Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Heterogeneity in adult dyslexic readers: Relating processing skills to the speed and accuracy of oral text reading

  • Published:
Reading and Writing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Subgroups of Finnish dyslexic adults (N = 84)displaying, relative to each other, a distinctivecombination of accuracy and speed of oral text readingwere compared in phonological and orthographicprocessing, verbal short-term memory and readinghabits. Inaccurate phonological decoding appeared todetermine the number of errors made in text reading,while inability to utilize effectively rapid lexicalaccess of words manifested as slow text reading speed.Phonological and orthographic word recognitionprocesses were less tightly integrated among dyslexicthan normal readers. Our results indicate thatadvanced orthographic processing skills might help anumber of the dyslexic readers to compensate for theirserious phonological deficits. The subgroups alsodiffered from each other in reading habits. Arelatively fast reading speed, even with numerouserrors, appears to be more rewarding in everydayreading than a slower but more accurate readingstyle.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aaron, P.G., Olsen, J. & Baker, C. (1985). The dyslexic college student: Is he also dysphasic? Cognitive Neuropsychology 2(2): 115-147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Dror, I., Pollatsek, A. & Scarpati, S. (1991).Word identification in isolation and in context by college dyslexic students, Brain and Language 40: 471-490.

    Google Scholar 

  • Besner, D., Davelaar, E., Alcott, D. & Parry, P. (1984). Wholistic reading of alphabetic print: Evidence from the FDM and the FBI. In: L. Henderson (ed.), Orthographies and reading: Perspectives from cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and linguistics (pp. 121-135). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowers, P.G., Sunseth, K. & Golden, J. (1999). The route between rapid naming and reading progress, Scientific Studies of Reading 3: 31-53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowers, P.G. & Wolf, M. (1993). Theoretical links among naming speed, precise timing mechanisms and orthographic skills in dyslexia, Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 5: 69-85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruck, M. (1990). Word-recognition skills of adults with childhood diagnoses of dyslexia, Developmental Psychology 26: 439-454.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruck, M. (1992). Persistence of dyslexics' phonological awareness deficits. Developmental Psychology 28: 874-886.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, B. & Ledez, J. (1983). Phonological awareness in reading disabled adults, Australian Journal of Psychology 35: 185-197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr, T.H., Brown, T.L., Vavrus, L.G. & Evans, M.A. (1990). Cognitive skill maps and cognitive skill profiles: Componential analysis of individual differences in children's reading efficiency. In: T. Carr & B.A. Levy (eds.), Reading and its development: Component skills approaches (pp. 1-55). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cossu, G., Gugliotta, M. & Marshall, J. C. (1995). Acquisition of reading and written spelling in a transparent orthography: Two non parallel processes? Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 7: 9-22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, A.E. & Stanovich, K.E. (1997). Early Reading Acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later, Developmental Psychology 33: 934-945.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daneman, M. & Carpenter, P.A. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 19: 450-466.

    Google Scholar 

  • Decker, S. (1989). Cognitive processing rates among disabled and normal reading young adults: A nine year follow-up study, Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 2: 123-134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denckla, M.B. & Rudel, R.G. (1976). Rapid ‘automatized’ naming (RAN): Dyslexia differentiated from other learning disabilities, Neuropsychologia 14: 471-479.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehri, L.C. & Wilce, L.S. (1983). Development of word identification speed in skilled and less skilled beginning readers, Journal of Educational Psychology 75: 3-18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elbro, C., Nielsen, I. & Petersen, D.K. (1994). Dyslexia in adults: Evidence for deficits in nonword reading and in the phonological representation of lexical items, Annals of Dyslexia 44: 205-226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fawcett, A.J. & Nicolson, R.I. (1995). Persistence of phonological awareness deficits in older children with dyslexia, Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 7: 361-376.

