John DeMann

Defense Date

7-28-2011

Graduation Date

Fall 2011

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

School Psychology

School

School of Education

Committee Chair

Ara J. Schmitt

Committee Member

Rose Mary Mautino

Committee Member

Jeffrey A. Miller

Keywords

Dyslexia, Phonemic awareness, Processing speed, Rapid naming, Reading fluency

Abstract

Converging evidence suggests that phonological awareness is at the core of reading ability. Rapid automatized naming (RAN), defined as how quickly individuals can name continuously presented familiar visual stimuli, is also known to be a strong predictor of reading performance, and reading fluency in particular. The double deficit hypothesis suggests RAN deficits represent an additional core deficit associated with the reading process. Although there are many ways to measure RAN (e.g., using letters, numbers, pictures, objects), not well established is which RAN task is most predictive of the reading fluency skills of clinic referred children. Further research is also needed to understand the relationship between RAN and general processing speed, and the extent to which RAN tasks uniquely predict the reading fluency of clinic-referred children. The purpose of the current study is to determine a) the relationships among phonemic awareness, RAN, general processing speed, and reading fluency; b) the predictive value of phonemic awareness and RAN tasks in determining reading fluency performance; c) which RAN task best predicts reading fluency; and d) if RAN tasks continue to predict reading fluency while controlling for general processing speed. 64 children from a university reading clinic were used as participants in this study. The results suggest that alphanumeric RAN task performance --and letter naming in particular-- are unique contributors to reading fluency performance in dysfluent readers. Further, the results indicate that this contribution to reading fluency extends beyond that of other theoretical components of fluency.

Format

PDF

Language

English

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