Psychophysical and cognitive indicators of early phonological awareness: a study of pre-readers with a family risk of dyslexia

In study of pre-readers with a family risk of dyslexia the relationship between Morphological Awareness (MA) and Phonological Awareness (PA) was explored to disentangle the relationship of MA and PA from reading experience. Furthermore PA’s relationship to measures of temporal auditory processing was evaluated. Group analysis revealed significant differences between high and low-risk children for rise-time discrimination (RT), MA, and PA at all grain sizes. Correlational analysis demonstrated MA related to PA and syllable awareness. Group differences of MA and PA were re-examined, controlling for PA and MA respectively. Results exposed PA as a relevant component of MA, independent of reading experience. As was predicted, RT was found to relate to syllable awareness. Implications for early intervention and MA instruction are discussed.status: publishe