Abstract
Learning to read is a middle-distance race for children worldwide. Most of them succeed in this acquisition with “normal” difficulties that ensue from the progressive (re)structuring of the phonological and orthographic systems. Evidence accumulated on reading difficulties in children with developmental dyslexia (DYS children, henceforth) shows a pervasive phonological deficit. However, the phonological deficit may not be due to degraded phonological representations but rather due to impaired access to them. This study focused on how and to what extent phonological syllables, which are essential reading units in French, were accessible to DYS children to segment and access words. We tested the assumption that DYS children did not strictly have pervasive degraded phonological representations but also have impaired access to phonological and orthographic representations. We administered a visually adapted word-spotting paradigm, engaging both sublexical processing and lexical access, with French native-speaking DYS children (N = 25; Mage in months = 121.6, SD = 3.0) compared with chronological age-matched peers (N = 25; Mage in months = 121.8, SD = 2.7; CA peers henceforth) and reading level-matched peers (N = 25; Mage in months = 94.0, SD = 4.6; RL peers henceforth). Although DYS children were slower and less accurate than CA and RL peers, we found that they used phonological syllables to access and segment words. However, they exhibit neither the classical inhibitory syllable frequency effect nor the lexical frequency effect, which is generally observed in typically developing children. Surprisingly, DYS children did not show strictly degraded phonological representations because they demonstrated phonological syllable-based segmentation abilities, particularly with high-frequency syllables. Their difficulties are rather interpreted in terms of impaired access to orthographic and phonological representations, which could be a direct effect of difficulties in generalizing and consolidating low-frequency syllables. We discuss these results regarding reading acquisition and the specificities of the French linguistic system.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Data will be freely available on https://osf.io/2m5xf/.
Change history
05 May 2024
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-024-00306-x
Notes
French is considered to be opaque since it is irregular in the phoneme-to-grapheme direction (e.g., one phoneme [e.g., /o/] may be represented either in a fine- [e.g., “o”] or in coarse-grained graphemes [e.g., “eau,” “aux”]; Fayol & Jaffré, 2008).
Overall, we tested 103 typically developing children. Based on their scores at TIMÉ 3 and their personal information, we excluded 53 of them (51.5%) from the initial set because 28 (52.8%) were either the same chronological age or the same reading level as the previously selected CA or RL peers to match the DYS children, 19 (35.9%) were “poor readers” (i.e., typically developing children with Mdelay in months between –9 months and –17 months), 4 (7.4%) did not follow the instructions, and 2 dropped out (3.8%).
To discard uncovered factors that could affect our results, we inspected the Orthographic Trigram Frequency since this is supposed to influence the activation strength between the letter level and the syllable level following predictions from the IAS model (Mathey et al., 2006). We did not carry out an additional analysis (e.g., by substituting the Lexical Frequency) because values for lexical frequency and Orthographic Trigram Frequency strongly and positively correlate (r = .86).
References
Ahissar, M. (2007). Dyslexia and the anchoring-deficit hypothesis. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(11), 458–465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2007.08.015
Álvarez, C., García-Saavedra, G., Luque, J., & Taft, M. (2017). Syllabic parsing in children: A developmental study using visual word-spotting in Spanish. Journal of Child Language, 44(2), 380–401. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000916000040
Anthony, J., & Francis, D. (2005). Development of phonological awareness. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(5), 255–259. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00376.x
Arciuli, J. (2018). Reading as statistical learning. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 49(3, suppl), 634–643. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_LSHSS-STLT1-17-0135
Bastien-Toniazzo, M., Magnan, A., & Bouchafa, H. (1999). Nature des représentations du langage écrit aux débuts de l’apprentissage de la lecture : Un modèle interprétatif. [Nature of the written representations at the beginning of the learning to read: An interpretative model]. Journal International de Psychologie, 34, 43–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/002075999400096
Berent, I., Vaknin-Nusbaum, V., Balaban, E., & Galaburda, A. (2012). Dyslexia impairs speech recognition but can spare phonological competence. PLoS One, 7(9), e44875. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044875
Berent, I., Vaknin-Nusbaum, V., Balaban, E., & Galaburda, A. (2013). Phonological generalizations in dyslexia: The phonological grammar may not be impaired. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 30(15), 285–310. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643294.2013.863182
Berent, I., Vaknin-Nusbaum, V., & Galaburda, A. (2022). Phonological and phonetics - Linked but distinct: Evidence from dyslexia. Radical: A Journal of Phonology, 4, 491–527.
