Predicting dyslexia based on pre-reading auditory and speech perception skills

Developmental dyslexia is characterized by persistent reading and spelling difficulties. It has been well established that one of the major causes of the expressed literacy problems lay within a deficit involving the quality and accuracy of phonological representations. Frequently these phonological problems have been linked to more basic perceptual impairments, specifically deficits in auditory temporal processing and speech perception. Yet, debate remains regarding the direction and role these relationships play within the expressed reading deficits. Longitudinal studies of pre-reading children through literacy development could aid in clarifying these issues. The current longitudinal study followed 43 pre-reading children with and without a family risk of dyslexia through different stages of reading development. Results showed impairments in auditory processing (rise time (RT) discrimination) and phonological awareness across all three time points (kindergarten, first and second grade) in children who received a diagnosis of dyslexia. Rise time and frequency modulation (FM) sensitivity in kindergarten uniquely contributed to the growth in reading ability in grades one and two, even after controlling for letter knowledge and phonological awareness. Highly significant concurrent and predictive correlations, even when controlled for autoregressive effects, suggest a potential causal relationship between auditory processing (RT) and phonological awareness with kindergarten RT significantly predicting later PA. Thus, results of this study support evidence for the auditory deficit theory of dyslexia.status: publishe