Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Reading prosody in Spanish dyslexics

  • Published:
Annals of Dyslexia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Reading becomes expressive when word and text reading are quick, accurate and automatic. Recent studies have reported that skilled readers use greater pitch changes and fewer irrelevant pauses than poor readers. Given that developmental dyslexics have difficulty acquiring and automating the alphabetic code and developing orthographic representations of words, it is possible that their use of prosody when reading differs from that of typical readers. The goal of this study was to investigate whether the reading prosody of Spanish-speaking dyslexics differs from that of typical Spanish readers. Two experiments were performed. The first experiment involved 36 children (18 with dyslexia), and the second involved 46 adults (23 with dyslexia). Participants were asked to read aloud a text which included declarative, exclamatory and interrogative sentences. Data on pausing and reading rate (number of pauses, duration of pauses and utterances), pitch changes, intensity changes and syllable lengthening were extracted from the recordings. We found that dyslexic people read more slowly than typical readers and they also made more inappropriate and longer pauses, even as adults with considerable reading experience. We also observed that dyslexics differed from skilled readers in their use of some prosodic features, particularly pitch changes at the end of sentences. This is probably because they have trouble anticipating some structural features of prose, such as sentence ends.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Afonso, O., Suárez-Coalla, P., & Cuetos, F. (2015). Spelling impairments in Spanish dyslexic adults. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 466. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alves, L. M., Reis, C., & Pinheiro, A. (2015). Prosody and reading in dyslexic children. Dyslexia, 21, 35–49. doi:10.1002/dys.1485.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baqué, L., & Estruch, M. (2003). Modelo de Aix-en-Provence. [Model of Aix-in-Provence]. In P. Prieto (Ed.), Teorías de la entonación. [Theories of intonation] (pp. 123–153). Barcelona: Ariel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barca, L., Burani, C., Di Filippo, G., & Zoccolotti, P. (2006). Italian developmental dyslexic and proficient readers: where are the differences? Brain and Language, 98, 347–351. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2006.05.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benjamin, R. G., & Schwanenflugel, P. J. (2010). Text complexity and oral reading prosody in young readers. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(4), 388–404. doi:10.1598/RRQ.45.4.2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binder, K. S., Tighe, E., Jiang, Y., Kaftanski, K., Qi, C., & Ardoin, S. P. (2013). Reading expressively and understanding thoroughly: an examination of prosody in adults with low literacy. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 26(5), 665–680. doi:10.1007/s11145-012-9382-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2011). Praat: doing phonetics by computer (Version 5.2.22) [Computer software]. Current version available: www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/

  • Breznitz, Z., & Misra, M. (2003). Speed of processing of the visual-orthographic and auditory-phonological systems in adult dyslexics: the contribution of asynchrony to word recognition deficits. Brain and Language, 85(3), 486–502. doi:10.1016/S0093-934X(03)00071-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruck, M. (1990). Word-recognition skills of adults with childhood diagnoses of dyslexia. Developmental Psychology, 26(3), 439–454. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.26.3.439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruck, M. (1992). Persistence of dyslexics’ phonological awareness deficits. Developmental Psychology, 28(5), 874–886.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calet, N., Defior, S., & Gutiérrez-Palma, N. (2013). A cross-sectional study of fluency and reading comprehension in Spanish primary school children. Journal of Research in Reading. doi:10.1111/1467-9817.12019.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chafe, W. (1988). Punctuation and the prosody of written language. Written Communication, 5(4), 395–426. doi:10.1177/0741088388005004001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi, J. Y. (2003). Pause length and speech rate as durational cues for prosody markers. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 114(4), 2395. doi:10.1121/1.4778053.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cowie, R., Douglas-Cowie, E., & Wichmann, A. (2002). Prosodic characteristics of skilled reading: fluency and expressiveness in 8–10 year old readers. Language and Speech, 45, 47–82. doi:10.1177/00238309020450010301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cromer, W. (1970). The difference model: a new explanation for some reading difficulties. Journal of Educational Psychology, 61(6), 471–483. doi:10.1037/h0030288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cuetos, R., Rodríguez, B., Ruano, E., & Arribas, D. (2007). PROLEC-R. Batería de Evaluación de los Procesos Lectores, Revisada. [Battery for the Assessment of Reading Processes-Revised]. Madrid: TEA Ediciones.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuetos, F., & Suarez-Coalla, P. (2009). From grapheme to word in reading acquisition in Spanish. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30(4), 583–601. doi:10.1017/S0142716409990038.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, R., Rodríguez-Ferreiro, J., Suárez, P., & Cuetos, F. (2013). Lexical and sub-lexical effects on accuracy, reaction time and response duration: impaired and typical word and pseudoword reading in a transparent orthography. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 26(5), 721–738. doi:10.1007/s11145-012-9388-1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Luca, M., Pontillo, M., Primativo, S., Spinelli, D., & Zoccolotti, P. (2013). The eye-voice lead during oral reading in developmental dyslexia. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 1–17. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00696.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowhower, S. L. (1991). Speaking of prosody: Fluency’s unattended bedfellow. Theory Into Practice, 30(3), 165–175. doi:10.1080/00405849109543497