Berent, I., Zhao, X., Balaban, E., & Galaburda, A. (2016). Phonology and phonetics dissociate in dyslexia: Evidence from adult English speakers. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 31(9), 1178–1192. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2016.1211301
Berninger, V., Raskind, W., Richards, T., Abbott, R., & Stock, P. (2008). A multidisciplinary approach to understanding developmental dyslexia within working-memory architecture: Genotypes, phenotypes, brain, and instruction. Developmental Neuropsychology, 33(6), 707–744. https://doi.org/10.1080/87565640802418662
Boada, R., & Pennington, B. (2006). Deficient implicit phonological representations in children with dyslexia. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 95(3), 153–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2006.04.003
Boets, B. (2014). Dyslexia: Reconciling controversies within an integrative developmental perspective. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18(10), 501–503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2014.06.003
Boets, B., Op de Beeck, H., Vandermosten, M., Scott, S., Gillebert, C., Mantini, D., Bulthé, J., Sunaert, S., Wouters, J., & Ghesquière, P. (2013). Intact but less accessible phonetic representations in adults with dyslexia. Science, 342, 1251–1254. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1244333
Booth, J., Perfetti, C., & McWhinney, B. (1999). Quick, automatic, and general activation of orthographic and phonological representations in young readers. Developmental Psychology, 35(1), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.35.1.3
Caravolas, M., Lervåg, A., Defior, S., Málková, G., & Hulme, C. (2013). Different patterns, but equivalent predictors, of growth in reading in consistent and inconsistent orthographies. Psychological Science, 24, 1398–1407. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612473122
Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the reading wars: Reading acquisition from novice to expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(1), 5–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100618772271
Chetail, F., & Mathey, S. (2009a). Activation of syllable units during visual recognition of French words in Grade 2. Journal of Child Language, 36(4), 883–894. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000908009197
Chetail, F., & Mathey, S. (2009b). The syllable frequency effect in visual recognition of French words: A study in skilled and beginning readers. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 22, 955–973. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-008-9135-9
Chetail, F., & Mathey, S. (2010). Rôle de la syllabe dans l’apprentissage de la lecture : études en finction du niveau de lecture. Approche Neuropsychologique des Apprentissages chez l’Enfant, 107–108, 119–124.
Chetail, F., & Mathey, S. (2012). Effect of syllable congruency in sixth graders in the lexical decision task with masked priming. Scientific Studies of Reading, 16, 537–549. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2011.607480
Chetail, F., & Mathey, S. (2013). Interaction between phonemic abilities and syllable congruency effect in young readers. Journal of Child Language, 40(2), 492–508. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000911000493
Colé, P., & Sprenger-Charolles, L. (1999). Traitement syllabique au cours de la reconnaissance de mots écrits chez des enfants dyslexiques, lecteurs en retard et normo-lecteurs de 11 ans. [Syllable processing during visual word recognition in children with dyslexia, poor and normal readers of 11 years old]. Revue de Neuropsychologie, 9, 323–360.
