Ingvar Lundberg

MRI evaluation of the size and symmetry of the planum temporale in adolescents with developmental dyslexia

MRI technique was used to examine the size and symmetry of the plana temporale in 19 dyslexic students in grade 8 and in carefully matched control subjects. The results demonstrated a high frequency of planum symmetry among the dyslexics (70%) whereas symmetry was observed in only 30% of the control subjects. It was not possible to demonstrate any clear association between symmetry/asymmetry of planum temporale and handedness. Word-reading strategies among the dyslexics and control subjects were investigated with computerized tasks where accuracy and naming latency were recorded. All subjects with pure phonological deficits in reading had symmetrical plana temporale indicating a possible neuroanatomical basis for a characteristic symptom of linguistic processing deficiency in developmental dyslexia.

Components of phonological awareness

The factorial structure underlying different types of tasks within the domain of phonological awareness was examined in two studies. Large sample sizes allowed for sensitive differentiation of constructs. In the first study, 128 preschool children without any experience of formal reading instruction were tested with a battery of tasks intended to tap various aspects of phonological awareness: rhyme recognition, syllable counting, initial-phoneme matching, initial-phoneme deletion, phoneme blending, and phoneme counting. Three basic components were extracted in a principal component analysis: a phoneme factor, a syllable factor and a rhyme factor. Cross-tabulations indicated considerable dissociation between performance on phoneme, syllable, and rhyme tasks. The structural relationships were replicated on a much larger sample (n=1509) in the second study. Subjects in this study were one year older and were attending grade 1 thus providing an opportunity to test their reading achievement. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that the phonemic factor was by far the most potent predictor. However, the rhyming factor made an independent (although small) contribution to explaining the reading variance. Among the phonemic tasks, phoneme identification proved to be the most powerful predictor.

Role of Mathematics Self-Efficacy in the Structural Model of Mathematics Achievement.

A structural model of mathematics achievement was tested with 117 male and 108 female high school seniors. Two attitude measures, 3 mathematics self-efficacy scales, and a mathematics achievement test were administered in the same order to all the subjects. Teacher-assigned marks in a selected mathematics course the subjects were taking were also obtained. The covariance matrices of boys and girls were analyzed with a 2-group LISREL procedure. The LISREL model specified mathematics self-efficacy as a mediator between mathematics attitude and achievement. The postulated model for similarly specified parameters was a good fit to the data for both boys and girls

Dyslexia : From Theory to Intervention

Preface. 1. What is Dyslexia? 2. Decoding Difficulties - A Major Symptom of Dyslexia. 3. Spelling Difficulty: A Major Symptom of Dyslexia. 4. Dyslexia and Phonology. 5. Dyslexia and Reading Comprehension. 6. The Biological Basis of Dyslexia. 7. Assessment and Diagnosing. 8. Remediation. References. Author Index. Subject Index.

ADHD and Reading Disability in Male Adults Is There a Connection

The present study examined the comorbidity between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading disability (RD) in male adults. Participants were 120 men, of whom 24 were classified as having ADHD. The basis for the diagnosis was two self-report scales validated by interviews and background data. An extensive battery was used to assess phonological abilities and various aspects of reading skills. No differences were obtained between adults with and without ADHD on measures of either phonological processing skills or word decoding, indicating a low comorbidity with RD. This finding was valid even when different criteria were used to diagnose RD. However, the two groups differed in reading comprehension, with individuals with ADHD performing poorly in tests of reading comprehension. These results are compatible with the view that reading comprehension involves many of the higher cognitive control functions assumed to be impaired in ADHD. However, these attentional control functions are not critical to word recognition, which is determined by a more encapsulated phonological processing module. The pattern of associations between ADHD and RD observed in the present study is explained with reference to the differential attentional demands of the two aspects of reading.

