Manuel Soriano-Ferrer

Knowledge and Beliefs about Developmental Dyslexia in Pre-Service and In-Service Spanish-Speaking Teachers.

The present study investigated knowledge, misconceptions, and lack of information about dyslexia among pre-service (PST) and in-service (IST) Spanish-speaking teachers in Spain and Peru. Two hundred and forty-six pre-service teachers and 267 in-service teachers completed the Knowledge and Beliefs about Developmental Dyslexia Scale (KBDDS). In-service teachers scored significantly higher on the total scale, and on the symptoms/diagnosis and general information subscales, than pre-service teachers. The percentages for misconceptions and lack of information (“do not know responses”) were higher for PSTs than for ISTs on the general information subscale, the symptoms/diagnosis subscale, and the treatment subscale. Analyses of individual items were conducted to differentiate concepts that teachers did not know from misconceptions. In-service teacher self-efficacy, years of teaching experience, post-graduate training in dyslexia, and prior exposure to a child with dyslexia were positively related to knowledge about dyslexia. Implications for pre-service teacher training and professional development are discussed.

Una revisión de las bases neurobiológicas de la dislexia en población adulta

INTRODUCTION Adult dyslexia affects about 4% of the population. However, studies on the neurobiological basis of dyslexia in adulthood are scarce compared to paediatric studies. AIM This review investigates the neurobiological basis of dyslexia in adulthood. DEVELOPMENT Using PsycINFO, a database of psychology abstracts, we identified 11 studies on genetics, 9 neurostructural studies, 13 neurofunctional studies and 24 neurophysiological studies. Results from the review show that dyslexia is highly heritable and displays polygenic transmission. Likewise, adult neuroimaging studies found structural, functional, and physiological changes in the parieto-occipital and occipito-temporal regions, and in the inferior frontal gyrus, in adults with dyslexia. CONCLUSION According to different studies, aetiology in cases of adult dyslexia is complex. We stress the need for neurobiological studies of dyslexia in languages with transparent spelling systems.

Educación para la salud sexual. Del enamoramiento al aborto. Un estudio cualitativo con adolescentes españoles e inmigrantes

El proposito de este estudio es analizar como viven su sexualidad adolescentesespanoles e inmigrados para orientar nuevos programas de educacionsexual. El enfoque de investigacion ha sido cualitativo; se utilizaronprincipios asociados a la etnografia focalizada. La muestra se conformocon 80 adolescentes de ocho nacionalidades diferentes. Los datos se recogierona traves de una entrevista con preguntas abiertas y planteamientode dilemas. Para el analisis de los datos se identifico un sistema de categorias.Los principales resultados son: la forma de vivir la sexualidad estarelacionada con el genero y el grupo etnico-cultural; se requiere plantearuna educacion sexual entendida como educacion para la salud sexual, enla que ademas de los fundamentos biologicos y de prevencion, se logreincidir y potenciar la educacion de las emociones, sentimientos, actitudesy conductas responsables, en definitiva: una educacion integral.

Knowledge and Beliefs About Developmental Dyslexia: A Comparison Between Pre-Service and In-Service Peruvian Teachers:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge, misconceptions, and knowledge gaps of Peruvian pre-service teachers (PSTs) and in-service teachers (ISTs). To do so, 112 PSTs and 113 ISTs completed the Knowledge and Beliefs About Developmental Dyslexia Scale (KBDDS). Results show that ISTs scored significantly higher than PSTs. Moreover, misconceptions and lack of information were higher in PSTs. The most noteworthy misconceptions were that dyslexia is due to poor visual perception and that letter or word reversals are the most important criterion in the identification of dyslexia. Age, years of teaching experience, prior exposure to a child with dyslexia, and self-efficacy were positively correlated with knowledge about dyslexia in ISTs.

Are There Lower Repetition Priming Effects in Children with Developmental Dyslexia? Priming Effects in Spanish with the Masked Lexical Decision Task

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to compare the reaction times and errors of Spanish children with developmental dyslexia to the reaction times and errors of readers without dyslexia on a masked lexical decision task with identity or repetition priming. A priming paradigm was used to study the role of the lexical deficit in dyslexic children, manipulating the frequency and length of the words, with a short Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA = 150 ms) and degraded stimuli. The sample consisted of 80 participants from 9 to 14 years old, divided equally into a group with a developmental dyslexia diagnosis and a control group without dyslexia. Results show that identity priming is higher in control children (133 ms) than in dyslexic children (55 ms). Thus, the “frequency” and “word length” variables are not the source or origin of this reduction in identity priming reaction times in children with developmental dyslexia compared to control children.