Colé, P., Magnan, A., & Grainger, J. (1999). Syllable-sized units in visual word recognition: Evidence from skilled and beginning readers of French. Applied Psycholinguistics, 20(4), 507–532. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716499004038
Cutler, A., & Norris, D. (1988). The role of strong syllables in segmentation for lexical access. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 14(1), 113–121. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.14.1.113
DeCaro, M., Thomas, R., Albert, N., & Beilock, S. (2011). Choking under pressure: Multiple routes to skill failure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 140(3), 390–406. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023466
Dell, F. (1995). Consonant clusters and phonological syllables in French. Lingua, 95(1–3), 5–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(95)90099-3
Doignon, N., & Zagar, D. (2006). Les enfants en cours d’apprentissage de la lecture perçoivent-ils la syllabe à l’écrit ? [Do children in the course of learning to read perceive syllables in the written word?]. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 60(4), 258–274. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/https://doi.org/10.1037/cjep2006024
Doignon-Camus, N., & Zagar, D. (2014). The syllabic bridge: The first step in learning spelling-to-sound correspondences. Journal of Child Language, 41(5), 1147–1165. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000913000305
Doignon-Camus, N., Seigneuric, A., Perrier, É., Sisti, A., & Zagar, D. (2013). Evidence for a preserved sensitivity to orthographic redundancy and an impaired access to phonological syllables in French developmental dyslexics. Annals of Dyslexia, 63(2), 117–132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-012-0075-3
Doignon-Camus, N., & Zagar, D. (2009). Les enfants perçoivent-ils la syllable à l’écrit ? Le modèle DIAMS [Do children perceive the syllable in printed words? The DIAMS model]. In N. Marec-Breton et al. (Eds.), L’apprentissage de la langue écrite, pp. 33–47. Presses Universitaires de Rennes. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pur.60374
Doust, C., Fontanillas, P., Eising, E., Gordon, S., Wang, Z., Alagöz, G., Molz, B., 23andMe Research Team, Quantitative Trait Working Group of the GenLang Consortium, Saint-Pourçain, B., Francks, C., Marioni, R., Zhao, J., Paracchini, S., Talcott, J., Monaco, A., Stein, J., Gruen, J., Olson, R. …, & Luciano, M. (2022). Discovery of 42 genome-wide significant loci associated with dyslexia. Nature Genetics, 54, 1621–1629.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-022-01192-y
Duncan, L., Colé, P., Seymour, P., & Magnan, A. (2006). Differing sequencing of metaphonological development in French and English. Journal of Child Language, 33(2), 369–399. https://doi.org/10.1017/S030500090600732X
Duncan, L., Castro, S. L., Defior, S., Seymour, P., Baillie, S., Leybaert, J., Mousty, P., Genard, N., Sarris, M., Porpodas, C., Lund, R., Sigurðsson, B., Thornráinsdóttir, A., Sucena, A., & Serrano, F. (2013). Phonological development in relation to native language and literacy: Variations on a theme in six alphabetic orthographies. Cognition, 127(3), 398–419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2013.02.009
Écalle, J. (2006). Timé 3 : Test d’Identification de Mots Ecrits pour enfants de 7 à 15 ans [Timé 3: A visual word identification test for children from 7-to-15 years old]. Mot-à-Mot.
Ehri, L. (2005). Learning to read words: Theory, findings, and issues. Scientific Studies of Reading, 9(2), 167–188. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532799xssr0902_4
Fabre, D., & Bedoin, N. (2003). Sensitivity to sonority for print processing in normal readers and children with dyslexia. Current Psychology Letters: Brain, Behaviour and Cognition, Special Issue on Language Disorders and Reading Acquisition, 10(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.4000/cpl.93
Fayol, M., & Jaffré, J.-P. (2008). Orthographier [Spelling]. Presses Universitaires de France.
Gabay, Y., Thiessen, E., & Holt, L. (2015). Impaired statistical learning in developmental dyslexia. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 58(3), 934–945. https://doi.org/10.1044/2015_jslhr-l-14-0324
Goswami, U., Wang, H., Cruz, A., Fosker, T., Mead, N., & Huss, M. (2011). Language-universal sensory deficits in developmental dyslexia: English, Spanish, and Chinese. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(2), 325–337. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2010.21453
Grigorenko, E., Compton, D., Fuchs, L., Wagner, R., Willcutt, E., & Fletcher, J. (2020). Understanding, educating, and supporting children with specific learning disabilities: 50 years of science and practice. American Psychologist, 75(1), 37–51. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000452
Harm, M., & Seidenberg, M. (1999). Phonology, reading acquisition, and dyslexia: Insights from connectionist models. Psychological Review, 106(3), 491–528. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.106.3.491
Hautus, M., Macmillan, N., & Creelman, C. (2021). Detection theory: A user’s guide. 3rd ed. (Routledge).
