections among reading,spelling, and phonemic segmentation during first grade

Exploratory data analysis was used to examine changes in individual reading and spelling patterns during first grade. Subjects were from classrooms receiving, on average, 45 minutes compared to 15 minutes of daily letter-sound instruction. Subjects spelled and read 60 words in October, February, and May, and deleted sounds from spoken words. Spelling and reading responses progressed from nonphonetic, to phonetic, to correct. Additionally, knowledge of a word's spelling informed its reading, while the converse was less apparent. Finally, those slow to improve in phoneme deletion were also slow to spell and read phonetically, especially among subjects receiving less instruction in letter-sound relations.     

Differential genetic etiology of reading disability as a function of mathematics performance

In order to assess the etiology of reading disability as a function of mathematics performance, data from 168 monozygotic (MZ) and 127 same-sex dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs in which at least one member of each pair was reading-disabled were subjected to quantitative genetic analyses. MZ and DZ concordance rates for reading disability were computed for different levels of mathematics performance, and reading performance data were fitted to an extension of the basic multiple regression model for the analysis of selected twin data. Results of these analyses suggest that genetic factors may be especially salient as a cause of reading disability in children with borderline deficits in mathematics performance: thus, mathematics performance may be a valid dimension for diagnosing subtypes of reading disability.     

The spelling performance of ESL and native speakers of English as a function of reading skill

Seventy-nine children in grade two spelled pseudowords and real words differing in vowel quality and the presence or absence of consonant clusters, and their accuracy was examined as a function of native language and reading ability. Because of the heavy reliance on phonological processing in spelling, we hypothesized that poor readers, who typically exhibit impaired ability to sequence, segment and transform phonemes into graphemes, would spell more poorly than average readers. This hypothesis was substantiated. Second language speakers also displayed phonological deficits relative to native speakers, and we hypothesized that this deficit would also be obvious in spelling accuracy. However, second language speakers performed in a manner similar to native speakers. Supporting this are findings from multiple regressions showing that the processing profiles of second language speakers and native speakers are strikingly similar, and that only poor readers of both language backgrounds diverge from the common patterns and display pervasive phonological deficits.     

Correlates of spelling abilities in children with early speech sound disorders

The correlates of spelling impairment wereexamined in children with histories of earlyspeech sound disorders. The spelling errors of52 children with histories of speech sounddisorders were analyzed to predict theassociation between weaknesses in expressivelanguage skills in early childhood andschool-age spelling abilities. Resultsrevealed that children with preschool speechsound and language problems became poorerspellers at school age than did children withpreschool speech sound disorders only. However, even children with isolated speechsound disorders demonstrated a weakness inspelling skills relative to their reading andlanguage abilities and Weschler Performance IQ.Measures of phonological awareness were highlycorrelated with spelling skills, suggestingthat phonological processing abilities arerelated to the ability to spell phoneticallypredictable words. Analysis of spelling errorsbased on level of phonological awareness skillrevealed that children with preschool speechsound disorders utilize phonetic strategies inspelling phonetically predictable words. Familial aggregation of spelling disorderssuggests a possible genetic component that ismodified by gender.     

Continuities between speech and spelling in a case of developmental dyslexia

This paper explores the relationship between speech and spelling in a single-case study of developmental dyslexia. JM, a developmental dyslexic with a well-documented history of speech, reading and spelling difficulties, was examined when he was 13–14 years old. He still had subtle articulation difficulties causing some disfluency and his use of phonetic voicing was atypical. We argue that these difficulties were recapitulated in his spelling where he was more sensitive to the prosodic aspects of words than normal spellers, exhibiting a strong tendency to spell accurately words which are stressed on the first, rather than the second syllable. He also had more difficulty with phonetic voicing and spelling errors reflected this uncertainty. Thus, when word-specific (orthographic) spelling information is unavailable, JM, like all spellers, must make use of phonological spelling strategies. In his case, these are compromised because of underlying phonological speech problems. It is argued that, while young children make use of a phonological frame on which to organize orthographic information, dyslexics, like JM, who have inadequate phonological representations, are unable to do so. This has a detrimental effect on their acquisition of spelling.     

Invented spelling in kindergarten: The relationship with finger-point reading

The relationship between ability to invent spellings and ability to finger-point read memorized text was examined in 109 kindergartners in whole-language classrooms. It was hypothesized that letter name knowledge and phonemic awareness would account for ability in finger-point reading, but that invented spelling, because it requires the left-to-right alphabetic principle as well, would account for additional variance, and this turned out to be the case. It was also hypothesized that although initial phoneme spellings would be easier than those in other positions, and would be a factor in the voice-print match in finger-point reading, final phonemes would also play a significant role. This turned out to be the case for children who were able to read only a word or two, as well as for more capable beginners. Results were consistent with Ehri's (1992) model of phonetic-cue sight reading in which letters are utilized from both initial and final positions.     

