The cognitive model of reading comprehension (RC) posits that RC is a result of the interaction between decoding and linguistic comprehension. Recently, the notion of decoding skill was expanded to include word recognition. In addition, some studies suggest that other skills could be integrated into this model, like processing speed, and have consistently indicated that this skill influences and is an important predictor of the main components of the model, such as vocabulary for comprehension and phonological awareness of word recognition. The following study evaluated the components of the RC model and predictive skills in children and adolescents with dyslexia. 40 children and adolescents (8–13 years) were divided in a Dyslexic Group (DG; 18 children, MA = 10.78, SD = 1.66) and control group (CG 22 children, MA = 10.59, SD = 1.86). All were students from the 2nd to 8th grade of elementary school and groups were equivalent in school grade, age, gender, and IQ. Oral and RC, word recognition, processing speed, picture naming, receptive vocabulary, and phonological awareness were assessed. There were no group differences regarding the accuracy in oral and RC, phonological awareness, naming, and vocabulary scores. DG performed worse than the CG in word recognition (general score and orthographic confusion items) and were slower in naming. Results corroborated the literature regarding word recognition and processing speed deficits in dyslexia. However, dyslexics can achieve normal scores on RC test. Data supports the importance of delimitation of different reading strategies embedded in the word recognition component. The role of processing speed in reading problems remain unclear.

Many studies have shown that children with reading difficulties present deficits in rapid automatized naming (RAN) and phonological awareness skills. The aim of this study was to examine RAN and explicit phonological processing in Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children with developmental dyslexia and to explore the ability of RAN to discriminate between children with and without dyslexia. Participants were 30 children with a clinical diagnosis of dyslexia established by the Brazilian Dyslexia Association and 30 children with typical development. Children were aged between 7 and 12, and groups were matched for chronological age and sex. They completed a battery of tests that are commonly used in Brazil for diagnosing dyslexia, consisting of the Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children (WISC-IV) as well as tests of single word and non-word reading, RAN, and the profile of phonological abilities test. Results indicate that the cognitive profile of this group of children, with a clinical diagnosis of dyslexia, showed preserved skills in the four subscales of the WISC-IV (verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed) and on the profile of phonological abilities test. Groups significantly differed on the reading tests (word and non-word) and RAN measures, with medium to large effect sizes for RAN. Classification and regression tree analysis revealed that RAN was a good predictor for dyslexia diagnosis, with an overall classification accuracy rate of 88.33%.

<p>A Síndrome de Down (SD) é uma das causas mais conhecidas da deficiência intelectual e o baixo funcionamento cognitivo está associado a déficits no comportamento adaptativo. Parte do conhecimento em relação às habilidades cognitivas na SD pauta-se na comparação entre tarefas verbais e não-verbais. No entanto, dificuldades relacionadas à linguagem podem comprometer a avaliação com testes tradicionais. Este estudo objetivou verificar o desempenho de crianças com SD na Escala Internacional de Inteligência Leiter-R, comparando-as a um grupo de crianças com desenvolvimento típico, bem como os próprios desempenhos nos diferentes subtestes. Participaram 30 crianças com SD entre três e oito anos de idade (M=4,57; DP=1,40) pareadas ao grupo controle por idade, sexo e tipo de escola. Os resultados mostraram desempenho inferior ao grupo controle em tarefas que avaliam processamento visual e raciocínio fluido. Houve diferenças de gênero somente no subteste que avalia raciocínio indutivo, com melhor desempenho das meninas. Análises intragrupo mostraram maior facilidade de crianças com SD em tarefas de síntese visual, raciocínio sequencial e indutivo em relação a habilidades de discriminação visual. A partir da Leiter-R foi possível realizar uma avaliação não-verbal de distintas habilidades cognitivas, bem como compreender o perfil cognitivo a partir do desempenho nos subtestes.</p>

The present study investigated the cognitive profiles of dyslexic adults on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III, Brazilian version). A total of 31 adults with dyslexia and 31 control readers who were matched by age and education level performed a phonological awareness and word reading test. They also completed the WAIS-III. The outcomes of the tests showed that dyslexics underperformed on Verbal IQ and the Picture Completion, Coding, Matrix Reasoning, Similarities, Letter-Number Sequencing, and Vocabulary subtests. No differences were found between groups in the index scores. The analysis of cognitive profiles showed that dyslexics had a lower Verbal IQ compared with Performance IQ. The index score analysis showed poorer skills in Working Memory than in Verbal Comprehension, and the best performance was observed in Perceptual Organization. These results show the importance of cognitive assessment in understanding the difficulties faced by adults with dyslexia.