Jiménez, J., García, E., O’Shanahan, I., & Rojas, E. (2010). Do Spanish children use the syllable in visual word recognition in learning to read? The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 13(1), 63–74. https://doi.org/10.1017/s113874160000367x
Johnson, P. (2014). Extension of Nakagawa and Schielzeth’s R2GLMM to random slopes models. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 5(9), 944–946. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12225
Kargiotidis, A., & Manolitsis, G. (2023). Are children with early literacy difficulties at risk for anxiety disorders in late childhood. Annals of Dyslexia. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-023-00291-7
Landerl, K., Ramus, F., Moll, K., Lyytinen, H., Leppänen, P., Lohvansuu, K., O’Donovan, M., Williams, J., Bartling, J., Bruder, J., Kunze, S., Neuhoff, N., Tóth, D., Honbolygó, F., Csépe, V., Bogliotti, C., Iannuzzi, S., Chaix, Y., Démontet, J.-F. …, & Schulte-Körne, G. (2013). Predictors of developmental dyslexia in European orthographies with varying complexity. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54(6), 686–694. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12029
Lefèvre, É., Cavalli, E., Colé, P., Law, J., & Sprenger-Charolles, L. (2023). Tracking reading skills and reading-related skills in dyslexia before (age 5) and after (ages 10–17) diagnosis. Annals of Dyslexia, 73, 260–287. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-022-00277-x
Léon, P. (2011). Phonétisme et prononciations du français [Phonetism and pronunciation of French]. Armand Colin.
Lété, B., Sprenger-Charolles, L., & Colé, P. (2004). Manulex: A grade-level lexical database from French elementary-school readers. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36(1), 156–166. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03195560
Lo, S., & Andrews, S. (2015). To transform or not to transform: Using generalized linear mixed models to analyse reaction time data. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1171. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01171
Luque, J., López-Zamora, M., Álvarez, C., & Bordoy, S. (2013). Beyond decoding deficit: Inhibitory effect of positional syllable. Annals of Dyslexia, 63(3–4), 239–252. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-013-0082-z
Lyon, G., Shaywitz, S., & Shaywitz, B. (2003). A definition of dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 53, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-003-0001-9
Maïonchi-Pino, N., Magnan, A., & Écalle, J. (2010a). Syllable frequency effects in visual word recognition: Developmental approach in French children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31(1), 70–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2009.08.003
Maïonchi-Pino, N., Magnan, A., & Écalle, J. (2010b). The nature of the phonological processing in French children with dyslexia: Evidence of the phonological syllable and linguistic features’ role in silent reading and speech discrimination. Annals of Dyslexia, 60, 123–150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-010-0036-7
Maïonchi-Pino, N., de Cara, B., Écalle, J., & Magnan, A. (2012). Are French dyslexic children sensitive to consonant sonority in segmentation strategies? Preliminary evidence from a letter detection task. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 33(1), 12–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2011.07.045
Maïonchi-Pino, N., Taki, Y., Yokoyama, S., Magnan, A., Takahashi, K., Hashizume, H., Écalle, J., & Kawashima, R. (2013). Is the phonological deficit in developmental dyslexia related to impaired phonological representations and to universal phonological grammar? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 115(1), 53–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2012.10.006
Maïonchi-Pino, N., Carmona, A., Tossonian, M., Lucas, O., Loiseau, V., & Ferrand, L. (2020). Universal restrictions in reading: What do French beginning readers (mis)perceive? Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2914. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02914
Maïonchi-Pino, N., Runge, É., & Chabanal, D. (under review a). Tracking developmental changes in the use of syllables as segmental and prelexical reading units: A longitudinal approach in French children.