  • Ehri, L., & Saltmarsh, J. (1995). Beginning readers outperform older disabled readers in learning to read words by sight. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 7(3), 295–326. doi:10.1007/BF03162082.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernández Huerta, J. (1959). Medidas sencillas de lecturabilidad. [Simple measures of readability]. Consigna, 214, 29–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, L., Fuchs, D., Hosp, M., & Jenkins, J. (2001). Oral reading fluency as an indicator of reading competence: a theoretical, empirical, and historical analysis. Scientific Studies of Reading, 5(3), 239–256. doi:10.1207/S1532799XSSR0503_3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garrido, J. M. (1990). Modelización de patrones melódicos del español para la síntesis y reconocimiento de habla. [Modelling of the Spanish melodic patterns for synthesis and speech recognition]. Departament de Filologia Espanyola Facultat de Lletres: Bralona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giménez, A., Luque, J. L., López-Zamora, M., & Fernández-Navas, M. (2015). A self-report questionnaire on reading-writing difficulties for adults. Anales de Psicología, 31(1), 109–119. doi:10.6018/analesps.31.1.166671.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldman Eisler, F. (1968). Experiments in spontaneous speech. London and New York: Academic Press. Psycholinguistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grainger, J., Bouttevin, S., Truc, C., Bastien, M., & Ziegler, J. (2003). Word superiority, pseudoword superiority, and learning to read: a comparison of dyslexic and normal readers. Brain and Language, 87(3), 432–440. doi:10.1016/S0093-934X(03)00145-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grosjean, F., Grosjean, L., & Lane, H. (1979). The patterns of silence: performance structures in sentence production. Cognitive Psychology, 11, 58–81. doi:10.1016/0010-0285(79)90004-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hatcher, J., Snowling, M. J., & Griffiths, Y. M. (2002). Cognitive assessment of dyslexic students in higher education. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 72(Pt 1), 119–133. doi:10.1348/000709902158801.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiménez, J., & Alonso, M. L. (2005). Método para el desarrollo de la comprensión lectora [Method for development of reading comprehension]. Madrid: La Tierra Hoy, S.L.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kame’enui, E. J., & Simmons, D. C. (2001). Introduction to this special issue: the DNA of reading fluency. Scientific Studies of Reading, 5(3), 203–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klauda, S. L., & Guthrie, J. T. (2008). Relationships of three components of reading fluency to reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 310–321. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.100.2.310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koriat, A., Greenberg, S., & Kreiner, H. (2002). The extraction of structure during reading: evidence from reading prosody. Memory & Cognition, 30(2), 270–280. doi:10.3758/BF03195288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, M. R., Schwanenflugel, P. J., & Meisinger, E. B. (2010). Aligning theory and assessment of reading fluency: automaticity, prosody, and definitions of fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(2), 230–251. doi:10.1598/RRQ.45.2.4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, M. R., & Stahl, S. A. (2003). Fluency: a review of developmental and remedial practices. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 3–21. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.95.1.3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 95(1), 3–21. doi:10.1016/0010-0285(74)90015-2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leinonen, S., Müller, K., Leppänen, P. H. T., Aro, M., Ahonen, T., & Lyytinen, H. (2001). Heterogeneity in adult dyslexic readers: relating processing skills to the speed and accuracy of oral text reading. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 14(3-4), 265–296. doi:10.1023/A:1011117620895.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Logan, G. D. (1997). Automaticity and reading: perspectives from the instance theory of automatization. Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Disabilities, 13, 123–146. doi:10.1080/1057356970130203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manis, F. R. (1985). Acquisition of word identification skills in normal and disabled readers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(1), 78–90. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.77.1.78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez-Celdrán, E., & Fernández-Planas, A. M. (2013). Manual de fonética española [Spanish phonetics manual]. E. Ariel: Barcelona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyler, A. & Breznitz, Z. (2003) Processing of phonological, orthographic and cross-modal word representations among adult dyslexic and normal readers. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 16, 785–803.

