Investigates the proposed left hemisphere dysfunction in dyslexia by reviewing four studies using regional cerebral blood flow (RCBF) and combined auditory evoked responses with positron emission tomography. Emphasizes methodological issues. Finds that dyslexics showed a positive correlation between Heschl's gyrus activation and phonemic…

This article summarizes work in progress at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine (North Carolina) on the structure and physiological profiles of reading disability and relates the findings to core left-hemisphere language functions. Data add evidence of the structural anomalies associated with dyslexia and evidence of its heritability, especially of…

Ten students (age 10) with dyslexia were compared to 10 chronological-age controls and 20 reading-age controls. Response latencies of the students with dyslexia were slower when familiar words, letter clusters, and nonwords had to be named. A larger word-frequency effect and larger word-length effect indicate difficulty with increasing task…

A study examined effects of phonological awareness training on 191 German kindergartners. Comparisons of children at risk with average and advanced children revealed that training gains were similar for all of these groups. Furthermore, training had comparable long-term effects on reading and spelling in grades 1 and 2 for each group. (Author/CR)

A study compared 28 children (ages 6-10) with dyslexia, 23 with reading disabilities, 15 low verbal intelligence good readers, and 24 reading-level matched younger children. Results found most of the poorest readers (nearly all were dyslexic) had a double or triple deficit in phonological, naming-speed, and orthographic skills. (Author/CR)

Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences theory has exciting implications for planning new curricula, especially for children with dyslexia. These children have been "educated" in a system that has failed them. Gardner's theory allows an open-ended approach to assessing dyslexic children's intelligence. Understanding the eight…

Discusses the definition of dyslexia, reintroduces the concept of marker variables, proposes a strategy for developing an updated marker variable system, presents a preliminary working set of dyslexia marker variables, and calls for eventual adoption of this or similar marker variable systems to facilitate future research efforts. (Author/CR)

Investigates Chinese dyslexic children's efficiency in employing phonological strategies in reading and the effectiveness of training phonological strategies in improving reading performance. Finds subjects did not use the phonological strategies as efficiently as Chinese average readers, and the training program was effective in significantly…

This article briefly defines phonological core deficits in cases of dyslexia; considers student classification based on federal and state learning disability placement guidelines; and suggests 10 interventions such as teaching metacognitive strategies, providing direct instruction in language analysis and the alphabetic code, and teaching reading…

Multiple regression methods were used to examine continuous variation in component reading subskills and their underlying cognitive skills within a group of 9 to 15-year-old children. Results are discussed within a connectionist framework that views the decoding deficit in dyslexia as stemming from poorly specified phonological representations.…

This article proposes a neurobiological account of reading and reading disability suggesting that for normally developing readers, the dorsal (tempo-parietal) circuit predominates at first, and in conjunction with premotor systems, is associated with analytic processing necessary for learning to integrate orthographic with phonological and…

It is argued the proposed definition of dyslexia is restricted to developmental dyslexia in which a student struggles to learn to read and does not apply to acquired dyslexia in which a previously normal reader loses reading functions. The need for classification schemes for defining specific learning disabilities is emphasized. (Contains…

In this review, three perspectives on spelling theory, research, and instruction are examined. Traditional classroom-based, developmental, and structured language approaches are outlined and their implications for assisting poor spellers explored. Instructional recommendations are made by drawing from and combining some of the strengths of each…

This introductory article to a special issue of case studies shows the diversity of students with severe reading disabilities. It notes that poor readers often have difficulties in one or more of three areas: decoding, recognizing words automatically, and reading text fluently, all linked to weaknesses in rapid naming of visually presented items.…

This study investigates the relationship between phoneme awareness and rapid naming skills and subsequent reading and spelling ability in two developmental periods: kindergarten to Grade 1 and Grade 1 to Grade 2. Two groups of children participated in the study: children at high and children at low familial risk of developmental dyslexia. The…