Wim Tops

Cognitive Profile of Students Who Enter Higher Education with an Indication of Dyslexia

For languages other than English there is a lack of empirical evidence about the cognitive profile of students entering higher education with a diagnosis of dyslexia. To obtain such evidence, we compared a group of 100 Dutch-speaking students diagnosed with dyslexia with a control group of 100 students without learning disabilities. Our study showed selective deficits in reading and writing (effect sizes for accuracy between du200a=u200a1 and du200a=u200a2), arithmetic (d≈1), and phonological processing (d>0.7). Except for spelling, these deficits were larger for speed related measures than for accuracy related measures. Students with dyslexia also performed slightly inferior on the KAIT tests of crystallized intelligence, due to the retrieval of verbal information from long-term memory. No significant differences were observed in the KAIT tests of fluid intelligence. The profile we obtained agrees with a recent meta-analysis of English findings suggesting that it generalizes to all alphabetic languages. Implications for special arrangements for students with dyslexia in higher education are outlined.

Identifying students with dyslexia in higher education

An increasing number of students with dyslexia enter higher education. As a result, there is a growing need for standardized diagnosis. Previous research has suggested that a small number of tests may suffice to reliably assess students with dyslexia, but these studies were based on post hoc discriminant analysis, which tends to overestimate the percentage of systematic variance, and were limited to the English language (and the Anglo-Saxon education system). Therefore, we repeated the research in a non-English language (Dutch) and we selected variables on the basis of a prediction analysis. The results of our study confirm that it is not necessary to administer a wide range of tests to diagnose dyslexia in (young) adults. Three tests sufficed: word reading, word spelling and phonological awareness, in line with the proposal that higher education students with dyslexia continue to have specific problems with reading and writing. We also show that a traditional postdiction analysis selects more variables of importance than the prediction analysis. However, these extra variables explain study-specific variance and do not result in more predictive power of the model.

Metacognition for Spelling in Higher Education Students with Dyslexia: Is There Evidence for the Dual Burden Hypothesis?

We examined whether academic and professional bachelor students with dyslexia are able to compensate for their spelling deficits with metacognitive experience. Previous research suggested that students with dyslexia may suffer from a dual burden. Not only do they perform worse on spelling but in addition they are not as fully aware of their difficulties as their peers without dyslexia. According to some authors, this is the result of a worse feeling of confidence, which can be considered as a form of metacognition (metacognitive experience). We tried to isolate this metacognitive experience by asking 100 students with dyslexia and 100 matched control students to rate their feeling of confidence in a word spelling task and a proofreading task. Next, we used Signal Detection Analysis to disentangle the effects of proficiency and criterion setting. We found that students with dyslexia showed lower proficiencies but not suboptimal response biases. They were as good at deciding when they could be confident or not as their peers without dyslexia. They just had more cases in which their spelling was wrong. We conclude that the feeling of confidence in our students with dyslexia is as good as in their peers without dyslexia. These findings go against the Dual Burden theory (Krüger & Dunning, 1999), which assumes that people with a skills problem suffer twice as a result of insufficiently developed metacognitive competence. As a result, there is no gain to be expected from extra training of this metacognitive experience in higher education students with dyslexia.

No deficiency in left-to-right processing of words in dyslexia but evidence for enhanced visual crowding

Whitney and Cornelissen hypothesized that dyslexia may be the result of problems with the left-to-right processing of words, particularly in the part of the word between the word beginning and the readers fixation position. To test this hypothesis, we tachistoscopically presented consonant trigrams in the left and the right visual field (LVF, RVF) to 20 undergraduate students with dyslexia and 20 matched controls. The trigrams were presented at different locations (from –2.5° to + 2.5°) in both visual half fields. Participants were asked to identify the letters, and accuracy rates were compared. In line with the predictions of the SERIOL (sequential encoding regulated by inputs to oscillations within letter units) model of visual word recognition, a typical U-shaped pattern was found at all retinal locations. Accuracy also decreased the further away the stimulus was from the fixation location, with a steeper decrease in the LVF than in the RVF. Contrary to the hypothesis, the students with dyslexia showed the same pattern of results as did the control participants, also in the LVF, apart from a slightly lower accuracy rate, particularly for the central letter. The latter is in line with the possibility of enhanced crowding in dyslexia. In addition, in the dyslexia group but not in the control group the degree of crowding correlated significantly with the students’ word reading scores. These findings suggest that lateral inhibition between letters is associated with word reading performance in students with dyslexia.

Spelling in Adolescents With Dyslexia: Errors and Modes of Assessment

In this study we focused on the spelling of high-functioning students with dyslexia. We made a detailed classification of the errors in a word and sentence dictation task made by 100 students with dyslexia and 100 matched control students. All participants were in the first year of their bachelor’s studies and had Dutch as mother tongue. Three main error categories were distinguished: phonological, orthographic, and grammatical errors (on the basis of morphology and language-specific spelling rules). The results indicated that higher-education students with dyslexia made on average twice as many spelling errors as the controls, with effect sizes of d ≥ 2. When the errors were classified as phonological, orthographic, or grammatical, we found a slight dominance of phonological errors in students with dyslexia. Sentence dictation did not provide more information than word dictation in the correct classification of students with and without dyslexia.

An exploratory factor analysis of the cognitive functioning of first-year bachelor students with dyslexia

An increasing number of students with dyslexia register in higher education. As a consequence, information on their pattern of strengths and weaknesses is essential to construct adequate assessment and diagnostic protocols. In a sample of 100 first-year bachelor students with dyslexia and 100 control students, a large pool of cognitive skills were tested using a variety of tests. When we applied an exploratory factor analysis to scores, a model with ten factors fitted the data best. Effect sizes were used to express the processing costs of students with dyslexia. The factors related to reading, spelling, flashed orthography, phonology, naming, math, and reading fluency resulted in large effect sizes. A factor combining all measures for crystallized IQ had a medium effect size. The subtests for fluid intelligence were divided in two separate constructs. Relationships between all subtest scores are visualized and interpreted in a general theoretical and practical framework.