  • Miller, J., & Schwanenflugel, P. J. (2006). Prosody of syntactically complex sentences in the oral reading of young children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(4), 839–843. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.98.4.839.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J., & Schwanenflugel, P. J. (2008). A longitudinal study of the development of reading prosody as a dimension of oral reading fluency in early elementary school children. Reading Research Quarterly, 43(4), 336–354. doi:10.1598/RRQ.43.4.2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: an evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: reports of the subgroups (NIH Publication No. 00-4754). Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nergård-Nilssen, T., & Hulme, C. (2014). Developmental dyslexia in adults: behavioural manifestations and cognitive correlates. Dyslexia, 20(3), 191–207. doi:10.1002/dys.1477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Shea, L., & Sindelar, P. (1983). The effects of segmenting written discourse on the reading comprehension of low- and high-performance readers. Reading Research Quarterly, 18(4), 458–465. doi:10.2307/747380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohala, J. J. (1978). The production of ton. In V. A. Fromkin (Ed.), Tone: a linguistic survey. Academic Press, pp. 5–39.

  • Parrila, R., Georgiou, G., & Corkett, J. (2007). University students with a significant history of reading difficulties: what is and is not compensated. Exceptionality Education Canada, 17, 195–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perfetti, C. A., & Hogaboam, T. (1975). Relationship between single word decoding and reading comprehension skill. Journal of Educational Psychology, 67(4), 461–469. doi:10.1037/h0077013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pikulski, J. J., & Chard, D. J. (2005). Fluency: bridge between single word decoding and reading comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 58(6), 510–519.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prieto, P., D’Imperio, M., Elordieta, G., Frota, S., & Vigário, M. (2006). Evidence for soft preplanning in tonal production: initial scaling in Romance. In R. Hoffmann & H. Mixdorff (Eds.), Proceedings of speech prosody (pp. 803–806). Dresden: TUDpress Verlag der Wissenschaften GmbH.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rack, J. P., Snowling, M. J., & Olson, R. K. (1992). The nonword reading deficit in developmental dyslexia: a review. Reading Research Quarterly, 27(1), 28–53. doi:10.2307/747832.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramos, J. L., & Cuetos, F. (2005). PROLEC-SE: Evaluación de los procesos lectores [Battery for the assessment of reading processes]. Madrid: TEA Ediciones.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasinski, T., Rikli, A., & Johnston, S. (2009). Reading fluency: more than automaticity? More than a concern for the primary grades? Literacy Research and Instruction, 48(4), 350–361. doi:10.1080/19388070802468715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ravid, D., & Mashraki, Y. E. (2007). Prosodic reading, reading comprehension and morphological skills in Hebrew-speaking fourth graders. Journal of Research in Reading, 30(2), 140–156. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9817.2007.00340.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reitsma, P. (1983). Printed word learning in beginning readers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 36(2), 321–339. doi:10.1016/0022-0965(83)90036-X.