Spatial cognition in children. II. Visuospatial and constructional skills in developmental reading disability

Cognitive models for developmental dyslexia are nowadays centered on the hy pothesis of a specific deficit within the phonologic module of the language system. To ascertain whether defects of spatial cognition are associated w ith developmental reading disability, we investigated a sample of 43 school children (aged 8-9 years) found to be reading impaired during a wide scree ning survey for developmental dyslexia in the province of Naples, Italy. Af ter one year all children were tested again and only 9/43 still presented r eading impairment. while the remaining had achieved a variable range of spo ntaneous recovery. A detailed analysis was performed on all children to cha racterize their cognitive performances using on one hand classical conventi onal tests: for constructional praxis, visuospatial cognition, and visuospa tial memory and on the other a specific neuropsychological battery for cons tructional disorders. The results of our study demonstrated that children w ith long-lasting reading impairment exhibited normal performances on spatia l cognition tasks. Moreover, one single child was found with relevant visuo spatial deficits pointing to the possible existence of a visuospatial subty pe for developmental dyslexia. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. ALL rights re served.