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This exploratory study aimed to evaluate the spelling of derived words by dyslexic adolescents and to verify whether this is associated with lack of vocabulary and/or morphological knowledge. A cross-sectional reading level-design was employed in order to determine differences in spelling, derivational morphology and vocabulary tasks between dyslexic students aged 13+ and age-matched and reading level matched control groups. The study confirmed a profound spelling impairment of dyslexic students in comparison with two control groups but this was not associated with poor vocabulary in relation with their age-peers. In contrast, they exhibited lower levels of morphological knowledge than age-matched controls but equivalent with the reading level controls. These results are interpreted in the light of current developmental models of spelling that support a reciprocal interaction between spelling and metamorphology.

Phonological awareness is thought to become increasingly analytic during early childhood. This study examines whether the proposed developmental sequence (syllable[right arrow]onset-rime[right arrow]phoneme) varies according to the characteristics of a child's native language. Experiment 1 compares the phonological segmentation skills of English speakers aged 4;11 (N=10), 5;3 (N=21), and 6;5 (N=23) and French speakers aged 5;6 (N=35), and 6;8 (N=34). Experiment 2 assesses performance in the common unit task using English speakers aged 4;7 (N=22), 5;7 (N=23), and 6;11 (N=22), and French speakers aged 4;7 (N=20), 5;6 (N=35), and 6;7 (N=33). The experiments reveal crosslinguistic differences in the processing of syllables prior to school entry with French speakers exhibiting a greater consistency in manipulating syllables. Phoneme awareness emerges in both languages once reading instruction is introduced and rime awareness appears to follow rather than precede this event. Thus, the emergence of phonological awareness did not show a universal pattern but rather was subject to the influence of both native language and literacy. (Contains 1 footnote.)

Dyslexic students may be disadvantaged in their use of written language, impeding academic achievement, and requiring remediation and concessions. A proximal analysis assessed the operations of the 3 major pathways (orthography to semantics, orthography to phonology, and phonology to orthography) within models of reading and spelling through lexical decision, reading aloud, and spelling aloud. No dyslexic individual exactly matched the group outcomes on all of the indicators, and no 2 dyslexic individuals presented identical profiles. A multicomponent mosaic model is supported whereby dyslexic difficulties relate to functions that require manipulation of orthographic and phonological units. A documented history and cognitive indicators of orthographic processing may offer a viable approach to the diagnosis, remediation, and concession of adult dyslexia in higher education.

Examines sensitivity to the phonological and orthographic composition of multisyllabic words and nonwords amongst a group of English-speaking 11-year-olds. Finds that nonword but not word reading is affected by syllable length, and nonwords are assigned stress patterns which appear to be related to the lexical syllables that were used to construct these items. (SG)

Replicates a study of a "common unit" task which includes modifications to the original procedure. Confirms the pattern observed in the original study: beginning readers learning by a mixed method can identify shared phonemes but not shared rimes in the common unit task. Discusses implications. (RS)

An assessment of foundation processes was administered to 51 Scottish children with reading difficulties and to 56 reading-level-matched controls. Results suggested the foundation is in place by the reading age of 7 years and that foundation-level dyslexia is identifiable in children with reading difficulty whose reading ages fall below this level. (Author/CR)

Reports a case study of the reading and spelling processes of a developmentally disabled child indicating that there was almost a complete lack of alphabetic functions, that reading appeared to be based on a "logographic lexicon," and that spelling was based on a letter sequence generator. (RS)

Lynne G. Duncan [*] The foundation literacy skills of children from differing socio-economic backgrounds were investigated in a cross-sectional study. The children were aged between 4 and 8 years and [...]