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwanenflugel, P. J., Hamilton, A. M., Kuhn, M. R., Wisenbaker, J. M., & Stahl, S. A. (2004). Becoming a fluent reader: reading skill and prosodic features in the oral reading of young readers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 119–129. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.96.1.119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwanenflugel, P. J., Meisinger, E. L., Wisenbaker, J. M., Kuhn, M. R., Strauss, G. P., & Morris, R. D. (2006). Becoming a fluent and automatic reader in the early elementary school years. Reading Research Quarterly, 41(4), 496–522. doi:10.1598/RRQ.41.4.4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwanenflugel, P. J., Westmoreland, M. R., & Benjamin, R. G. (2013). Reading fluency skill and the prosodic marking of linguistic focus. Reading and Writing. doi:10.1007/s11145-013-9456-1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaywitz, S. E., Fletcher, J. M., Holahan, J. M., Shneider, A. E., Marchione, K. E., Stuebing, K. K., et al. (1999). Persistence of dyslexia: the Connecticut Longitudinal Study at adolescence. Pediatrics, 104(6), 1351–1359. doi:10.1542/peds.104.6.1351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snowling, M., Muter, V., & Carroll, J. (2007). Children at family risk of dyslexia: a follow-up in early adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48(6), 609–618. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01725.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suárez-Coalla, P., & Cuetos, F. (2012). Reading strategies in Spanish developmental dyslexics. Annals of Dyslexia, 62(2), 71–81. doi:10.1007/s11881-011-0064-y.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suárez-Coalla, P., & Cuetos, F. (2015). Reading difficulties in Spanish adults with dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 65(1), 33–51. doi:10.1007/s11881-015-0101-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suárez-Coalla, P., Ramos, S., Álvarez-Cañizo, M., & Cuetos, F. (2014). Orthographic learning in dyslexic Spanish children. Annals of Dyslexia, 64(2), 166–181. doi:10.1007/s11881-014-0092-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swanson, L., & Hsieh, C. J. (2009). Reading disabilities in adults: a selective meta-analysis of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 79, 1362–1390. doi:10.3102/0034654309350931.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szenkovits, G., & Ramus, F. (2005). Exploring dyslexics’ phonological deficit I: lexical vs sub-lexical and input vs output processes. Dyslexia, 11(4), 253–268. doi:10.1002/dys.308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szigriszt-Pazos, F. (1993). Sistemas predictivos de legibilidad del mensaje escrito: Fórmula de perspicuidad. [Readability predictive systems of the written message: Formula perspicuity]. Tesis doctoral. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. http://biblioteca.ucm.es/tesis/19911996/S/3/S3019601.pdf

  • Tøndering, J. (2011). Preplanning of intonation in spontaneous versus read aloud speech: evidence from Danish. Proceedings of ICPhS XVII, 2010–2013.

  • Tops, W., Callens, M., Lammertyn, J., Van Hees, V., & Brysbaert, M. (2012). Identifying students with dyslexia in higher education. Annals of Dyslexia, 62(3), 186–203. doi:10.1007/s11881-012-0072-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Umeda, N. (1982). “F0 declination” is situation dependent. Journal of Phonetics, 10, 279–290.

