creators_name: Ramus, Franck creators_name: Pidgeon, Elizabeth creators_name: Frith, Uta type: journalp datestamp: 2002-07-25 lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:54:57 metadata_visibility: show title: The relationship between motor control and phonology in dyslexic children ispublished: inpress subjects: neuro-psy subjects: dev-psy subjects: clin-psy subjects: behav-neuro-sci full_text_status: public keywords: dyslexia, reading, phonology, cerebellum, automaticity, motor control note: Check the alternative location for the final pdf reprint. abstract: Background: The goal of this study was to investigate the automaticity/cerebellar theory of dyslexia. We tested phonological skills and cerebellar function in a group of dyslexic 8-12 year old children and their matched controls. Tests administered included the Phonological Assessment Battery, postural stability, bead threading, finger to thumb and time estimation. Results: Dyslexic children were found to be significantly poorer than the controls at all tasks but time estimation. About 75% of dyslexics were more than one standard deviation below controls in phonological ability, and 50% were similarly impaired in motor skills. However, at least part of the discrepancy in motor skills was due to dyslexic individuals who had additional disorders (ADHD and/or DCD). The absence of evidence for a time estimation deficit also casts doubt on the cerebellar origin of the motor deficiency. About half the dyslexic children didn't have any motor problem, and there was no evidence for a causal relationship between motor skills on the one hand and phonological and reading skills on the other. Conclusion: This study provides partial support for the presence of motor problems in dyslexic children, but does not support the hypothesis that a cerebellar dysfunction is the cause of their phonological and reading impairment. date: 2002 date_type: published publication: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines refereed: TRUE referencetext: Bradley, L., & Bryant, P. E. (1983). Categorizing sounds and learning to read -- a causal connection. Nature, 301, 419-421. Brown, W. E., Eliez, S., Menon, V., Rumsey, J. M., White, C. D., & Reiss, A. L. (2001). Preliminary evidence of widespread morphological variations of the brain in dyslexia. Neurology, 56(6), 781-3. Brunswick, N., McCrory, E., Price, C. J., Frith, C. D., & Frith, U. (1999). Explicit and implicit processing of words and pseudowords by adult developmental dyslexics: A search for Wernicke's Wortschatz? Brain, 122 ( Pt 10), 1901-17. Cossu, G. (submitted). 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J Learn Disabil, 27(10), 660-5. citation: Ramus, Franck and Pidgeon, Elizabeth and Frith, Uta (2002) The relationship between motor control and phonology in dyslexic children. [Journal (Paginated)] (In Press) document_url: http://cogprints.org/2349/1/JCPP02.pdf