Pseudoname learning by German-speaking children with dyslexia: Evidence for a phonological learning deficit

In 2 experiments, German-speaking dyslexic children (9-year-olds) showed im paired learning of new phonological Forms (pseudonames) in a variety of vis ual-verbal learning tasks. The dyslexic deficit was also found when phonolo gical retrieval cues were provided and when the to-be-learned pseudonames w ere presented in spoken as well as printed form. However, the dyslexic chil dren showed no name-learning deficit when short, familiar words were used a nd they also had no difficulty with immediate repetition of the pseudowords . The dyslexic children's difficulty in learning new phonological forms was associated with pseudoword-repetition and naming-speed deficits assessed a t the beginning of school, but not with phonological awareness and visual-m otor impairments. We propose that the difficulty in learning new phonologic al forms may affect reading and spelling acquisition via impaired storage o f new phonological forms, which serve as phonological underpinnings of the letter patterns of words or parts of words. (C) 2000 Academic Press.