Automatisation deficits in balance for dyslexic children.

TitleAutomatisation deficits in balance for dyslexic children.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1992
AuthorsFawcett, AJ, Nicolson, RI
JournalPercept Mot Skills
Volume75
Issue2
Pagination507-29
Date Published1992 Oct
ISSN0031-5125
KeywordsAchievement, Adolescent, Attention, Child, Dyslexia, Functional Laterality, Humans, Mental Recall, Phonetics, Pitch Discrimination, Postural Balance, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Remedial Teaching
Abstract

Traditional theories of dyslexia have focused on components of the reading process. The Dyslexic Automatisation Deficit hypothesis takes a broader view, attributing deficits to an inability to become completely fluent in cognitive and motor skills. A series of experiments compared the balance of 15-yr.-old and 11-yr.-old groups of dyslexic children and normal children matched for age and IQ under single-task and dual-task conditions. There were no group differences in the single-task conditions. However, introduction of a concurrent secondary task led to a dissociation in that, whereas the balance of normal children was unaffected, the dyslexic children's balance was significantly impaired. It was concluded that the normal children balanced automatically whereas the dyslexic children did not. These results directly support the proposed framework.

DOI10.2466/pms.1992.75.2.507
Alternate JournalPercept Mot Skills
PubMed ID1408614