Do students with dyslexia have a different personality profile as measured with the big five

Background Few studies are available about the personality profile of higher education students with dyslexia and to which extent this could be any different from their non-dyslexic peers. Aims and Sample(s) To obtain empirical evidence, we compared the personality profile of a group of 100 Dutch-speaking students with dyslexia with that of a control group of 100 students without learning disabilities. Methods The NEO-PI-R based on the Big Five in personality research was used. Results and Conclusions Our study showed no differences in the personality between both groups. This agrees with a recent meta-analysis of English findings (Swanson & Hsieh, 2009), suggesting that students with dyslexia do not perceive themselves differently than their non-dyslexic peers. Practical implications and directions for future research are considered.

Grammar disruption in a patient with Neuro-Sweet syndrome.

This paper for the first time reports detailed neurolinguistic findings in a patient with Neuro-Sweet syndrome. In this patient the presenting symptoms of central nervous system (CNS) involvement primarily consisted of a selective grammar deficit restricted to spontaneous speech. On MRI a left prefrontal ischemic stroke (superior part BA 6) and two small subcortical left parietal infarctions were found. Neurolinguistic analyses, however, did not reveal a profile consistent with any observations of agrammatism caused by structural damage to the language areas critically involved in grammatical processing. It is hypothesized that selectively distorted grammar might reflect disruption of the frontosubcortical network involved in language processing. Prefrontal neurobehavioral abnormalities associated with functional disruption of the inferior medial frontal regions as demonstrated by SPECT, additionally suggest that agrammatic symptoms may be linked to a higher-level cognitive disorder following encephalopathic CNS involvement.

Effects of regiolects on the perception of developmental foreign accent syndrome

Abstract Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a relatively rare speech motor disorder in which the pronunciation of an affected speaker is perceived as distinctly foreign by listeners of the same language community. Because of various close semiological resemblances with apraxia of speech, FAS has been hypothesized to be an apraxia subtype. In 2009 two cases of developmental FAS (dFAS) were described in whom the disorder was detected in an early stage of their speech-language development in the absence of brain damage or mental illness. In the present study, two listening panels consisting of 30 native speakers of two regiolects, Dutch and Flemish, evaluate the spontaneous speech of two native Flemish-speaking boys with suspected dFAS, three native Flemish-speaking children diagnosed with developmental apraxia of speech (dAoS), two bilingual children (L1xa0=xa0Flemish, L2xa0=xa0French or English), and six native Flemish-speaking children with typical speech-language development. Whereas the Dutch panellists were not able to distinguish the different groups, the Flemish listeners accurately identified the children with dFAS and the bilingual children. None of the listeners were able to discern between dFAS and dAoS. The latter finding supports the assumption that the two speech disorders not only share similar semiological and perceptual characteristics but also a common pathophysiological substrate. Although it is not always identified by listeners of the same language community but is by speakers of the same regiolect, in addition to FAS resulting from brain damage or a psychological disorder, dFAS appears a distinct form of apraxia of speech resulting from developmental deficits.

L1 and L2 reading skills in Dutch adolescents with a familial risk of dyslexia

Background The present study investigated differences in reading and spelling outcomes in Dutch and English as a second language (ESL) in adolescents with a high familial risk of dyslexia, of whom some have developed dyslexia (HRDys) while others have not (HRnonDys), in comparison to a low familial risk control group without dyslexia (LRnonDys). This allowed us to investigate the persistence of dyslexia in the first language (L1) and the effect of dyslexia on the second language (L2), which has, in this case, a lower orthographic transparency. Furthermore, the inclusion of the HRnonDys group allowed us to investigate the continuity of the familial risk of dyslexia, as previous studies observed that the HRnonDys group often scores in between the HRDys and LRnonDys group, and whether these readers without reading deficits in Dutch, have more reading difficulties in ESL. Methods The data of three groups of adolescents were analyzed; 27 LRnonDys, 25 HRdys 25 HRnonDys. The mean age was 14;1 years; months, and 37 were male. All were native speakers of Dutch, attended regular secondary education (grade 7–10), and were non-native speakers of English. Using MANOVA the groups were compared on Dutch and English word reading fluency (WRF), spelling and vocabulary, Dutch pseudoword and loanword reading fluency, phonological awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), and verbal short term and working memory. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare English and Dutch WRF, spelling and vocabulary directly within the three groups. Results The analyses revealed that the HRDys group had a deficit in both reading and spelling in Dutch and ESL. They also performed poorer than the LRnonDys group on all other measures. Effect sizes were especially large for pseudoword reading and the reaction times during the PA task. The HRnonDys group scored generally poorer than the LRnonDys group but this difference was only significant for Dutch pseudoword reading, PA reaction times and verbal short term memory. In general the HRDys and HRnonDys group scored similar in Dutch and English, except for English WRF where the HRDys group scored slightly better than expected based on their Dutch WRF. Discussion There was a high persistence of dyslexia. Adolescents with dyslexia had large impairments in reading and spelling, and reading related measures, both in Dutch and ESL. Despite high inter-individual differences, an overall three-step pattern was observed. Adolescents in the HRnonDys group scored in between the HRDys and LRnonDys group, supporting the polygenetic origin of dyslexia and the continuity of the familial risk of dyslexia. The lower orthographic transparency did not have a negative effect on L2 reading, spelling and vocabulary, both in the HRnonDys and HRDys group. The latter group performed slightly better than expected in L2, which may be a result of the massive exposure to English and high motivation to use English by adolescents.