The Computer as a Tool of Remediation in the Education of Students with Reading Disabilities—A Theory-Based Approach:

The theoretical statement that phonological processes are the key to early and efficient acquisition of reading skills is no longer controversial within mainstream reading research, although there is ongoing investigation of how phonological skills are related to acquisition of word recognition. Within this theoretical framework, general remedial guidelines for dealing with dyslexia are illustrated. A core technical component in the remedial program is the “talking” computer, which gives support and feedback through synthesized speech. The results of a series of small quasi-experimental studies indicated positive treatment effects. Dyslexic students who enjoyed the benefit of computer training with speech feedback gained more in reading and spelling performance compared to students who had access only to conventional special education.

Phonemic Deficits: A Core Symptom of Developmental Dyslexia?

The basic weakness in developmental dyslexia is lack of facility with words. Instead of searching for various behavioural, educational or social correlates of this deficiency, we analysed the critical cognitive and linguistic demands raised by the alphabetical code. Dyslexic children suffer from poor access to the phonemic units of spoken language and this lack of phonemic awareness is then a serious obstacle in the process of reading acquisition. A longitudinal study of children from preschool to the end of grade 3 clearly demonstrated that a speciflc phonemic deficiency already exsisted before starting school among 35 dyslexics. The poor reading and spelling development observed among these children was interpreted as causally related to their problems with the elusive and abstract phonemes. In a second study with dyslexic adolescents we looked for the biological basis of poorly developed phonological skills. Strong tendencies of phonological difficulties were observed in families of dyslexics. Magnetic...

Patterns of Information Processing Skills and Word Recognition Strategies in Developmental Dyslexia

Abstract The developmental‐lag hypothesis in theories about dyslexia refers to an unexpected slow, but not qualitatively different, development of reading skills in dyslexic children. The alternative hypothesis holds that dyslexic readers use qualitatively different or idiosyncratic strategies in reading, particularly in word recognition, because of deficient cognitive and linguistic processes related to reading. In order to evaluate these hypotheses, a reading level design was set up. A carefully selected group of 19 dyslexic adolescents was compared to a group of younger children with the same word‐reading ability as the dyslexics. The comparisons included a set of word‐recognition skills (e.g. lexical decision, nonword reading) and a set of reading‐related tasks (e.g. visual discrimination, naming, phonemic synthesis). Although the dyslexics had about the same performance on a word reading test, they were far behind the younger children in the experimental word‐recognition skills. On the perceptual and...

Aspects of Linguistic Awareness Related to Reading

The author of the Iliad and the Odyssey describes an almost colorless world. So Gladstone once proposed in a London pub that color vision had evolved in mankind during historical time. I have been told that color blindness or daltonism was not described in literature until the end of the seventeenth century. Of course, the physical and physiological prerequisites for color vision have not changed essentially in the course of history. But in one sense Gladstone was probably right. There is a difference between sensation and conscious awareness of or reflection on the phenomenon of color. Our way of viewing color might well have changed since the days of Homer. Antique man probably saw the olive in the same manner as we do. For him, however, there was no need to differentiate olive green from the green olive. What use was there for having two words for what was one and the same thing in inseparable union? Why have a separate name for the color? Did he even notice it as color? To conceptually separate the color from the colored object requires more abstraction than we usually presume. Surely this operation is much facilitated by practical work with colors. The techniques of dyeing and painting have probably been of importance in the evolution of color terms. And these techniques have assuredly been developed during historical time.

Nonreaders' awareness of the basic relationship between spoken and written words ☆

Abstract One hundred children, in four groups, were presented with 72 word pairs (spoken and written). Each pair consisted of one short and one long word. The subjects were requested to indicate a target word on a card and explain their choice. The basis for a correct nonreading solution was attention to the surface aspects of words and recognition of the relation between sound duration and number of graphemes. A main experimental variable was the relationship between number of graphemes and the size of the denoted object. In the youngest age group (4-year-olds) irrelevant and nonlinguistic solutions predominated. Older children were guided by semantic content. Proper understanding of the relationship between spoken and written words was observed among some of the oldest children (7-year-olds).