CLARIFYING THE SPEECH PERCEPTION DEFICIT IN DYSLEXIC CHILDREN

Souhila Messaoud-Galusi, Valerie Hazan & Stuart Rosen
University College London - Department of Phonetics and Linguistics

ID 1457
[full paper]

It has often been claimed that dyslexic children show deficits in various speech-perceptual tasks. In this study, dyslexic and chronological-age-matched control children were asked to identify words, and label monosyllables from a voiced/voiceless plosive continuum, in quiet and in noise. Correlations on these tasks with reading and reading-related skills were weak and about half of dyslexic children had categorization slopes within the normal range in quiet. Both reading groups performed similarly well for labeling in noise and when identifying words in noise. The identification of words in noise was found to be related neither to reading nor to the consistency of categorical labeling. This study confirms that only a subgroup of children with dyslexia appears to have speech-perceptual deficits.