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Updated: Jul 11, 2026
15:00
Assessing Dyslexia at Six Year of Age
Published on: May 1, 2020
Dyslexia: sensory deficits or inattention?
Bernt Christian Skottun1, John Skoyles
1Skottun Research, PO Box 592, Ramah, NM 87321, USA.
Perception
|September 12, 2007
Summary
Dyslexia may not stem from simple inattention. Research suggests specific, non-random sensory deficits in dyslexic readers, challenging the inattention hypothesis for reading difficulties.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Dyslexia is a common reading disorder.
- Sensory deficits have been observed in individuals with dyslexia.
- Inattention has been proposed as a cause for these sensory deficits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether sensory deficits in dyslexia are due to inattention.
- To analyze the patterns of sensory performance in dyslexic readers.
- To determine if inattention can fully explain sensory deficiencies in dyslexia.
Main Methods:
- Review and analysis of published data on sensory performance in dyslexic readers.
- Comparison of observed deficit patterns with predictions based on inattention (general vs. random reductions).
Main Results:
- Data analysis indicates that sensory deficits in dyslexia are not general or random.
- Reproducible, non-random patterns of sensory deficiencies were observed.
- These patterns are specific to particular stimulus conditions.
Conclusions:
- The stimulus specificity of sensory deficits challenges the inattention hypothesis for dyslexia.
- Any explanation for sensory deficiencies in dyslexia must account for these non-random patterns.
- Further research is needed to explore the nature of these specific deficits.
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