Rhythm as an Independent Determinant of Developmental Dyslexia

Temporal accounts of Developmental Dyslexia (DD) postulate that a timing impairment plays an important role in this learning disorder. However, DD has been associated with timing disorders as well as other motor and cognitive dysfunctions. It is still unclear whether nonverbal timing skills per se m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental psychology 2022-02, Vol.58 (2), p.339-358
Main Authors: Bégel, Valentin, Dalla Bella, Simone, Devignes, Quentin, Vandenbergue, Madeline, Lemaître, Marie-Pierre, Dellacherie, Delphine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accounts
Attention
Child
Children
Cognition
Cognitive Ability
Cognitive Dysfunction
Cognitive flexibility
Cognitive functioning
Cognitive Impairment
Developmental Disabilities
Dyslexia
Executive Function
Female
Foreign Countries
Human
Humans
Learning Disabilities
Logistic Regression
Male
Medical diagnosis
Motor Control
Music
Preadolescents
Prediction
Predictor Variables
Psychomotor Skills
Rhythm
Task performance
Time
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Temporal accounts of Developmental Dyslexia (DD) postulate that a timing impairment plays an important role in this learning disorder. However, DD has been associated with timing disorders as well as other motor and cognitive dysfunctions. It is still unclear whether nonverbal timing skills per se may be considered as independent determinants of DD. In this study, we investigated the independent contribution of predictive timing to DD above and beyond the motor and cognitive dysfunctions typically associated with this disorder. Twenty-one children with DD (aged 8-12, nine females) and 27 controls (14 females) were evaluated on perceptual timing, finger tapping, fine motor control, as well as attention and executive tasks. Participants were native French speakers from various socioeconomic backgrounds. The performance of children with DD was poorer than that of controls in most of the tasks. Predictors of DD, as identified by logistic regression modeling, were beat perception and precision in tapping to the beat, which are both predictive timing variables, children's tapping rate, and cognitive flexibility. These data support temporal accounts of DD in which predictive timing impairments partially explain the core phonological deficit, independent from general motor and cognitive functioning, making predictive timing a valuable tool for early diagnosis and remediation of DD.
ISSN:0012-1649
1939-0599
DOI:10.1037/dev0001293