    Google Scholar 

  • Felton, R.H. & Wood, F.B. (1989). Cognitive deficits in reading disability and attention deficit disorder, Journal of Learning Disabilities 22: 3-14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Felton, R.H., Naylor, C.E. & Wood, F.R. (1990). Neuropsychological profile of adult dyslexics, Brain and Language 39: 485-497.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendriks, A.W. & Kolk, H.H.J. (1997). Strategic control in developmental dyslexia, Cognitive Neuropsychology 14: 321-366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Høien, T. & Lundberg, I. (1989). A strategy for assessing problems in word recognition among dyslexics, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 33: 185-201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karlsson, F. (1987). Finnish grammar. Helsinki: WSOY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitz, W.R. & Tarver, S.G. (1989). Comparison of dyslexic and nondyslexic adults decoding and phonemic awareness tasks, Annals of Dyslexia 39: 198-205.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korhonen, T. (1995). The persistence of rapid naming problems in children with reading disabilities: A nine-year follow-up, Journal of Learning Disabilities 28: 232-239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kyöstiö, O.K. (1980). Is learning to read easy in a language in which the grapheme-phoneme correspondences are regular? In: J.F. Kavanagh & R.L. Venezky (eds.), Orthography, reading and dyslexia (pp. 35-49). Baltimore: University Park Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landerl, K., Frith, U. & Wimmer H. (1996). Intrusion of orthographic knowledge on phoneme awareness: Strong in normal readers, weak in dyslexic readers, Applied Psycholinguistics 17: 1-14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lefly, D.L. & Pennington, B.F. (1991). Spelling errors and reading fluency in compensated adult dyslexics, Annals of Dyslexia: 41, 143-162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovett, M.W. (1987). A developmental approach to reading disability: Accuracy and speed criteria of normal and deficient reading skill, Child Development: 58, 234-260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyon, G.R. (1995). Toward a definition of dyslexia, Annals of Dyslexia 45: 3-27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyytinen, H. (1997). In search of the precursors of dyslexia: A prospective study of children at risk for reading problems. In: C. Hulme & M. Snowling (eds.), Dyslexia: Biology, cognition and intervention (pp. 97-107). London: Whurr Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyytinen, H., Leinonen, S., Nikula, M., Aro, M. & Leiwo, M. (1995). In search of the core features of dyslexia: Observations concerning dyslexia in the highly orthographically regular finnish language. In: V.W. Berninger (ed.), The varieties of orthographic knowledge II: Relationship to phonology, reading, and writing (pp. 177-204). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manis, F.R. (1985). Acquisition of word identification skills in normal and disabled readers, Journal of Educational Psychology 77: 78-90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, R., Blahsfield, R. & Satz, P. (1981). Neuropsychology and cluster analysis. Potentials and problems, Journal of Clinical Neuropsychology 3: 79-99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morton, J. & Frith, U. (1995). Causal modelling: A structural approach to developmental psychopathology. In: D. Cicchetti, & D. Cohen (eds.), Manual of developmental psychopathology, vol 1 (pp. 357-390). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, R., Forsberg, H., Wise, B. & Rack, J. (1994). Measurement of word recognition, Orthographic, and phonological skills. In: G.R. Lyon (ed.), Frames of reference for the assessment of learning disabilities: New views on assessment issues (pp. 243-277). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennington, B.F., Van Orden, G.C., Smith, S.D., Green, P.A. & Haith, M.M. 1990). Phonological processing skills and deficit in adult dyslexics. Child Development 61: 1753-1778.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennington, B.F., Van Orden, G., Kirson, D. & Haith, M. (1991). What is causal relation between verbal STM problems and dyslexia? In: S.A. Brady & D.P. Shankweiler (eds.), Phonological processes in literacy. A tribute to Isabelle Y. Liberman (pp. 173-186). Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perfetti, C.A. & Bell, L. (1991). Phonemic activation during the first 40 ms of word identification: Evidence from backward masking and priming, Journal of Memory and Language 30: 473-485.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pratt, A.C. & Brady, S. (1988). Relation of phonological awareness to reading disability in children and adults, Journal of Educational Psychology 80: 319-323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rack, J.P. (1985). Orthographic and phonetic coding in developmental dyslexia, British Journal of Psychology 76: 325-340.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rack, J.P., Snowling, M.J. & Olson, R.K. (1992). The nonword reading deficit in developmental dyslexia: A review, Reading Research Quarterly 27: 29-53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raven, J.C., Court, J.H. & Raven, J. (1992). Standard progressive matrices. Oxford: Oxford Psychologists Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scarborough, H.S. (1984). Continuity between childhood dyslexia and adult reading, British Journal of Psychology 75: 329-348.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seymour, P.H.K. (1986). Cognitive analysis of dyslexia. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shafrir, U. & Siegel, L.S. (1994). Preference for visual scanning strategies versus phonological rehearsal in university students with reading disabilities, Journal of Learning Disabilities 27: 583-588.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, L.S., Share, D. & Geva, E. (1995). Evidence for superior orthographic skills in dyslexics, Psychological Science 6: 250-254.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, L.S. & Stanovich, K.E. (1998). The assessment of adults with reading disabilities: What can we learn from experimental tasks, Journal of Research in Reading 20: 42-54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M.C. (1996). Differences in adults' reading practices and literacy proficiencies, Reading Research Quarterly 31: 196-219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanovich, K.E. & Siegel, L.S. (1994). Phenotypic profile of children with reading disabilities: A regression-based test of the phonological-core variable-difference model, Journal of Educational Psychology 86: 24-53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Statistical yearbook of Finland (1991). Official statistics of Finland. Statistics Finland, Helsinki.