    Google Scholar 

  • Undheim, A. M. (2009). A thirteen-year follow-up study of young Norwegian adults with dyslexia in childhood: reading development and educational levels. Dyslexia, 15(4), 291–303. doi:10.1002/dys.384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaissière, J. (1983). Language-independent prosodic features. In A. Cutler & D. R. Ladd (Eds.), Prosody: models and measurements (pp. 53–66). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Walczyk, J., Marsiglia, C. S., Johns, A. J., & Bryan, K. S. (2004). Children’s compensations for poorly automated reading skills. Discourse Processes, 37, 47–66. doi:10.1207/s15326950dp3701_3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler, D. (1981). Escala de Inteligencia para Adultos-Revisión. [Intelligence scale for adults-revised]. New York: Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler, D. (2001). Escala de Inteligencia para Niños-Revisión. [Intelligence scale for children-revised]. New York: Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wimmer, H. (1993). Characteristics of developmental dyslexia in a regular writing system. Applied Psycholinguistics, 14, 1–33. doi:10.1017/S0142716400010122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, M., & Katzir-Cohen, T. (2001). Reading fluency and its intervention. Scientific Studies of Reading, 5(3), 211–239. doi:10.1207/S1532799XSSR0503_2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ziegler, J. C., Perry, C., Ma-Wyatt, A., Ladner, D., & Schulte-Korne, G. (2003). Developmental dyslexia in different languages: language-specific or universal? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 86(3), 169–193. doi:10.1016/S0022-0965(03)00139-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by Grant PSI2012-31913 from the Spanish Government and supported by a predoctoral Grant from the Foundation for the Promotion of Applied Scientific Research and Technology in Asturias (FICYT). The authors would like to thank Paloma Vegas Viña for their assistance in testing some participants.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Oviedo, Pza Feijoo s/n, 33003, Oviedo, Asturias, Spain

    Paz Suárez-Coalla, Marta Álvarez-Cañizo, Cristina Martínez, Noemí García & Fernando Cuetos

Authors
  1. Paz Suárez-Coalla
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marta Álvarez-Cañizo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Cristina Martínez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Noemí García
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Fernando Cuetos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paz Suárez-Coalla.

Appendix

Appendix

Spanish version of children’s text:

El gigante egoísta

Un niño solía jugar en el jardín del Gigante. El jardín era grande y hermoso. En él había todo tipo de árboles: un abeto, un naranjo, una secuoya, una palmera, una magnolia,… También había algún pájaro que se posaba en los árboles y cantaba con dulzura.

  • ¡Qué feliz soy aquí! –gritaba el niño.

Un día el Gigante llegó al castillo y cuando vio al niño dijo:

  • ¿Qué estás haciendo aquí? ¡Fuera de mi jardín!

El niño escapó corriendo y el gigante cerró la puerta del jardín del castillo.

Cuando llegó la primavera al pueblo, en el jardín del Gigante seguía el invierno; estaba lleno de escarcha y nieve. Los pájaros no cantaban y los árboles no tenían flor. El gigante estaba solo y malhumorado. Un día se apoyó en el alfeizar de su ventana, miró al jardín y se preguntó:

  • ¿Por qué tarda tanto en llegar la primavera?

Ni la primavera ni el verano llegaban al castillo del Gigante egoísta.

Una mañana, después de mucho tiempo, el Gigante se despertó y oyó el trino de un pájaro. Era la melodía de un petirrojo. El Gigante se asomó y vio que la nieve había desaparecido.

  • ¿Qué está pasando en mi jardín? ¡Creo que la primavera ha llegado por fin!

Entonces pudo ver que el niño había entrado en el jardín por un agujero. Estaba sentado al lado de una secuoya y todos los árboles estaban cubiertos de flores.

  • ¡Qué egoísta he sido! – dijo el Gigante.

El niño al ver la cara sonriente del Gigante se acercó a él y le preguntó:

  • ¿Me puedo quedar a jugar en tu jardín?

El Gigante respondió afirmativamente y desde entonces, el niño juega en el jardín del Gigante.

English translation of children’s text:

The selfish giant

A child used to play in the Giant’s garden. The garden was large and beautiful. In it, there were all kinds of trees: a fir tree, an orange tree, a redwood tree, a palm tree, a magnolia…. There was also a bird that used to stand on the trees and sang sweetly.

  • How happy I am here! -cried the child.

One day, the Giant came to the castle and as he saw the boy he said:

  • What are you doing here? Get out of my garden!

The child ran away and the giant closed the door of the castle garden.

When spring came to the village, in the garden of the Giant was still winter; it was covered in frost and snow. No birds were singing and the trees had no flower. The giant was alone and angry. One day, he leaned on the sill of the window, looked at the garden and wondered:

  • Why does it take so long for the spring to arrive?

Neither spring nor summer arrived at the castle of the selfish Giant.

One morning, after a long time, the giant woke up and heard the song of a bird. It was the song of a robin. The Giant looked out and saw that the snow was gone.

