scholarly journals A network approach to dyslexia: Mapping the reading network

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Cara Verwimp ◽  
Jurgen Tijms ◽  
Patrick Snellings ◽  
Jonas M. B. Haslbeck ◽  
Reinout W. Wiers
Keyword(s):  
Reading Fluency ◽  
Reading Development ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Rapid Automatized Naming ◽  
Network Approach ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Core Deficit ◽  
Speech Information

Abstract Research on the etiology of dyslexia typically uses an approach based on a single core deficit, failing to understand how variations in combinations of factors contribute to reading development and how this combination relates to intervention outcome. To fill this gap, this study explored links between 28 cognitive, environmental, and demographic variables related to dyslexia by employing a network analysis using a large clinical database of 1,257 elementary school children. We found two highly connected subparts in the network: one comprising reading fluency and accuracy measures, and one comprising intelligence-related measures. Interestingly, phoneme awareness was functionally related to the controlled and accurate processing of letter–speech sound mappings, whereas rapid automatized naming was more functionally related to the automated convergence of visual and speech information. We found evidence for the contribution of a variety of factors to (a)typical reading development, though associated with different aspects of the reading process. As such, our results contradict prevailing claims that dyslexia is caused by a single core deficit. This study shows how the network approach to psychopathology can be used to study complex interactions within the reading network and discusses future directions for more personalized interventions.

Varieties of Cognitive Profiles in Poor Readers: Evidence for a VAS-Impaired Subtype

2020 ◽  
pp. 002221942096133
Author(s):  
Sylviane Valdois ◽  
Caroline Reilhac ◽  
Emilie Ginestet ◽  
Marie Line Bosse
Keyword(s):  
Reading Fluency ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Reading Performance ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Poor Readers ◽  
Rapid Automatized Naming ◽  
Cognitive Profiles ◽  
Oral Language Skills ◽  
Average Readers

A wide share of secondary school children does not reach the expected competence level in reading. These children could benefit from more efficient intervention responses, providing a better understanding of their cognitive weaknesses/deficits. Our aim was to explore the cognitive heterogeneity of a population of poor readers identified from a large sample of 948 sixth-grade children. We first assessed the contribution of phoneme awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), and visual attention span (VAS) to reading performance in a subset of 281 children including poor and average readers/spellers. We show that all three skills are unique and significant predictors of reading fluency. We then restricted the analysis to participants with normal Raven’s score (IQ) and oral language skills to focus on 110 children with more specific reading difficulties. A unique VAS deficit was found in 18% of these poor readers while 20% and 15.5% showed a unique PA or RAN deficit. Children with multiple or no deficit were further identified. The overall findings provide evidence for a variety of cognitive profiles in poor readers. They suggest that, in addition to PA interventions, training programs targeting VAS might be useful for the nontrivial share of poor readers who exhibit a VAS deficit.

Phonological potentials and the lower vocal tract

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott R. Moisik ◽  
Ewa Czaykowska-Higgins ◽  
John H. Esling
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Physical Nature ◽  
Discrete Structure ◽  
Complex Interactions

This paper outlines a theoretical approach to speech sound systems based on the notion of phonological potentials: physical ‘pressures’ or biases that give rise to discrete structure and the tendencies associated with this structure that arise from the physical nature of speech sound systems. We apply this approach to a poorly understood area of phonology – phenomena of the lower vocal tract (LVT) – through a schematic that encapsulates the complex interactions among the vocal tract structures responsible for producing LVT sounds. With the framework, we provide an account of a range of LVT phenomena from several languages, illustrating how tonal, phonatory, and vowel qualities interact. Finally, we consider how the idea of phonological potentials extends across various physical domains and might exhibit patterns of alignment across these domains, thereby serving to guide the formation of patterns found in speech sound systems.

Cross-script transfer of word reading fluency in a mixed writing system: Evidence from a longitudinal study in Japanese

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
TOMOHIRO INOUE ◽  
GEORGE K. GEORGIOU ◽  
HIROFUMI IMANAKA ◽  
TAKAKO OSHIRO ◽  
HIROYUKI KITAMURA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Path Analysis ◽  
Reading Fluency ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Morphological Awareness ◽  
Rapid Automatized Naming ◽  
Writing System ◽  
The Cross

