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Second language proficiency may be related to first language acquisition (Ganschow & Sparks, 1991), but relatively little is known about the relation between first and second language grammatical proficiency in primary school children who are in their first stages of foreign language learning. This study aims to determine whether differences in Dutch and English vocabulary and Dutch grammar skills predict differences in English grammatical proficiency in Dutch speaking children who are in grade 4 in primary school. The selected participants are monolingual Dutch pupils (N = 152), aged 9;0–10;0. To measure the children’s vocabulary the PPVT was used in Dutch (Schlichting, 2005) and in English (Dunn & Dunn, 2007). In addition, two grammar tasks in English and one in Dutch of the CELF (Semel et al., 2003) were used. The results show that English vocabulary is a strong predictor of English grammar skills, and that the Dutch vocabulary skills are weaker predictors of English grammar skills. Moreover, Dutch grammar skills predict English grammar skills for one of the grammar tasks. These results are discussed vis-à-vis hypotheses about cross-domain transfer and cross-linguistic transfer (Blom et al., 2012; Cummins, 1979; Ganschow & Sparks, 1991; Paradis, 2011; Sparks, 1995).

In this pilot study, we evaluated the effects of the online computer-based training programme ‘Lexilogy-Greek’ on the reading and spelling performance of young poor readers and spellers. The training is based on psycholinguistic principles that emphasise the importance of acquiring efficient phonological as well as morphological knowledge in remediating reading and spelling difficulties. Our sample consisted of fifteen 5th and 6th grade primary school children. Reading and spelling were tested at three points, with a no-intervention period and subsequently an intervention period in between these time points. We adopted a single group repeated measurement design, and tested for intervention effects using repeated measures ANOVAs. The results revealed substantial treatment effects on spelling, word reading fluency and text reading fluency.

We performed an EEG graph analysis on data from 31 typical readers (22.27 ± 2.53 y/o) and 24 dyslexics (22.99 ± 2.29 y/o), recorded while they were engaged in an audiovisual task and during resting-state. The task simulates reading acquisition as participants learned new letter-sound mappings via feedback. EEG data was filtered for the delta (0.5–4 Hz), theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (8–13 Hz), and beta (13–30 Hz) bands. We computed the Phase Lag Index (PLI) to provide an estimate of the functional connectivity between all pairs of electrodes per band. Then, networks were constructed using a Minimum Spanning Tree (MST), a unique sub-graph connecting all nodes (electrodes) without loops, aimed at minimizing bias in between groups and conditions comparisons. Both groups showed a comparable accuracy increase during task blocks, indicating that they correctly learned the new associations. The EEG results revealed lower task-specific theta connectivity, and lower theta degree correlation over both rest and task recordings, indicating less network integration in dyslexics compared to typical readers. This pattern suggests a role of theta oscillations in dyslexia and may reflect differences in task engagement between the groups, although robust correlations between MST metrics and performance indices were lacking.

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.

Reading skills are usually assessed in silent conditions, but children often experience noisy educational settings. Effects of auditory distraction on children's reading skills remain relatively unexplored. The present study investigates the influence of two features of background speech—intelligibility and loudness—on children's reading speed and comprehension. Sixty-three 8-to-10-year-old elementary school children performed a reading task in the context of single-talker background speech. Background speech was either intelligible or unintelligible and presented at low (45–50 dB SPL) or moderate (65–72 dB SPL) sound intensity (here termed “loudness”). Results showed a differential effect of intelligibility and loudness, respectively affecting children's comprehension and reading speed. In addition, the intelligibility effect was larger in children with lower interference control, as assessed with an auditory Stroop task. Our findings provide evidence for the influence of different properties of background speech on children's text reading with implications for reading in everyday classroom environments. Lay Summary: Children often read in noisy environments, but we know little about how background chatter might affect their reading. Here, we found that 8–10-year-old children read stories more slowly with louder background speech. The children also understood less about a story if the background voice was speaking in their own language—especially those who, in a different task, were less able to ignore irrelevant but attention-grabbing information. This suggests background speech differentially affects beginning readers.

