Dyslexia : the Journal of the British Dyslexia Association

Given the rapid growth in educational policies targeting educators' knowledge of dyslexia, this study explored the technical adequacy of a common instrument for measuring that knowledge. The responses of 1141 preservice teachers were scored in three ways: polytomously with the original 4-point Likert scale, dichotomously as true-false, and dichotomously as though the options were multiple choice. An exploratory factor analysis suggested at least one-third of the items needed to be removed. Confirmatory factor analyses suggested a one-factor model with polytomous scoring had the best fit to the data, but only six items loaded...

This study aimed to test the efficacy of a newly developed computer-based game naming computerized executive functions (CEF) task on the reading ability of children suffering from dyslexia. Forty dyslexic school students from the fourth and fifth grades were randomized to one of the experimental and control groups. Subjects of the experimental group received 12 sessions of Computerized Executive Functions Training (CEFT), while subjects of the control group played a neutral computer game throughout the 12 sessions...

This study examined the multiple-deficit hypothesis among Arabic-speaking elementary school students. A total of 90 students, divided into three main groups based on their performance on an Arabic word-reading task: dyslexic (n = 30), regular age-matched (n = 30), and 3rd-grade regular students, who were matched to the dyslexic group in regard to their reading proficiency level (n = 30). Participants underwent a nine-domain Arabic reading experiment that measured accuracy and fluency to evaluate general reading proficiency...

Attention has been hypothesized to act as a sequential gating mechanism for the orderly processing of letters and words. These same visuoattentional processes are often assumed to partake in some but not all types of visual search. In the current study, 24 dyslexic and 36 typical readers completed an attentionally demanding visual conjunction search. Visual feature search served as an internal control. It has been suggested that reading problems should go hand in hand with specific problems in visual conjunction search-particularly elevated conjunction search slopes (time per search item)-often interpreted as a problem with visual attention...

The nature and cause of auditory processing deficits in dyslexic individuals have been debated for decades. Auditory processing deficits were argued to be the first step in a causal chain of difficulties, leading to difficulties in speech perception and thereby phonological processing and literacy difficulties. More recently, it has been argued that auditory processing difficulties may not be causally related to language and literacy difficulties. This study compares two groups who have phonological processing impairments for different reasons: dyslexia and a history of otitis media (OM)...

This study examined the influence of morphological density on reading comprehension in Arabic and whether this influence differs between typical and children with reading disabilities. Morphological density in Arabic is a text feature that refers to using bound morphemes, creating dense words with more morphemes. The participants were 182 fifth-graders, both typical and children with reading disabilities. Children were assessed in reading comprehension by reading texts with low- or high-morphological density...

In this systematic narrative review, we synthesised the small existing body of research on children who are gifted and dyslexic (G-D) in order to investigate the claim that G-D students have a unique profile, characterised by well-masked word-level reading and spelling difficulties. Our focus was on both the cognitive and academic profiles of this subgroup of twice-exceptional (2e) children and the assessment protocols used to identify them. Findings suggest that despite having processing deficits associated with dyslexia, G-D students' gifted strengths, especially those relating to oral language, may enable them to compensate for their reading difficulties, at least to an extent that they fail to meet standard diagnostic criteria...

Telemedicine approaches have proved to be valuable solutions for the delivery of treatment for many health-related issues, and crucial during the pandemics. Nonetheless, the efficacy of such Web-based practices in developmental dyslexia needs to be thoroughly evaluated. To this aim, the effects of a multi-componential program for neuropsychological intervention in dyslexia delivered as an outpatient program were compared with those obtained with a remotely delivered, Web-based treatment, based on the same methodological principles and delivered with the same duration and intensity...

The purpose of this review was to scope the quantity and methodological characteristics of the current literature examining parent and caregivers' perspectives of specific learning disorder (SLD) diagnosis, synthesise key findings and highlight gaps in the current literature. A systematic search was conducted for the period January 2013 to March 2023. Twenty-three articles, representing 1796 parents and caregivers across seven countries, underwent data extraction. The review highlighted considerable variability regarding the main aim and scope of each included study and that most studies used qualitative or mixed method methodology...

Not seemingly measuring up to Western societies' educational and occupational expectations for success, adults with dyslexia are at risk for discrimination, humiliation, low self-esteem, low self-efficacy, depression, and anxiety. We analysed 113 responses to the final comment question that was incorporated at the end of a quantitative survey on the socioemotional experiences of adults with dyslexia. The final comment question was not intended for conveying personal experiences, yet the final comment responses were personal, in-depth, and substantive - indicators of quality recommended in survey research...

