DYSLEXIA - A VALIDATION OF THE CONCEPT AT 2 AGE LEVELS

The 144 participants were administered tasks with a demonstrated relat ionship to reading. Both older students (8 to 10 years old) and younge r students (6 to 7 years old) included three groups of poor readers (m atched on word reading but differing in the discrepancy from expected reading level) and age-matched average readers. Older poor readers als o had a control group of reading-matched younger subjects. The study p rovided no support for the concept of dyslexia at age 6 to 7 years. Am ong older participants there was support for the concept of dyslexia a s a phonological deficit and of nondiscrepant garden-variety poor read ing as a developmental lag. More discrepant participants with dyslexia exhibited orthographic and serial naming-speed deficits, as well as p honological deficits, and were a distinctive dyslexic group. Less disc repant participants with dyslexia were more similar to garden-variety poor readers than to the more discrepant participants with dyslexia.