Recently, increased interletter spacing (LS) has been studied as a way to enhance reading fluency. It is suggested that increased LS improves reading performance, especially in poor readers. Theoretically, these findings are well substantiated as a result of diminished crowding effects. Empirically, however, findings on LS are inconclusive. In two experiments, we examined whether effects of increased LS are specific to children with dyslexia and whether increased LS affects word or sentence processing. In the first experiment, 30 children with dyslexia and 30 controls (mean age = 9 years 11 months) read sentences in standard and increased LS conditions. In the second experiment, these sentences were read by an unselected sample of 189 readers (mean age = 9 years 3 months) in either a sentence or word-by-word reading condition. The first experiment showed that increased LS affected children with dyslexia and controls in similar ways. Participants made fewer errors in the increased LS condition than in the standard LS condition. Reading rates were not affected. There were no indications that the effect of LS was related to reading ability, not even for a subgroup of readers. Findings of the second experiment were similar. Increased LS resulted in fewer errors, not faster reading rates. This was found only when complete sentences were presented, not when sentences were read word by word. Three main conclusions can be drawn. First, increased LS appears to affect reading accuracy only. Second, the findings do not support claims that increased LS specifically affects poor readers. And third, the effect of LS seems to occur at the interword level. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Reading skills and social–emotional competencies are two important skills for both academic achievement and long‐term quality of life. The present study evaluated the effects of a school‐based intervention to promote reading skills and social–emotional competencies in young adolescents from urban, low socioeconomic status (SES) communities in their first year of secondary education. A small group intervention was conducted, using book clubs in which students read and discussed literature with the objective to enhance reading attitude, reading comprehension and social–emotional competencies. Participants were randomly allocated to either the book club intervention condition (n = 50) or a business‐as‐usual control condition (n = 40). Results revealed that the intervention group accrued significant greater gains than the control group in (recreational) reading attitude, reading comprehension and social emotional competences. Highlights What is already known about this topic The transition from primary to secondary education is accompanied by a sharp decline in reading attitude and a rise in demands on young adolescents' social–emotional competencies. Qualitative research suggests book clubs can be an educational tool to enhance both reading behaviour and social–emotional skills. What this paper adds A bibliotherapeutic book club intervention can be an effective tool to improve reading attitudes, reading comprehension and to strengthen social–emotional competencies in young adolescents from low SES areas. Implications for theory, policy or practice This study supports the inclusion of bibliotherapeutic book clubs in the secondary education curriculum as a mean to address both reading behaviour and social–emotional competencies, two skills that are important for adolescents' academic success.

In this study, we examined the learning of letter–speech sound correspondences within an artificial script and performed an experimental analysis of letter–speech sound learning among dyslexic and normal readers vis-à-vis phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, reading, and spelling. Participants were provided with 20 min of training aimed at learning eight new basic letter–speech sound correspondences, followed by a short assessment of mastery of the correspondences and word-reading ability in this unfamiliar script. Our results demonstrated that brief training is moderately successful in differentiating dyslexic readers from normal readers in their ability to learn letter–speech sound correspondences. The normal readers outperformed the dyslexic readers for accuracy and speed on a letter–speech sound matching task, as well as on a word-reading task containing familiar words written in the artificial orthography. Importantly, the new artificial script-related measures were related to phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming and made a unique contribution in predicting individual differences in reading and spelling ability. Our results are consistent with the view that a fundamental letter–speech sound learning deficit is a key factor in dyslexia.

Graphical abstract, Highlights • Directed (EEG) connectivity shows altered visual word processing in dyslexic children. • Dyslexic children show reduced posterior-to-anterior connectivity. • Severely dysfluent dyslexic children show enhanced anterior-to-posterior connectivity. • Patterns of connectivity scale with the severity of reading (dys)fluency., Reading is a complex cognitive skill subserved by a distributed network of visual and language-related regions. Disruptions of connectivity within this network have been associated with developmental dyslexia but their relation to individual differences in the severity of reading problems remains unclear. Here we investigate whether dysfunctional connectivity scales with the level of reading dysfluency by examining EEG recordings during visual word and false font processing in 9-year-old typically reading children (TR) and two groups of dyslexic children: severely dysfluent (SDD) and moderately dysfluent (MDD) dyslexics. Results indicated weaker occipital to inferior-temporal connectivity for words in both dyslexic groups relative to TRs. Furthermore, SDDs exhibited stronger connectivity from left central to right inferior-temporal and occipital sites for words relative to TRs, and for false fonts relative to both MDDs and TRs. Importantly, reading fluency was positively related with forward and negatively with backward connectivity. Our results suggest disrupted visual processing of words in both dyslexic groups, together with a compensatory recruitment of right posterior brain regions especially in the SDDs during word and false font processing. Functional connectivity in the brain’s reading network may thus depend on the level of reading dysfluency beyond group differences between dyslexic and typical readers.

