Naming Speed Deficits in Adults with Reading Disabilities

Abstract

The present study investigated the persistent nature of naming speed deficits within the context of the double-deficit hypothesis in a university sample of adults with reading disabilities (RD). Twenty-five university students with RD were compared to 28 typically achieving readers on measures of reading skill, phonological processing, and naming speed. The results indicated that both naming speed and phonological processing deficits characterized the RD group. In a regression analysis, neither naming speed nor phonological processing were important variables in explaining comprehension when reading rate was in the model. The results of the present study are mixed at best and are consistent with earlier conclusions that support for the double-deficit hypothesis of dyslexia remains limited.T here is a consensus that phonological awareness plays a critical role in reading acquisition and that for the majority of children with reading disabilities (RD), deficits in phonological processing have been identified as the core deficit (e.g., Bradley & Bryant, 1983;Stanovich, 1992). This phonological deficit hypothesis has been supported by a number of studies that have specifically identified delays in sensitivity to rhyme, alliteration, and phonemic segmentation as precursors to the development of RD (e.g., Bradley & Bryant, 1983;Lundberg & Hφien, 1989;Olson, Wise, & Rack, 1989). These findings have also been extended to adult populations. Specifically, recent research has focused on whether phonological processing skill development in children is correlated with age and reading ability and whether phonological deficits persist into adulthood. Studies have shown differences between adults with RD and typically achieving adults in phonological awareness (Bruck, 1990(Bruck, , 1992Felton, Naylor, & Wood, 1990;Shafrir & Siegel, 1994;Pennington, Van Orden, Smith, Green, & Haith, 1990; Snowling, Nation, Moxham, Gallagher, & Frith, 1997;Wilson & Lesaux, 2001), verbal shortterm memory (Pennington et al., 1990), and sound-spelling relationships (Bruck, 1990). Phonological deficits have also been found in young adults with RD attending university who had acquired age-appropriate reading skills (Wilson & Lesaux, 2001).Although the phonological deficit hypothesis is able to account for the large majority of reading impairments, there remain individuals with adequate phonological skills but poor comprehension (Wolf, 1999). Recently, a competing hypothesis, the doubledeficit hypothesis of developmental dyslexia (Wolf & Bowers, 1999, has emerged to account for this subgroup of individuals. The doubledeficit hypothesis implicates naming speed as a second, independent core deficit of RD (Wolf & Bowers, 1999. Three subtypes of individuals with RD are thus hypothesized: (a) the phonological deficit subtype, defined by a phonological deficit in the presence of average naming speed ability; (b) the naming speed deficit subtype, defined by a naming speed deficit in the presence of average phonological skills; and (c) the double-defic...

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