Detecting students with reading difficulties (RD) is particularly important in the context of the Response to Intervention (RTI) model, in terms of both research and professional practice. However, there is no unanimous agreement on the best procedure to carry it out. In addition, most of the research in this field has been carried out in the English language, and there is little evidence on how these measures behave in other languages. This study focuses on identifying the best procedure for detecting RD in Spanish in older elementary students, comparing the validity, accuracy and goodness of fit of three different universal screening assessment approaches-the Psychometric Assessment Approach, the Curriculum-Based Assessment Approach and the Teacher Detection Approach-using RTI as a criterion to determine the goodness of fit of the different approaches...

Impairments of auditory processing are among frequent findings in dyslexia. However, it is unclear how auditory signals are gated from brainstem to higher central processing stages in these individuals. The present study was done to investigate auditory sensory gating in children with developmental dyslexia (DD), and to determine whether sensory gating correlates with performance on behavioural tasks. Auditory sensory gating at P50, N1 and P2 waves was evaluated in two groups including 20 children with DD and 19 children with typical reading development (TRD)...

The present paper assessed how dyslexia can be identified in school children with another language than their first language. Participants were school children with Norwegian as their second language (L2), and two groups of children with Norwegian as their first language (L1): a control group (L1-Con), and a dyslexia group (L1-Dys). All were 2nd and 3rd graders who had attended Norwegian schools from 1st grade on. None of the individuals in L1-Con or the L2 group were identified with any learning disability...

Technological reading and writing tools can help students with dyslexia improve their writing, but students do not use reading and writing functions as much as expected. However, research addressing relevant technological functions is scarce. This study explored the needs of writers with dyslexia and how technological writing tools developed for three Nordic languages meet these needs. Snowball sampling was used to identify different technological features, spellchecker, word prediction, auto-correction, text-to-speech and speech-to-text functions available in nine widely used programmes were investigated...

Teaching phoneme awareness to children at risk for early reading difficulties has been recognized as successful in several studies. In this randomized controlled trial (RCT)-study, we add to this research by optimizing core procedural as well as teaching components in a phonics-directed intervention and extend the RCT reading intervention research into a semi-transparent language context. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of a novel Swedish intensive phonics program. This randomized controlled pre-test and post-test intervention study targeted second-grade students with early reading difficulties...

While research has identified multiple deficits that may lead to dyslexia, the profiles of adolescents with dyslexia and dyslexia subtypes are yet fully understood. This study examined the profiles of Chinese adolescents with dyslexia and identified dyslexia subtypes. Adolescents from grades 7 to 9 (n = 184, 92 with dyslexia) were evaluated on morphological skills, visual-orthographic knowledge, rapid naming, working memory, word reading, word spelling, reading fluency and reading comprehension...

In the present study, we aimed to clarify variation in prospective poor decoders by studying the development of their word decoding skills during the first 1½ years of formal reading education and their unique pre-reading profiles before the onset of formal reading education. Using structural equation modelling and a factorial mixed model analysis of variance (ANOVA), we found autoregression and growth in the word decoding efficiency of prospective poor decoders (n = 90) and matched prospective adequate decoders (n = 90) in first and second grade...

Many studies have highlighted short-term memory (STM) impairment in dyslexic individuals. Several studies showed deficits for both item and serial order aspects of verbal STM in dyslexic individuals. These group-based studies, however, do not inform us about the prevalence of these deficits and, importantly, their potential heterogeneity at the individual level. The present study examined both group-level and individual STM profiles in dyslexic and age-matched non-dyslexic children. While confirming previous group-based results of both item and serial order STM deficits, individual analyses indicated two distinct profiles: one profile was associated with verbal item STM and phonological impairment while another profile showed selective serial STM deficits in both verbal and visual domains...

When students with dyslexia enter higher education, studying often creates challenges at different levels. Universities differ in the way they facilitate students with dyslexia in their educational careers. This study focusses on studying with dyslexia from a value-driven perspective. The aim of the study is to investigate valuable goals of students with dyslexia in higher education and the conversion factors that are stimulating and inhibiting in the realization of these valuable goals. Data were collected during focus groups: five focus groups of students with dyslexia (23 participants) and two focus groups of student counsellors (10 participants)...

Sufficient activation of the left fusiform gyrus is important in reading ability acquisition due to its role in reading and naming, working memory (WM), and balance tasks. Recently, a newly-designed training program, Verbal Working Memory-Balance (VWM-B), has been evaluated on children with dyslexia, and its positive effects were shown on reading ability, WM capacity, and postural control. In the present study, we aimed to estimate the functional connectivity alterations of the left fusiform gyrus following training by the VWM-B...