This study examined the interrelations of speech skills and letter knowledge to the phonological awareness and early reading skills of 99 preschool children. Findings indicated that phoneme awareness, but not rhyme awareness, correlated with early reading measures and that phoneme manipulation was closely associated with letter knowledge and with…

Perception and production of vowels in the words "pit,""pet," and "pat" were investigated with 19 adolescents with reading disabilities. Students with reading disabilities perceived and produced less well-defined vowel categories than a control group. Results suggest that speech processing difficulties of students with reading disabilities include…

Data from 123 male adults were analyzed to estimate environmental (home, school, and literacy environments) influences on components of literacy skills. Results suggest a substantial social-cultural bias in the delineation of literacy skills and in definitions of reading disabilities. Only phonological ability appeared relatively unaffected by…

Findings from a prospective longitudinal study of math disability (MD) addressed its incidence during primary school, the utility of different MD definitions, and evidence of MD subtypes. Findings indicated only 22 of 209 participants demonstrated "persistent MD"; reading disability was more frequent in this group; and reading related skills and…

Studies with Nootropic psychoactive drugs (such as Piracetam) suggest that Piracetam lacks significant side effects; promotes memory and learning; and improves the reading ability of dyslexics, possibly by directly affecting the left-brain hemisphere. Results are contrasted with studies showing the lack of effectiveness of intensive teaching.…

Because visual short-term memory deficits are common in children with reading problems, a series of experiments were reviewed which examined the role of phonological processes in short-term memory. Results suggest that both developmental and individual differences in verbal memory span are related to efficient phonological processes. (Author/DB)

In an effort to explore S. Orton's "intergrading" hypothesis, six developmental dyslexics (ages 16 to 47) and four good readers were tested on measures of interhemispheric coordination. Dyslexics showed reduced laterality bias and longer response latencies to bihemifield stimuli. (Author/DB)

Church records of adult reading abilities as evaluated yearly by Swedish priests were examined from the eighteenth century in families characterized by poor reading and good reading ability. Although descendents of poor readers tended to demonstrate lower reading scores, transmission patterns did not indicate a simple genetic mechanism. (Author/DB)

Family histories of 12 hyperlexic (precocious word reading with little comprehension often associated with autism) children (5-10 years old) were investigated. Results suggested familial tendencies to disorders of language, reading, writing, and spelling in male relatives, along with a high incidence of nonright-handedness. (Author/DB)

Described are the history of the study of language disabilities, briefly outlining the work of Samuel Orton, Judson Herrick, Adolph Meyer, and Paul Schilder; Lauretta Bender's development of the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test; and the basic principles of language disorders, including familial patterns, maturation lag, plasticity, and nonfixated…

The multiple intelligence theory is based on cultural contexts, biological analysis, developmental theories, and a vertical theory of faculties. Seven intelligences are identified: linguistic, logical mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. The theory's educational implications are described,…

This paper examines the influence of Norman Geschwind's model of connectionism, in which complex functions are built up by connecting primary areas in the brain, and notes his studies of the effects of disconnection on dyslexic individuals. Connectionist-based behavioral studies are reviewed, focusing on intracortical association connections and…

Two studies involving 215 subjects tested the hypothesis that orthographic coding bypasses phonological coding after the early stages of reading or spelling. It was found that nondyslexics continue to develop phonological coding skill until adulthood and rely on it for reading and spelling to a significantly greater extent than do dyslexics.…

Normal students (N=65) in fourth, sixth, and eighth grades were compared to 17 learning-disabled ninth graders on learning derivational morphology and spelling derived forms. Disabled students' knowledge of derivational morphology was equivalent to that of normal sixth graders, but spelling of derived forms was equivalent to that of fourth…

Fourteen poor-reading college students were assigned to a dyslexia group or a nonspecific reading-disabled group based on intelligence quotient (IQ). The groups were compared to controls on cognitive and reading-related skills. Results showed that poor decoding skill characterized the dyslexic reader, whereas the nondyslexic poor reader displayed…