PURPOSE OF REVIEW We review current knowledge about the nature of reading development and disorders, distinguishing between the processes involved in learning to decode print, and the processes involved in reading comprehension. RECENT FINDINGS Children with decoding difficulties/dyslexia experience deficits in phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge and rapid automatized naming in the pres...

This fMRI study aimed to examine how differences in literacy processing demands may affect cortical activation patterns in 11- to 12-year-old children with dyslexia as compared to children with typical reading skills. Eleven children with and 18 without dyslexia were assessed using a reading paradigm based on different stages of literacy development. In the analyses, six regions showed an inter...

Four genes have recently been proposed as candidates for dyslexia: dyslexia susceptibility 1 candidate 1 (DYX1C1), roundabout Drosophila homolog 1 (ROBO1), doublecortin domain-containing protein 2 (DCDC2) and KIAA0319. Each gene is implicated in global brain-development processes such as neural migration and axonal guidance, with the exception of DYX1C1, the function of which is still unknown. ...

This study examined the relations between reading-related cognitive skills and word reading development of Chinese children with dyslexia in their Chinese language (L1) and in English (L2). A total of 84 bilingual children-28 with dyslexia, 28 chronological age (CA) controls, and 28 reading-level (RL) controls-participated and were administered measures of word reading, rapid naming, visual-ort...

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Concrete words are more quickly recognized than abstract words (Bransford & McCarrell, 1974; Paivio, 1986). Different theories of semantic processing argue that either there are more brain areas that process concrete than abstract words (bilateral versus unilateral; Paivio, 1986), or that the same brain areas process both kinds but that concrete words have more context associated with them (Bra...

In his recent study, Gordon Shen analyses a pertinent question facing the global mental health research and practice community today; that of how and why mental health policy is or is not adopted by national governments. This study identifies becoming a World Health Organization (WHO) member nation, and being in regional proximity to countries which have adopted a mental health policy as suppor...

Learning difficulties have a very significant effect on individuals and on society. The affected individual will have difficulties in thinking, acquisition, and processing of new information and knowledge. As a result of these difficulties many individuals require additional care, education, and medical services. In some cases affected individuals will never achieve personal independence and th...

This study evaluated the effect of sound-symbol association training on visual and phonological memory in children with a history of dyslexia. Pretests of phonological and visual memory, a sound-symbol training procedure, and phonological and visual memory posttests were administered to children with dyslexia, to children whose dyslexia had been compensated through remedial training, and to age...