Maïonchi-Pino, N., Méot, A., Runge, É., Joubert, P., Berthon, M., Piollet, A., & Chabanal, D. (under review b). Warning: Norm-in-use instructions may bias the assessment of reading skills in developmental dyslexia.
Marshall, C., Ramus, F., & van der Lely, H. (2010). Do children with dyslexia and/or specific language impairment compensate for place assimilation? Insight into phonological grammar and representations. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 27(7), 563–586. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643294.2011.588693
Mathey, S., Zagar, D., Doignon, N., & Seigneuric, A. (2006). The nature of syllabic neighbourhood in French. Acta Psychologica, 123(3), 372–393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2006.02.003
Melby-Lervåg, M., Lyster, S., & Hulme, C. (2012). Phonological skills and their role in learning to read: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 138(2), 322–352. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026744
Mengisidou, M., & Marshall, C. (2019). Deficient explicit access to phonological representations explains phonological fluency difficulties in Greek children with dyslexia and/or developmental language disorder. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 638. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00638
New, B., Pallier, C., Brysbaert, M., & Ferrand, L. (2004). Lexique 2: A new French lexical database. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36(3), 516–524. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03195598
Noordenbos, M., & Serniclaes, W. (2015). The categorical perception deficit in dyslexia: A meta-analysis. Scientific Studies of Reading, 19(5), 340–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2015.1052455
Peereman, R., Lété, B., & Sprenger-Charolles, L. (2007). Manulex-Infra: Distributional characteristics of grapheme-phoneme mappings, infra-lexical and lexical units in child-directed written material. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 39(3), 579–589. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03193029
Perfetti, C. (2007). Reading ability: Lexical quality to comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 11(4), 357–383. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888430701530730
Perfetti, C., & Hart, L., et al. (2002). The lexical quality hypothesis. In L. Verhoeven (Ed.), Precursors of functional literacy (pp. 189–213). John Benjamins.
Piquard-Kipffer, A., & Sprenger-Charolles, L. (2013). Early predictors of future reading skills: A follow-up of French-speaking children from the beginning of kindergarten to the end of the second grade (age 5 to 8). L'Année Psychologique, 113, 491–521. https://doi.org/10.4074/S0003503313014012
Psychology Software Tools, Inc. [E-Prime 3.0]. (2016). Retrieved from https://support.pstnet.com/
Ramus, F., & Ahissar, M. (2012). Developmental dyslexia: The difficulties of interpreting poor performance, and the importance of normal performance. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 29(1–2), 104–122. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643294.2012.677420
Ramus, F., & Szenkovits, G. (2008). What phonological deficit? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61(1), 129–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470210701508822
Ramus, F., Marshall, C., Rosen, S., & van der Lely, H. (2013). Phonological deficits in specific language impairment and developmental dyslexia: Towards a multidimensional model. Brain, 136(2), 630–645. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/aws356
Saffran, J. (2018). Statistical learning as a window into developmental disabilities. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disabilities, 10, 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-018-9252-y
Saksida, A., Iannuzzi, S., Bogliotti, C., Chaix, Y., Démonet, J.-F., Bricout, L., Billard, C., Nguyen-Morel, M.-A., Le Heuzey, M.-F., Soares-Boucaud, I., George, F., Ziegler, J., & Ramus, F. (2016). Phonological skills, visual attention span, and visual stress in developmental dyslexia. Developmental Psychology, 52(10), 1503–1516. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000184
Seidenberg, M. (1987). Sublexical structures in visual word recognition: Access units or orthographic redundancy? In M. Coltheart (Ed.), Attention and performance XII: The psychology of reading (pp. 245–263). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Serniclaes, W., Van Heghe, S., Mousty, P., Carré, R., & Sprenger-Charolles, L. (2004). Allophonic mode of speech perception in dyslexia. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 87(4), 336–361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2004.02.001
Seymour, P. (2005). Early Reading Development in European Orthographies. In M. Snowling, & C. Hulme (Eds.), The science of reading: A handbook (pp. 296–315). Blackwell Publishing.
