This study examined the Double-Deficit Hypothesis (DDH) by classifying students with dyslexia into four distinct groups, comparing group differences on text-level reading tasks, and examining group stability across one school year (fall to spring). Elementary students (N = 109) were administered measures of reading fluency, reading comprehension,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations among phonological skills, reading fluency, and reading comprehension across reading modality (oral and silent) for a sample of students (N = 121) in grades 2-5 who have been diagnosed with dyslexia. Participants were administered text-level oral and silent reading fluency and comprehension…

Great strides have been made in the development of effective methods of instruction for children with dyslexia. However, individual response to treatment varies, and weaknesses persist for some students with dyslexia despite otherwise effective instruction. Continued efforts are needed to support the prospective identification of poor response,…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether group-based differences exist in word- and text-level reading in a clinical sample of students with dyslexia, and to shed light on the cognitive processes supporting these essential skills. Second- through seventh-grade students were administered a battery of standardized measures of cognitive…

Despite historical emphasis on "specific" learning disabilities (SLDs), academic skills are strongly correlated across the curriculum. Thus, one can ask how specific SLDs truly are. To answer this question, we used bifactor models to identify variance shared across academic domains (academic "g"), as well as variance unique to…

Previous research has revealed conflicting results with regard to the role of the magnocellular visual system in reading and dyslexia. In order to investigate this further, the present study examined the relationship between performance on two magnocellular tasks (temporal gap detection and coherent motion), reading rate (oral and silent), and…

The purpose of the present study was to identify and characterize surface and phonological subgroups of readers among college students with a prior diagnosis of developmental reading disability (RD). Using a speeded naming task derived from Castles and Coltheart's subtyping study, we identified subgroups of readers from among college students with…

There is often confusion about the terms used to label or describe a reading problem. Clinicians and researchers use different terminology than the schools. For example, medical professionals, psychologists, and other practitioners outside of the school often use the term "dyslexia," "reading disorder," and "specific…

Development of reading skills has been shown to be tightly linked to phonological processing skills and to some extent to speech perception abilities. Although speech perception is also known to play a role in reading development, it is not clear which processes underlie this connection. Using event-related potentials (ERPs) we investigated the…

Long-standing issues with the conceptualization, identification and subtyping of developmental dyslexia persist. This study takes an alternative approach to examine the heterogeneity of developmental dyslexia using taxometric classification techniques. These methods were used with a large sample of 671 children ages 6-8 who were diagnosed with…

Approximately 15-20% of the U.S. population has been diagnosed with dyslexia. The theory of automaticity implies that automatic decoding precedes fluency in reading, leading to better comprehension. The "Reading from Scratch" program is designed to assist dyslexics improve their reading ability. Research questions for this case study…

In 2001 the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated that U.S. public schools provide evidence-based practice for individuals with learning disabilities. However, it is unclear whether U.S. public schools have consistently adhered to this mandate. The purpose of this study was to provide preliminary evidence regarding whether U.S. public schools…

Stakeholders are debating the value of cognitively focused instruction for students who have not benefited from a skills-based approach. Much of the discussion, however, is occurring without recognition of research that has been conducted in the past 2 decades. In this article, we reviewed the research. Electronic databases and hard copies of…

We investigated various structural models of phonological processing and the relationship of phonological processing abilities to basic reading. Data were collected on 116 kindergarten and first grade students. The specific ability model, which included phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid automatized naming as separate…

The investigators measured 7 literacy skills in a group of 21 school-age children with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss (MSNH group), and compared the scores to those of 2 age-matched groups: children with dyslexia (DYS group) and, as a control, typically developing hearing children (CA group). The MSNH group performed consistently…