Cognitive-Linguistic Profiles of German Adults with Dyslexia

Past research has extensively explored reading in English-speaking children with dyslexia who acquire a highly irregular and opaque orthography. Far less is known about the manifestation of dyslexia in shallow, highly consistent orthographies like German, especially in adults. To shed further light on the heterogenous manifestation of dyslexia in German-speaking adults, we assessed reading and reading-related abilities, spelling, cognitive abilities, and language learning experience in 33 healthy German-speaking adults (17 females) and 33 adults with dyslexia (20 females). The four main aims were to (1) elucidate the intricate relationship between cognitive and literacy abilities, (2) investigate persisting weaknesses, (3) determine the strongest predictors of dyslexia, and (4) investigate deficit profiles. Group comparisons revealed persistent deficits in almost all measures of reading and spelling, slight deficits in verbal working memory, but no visuospatial impairments in adults with dyslexia. Moreover, adults with dyslexia had considerably lower English skills and lower educational attainment. Overall, we found fewer and weaker links between literacy and cognitive measures in adults with dyslexia, indicating a dissociation between these skills. Spelling, word reading, and phonological awareness were the best predictors of dyslexia, but the most widespread deficit was rapid automatized naming. Our findings suggest a heterogeneous manifestation of dyslexia in German-speaking adults, with even low-level deficits persisting into adulthood despite the shallow nature of the German orthographic system.