Etiology of reading difficulties as a function of gender and severity

To test the hypothesis that the etiology of reading difficulties may differ for males and females in more severely impaired samples, reading performance data from monozygotic (MZ), same-sex dizygotic (DZ_ss), and opposite-sex dizygotic (DZ_os) twin pairs were analyzed using a model-fitting implementation of the DeFries-Fulker (DF) model (Purcell & Sham, 2003, Behavior genetics, 33, 271–278). Five non-independent samples were selected using cut-offs of −1 (N = 737 pairs), −1.5 (N = 654), −2 (N = 468), −2.5 (N = 335), and −3 (N = 198) standard deviations (s) below the mean composite reading score of control twins. Male/female gender ratios for children with reading difficulties were significantly higher than 1.0 for all five samples and increased as a function of severity (viz., 1.15, 1.17, 1.40, 1.61, and 1.88, respectively). When the DF model was fit to the data, estimates of heritability (h _g²) and shared environmental influences (c _g²) were not significantly different for males and females in any of the groups. Consequently, the most parsimonious model that provided a good fit to the data at all five levels of severity equated the heritabilities and shared environmental influences for males and females, and fixed the DZ_os coefficient of genetic relatedness at 0.5. Thus, these results provide no evidence for a differential etiology of reading difficulties as a function of gender in more severely impaired samples, and suggest that the same genetic and environmental influences contribute to reading difficulties in males and females, irrespective of severity.     

Effects of reading and spelling predictors before and after school entry: Evidence from a German longitudinal study

Previous studies indicate that the effectiveness of reading and spelling predictors in transparent orthographies is affected by the onset of literacy training at school entry. In this longitudinal study with 65 German speaking children, the effects of literacy predictors on reading and spelling abilities were compared before and after school entry. Phonological awareness, letter sound knowledge, and rapid naming were assessed before and after school entry. In addition, reading and spelling abilities were assessed at the end of first grade. Path model analyses showed that letter sound knowledge before school entry predicted reading and spelling at the end of first grade, while rapid naming after school entry predicted reading but not spelling abilities. This study shows that the onset of schooling influences the predictability of early literacy predictors and indicates that with the onset of formal literacy education, predictors representing automaticity in serial processing increase in significance for reading abilities.     

Introduction to the special issue on genes, environment, and reading

This introduction to the special issue on Genes, Environment, and Reading presents an overview of the background for behavior- and molecular-genetic research on dyslexia and individual differences across the normal range. The general methods, questions addressed, and selected results are summarized for each of the papers in the order of their presentation in the special issue. Concluding comments reflect on the influence of environmental range on estimates of genetic and environmental influences, and the future of behavior- and molecular-genetic research on reading.     

Reading and spelling acquisition in two different teaching methods: A test of the independence hypothesis

The development of word reading and word spelling was examined in French speaking children initially instructed either by a phonic or a whole-word method. Second, fourth and sixth graders were administered to reading and spelling tests in which grapho-phonological regularity, frequency, length and lexicality were manipulated. The results showed that in both curricula, reading and spelling acquisition can be characterized by a parallel increase in the use of sub-lexical correspondences and in the reliance on word-specific information. Contrary to a simple view of lexical development according to which the use of analytical knowledge and the use of word-specific knowledge correspond to two different cognitive processes that develop independently from each other, whole-word children did not appear to rely more on whole-word knowledge. On the contrary, and paradoxically, grade 2 whole-word children tended to use analytical correspondences to a greater extent than their peers. In later development, reading matched phonic and whole-word groups did not differ from each other. It is argued that the results support the hypothesis that the acquisition of sub-lexical correspondences constitutes a necessary step in the acquisition of reading and spelling. We conclude that the analytic comparison of different curricula provides a naturalistic tool for the study of the dynamics of development.     

The Processing of Inflectional Morphology: A Comparison of Children with and without Dyslexia

Children aged 11–12 years with a diagnosis of dyslexia (DR) were compared to chronological and reading-age matched poor readers (PR), and two normal reader groups, age-matched (CA) and spelling and reading-age matched (SA–RA), on their processing of inflectional morphology. In comparison to SA–RAs and PRs, the DRs made more spelling errors on regular past tense verb endings relative to irregular past tense verbs and non-verbs. In reading, the DRs took longer than the other groups to make decisions in the written but not oral condition of a tense judgement task. In addition, they were less affected than the PR and SA–RA groups by case altered disruption to the morpheme boundary of inflected verbs. The findings suggest dyslexic children do not show deficits in morphological processing in spoken language, but they are slower at reading and less accurate at spelling regularly inflected verbs compared with normally developing younger children. This difference could plausibly be accommodated within the Phonological Deficit Hypothesis of dyslexia.     

The role of different levels of phonological awareness in the development of reading and spelling in Greek

Phonological awareness is a strong predictor of children's progress in literacy acquisition. There are different ways of segmenting words into sound sequences – syllables, phonemes, onset-rime – and little is known about whether these different levels of segmentation vary in their contribution to reading and writing. Does one of them – for example, phoneme awareness – play the major role in learning to read and spell making the other phonological units irrelevant to the prediction of reading? Or do different levels of analysis make independent contributions to reading and spelling?

