An investigation into the phonology-related processes associated with developmental dyslexia.

Abstract

Developmental Dyslexia (DD) is a phenomenon which refers to otherwise normal children who experience significant difficulty in reading acquisition. Many studies investigating DD commonly find the same characteristics associated with DD: (1) readers who are reading significantly below age level but whose IQ does not predict this (2) abnormalities associated with speech which may include speech delay or articulation problems (3) a larger number of males are afflicted than females. The present research involves an examination of the phonology-related processes hypothesized to be deficient in a certain sub-group of DDs. These phonological processes include: (1) the storing or encoding of phonological codes (2) the retrieval of phonological codes from long term memory (3) the ability to maintain phonological codes in working memory while blending or synthesizing is ongoing. A deficiency at any one level or at a combination of these levels could disrupt the acquisition of the reading process. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)