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Detail of contribution

Auteur: Maria Teresa GUASTI

Co-Auteur(s): Elena PAGLIARINI, Natale STUCCHI, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

Titre:
Comordibity between dyslexia, SLI and motor disorders


Abstract/Résumé: Dyslexia, SLI are often associated to dysgraphia, a disorder concerned with handwriting and, more generally, with motor problems. This has led Nicolson & Fawcett (2011) to conjecture that this association is not accidental. We pursue this conjecture by investigation reading and writing skills in typically developing children, in children with dyslexia (with or without SLI) and in children with dyslexia plus dysgraphia. We took measures of reading, writing, drawing and of oral language. Our preliminary data show that in typical development reading and writing (gain velocity and disfluency) correlate. Moreover, we found that children with dyslexia differed from controls in reading, as expected, but also in measures of writing, regardless of whether they also had a diagnosis of dysgraphia or not. Correlations were also found between reading, writing and oral language measures. Thus, these data suggest that dyslexia may indeed be associated to fine motor function disorders. We propose that the underlying mechanisms that control these skills has to do with rhythmic timing and that these skills are somehow compromised in dyslexia, disgraphia and SLI.