Abstract
Research has clearly established the importance of phonemic sensitivity in reading acquisition, as reflected in measures such as the ability to segment words into constituent phonemes. Whether such skill plays as crucial a role in gaining orthographic knowledge, as it does in learning to decode words based on symbol-sound correspondences, is a matter of debate. Some theorists contend that poor development of letter-sound knowledge (Ehri, 1992) and insufficient reading experience or exposure to print (Stanovich, 1992) play the major roles in the orthographic skill deficits of reading disabled (RD) children. We wish to supplement this view by proposing that a largely independent individual difference factor, indexed by speed of naming simple visual symbols such as single digits or letters, has a significant effect upon learning and retrieving orthographic patterns. The reading disabled child typically has difficulties in both phonemic sensitivity and in orthographic processing. We argue that the reading disabled child’s failure to abstract orthographic regularity after repeated print exposure and consequent difficulty acquiring automatic word recognition (Venezky & Massaro, 1979) may be due to slow access to letter codes as well as to the spiralling effects of initially poor decoding and restricted reading experience.
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Bowers, P., Golden, J., Kennedy, A., Young, A. (1994). Limits upon Orthographic Knowledge Due to Processes Indexed by Naming Speed. In: Berninger, V.W. (eds) The Varieties of Orthographic Knowledge. Neuropsychology and Cognition, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3492-9_6
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