THE present study addresses phonological processing in children with develo
pmental dyslexia. Following the hypothesis of a core deficit of assembled p
honology in dyslexia a set of hierarchically structured tasks was applied t
hat specifically control for different kinds of phonological coding (assemb
led versus addressed phonological strategies). Seventeen developmental dysl
exics and 17 normal reading children were scanned during four different tas
ks: (1) passive viewing of letter strings (control condition), (2) passive
reading of non-words, (3) passive reading of legal words, and (4) a task re
quiring phonological transformation. Statistical analysis of the data was p
erformed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM96). Comparison of patter
ns of activation in dyslexic and normal reading children revealed significa
nt differences in Broca's area and the left inferior temporal region for bo
th, non-word reading and the phonological transformation task. The present
data provide new evidence for alteration of the phonological system in dysl
exic children, and in particular, the system that mediates assembled phonol
ogical coding. NeuroReport 10:3459-3465 (C) 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilk
ins.