  • What is happening in my garden? I think that spring has finally arrived!

Then, he saw that the boy had entered the garden through a hole. He sat next to a redwood, and all the trees were covered with flowers.

  • How selfish I have been! - said the Giant.

The child, seeing the smiley face of the Giant, approached him and asked:

  • Can I stay and play in your garden?

The Giant said yes, and since then, the child plays in the Giant’s garden.

Spanish version of adults’ text:

Viaje a la luna

En julio de 1969, el hombre llegó a la Luna. Ésta fue una de las ambiciones más importantes del ser humano. El Apolo 11 estaba tripulado por tres astronautas y cuatro días después de despegar de la Tierra, llegaron a la Luna. Dos de ellos, bajaron a explorar la superficie lunar, recorrieron el satélite durante unas horas, recogieron rocas y por último, clavaron la bandera de su país. El tercero de los astronautas se quedó en órbita realizando numerosos experimentos y fotos.

Viajar al espacio tiene que ser algo fascinante y eso es lo que nos cuenta en una carta uno de los astronautas. Cuando era niño sentía especial atracción por la Luna y siempre me decía:

  • ¡Qué bonita es la luna!

  • ¿Alguien la habrá visitado ya?

  • ¡Quién pudiera viajar hasta ella!

  • ¿Tendrá habitantes como la Tierra?

Todas las noches me asomaba a la ventana de mi habitación para contemplarla. Me fascinaba verla brillar a lo lejos. Al verla me hacía miles de preguntas acerca de ella y de la vida de los astronautas. Lo que nunca me imaginaba es que de mayor iba a ser astronauta.

La experiencia de visitar la Luna es indescriptible. La Luna es un lugar fascinante y geológicamente, una auténtica piedra preciosa. Pero, lo más sorprendente es que cuando me encontraba en la Luna, mis pensamientos se dirigían a la Tierra:

  • ¿Cómo estará mi familia?

  • ¿Podré regresar de nuevo a la Tierra?

  • ¡Qué bonito es nuestro planeta!

  • ¡Qué suerte poder vivir en un sitio tan maravilloso!

Sin duda, mi viaje a la Luna me hizo reflexionar sobre lo extraordinariamente afortunados que somos por tener aire para respirar, por poder vivir en la Tierra. Por ello, deberíamos de ser conscientes y proteger nuestro planeta.

English translation of adults’ text:

Trip to the moon

In July 1969, the man reached the moon. It was one of the major ambitions of mankind. Apollo 11 was manned by three astronauts, and 4 days after taking off from Earth, they reached the Moon. Two of them went down to explore the moon’s surface, explored the satellite for a few hours, collected rocks and finally nailed the flag of their country. The third of the astronauts remained in orbit doing experiments and photos.

Travelling into space has to be a fascinating thing, and that’s what one of the astronauts tells us in a letter. ‘As a child, I felt a special attraction to the Moon and always told myself:

  • How beautiful the moon is!

  • Has someone already visited it?

  • Who could travel to her!

  • Will it have people like those on Earth?

Every night, I peeked out the window of my room to watch the moon. I was fascinated to see it, shining in the distance. Seeing it, I asked myself thousands of questions about it and the lives of astronauts. What I never imagined is that, as an adult, I would be an astronaut.

The experience of visiting the moon is indescribable. The Moon is a geologically fascinating place, a real gem. But, most surprising is that when I was on the moon, my thoughts turned to Earth:

  • How my family would be?

  • Will I be able to return to Earth?

  • How beautiful is our planet!

  • How lucky we are to live in such a wonderful place!

Definitely, my trip to the moon made me think about how extraordinarily lucky we are for having air to breathe, to have the opportunity to live on Earth. Therefore, we should be aware of it and protect our planet.’

Target sentences are in italics.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Suárez-Coalla, P., Álvarez-Cañizo, M., Martínez, C. et al. Reading prosody in Spanish dyslexics. Ann. of Dyslexia 66, 275–300 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-016-0123-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-016-0123-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation