Table Of ContentReading Disabilities:
Diagnosis and Component Processes
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Series D: Behavioural and Social Sciences -Vol. 74
Reading Disabilities:
Diagnosis and
Component Processes
edited by
R. Malatesha Joshi
College of Education,
Oklahoma State University,
Stillwater, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
and
Che Kan Leong
College of Education,
University of Saskatchewan,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Springer Science+Business Media, BV.
Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on
Difterential Diagnosis and Treatments of Reading and Writing Disorders
Château de Bonas, France
September 30 - October 11, 1991
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reading disabilities diagnosis and component processes / edited by
R. Malatesha Joshi. Che Kan Leong.
p. cm. -- (NATO ASI series. Series D, Behavioural and social
s c i e n c e s ; n o. 74)
Papers based on the proceedings of the Advanced Study Institute
(ASI) sponsored by the NATO, held Oct. 1991 near Toulouse, France.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-94-010-4878-1 ISBN 978-94-011-1988-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-1988-7
1. Reading disabi 1 ities--Congresses. 2. Learning disabled
children--Education--Congresses. 3. Dyslexic chi ldren--Education
-Congresses. 4. Reading--Remedial teaching--Congresses.
5. Language and languages--Orthography and spelling--Congresses.
1. Joshi, R. Malatesha. II. Leong, Che Kan. III. Series.
LB1050.5.R382 1993
371.91 '44--dc20 93-15556
ISBN 978-94-010-4878-1
Printed on acid-free paper
AII Rights Reserved
© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1993
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo
copying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written
permission from the copyright owner.
CONTENTS
PREFACE ix
Part I. Differential Diagnosis of Reading Disabilities
Editors' Introduction 1
1. Problems in the differential diagnosis of reading disabilities
Keith E. Stanovich 3
2. From research to clinical assessment of reading and writing disorders:
The unit of analysis problem
w.
Virginia Berninger and Teresa M. Hart 33
3. Constructing meaning from diagnostic assessment texts: Validity as
usefulness
Peter Afflerbach 63
4. Alice in IQ land or why IQ is still irrelevant to learning disabilities
Linda S. Siegel 71
5. Towards developing a framework for diagnosing reading disorders
Che Kan Leong 85
Part II. Access to Language-Related Component Processes
Editors'Introduction 133
6. Components of variance models of language-related factors in reading
disability: A conceptual overview
William E. Tunmer and Wesley A. Hoover 135
v
Contents vi
7. Phonemic awareness, language and literacy
Jose Morais 175
8. The relevance of phonological awareness in learning to read:
Scandinavian longitudinal and quasi-experimental studies
Ake Ololsson 185
9. Does a past history of speech disorder predict literacy difficulties?
Barbara Dodd, Tania Russell and Michael Oerlemans 199
10. Phonological processing in learning disabled adolescents
Sybil Schwartz 213
11. Phonological deficits and the development of word recognition skills
in developmental dyslexia
Charles Hulme and Margaret Snowling 225
Part ITI. Reading/Spelling Strategies
Editors' Introduction 237
12. Dyslexic reading strategies and lexical access: A comparison and
validation of reading strategy distributions in dyslexic adolescents and
younger, nonnal readers
Carsten Elbro 239
13. The spelling-reading connection and dyslexia: Can spelling be used to
teach the alphabetic strategy?
Joanna K. Uhry 253
14. Impact of instruction on word identification skills in children with
phonological processing problems
Rebecca H. Felton 267
15. Predicting reading acquisition in high and low IQ groups
Jan Carol Naslund 279
Contents vii
16. Phonetic short-term memory representation in children's reading of Greek
Costas D. Porpodas 295
17. Developmental dyslexia as a cognitive style
P. G. Aaron, Martin Wleklinski and Cora Wills 307
18. Reading comprehension and related skills in nine-year-old normal and
poor readers
Kees P. van den Bos and Henk C. L. Spelberg 319
Author Index 335
PREFACE
The present volume is based on the proceedings of the Advanced Study Institute (ASI)
sponsored by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Institute was conducted at the
beautiful Chateau de Bonas, near Toulouse, France in October, 1991. A number of scholars from
different countries participated in the two-week institute on differential diagnosis and treatments
of reading and writing problems. The accepted papers for this volume are divided into three
sections: (a) Differential diagnosis of reading disabilities; (b) Access to language-related
component processes; and (c) Reading/spelling strategies. The other papers appear in a
companion volume: Developmental and Acquired Dyslexia: Neuropsychological and
Neurolinguistic Perspectives, also coedited by Joshi and Leong and published by Kluwer
Academic Publishers.
Several people and organizations have helped us in this endeavor and their assistance is
gratefully acknowledged. Our special thanks are due to: the Scientific Affairs Division of NATO
for providing the major portion of the financial support; Dr. L. V. da Cunha of NATO and Dr.
THo Kester and Mrs. Barbara Kester of the International Transfer of Science and Technology
(ITST) for their help and support of the various aspects of the institute; Mr. Charles Stockman
and the entire staff of the Chateau de Bonas for making our stay a pleasant one by helping us to
run the Institute smoothly. We also wish to thank our reviewers and the following people for
other assistance: Christi Martin, and Xi-wu Fang.
With the constraint of camera-ready publishing to conserve time and resources, the authors
and the coeditors in their various editorial capacities have endeavored to keep the book to a high
publication quality. We sincerely hope that readers of the different chapters will "read, mark,
learn, and inwardly digest" the complex area of reading disabilities.
