Abstract
This study analysed the effects of a classroom intervention focusing on phonological awareness and/or automatized word recognition in children with a deficit in the domains of phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming (“double deficit”). According to the double-deficit hypothesis (Wolf & Bowers, 1999), these children belong to the group who show the most pronounced difficulties when learning how to read and write. Our results suggest that children with a double deficit are at great risk of developing dyslexia unless they receive specific support. Moreover, the results of the intervention study are the first to show how German speaking children with a double deficit can be adequately supported within the framework of standard beginners’ reading and writing lessons in inclusive classrooms so that impending difficulties in the acquisition of written language can be successfully prevented. The support measures focus on a training of phonological awareness and automatized processing of sublexical orthographic units. However, potential modifications of the training are currently being discussed since not all children in the training groups were able to benefit satisfactorily.
Highlights
Reading and spelling disabilities are prevalent in children with language impairments (Catts et al, 2002)
The contribution of the working memory seems to be of especially low impact when both, phonological awareness and working memory, are considered simultaneously as predictors of reading and writing (Schatschneider & Torgesen, 2004). This is the reason why this paper focuses on phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming (RAN)
Double-deficit children in the four groups were approximately matched on RAN, phonological awareness, nonverbal cognitive abilities, language comprehension and grammatical development
Summary
Reading and spelling disabilities (dyslexia) are prevalent in children with language impairments (Catts et al, 2002). Combined with a deficit in reading comprehension, dyslexia often results in general learning difficulties. This is the reason why the majority of affected children and adolescents in Germany attended special schools where learning processes and language acquisition were supported. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of intervention measures for double-deficit children which can be integrated into regular lessons. Specific reading and spelling disabilities (dyslexia) belong to the most common school-related learning disorders in children and adolescents. 6-8% of an age group suffer from difficulties when learning how to read and write (Shaywitz, Shaywitz, Fletcher, & Escobar, 1990)
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