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RESEARCH PRODUCT

In Search of the Core Features of Dyslexia: Observations Concerning Dyslexia in the Highly Orthographically Regular Finnish Language

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description

A goal of many researchers in recent years has been to explore the core feature(s) of dyslexia. Three methods that could be used for this purpose are as follows. One method is to examine and specify in detail the cognitive/reading deficits still present in adulthood and thus to identify deficit(s) instead of a delay. The second method is to use crosslinguistic comparisons (see Jackson, Hu, & Ju, Vol. I, 1994; Assink & Kattenberg, Vol. I, 1994; Wolf, Pfeil, Lotz, & Biddle, Vol. I, 1994). Any real core feature of dyslexia should be present universally independent of the language and language-specific experience among those who have received adequate training in reading. The third method is to try to study dyslexia prospectively by following the developmental route(s) leading to its appearance. A serious search for precursor(s) can be made in a prospective study only if one is able to identify with sufficient success a group of children at an early age who will later become dyslexic. Children being born in families with multiple dyslexic members comprise such a group. If dyslexia is a lifelong difficulty as is generally argued (Catts, 1989; Kamhi, 1992) and about half or more of the dyslexics have a familial background of dyslexia (Hallgren, 1950; Zerbin-Rudin, 1967; DeFries & Gillis, 1991; Lubs, Rabin, Feldman, Jallad, Kusch, & Gross-Glenn, 1993), this strategy should identify a sizeable number of developmental dyslexics as Scarborough (e.g., 1990) has recently successfully shown.