Dyslexia & dyscalculia
Read: Snowling et al (2020) & Mammarella et al (2021). See full references in the Required
course materials section above in this course manual.
Defining and understanding dyslexia: past, present and future
https://doi-org.proxy.library.uu.nl/10.1080/03054985.2020.1765756
What’s dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a difficulty in learning to decode (read aloud) and to spell. DSM5 classifies
dyslexia as a one form of neurodevelopmental disorder: Specific Learning Disorder with
impairment in reading.
How does the DSM 5 notes dyslexia?
It is a pattern of learning difficulties characterized by problems with accurate or fluent word
reading, poor decoding, and poor spelling ‘that must have persisted for at least 6 months,
despite the provision of interventions that target those difficulties.
A good indicator is ‘ low academic achievement for age or average achievement that is
sustainable only by extraordinarily high levels of effort or support’.
The term should only be used if there is restricted progress in learning (to read/spell) and no
catch- up with peers despite extra help at home or school; there should also be a low academic
achievement.
What are neurodevelopmental disorders?
Neurodevelopmental disorders are heritable, life-long conditions with early onset.
What is the most widely used measures of IQ?
The Wechsler Scales which can be used to assess preschoolers, children and adults.
What does the verbal tests include?
Measures of vocabulary,
Verbal concepts,
Knowledge of the world,
Mental arithmetic
What does the performance test require?
Practical responses, such as putting blocks together to make a pattern, or pieces of a puzzle to
make an object; unlike the verbal tests, they are timed and hence tap speed of processing.
What was Stanovich (1991) critics of the discrepancy definition of dyslexia?
- Learning to read has a positive effect on verbal skills and vocabulary. Children who
are good at reading read more and therefore have a greater opportunity to learn new
information via print than children who are poor at reading.
- Poor readers experience the same core phonological difficulties (problems in dealing
with the speech sound of words).
, How is the reading development process setup?
Learning to read starts with learning mappings between print and sound. In alphabetic
languages, the mappings are at a fine-grain between phonemes (the smallest units of speech)
and graphemes (letter and letter groups), and in English there are many inconsistencies in the
mappings, making learning to read difficult. As children grasp this alphabetic principle, they
can translate print into sound and from that access the meaning of familiar words. This
decoding process provides a mechanism for acquiring detailed orthographic knowledge about
how written language works. Over time, and with reading experience, reliance on overt
decoding declines as word recognition becomes increasingly efficient and automatized,
allowing children to go from print to meaning rapidly and effortlessly.
How can we consider reading development within the context of the influential ‘triangle
model’?
The triangle model comprises three sets of representations (phonological, orthographic and
semantic) that interact and connect together to constitute the world recognition system.
What develop children before learning to read?
Children have well-developed phonological knowledge (of the sounds of words) that has
connections with their semantic system (the meaning of words). Children need to form
mappings from orthography to phonology and thus to meaning. Semantic knowledge can also
support the development of word reading, providing the means to adjust a partial decoding
attempt and bring it in line with a known word.
Reading experience allows orthographic representations to become structured and for the
whole system to embody the statistical regularities that exist between print and sound, and
print and meaning.
What display children with dyslexia?
Children are slow to learn to decode words and become fluent;
They struggle to generalize, that is, to read novel words they have never seen before.
Difficulty with letter positon coding,
Making errors when dealing with words where precision is needed
How is dyslexia caused?
Dyslexia is caused by problems at the level of phonological representation.
What are difficulties in children with dyslexia?
- Auditory sequencing
- Auditory discrimination
- Associating auditory symbols with sequences of visual symbols
- Sound (phonological) structure of speech, lead to difficulty in learning mappings
between orthography and phonology and other difficulties which include problems
learning new spoken words, poor verbal short- term memory and problems with word
retrieval and picture naming.
When are phonological deficits in dyslexia present?
In the preschool years, long before reading instruction begins.