Seymour, P., Aro, M., & Erskine, J. (2003). Foundation literacy acquisition in European orthographies. British Journal of Psychology, 94(2), 143–174. https://doi.org/10.1348/000712603321661859
Share, D. (2008). On the Anglocentricities of current reading research and practice: The perils of overreliance on an “outlier” orthography. Psychological Bulletin, 134(4), 584–615. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.134.4.584
Share, D. (2021). Common misconceptions about the phonological deficit theory of dyslexia. Brain Sciences, 11(11), 1510. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11111510
Snowling, M. (2001). From language to reading and dyslexia. Dyslexia, 7(1), 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.185
Snowling, M., Hulme, C., & Nation, K. (2020). Defining and understanding dyslexia: Past, present, and future. Oxford Review of Education, 46(4), 501–513. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2020.1765756
Soroli, E., Szenkovits, G., & Ramus, F. (2010). Exploring dyslexics’ phonological deficit: III. Foreign speech perception and production. Dyslexia, 16(4), 318–340. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.415
Sprenger-Charolles, L., Siegel, L., Jiménez, J., & Ziegler, J. (2011). Prevalence and reliability of phonological, surface, and mixed profiles in dyslexia: A review of studies conducted in languages varying in orthographic depth. Scientific Studies of Reading, 16(6), 498–521. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2010.524463
Szenkovits, G., & Ramus, F. (2005). Exploring dyslexics’ phonological deficit I: Lexical vs sub-lexical and input vs output processes. Dyslexia, 11(4), 253–268. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.308
Szenkovits, G., Darma, Q., Darcy, I., & Ramus, F. (2016). Exploring dyslexics’ phonological deficit II: Phonological grammar. First Language, 36(3), 316–337. https://doi.org/10.1177/0142723716648841
The Jamovi Project (2023). Jamovi (Version 2.3) [Computer Software]. Retrieved from https://www.jamovi.org
Vandermosten, M., Wouters, J., Ghesquière, P., & Golestani, N. (2019). Statistical learning of speech sounds in dyslexic and typical reading children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 23(1), 116–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2018.1473404
Vandermosten, M., Correia, J., Vanderauwera, J., Wouters, J., Ghesquière, P., & Bonte, M. (2020). Brain activity patterns of phonemic représentations are atypical in beginning readers with family risk for dyslexia. Developmental Science, 23(1), e12857. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12857
Vazeux, M., Doignon-Camus, N., Bosse, M.-L., Mahé, G., Guo, T., & Zagar, D. (2020). Syllable-first rather than letter-first to improve phonemic awareness. Scientific Reports, 10, 22130. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79240-y
Veale, J. (2014). Edinburgh Handedness Inventory-Short Form: A revised version based on confirmatory factor analysis. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 19(2), 164–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650x.2013.783045
Vellutino, F., Fletcher, J., Snowling, M., & Scanlon, D. (2004). Specific reading disability (dyslexia): What have we learned in the past four decades? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(1), 2–40. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0021-9630.2003.00305.x
Wimmer, H., & Schurz, M. (2010). Dyslexia in regular orthographies: Manifestation and causation. Dyslexia, 16(4), 283–299. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.411
Ziegler, J., & Goswami, U. (2005). Reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia, and skilled reading across languages: A psycholinguistic grain size theory. Psychological Bulletin, 131(1), 3–29. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.131.1.3
Ziegler, J., Castel, C., Pech-Georgel, C., George, F., Alario, F.-X., & Perry, C. (2008). Developmental dyslexia and the dual route model of reading: Simulating individual differences and subtypes. Cognition, 107(1), 151–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2007.09.004
Ziegler, J., Bertrand, D., Tóth, D., Csépe, V., Reis, A., Faísca, Saine, N., Lyytinen, H., Vaessen, A., & Blomert, L. (2010). Orthographic depth and its impact on universal predictors of reading: A cross-language investigation. Psychological Science, 21(4), 551–559. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610363406
Ziegler, J., Perry, C., & Zorzi, M. (2014). Modelling reading development through phonological decoding and self-teaching: Implications for dyslexia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 369(1634), 20210397. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0397
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the speech and language therapists, neuropsychologists, teachers, parents, and children who voluntarily participated in this study. We thank Master’s students who were involved in the data collection.