ABSTRACTWe examined the cross-lagged relations between word reading fluency in the two orthographic systems of Japanese: phonetic (syllabic) Hiragana and morphographic Kanji. One hundred forty-two Japanese-speaking children were assessed on word reading fluency twice in Grade 1 (Times 1 and 2) and twice in Grade 2 (Times 3 and 4). Nonverbal IQ, vocabulary, phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and rapid automatized naming were also assessed in Time 1. Results of path analysis revealed that Time 1 Hiragana fluency predicted Time 2 Kanji fluency after controlling for the cognitive skills. Time 2 Hiragana fluency did not predict Time 3 Kanji fluency or vice versa after the autoregressor was controlled, but Hiragana and Kanji fluency were reciprocally related between Times 3 and 4. These findings provide evidence for a cross-script transfer of word reading fluency across the two contrastive orthographic systems, and the first evidence of fluency in a morphographic script predicting fluency development in a phonetic script within the same language.

scholarly journals Developmental Trajectories of Letter and Speech Sound Integration During Reading Acquisition

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iliana I. Karipidis ◽  
Georgette Pleisch ◽  
Sarah V. Di Pietro ◽  
Gorka Fraga-González ◽  
Silvia Brem
Keyword(s):  
Reading Fluency ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Reading Acquisition ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Audiovisual Integration ◽  
Reading Outcomes ◽  
Audiovisual Processing ◽  
Occipitotemporal Cortex

Reading acquisition in alphabetic languages starts with learning the associations between speech sounds and letters. This learning process is related to crucial developmental changes of brain regions that serve visual, auditory, multisensory integration, and higher cognitive processes. Here, we studied the development of audiovisual processing and integration of letter-speech sound pairs with an audiovisual target detection functional MRI paradigm. Using a longitudinal approach, we tested children with varying reading outcomes before the start of reading acquisition (T1, 6.5 yo), in first grade (T2, 7.5 yo), and in second grade (T3, 8.5 yo). Early audiovisual integration effects were characterized by higher activation for incongruent than congruent letter-speech sound pairs in the inferior frontal gyrus and ventral occipitotemporal cortex. Audiovisual processing in the left superior temporal gyrus significantly increased from the prereading (T1) to early reading stages (T2, T3). Region of interest analyses revealed that activation in left superior temporal gyrus (STG), inferior frontal gyrus and ventral occipitotemporal cortex increased in children with typical reading fluency skills, while poor readers did not show the same development in these regions. The incongruency effect bilaterally in parts of the STG and insular cortex at T1 was significantly associated with reading fluency skills at T3. These findings provide new insights into the development of the brain circuitry involved in audiovisual processing of letters, the building blocks of words, and reveal early markers of audiovisual integration that may be predictive of reading outcomes.

scholarly journals Screening for Reading Difficulties: Comparing Eye Tracking Outcomes to Neuropsychological Assessments

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Carin Gran Ekstrand ◽  
Mattias Nilsson Benfatto ◽  
Gustaf Öqvist Seimyr
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Struggling Readers ◽  
Reading Fluency ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Reading Development ◽  
Screening Method ◽  
Cognitive Assessments ◽  
Cognitive Difficulties ◽  
Cognitive Limitations ◽  
Early School

The use of eye tracking to assess reading fluency has been proposed as a novel and efficient screening method for identifying school children with atypical reading development or risk of dyslexia. Currently, however, little is known about the relationship between the predictive outcomes produced by eye tracking screening systems and specialist cognitive assessments. Here we investigate this relationship in the context of a neuropsychological case study involving eight subjects (9–10 years) who were identified as being at risk of dyslexia by an eye tracking screening system. We analyze to what extent these subjects displayed cognitive limitations when assessed with a neuropsychological test battery, and to what extent cognitive difficulties were limited to reading and decoding, or whether they extended to other domains as well. As a group, the subjects performed on average significantly worse in reading and decoding than in other cognitive domains. Five subjects performed more than 1.25 standard deviations below the mean for age. In line with empirical evidence, co-occurring difficulties in the attention domain were also observed in a few struggling readers. Overall, the results support the view that eye tracking can be a useful tool to assess and monitor children’s reading development during the early school years.

2. How to learn to read (or not)

2019 ◽  
pp. 12-33
Author(s):  
Margaret J. Snowling
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Reading Development ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Rapid Naming ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Alphabetic Principle ◽  
Learning To Read

‘How to learn to read (or not)’ looks at the stages through which a child must progress on the journey to literacy and the demands of learning to read. It argues that literacy builds on a foundation of spoken language and emphasizes the importance of the skills a child brings to reading. It also discusses the alphabetic principle, phoneme awareness, learning to spell, reading for meaning, and learning to read in different languages. In summary, a ‘triple foundation’ of symbol knowledge, phonological awareness, and rapid naming ability appears to underpin reading development universally. However, there are also additional predictors that are language-specific.

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