Our study investigated whether syllable and phoneme awareness make independent contributions to reading and spelling in Greek. Four measures were used: syllable awareness, phoneme awareness, reading and spelling. Analyses of variance showed that Greek speaking children found it easier to analyse words into syllables than phonemes, irrespective of the influence of task variables such as position of the phonological element, word length, and placement of stress in the word. Regression analyses showed that syllable and phoneme awareness make significant and independent contributions to learning written Greek. We conclude that phonological awareness is a multidimensional phenomenon and that the different dimensions contribute to reading and writing in Greek.

     

Orthographic and phonological coding during visual word matching as related to reading and spelling abilities in college students

College students, scoring average to above-average on WRAT-R subscales for reading and spelling, made match/nonmatch judgments on word pairs either on the basis of phonological similarity (a rhyme match) or orthographic similarity (a visual match). Word pairs rhymed and looked similar, rhymed but looked dissimilar, or looked similar but did not rhyme. Word pairs for which a nonmatch decision had to be made, despite similarity in the irrelevant dimension, produced significantly more errors and longer response latencies. Poorer readers were less vulnerable to phonological interference when making visual discriminations, and poorer readers and spellers were more vulnerable to orthographic interference when making rhyme matches. Results showed that a deficiency in phonological coding and an over-reliance upon orthographic coding, often observed in dyslexic children, can also be seen in relatively poor readers and spellers within a normal adult population.     

Development of decoding,reading comprehension,vocabulary and spelling during the elementary school years

The goal of this study was (1) to investigate the development of decoding(efficiency), reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling during theelementary school years and (2) to determine the differences between poor,average and good performers with regard to the development of theseskills. Twice each year two standardized tests for each skill wereadministered. For two successive periods, one of the tests for each skill wasthe same. To describe the development in terms of a latent variable evolvingacross grades, the structured-means version of the structural equationmodel was used. The growth was expressed in terms of effect size. Withrespect to the first question, clear seasonal effects were found for readingcomprehension, vocabulary and spelling, while the seasonal effect fordecoding efficiency was restricted to the early grades. Progress tended tobe greater from fall to spring than from spring to fall. For decodingefficiency, and to a lesser degree for vocabulary and spelling, growthshowed a declining trend across grades. For reading comprehension, theprogress in grade 2 was lower than the progress in grade 3, but progresswas declining across higher grades. With respect to the second question,it appeared that initially low performers on reading comprehension,vocabulary and spelling tended to show a greater progress, especially inperiods where the largest amount of instruction was given. Although it wasfound that the low, medium and high ability groups remain in the sameorder, as far as their means are concerned, these findings do not confirmthe existence of a Matthew effect for reading comprehension, vocabularyand spelling. For decoding efficiency no clear differential effect could befound: the gap between the poor and good performers did not widen overtime for this skill.     

Genetic etiology of spelling deficits in the Colorado and London twin studies of reading disability

The basic multiple regression model for the analysis of selected twin data (DeFries and Fulker 1985, 1988) was fitted to spelling data from 100 pairs of MZ twins and 71 pairs of same-sex DZ twins tested in the Colorado Reading Project (DeFries, Olson, Pennington and Smith 1991), and to data from 12 pairs of MZ twins and 15 pairs of same-sex DZ twins tested in the London twin study of reading disability (Stevenson, Graham, Fredman and McLoughlin 1984, 1987). Estimates of h _g ² obtained from analyses of these data suggest that about 60% of the deficit of probands is due to heritable influences in both samples. When a regression model was fitted separately to data from males and females in the combined Colorado and London samples, resulting estimates of h _g ² were 0.66±0.18 and 0.56±0.19, respectively, a nonsignificant difference. Collaborative analyses of data from additional twin studies of reading disability would facilitate more rigorous tests of hypotheses of differential genetic etiology as a function of group membership.     

Links among segmenting,spelling, and reading words in first and second Grades

Twenty first graders and twenty second graders were examined on skills in segmenting, reading, and spelling 50 words with regular and exceptional spelling patterns. By using the same words for each task, it was possible to assess the interrelationships among these skills on a word by word, child by child basis. A multivariate analysis of variance was conducted on difference scores among segmentation, reading, and spelling. Generally, differences favored segmentation and were maximized when final sounds were deleted and minimized when medial sounds were deleted. In addition, graphical analyses showed a greater probability of correct reading and spelling given correct segmentation than incorrect segmentation. Results were interpreted to support a computational notion of phonology as a prerequisite to reading and spelling, with a more reflective notion explaining the reciprocal relation between reading and segmentation of consonant blends and medial sounds.     

The Universal and the unique in dyslexia: A cross-linguistic investigation of reading and reading fluency in Hebrew-and English-speaking children with reading disorders

Cross-linguistic studies provide a unique tool for the identification of universal processes in oral and written language, both in development and in breakdown (Annual Review of psychology, 52, 369–396). Examining the differential strengths and weaknesses of children with dyslexia in contrasting orthographies can help illumine both the more universal aspects of reading disabilities, as well as their individual language-specific attributes. The aim of this study, was to investigate the shared and distinctive characteristics of readers with dyslexia on reading and reading fluency across Hebrew and English orthographies. Differences between 60 Hebrew and English-speaking children with dyslexia on a battery of cognitive, linguistic, and reading measures will be discussed along with theoretical implications.