Funding
This research was partly supported by a Research Grant EP2ED2 from Maison des Sciences de l’Homme de Clermont-Ferrand – USR 3550 CNRS – 63000 Clermont-Ferrand (2018–2020).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Norbert Maïonchi-Pino and Damien Chabanal conceived, designed, and supervised this study. Norbert Maïonchi-Pino and Master’s students collected the data. Norbert Maïonchi-Pino and Damien Chabanal analyzed and interpreted the data and wrote the paper. Norbert Maïonchi-Pino and Élise Runge edited the text, figures, tables, and references. Norbert Maïonchi-Pino, Élise Runge, and Damien Chabanal revised the paper. Norbert Maïonchi-Pino, Élise Runge, and Damien Chabanal approved the submission of the manuscript for publication.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
The Regional School Management Office and the Local Ethics Committee approved this research (IRB00011540–2018–17).
Consent to participate
All children participated after their parents had completed and signed an informed consent form.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
The original online version of this article was revised: “The Regional School Management Office and the Local Ethics Committee approved this research (IRBXXXXXXXX–XXXX–XX).” should have read “The Regional School Management Office and the Local Ethics Committee approved this research”.
In Data availability section, the text appear in the bracket should be removed, previously read as “Data will be freely available on https://osf.io/2m5xf/ (before publication, you can contact me if the access is impossible or corrupted).” should have read “Data will be freely available on https://osf.io2m5xf/”.
Appendix
Appendix
Compatibility | Incompatibility | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
High-frequency words | Low-frequency words | High-frequency words | Low-frequency words | ||||
High-frequency syllables | Low-frequency syllables | High-frequency syllables | Low-frequency syllables | High-frequency syllables | Low-frequency syllables | High-frequency syllables | Low-frequency syllables |
murna | gelvo | barfi | zipmo | murol | gelob | bariv | zipob |
tirma | purfa | sirgo | kirpo | tiruv | purol | sirèv | kiroj |
belgo | picta | forgu | tictu | beliv | picuj | forug | ticob |
ferlu | bectu | docmè | tifga | ferob | becup | docap | tifub |
balgu | bactè | calfi | nulpo | baléb | bacuf | calèg | nulig |
filca | capto | vilma | cilca | filav | capuk | vilab | cilab |
mervo | bolma | terpu | gagtu | meroj | bolém | terov | gaguj |
carfi | vifga | corlu | pubjo | carib | viféj | coruj | puboj |
verco | toctè | derlo | pifmè | veroj | tocug | derog | pifag |
telvo | toptu | rabju | teluj | topév | rabuf | ||
durni | secto | raptu | duril | secuf | rapik | ||
sacti | lacti | valbi | sacub | lacub | valèd | ||
surpi | rocmè | suril | rocav | ||||
volmu | bicta | volèb | bicav | ||||
selti | bipmo | selor | bipuv | ||||
solga | mecto | soléj | mecob | ||||
maldo | bobja | malèv | bobav | ||||
colpu | nefga | colèd | nefuk | ||||
parbo | ducmè | parug | ducoj | ||||
sucmè | sucog | ||||||
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Maïonchi-Pino, N., Runge, É. & Chabanal, D. Phonological syllables allow children with developmental dyslexia to access words. Ann. of Dyslexia (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-024-00302-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-024-00302-1