Recent studies suggest that individuals with dyslexia may be impaired in probability learning and performance monitoring. These observations are consistent with findings indicating atypical neural activations in frontostriatal circuits in the brain, which are important for associative learning. The current study further examined probability learning and performance monitoring in adult individuals with dyslexia (n = 23) and typical readers (n = 31) using two varieties of a typical probabilistic learning task. In addition to performance measures, we measured heart rate, focusing on cardiac slowing with negative feedback as a manifestation of the automatic performance monitoring system. One task required participants to learn associations between artificial script and speech sounds and the other task required them to learn associations between geometric forms and bird sounds. Corrective feedback (informative or random) was provided in both tasks. Performance results indicated that individuals with dyslexia and typical readers learned the associations equally well in contrast to expectations. We found the typical cardiac response associated with feedback processing consisting of a heart rate slowing with the presentation of the feedback and a return to baseline thereafter. Interestingly, the heart rate slowing associated with feedback was less pronounced and the return to baseline was delayed in individuals with dyslexia relative to typical readers. These findings were interpreted in relation to current theorizing of performance monitoring linking the salience network in the brain to autonomic functioning.

In a recent opinion article, we explained why we think that defining developmental dyslexia as a neurodevelopmental disorder and neuroimaging studies on dyslexia are useful. A recent response has made some claims of generalized misinterpretation and misconception in the field. Since that was a direct reply to our article, we would like to clarify our opinion on some of those claims., Brain Sciences, 9 (3)

In the current study we examined the value of a dynamic test for predicting responsiveness to reading intervention for children diagnosed with dyslexia. The test consisted of a 20-minute training aimed at learning eight basic letter–speech sound correspondences within an artificial orthography, followed by a short assessment of both mastery of these correspondences and word reading ability in this unfamiliar script. Fifty-five (7- to 11-year-old) children diagnosed with dyslexia engaged in specialized intervention during approximately 10 months and their reading and spelling abilities were assessed before and after. Our results indicated that the dynamic test predicted variance in reading skills at posttest, over and above traditional static measures, such as phonological awareness and rapid naming. These findings indicate that responsiveness to learning new letter–speech sound correspondences has a prognostic value for the success of specialized reading intervention.

We use a neurocognitive perspective to discuss the contribution of learning letter-speech sound (L-SS) associations and visual specialization in the initial phases of reading in dyslexic children. We review findings from associative learning studies on related cognitive skills important for establishing and consolidating L-SS associations. Then we review brain potential studies, including our own, that yielded two markers associated with reading fluency. Here we show that the marker related to visual specialization (N170) predicts word and pseudoword reading fluency in children who received additional practice in the processing of morphological word structure. Conversely, L-SS integration (indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN)) may only remain important when direct orthography to semantic conversion is not possible, such as in pseudoword reading. In addition, the correlation between these two markers supports the notion that multisensory integration facilitates visual specialization. Finally, we review the role of implicit learning and executive functions in audiovisual learning in dyslexia. Implications for remedial research are discussed and suggestions for future studies are presented.

ObjectiveNeuroimaging research suggested a mixed pattern of functional connectivity abnormalities in developmental dyslexia. We examined differences in the topological properties of functional networks between 29 dyslexics and 15 typically reading controls in 3rd grade using graph analysis. Graph metrics characterize brain networks in terms of integration and segregation.MethodWe used EEG resting-state data and calculated weighted connectivity matrices for multiple frequency bands using the phase lag index (PLI). From the connectivity matrices we derived minimum spanning tree (MST) graphs representing the sub-networks with maximum connectivity. Statistical analyses were performed on graph-derived metrics as well as on the averaged PLI connectivity values.ResultsWe found group differences in the theta band for two graph metrics suggesting reduced network integration and communication between network nodes in dyslexics compared to controls.ConclusionCollectively, our findings point to a less efficient network configuration in dyslexics relative to the more proficient configuration in the control group.SignificanceGraph metrics relate to the intrinsic organization of functional brain networks. These metrics provide additional insights on the cognitive deficits underlying dyslexia and, thus, may advance our knowledge on reading development. Our findings add to the growing body literature suggesting compromised networks rather than specific dysfunctional brain regions in dyslexia.

UnlabelledA recent account of dyslexia assumes that a failure to develop automated letter-speech sound integration might be responsible for the observed lack of reading fluency. This study uses a pre-test-training-post-test design to evaluate the effects of a training program based on letter-speech sound associations with a special focus on gains in reading fluency. A sample of 44 children with dyslexia and 23 typical readers, aged 8 to 9, was recruited. Children with dyslexia were randomly allocated to either the training program group (n = 23) or a waiting-list control group (n = 21). The training intensively focused on letter-speech sound mapping and consisted of 34 individual sessions of 45 minutes over a five month period. The children with dyslexia showed substantial reading gains for the main word reading and spelling measures after training, improving at a faster rate than typical readers and waiting-list controls. The results are interpreted within the conceptual framework assuming a multisensory integration deficit as the most proximal cause of dysfluent reading in dyslexia.Trial registrationISRCTN register ISRCTN12783279.