Cerebral dominance and subtypes of developmental dyslexia

Developmental Dyslexia Subtypes and the Boder Test of Reading-Spelling Patterns

The Boder Test of Reading-Spelling Patterns (BTRSP) purports to classify underachieving readers into categories of nonspecific reading retardation or one of three dyslexia subtypes that indicate problems in processing phonics and analytic-sequential stimuli (dysphonetic), problems learning sight-words and in processing simultaneous-gestalt stimuli (dyseidetic), or a third subtype with mixed processing difficulties. This study compared the performance of dysphonetics, nonspecifics, and normal readers on “gestalt” tasks of facial memory, tactile-visual recognition, Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices, and Benton Visual Retention test, and on “analytic-sequential” tasks of auditory sequential memory, visual sequential memory, sound blending, and Lindamood Auditory Conceptualization Test. The construct validity of the dysphonetic and nonspecific categories received support; however, a large proportion of cases consisting of classification error, “false negatives,” was suspected. The BTRSP classification criteria of reading level, spelling level, and application of phonics were judged useful dimensions in distinguishing two subtypes of disabled readers and reflective of other cognitive abilities.

The Application of the Boder Test of Reading-Spelling Patterns To the Assessment of Learning Disabilities in French Immersion Poor Readers

The Boder Test of Reading-Spelling Patterns (Boder & Jarrico, 1982) is a widely used method for screening and defining reading problems at the level of the word. In order to apply this method in another language, in this case French, criteria for determining what constitutes a good phonetic equivalent for a misspelled word are required. It is essential to know which errors differentiate good and poor readers since errors that are commonly made by good readers are not diagnostic. This paper reports guidelines which have been developed by analyzing spelling errors in a sample of good and poor French immersion readers. These criteria for good phonetic equivalents can be applied, along with the method outlined in the Boder test manual, and used as an assessment tool for screening decoding and encoding problems in French immersion children. When used in conjunction with the English test, the assessment provides bilingual comparisons and guidelines for remedial programming.

Patterns of inverted reading and subgroups in dyslexia

Reading performance of 46 poor readers was compared with that of 20 normal control readers. All subjects were second grade children. In Experiment 1 two matching word lists were presented under two conditions: one version of the test was read in the upright position and the other inverted. In Experiment 2 the eye movements of all subjects were recorded during reading of two meaningful sentences in the normal and inverted position. While the controls were negatively influenced by inversion of the text, the poor readers showed a variety of responses. Overall, the poor readers showed a slight tendency to be better at reading in the inverted position when the text must be scanned from right to left. An individual analysis of the data revealed that in 28.3% of the poor readers inverted reading improved performance at least 15 %, a phenomenon found in none of the controls.