R. Malatesha Joshi, Oklahoma State University, U.S.A.
C. K. Leong, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
January, 1993
ix
PART I DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS OF READING DISABILITIES - - EDITORS'
INTRODUCTION
The aim of assessment and diagnosis should be the systematic. critical sampling of behavior
and should move from the more molar assessing to the more fme-grained diagnosing for learning.
From the early prescient work of Alfred Binet to current theory-based research and clinical
studies. diagnosis should emphasize differential cognitive outcomes in a person-process approach
within a developmental framework. This emphasis is important for a better understanding of the
many-faceted field of learning disabilities (see. for example. Duane & Gray. 1991; Lyon. Gray.
Kavanagh. & Krasnegor. 1993; Swanson & Keogh. 1990. Part 1. for details).
Within the above context and directly in the area of reading disabilities. Stanovich in this
volume and elsewhere reminds us of the multidimensionality of reading disorders and argues
forcefully from his and other research evidence for his phonological-core variable-difference
model of reading and reading disabilities. This model provides for a strong explanation for
unexpected reading failures (in relation to learning aptitude) in developmental dyslexics and other
("garden-variety") poor readers. There is converging evidence to show that children with
developmental dyslexia exhibit relatively restricted "modular" (in the Fodorian sense) deficits in
phonological processing; whereas "backward" or garden-variety poor readers have less modular.
more generalized difficulties in other cognitive and linguistic domains including phonology. This
phonological-core variable-difference conception differentiating subgroups of "retarded" and
backward readers is supported empirically in a number of studies (see Special Series of Fletcher.
1992).
The explication by Stanovich and forceful argument of Siegel in this volume and other places
have further alerted theoreticians. researchers and practitioners to the important issue of the role
of intelligence measures in defining learning or reading disabilities. Siegel reemphasizes her
position of the irrelevance of intelligence test scores in diagnosing reading disabilities. She
shows from her studies that developmental dyslexics. as traditionally defined by IQ-reading
performance discrcpancies, and garden-variety poor readers with discrepant reading from
chronological-age controls, perform similarly on a number of cognitive and linguistic tasks,
although both groups lag behind normal readers. There is further, recent support from different
samples of children for the existence of reading disabilities on a continuum (Betcher, 1992, but
see also Duane & Gray, 1991 for the biological determinants of dyslexia). Siegel also draws on
the powerful Matthew effects of Stanovich of the reciprocal reading-intelligence connection to
buttress her argument.
However. from the research and service delivery perspectives, Leong in this volume and
elsewhere suggests that there may still be a place for general ability tests based on process
oriented components of ability, not so much product-oriented psychometric tests, as yardsticks for
learning aptitude and that high IQ and low achieving children should all receive appropriate
special education treatment (Betcher, 1992; Swanson & Keogh, 1990). Leong further suggests a
two-stage quantitative and qualitative approach to the assessment and diagnosis of children with
reading disorders. He is in agreement with Stanovich, Siegel and others (see also Parts II & III of
this volume) on the diagnostic efficacy of pseudoword reading, but would like to see a broader
R.M. Joshi and c.K. Leong (eds.), Reading Disabilities: Diagnosis and Component Processes, 1-2.
© 1993 Kluwer Academic Publishers.
2 Part I Introduction
sampling of pseudo words and the inclusion of exception words and morphological and
morphemic elements in lexical processing. This more comprehensive sampling aims at tapping
lexical representation and should delineate more clearly component processes in diagnosis (see
also Berninger & Hart, this volume).
As an alternative to IQ measures Stanovich endorses the use of listening comprehension tests
as a general ability control to isolate modular deficits and to explain better "unexplained" or
unexpected reading problems (see also Tunmer & Hoover in this volume). To this Siegel gives a
summary equivocal answer. Leong takes up the challenge of the strong (Stanovich) argument and
the lukewarm (Siegel) view regarding the role of listening comprehension tests in reading
diagnosis. He reviews the psycholinguistic literature and empirical evidence on the analogous
reading and "auding" (listening to text to gain knowledge) processes. From his research with the
text-to-speech (DECtalk) computer system with readers, he proposes the rapprochement of
simultaneous on-line reading and DECtalk auding for both written and oral language
comprehension as efficacious in diagnosing and enhancing reading/listening comprehension.
Moving from conceptual and methodological issues, we are reminded by Afflerbach of the
importance of constructing meaning from diagnostic reports and of extracting information useful
to teachers, parents and students. From a different perspective, Berninger and Hart argue
convincingly for individual profiles with "absolute", "relative" or combined absolute and relative
criteria across developmental and reading and writing skills to complement group, quantitative
data frOm complex statistical analyses. They emphasize the need to examine data from both
individual and group analyses to understand better multiple etiologies of developmental processes
contributing to academic achievement disorders and for greater clinical utility.
As enjoined by Binet many years ago" After the evil, the remedy", the authors in this Part and
elsewhere all agree implicitly or explicitly that differential diagnosis should lead to more efficient
and effective prognosis and treatment.
REFERENCES
Duane, D.D., & Gray, D.B. (Eds.). (1991). The reading brain: The biological basis of dyslexia. Parkton,
MD: York Press.
Fletcher,1.M. (1992). The validity of distinguishing children with language and learning disabilities
according to discrepancies with IQ: Introduction to the Special Series [Special Series]. Journal of
Learning Disabilities, 25,546-573; 618-648.
Lyon, G.R., Gray, D.B., Kavanagh, 1.F., & Krasnegor, N.A. (Eels.). (1993). Better understanding learning
disabilities: New views from research and their implications for education and public policies.
Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
Swanson, H.L., & Keogh, B. (Eds.). (1990). Learning disabilities: Theoretical and research issues.
Hillsdale, N1: Lawrence Erlbaum.
