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Assessing Dyslexia at Six Year of Age
Published on: May 1, 2020
Dyslexia as disability or handicap: when does vocabulary matter?
1University of Copenhagen, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, Copenhagen, Denmark. ce@hum.ku.dk
Journal of Learning Disabilities
|May 7, 2010
Summary
Dyslexia definitions often include general cognitive ability, but research shows it's irrelevant to the disability itself. However, vocabulary, a component of general ability, can influence the educational handicap experienced by individuals with dyslexia.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Educational Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Current definitions of dyslexia often incorporate general cognitive ability.
- Decades of research indicate minimal relevance of general cognitive ability to the core nature of dyslexia.
- A distinction exists between dyslexia as a disability (poor reading skills) and a handicap (educational consequences).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate why general cognitive ability remains in dyslexia definitions despite research.
- To explore the relationship between general knowledge/ability and the educational handicap of dyslexia.
- To test the hypothesis that vocabulary influences the reading handicap, not the reading disability itself.
Main Methods:
- The study examined 165 adult poor readers.
- Reading ability was statistically controlled in the analysis.
- The relationship between vocabulary and reading handicap/disability was assessed.
Main Results:
- Results supported the hypothesis that high vocabulary is linked to a greater reading handicap in poor readers.
- Vocabulary was found to be unrelated to the severity of the reading disability itself.
- This suggests vocabulary influences the educational consequences rather than the underlying deficit.
Conclusions:
- General cognitive ability is not relevant to the disability of dyslexia.
- Vocabulary, as a component of general knowledge, is linked to the handicap (educational consequences) of dyslexia.
- The findings support differentiating between dyslexia as a disability and as a handicap in educational contexts.
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