  • Torgesen, J.K., Wagner, R.K., Simmons, K. & Laughon, P. (1990). Identifying phonological coding problems in disabled readers: Naming, counting, or span measures? Learning Disability Quarterly 13: 236-243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Orden, G.C. (1987). A ROWS is a ROSE: Spelling, sound and reading, Memory and Cognition 15: 181-198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vellutino, F.R. & Scanlon, D. (1987). Phonological coding, phonological awareness, and reading disability: Evidence from a longitudinal and experimental study, Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 33: 321-363.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vellutino, F.R., Scanlon, D.M. & Chen, R.S. (1995). The increasingly inextricable relationship between orthographic and phonological coding in learning to read: Some reservations about current methods of operationalizing orthographic coding. In: V. Berninger (ed.), The varietes of orthographic knowledge II: Relationships to phonology, reading, and writing (pp. 47-111). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, R.K. & Torgesen, J.J. (1987). The nature of phonological processing, and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills, Psychological Bulletin 101: 192-212.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, R.F., Stanovich, K.E. & Cunningham, A.E. (1995). Compensatory processes in reading. In: R.A. Dixon & L. Bäckman (eds.), Compensating for psychological deficits and declines, Managing losses and promoting gains (pp. 275-296). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wimmer, H. (1993). Characteristics of developmental dyslexia in a regular writing system, Applied Psycholinguistics 14: 1-33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wimmer, H. (1996). The nonword reading deficit in developmental dyslexia: Evidence from children learning to read German, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 61: 80-90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, M., Pfeil, C., Lotz, R. & Biddle, K. (1994). Towards a more universal understanding of the developmental dyslexias: The contribution of orthographic factors. In: V.W. Berninger (ed.), The varieties of orthographic knowledge I: Theoretical and developmental issues (pp. 137-171). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, M., Bowers, P. G. & Biddle, K. (1998). Naming-speed processes, timing, and reading: A conceptual review. Manuscript submitted for publication.

  • Wolff, P.H., Melngailis, I., Obregon, M. & Bedrosian, M. (1995). Family patterns of developmental dyslexia, Part II: Behavioral phenotypes, American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 60: 494-505.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, A. & Bowers, P.G. (1995). Individual difference and text difficulty determinants of reading fluency and expressiveness, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 60: 428-455.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Niilo Mäki Institute, Finland

    Seija Leinonen, Mikko Aro, Timo Ahonen & Heikki Lyytinen

  2. Child Research Center, Finland

    Seija Leinonen & Mikko Aro

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

    Kurt Müller, Paavo H.T. Leppänen, Timo Ahonen & Heikki Lyytinen

Authors
  1. Seija Leinonen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kurt Müller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Paavo H.T. Leppänen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mikko Aro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Timo Ahonen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Heikki Lyytinen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Leinonen, S., Müller, K., Leppänen, P.H. et al. Heterogeneity in adult dyslexic readers: Relating processing skills to the speed and accuracy of oral text reading. Reading and Writing 14, 265–296 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011117620895

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011117620895

Search

Navigation