We report a longitudinal study of literacy development in two boys, AT and HT, who presented with a sex chromosome abnormality (48,XXXY syndrome). Verbal IQ was severely depressed. Reading and spelling had peaked atan 8-year level. Neither boy had established an alphabetic process. Nonwords could not be read or written (although the individual letters of the alphabet were known). Phonological skills were only partially established and scores fluctuated considerably. Development appeared to have been almost exclusively logographic. An extensive word recognition vocabulary was supported. Both boys had developed special interests and appeared to be able to assimilate new reading vocabulary into these domains. Spelling was almost invariably dysphonetic but showed a tendency towards acknowledgement of graphotactic constraints. The results suggest thatgenetic syndromes may selectively constrain the acquisition of specific components of literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three studies of the latency of response initiation for complex classifications of the word-shape configurations Circle/CIRCLE, square/SQUARE, square/CIRCLE and circle/SQUARE are reported. Delays in response initiation, attributable to discrepancy between the display components, or the order of reporting identities and congruence, or alterations in the processing demands imposed on the subject, were analysed with the aim of formulating some conclusions about the nature of the representational processes involved when a printed word is read with comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment examined classification times for the four word-shape pairs produced by combining the labels square and circle with the shapes square and circle. Times were obtained for each of the three possible 2:1 mappings of the four display pairs to the verbal responses 'yes' and 'no'. These define three conditions in which the basis of the classification is respectively the shape, the label, or both the label and the shape. Classification times were significantly slower where both component displays were relevant for selection of the response. Moreover, under this condition, classification times for circle/ circle and square/ square were faster for the response 'yes' than for the response 'no', whereas this effect was reversed for the pairs square/ circle and circle/ square. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subjects were presented with the printed word above or below and a configuration consisting of a reference shape (a square) and a smaller shape of variable location (a blacked-in circle) which might appear above or below the square. The instruction was to report 'yes' if the word and the location of the circle relative to the square were congruent, and 'no' if they were not. The latency of this judgement was measured from the simultaneous onset of the displays to the initiation of the verbal response. The pair above/ above was classified as congruent significantly more rapidly than the pair below/ below or either of the mismatched pairs. The order in which word and configuration were fixated was a significant factor, response times being faster where the word was fixated first. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critiques the papers of Max Coltheart and Nancy Ewald Jackson and of Michael Rutter on the subject of dyslexia. Strengths and limitations of each report; Insufficiency of the phonological approach to account for research evidence; Limitations to the two-channel hypothesis proffered by Coltheart and Jackson.

Phonological development was assessed in six alphabetic orthographies (English, French, Greek, Icelandic, Portuguese and Spanish) at the beginning and end of the first year of reading instruction. The aim was to explore contrasting theoretical views regarding: the question of the availability of phonology at the outset of learning to read (Study 1); the influence of orthographic depth on the pace of phonological development during the transition to literacy (Study 2); and the impact of literacy instruction (Study 3). Results from 242 children did not reveal a consistent sequence of development as performance varied according to task demands and language. Phonics instruction appeared more influential than orthographic depth in the emergence of an early meta-phonological capacity to manipulate phonemes, and preliminary indications were that cross-linguistic variation was associated with speech rhythm more than factors such as syllable complexity. The implications of the outcome for current models of phonological development are discussed., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Several previous studies have suggested that basic decoding skills may develop less effectively in English than in some other European orthographies. The origins of this effect in the early (foundation) phase of reading acquisition are investigated through assessments of letter knowledge, familiar word reading, and simple nonword reading in English and 12 other orthographies. The results confirm that children from a majority of European countries become accurate and fluent in foundation level reading before the end of the first school year. There are some exceptions, notably in French, Portuguese, Danish, and, particularly, in English. The effects appear not to be attributable to differences in age of starting or letter knowledge. It is argued that fundamental linguistic differences in syllabic complexity and orthographic depth are responsible. Syllabic complexity selectively affects decoding, whereas orthographic depth affects both word reading and nonword reading. The rate of development in English is more than twice as slow as in the shallow orthographies. It is hypothesized that the deeper orthographies induce the implementation of a dual (logographic + alphabetic) foundation which takes more than twice as long to establish as the single foundation required for the learning of a shallow orthography.