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Dyslexia 'subtypes'
Kimberly Murphy
asked this on February 22, 2011 18:04
I was in a meeting yesterday with an Ed Psych who kept mentioning the 'subtypes' of dyslexia - phonetic, dyseidetic (sp?), and mixed. These are terms I never hear anymore in the SLP world and I tend to think of them as belonging to an outdated view of dyslexia. I would love to hear what others think. Is this idea of subtypes supported by research at all? Thanks in advance for your input!
Kim
Comments
What about the double deficit idea, as well? That would seem to imply that there are subtypes. In my work I have certainly encountered different "types" of dyslexia, and those subtype terms are fitting (dysphonetic/dyseidetic), but I sure would like to read more about it. It seems akin to different types of ADHD and that whole argument. The more I think about it, the more befuddled I am. Sandie, your thoughts?
There is a pretty good Wikipedia article addressing these issues. A quote from that article follows.
< A deficit in naming speed is hypothesized to represent a deficit that is separate from phonological processing deficit. Wolf identified four types of readers: readers with no deficits, readers with phonological processing deficit, readers with naming speed deficit, and readers with double deficit (that is, problems both with phonological processing and naming speed). Students with double deficits are most likely to have some sort of severe reading impairment.>
A search using Google Scholar finds articles like this one (Bruce Pennington is one of the authors): <A multiple deficit model of reading disability and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: searching for shared cognitive deficits >
This study <revealed that processing speed was the only cognitive variable with significant unique relationships to RD and ADHD dimensions, particularly inattention. Moreover, the significant correlation between reading and inattention was reduced to non-significance when processing speed was included in the model, suggesting that processing speed primarily accounted for the phenotypic correlation (or comorbidity) between reading and inattention.>
Do you use Google Scholar? It is a real gold mine for addressing questions such as this!
Regards, Sandie
>
Sandie
OK - now I have a follow-up question - what about my daughter, who scored very high with phonological processing and rapid naming, but has a lot of trouble decoding unfamiliar words. (failing the Z-screener). Where would she fall?
Thanks for the Google Reader resource!
Kirsten
New article just out suggests dyslexia has phonological processing and naming speed/ reading fluency subtypes.
A Taxometric Investigation of Developmental Dyslexia Subtypes
Beth A. O'Brien1,*,
Maryanne Wolf2,
Maureen W. Lovett3
Article first published online: 8 JAN 2012 Dyslexia DOI: 10.1002/dys.1431
See the abstract here.