Stability of Deficits in Reading Fluency and/or Spelling

Kristina Moll,Melanie Gangl,Chiara Banfi,Gerd Schulte-Körne,Karin Landerl

doi:10.1080/10888438.2019.1659277

Abstract

ABSTRACTDeficits in reading fluency and in spelling can dissociate during development, resulting in groups with reading deficit only (RD), spelling deficit only (SD) and combined reading and spelling deficit (RSD). The current study investigated the one-to-two-year longitudinal stability of these subgroups in 167 German-speaking children. Reading fluency deficits (irrespective of spelling skills) were stable over time, while spelling deficits were stable in the RSD-group but not in the SD-group. Lower stability in the SD-group resulted from the fact that many children improved their spelling skills over time. Improvement in spelling was associated with good performance in phoneme awareness together with intact RAN and decoding skills.

Highlights

Deficits in reading fluency and in spelling can dissociate during development, resulting in groups with reading deficit only (RD), spelling deficit only (SD) and combined reading and spelling deficit (RSD)
Another question relates to the heterogeneity of dyslexia and the fact that stability might differ according to the literacy components that are affected
In line with findings from English studies suggesting that dyslexia is highly persistent (Astrom et al, 2007; Maughan, Hagell, Rutter, & Yule, 1994; Shaywitz et al, 1999; Wadsworth et al, 2007), we found stability for combined literacy deficits (RSD) in a more consistent orthography

Summary

Introduction

Deficits in reading fluency and in spelling can dissociate during development, resulting in groups with reading deficit only (RD), spelling deficit only (SD) and combined reading and spelling deficit (RSD). The current study focusses on the literacy components of reading fluency and spelling, as prevalence studies report dissociations (Fayol, Zorman, & Lété, 2009; Moll & Landerl, 2009; Wimmer & Mayringer, 2002), resulting in subgroups with isolated reading deficits (RD), isolated spelling deficits (SD), and combined reading and spelling deficits (RSD) (Landerl & Moll, 2010; Moll, Kunze, Neuhoff, Bruder, & Schulte-Körne, 2014; Moll & Landerl, 2009; Torppa, Georgiou, Niemi, Lerkkanen, & Poikkeus, 2017; Wimmer & Mayringer, 2002). These subgroups are associated with different cognitive profiles. A good indicator of a childs word-specific knowledge and it is surprising that some children with typical spelling development are unable to read fluently

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion