Phonological training in children with dyslexia using temporally modified speech: A three‐step pilot investigation

Abstract

Three separate studies were successively carried out to investigate the usefulness of intensively training children with dyslexia with daily exercizes based on the temporal processing theory of dyslexia, according to which these children would be specifically unable to process brief and rapidly changing auditory stimuli. The speech modification, similar for the three studies, was close to that proposed by Merzenich et al. (1996) and Tallal et al. (1996), including both artificial slowing of natural speech stimuli and amplification of brief, unstable portions of the speech signal. In the first study, 12 children, aged 10-12 years, received either such modified speech or normal speech for 1 h a day, 5 days a week, over 5 weeks, and they were assessed on phonological tasks before, during and after training. A significant advantage for the modified speech group was found both in pre-post-training improvement and in day-to-day progression on phonological performance. In a second study, 29 children with dyslexia, aged 5-12, received a similar training, but for only 15 min a day, 7 days a week, over 6 weeks, part at the speech therapist office, part in their own homes. The finding of comparable improvement in a more 'natural' environment and in children over a wider age range indicates both the efficacy and feasibility of the method in usual clinical practice. However, this study also showed that one of four children did not improve as expected, prompting a third study where 23 other children underwent specific tasks presumably exploring various aspects of temporal processing in order to find predictors of training efficacy. A 'temporal order judgement' (TOJ) task was found best correlated with post-training improvement, suggesting that one use this task for selecting the best candidates for temporo-phonological training. Moreover, such correlation provided further argument in favour of the temporal deficit theory of dyslexia, not only by showing a link between a purely temporal task and ultimate phonological performance, but also by demonstrating that TOJ performance itself improves after phonological training. Finally, and taken together, these studies provide further justification for a rational, indication-based temporo-phonological treatment of dyslexia. Possible neural substrates of the relevant mechanisms are discussed in the light of recent experimental and brain-imaging studies.

Effect of Nonlinguistic Auditory Training on Phonological and Reading Skills

“…In addition, the results corroborate a series of studies in which improvement in perceptive skills was shown through training, which proves the existence of plasticity of the skill in question [1][2][3][4] . The results also show that improvement in nonverbal skills occurred in all ages evaluated, but it was more pronounced for the 7-to 10-year-old group, which corroborates the theory regarding the critical learning period.…”

Computer‐based training with ortho‐phonological units in dyslexic children: new investigations

“…Moreover, using a randomized control trial, Cohen et al (2005) showed that language skills were not further enhanced by the training Some of the reported evidence also suggests that this training program can lead directly to improvements in phonemic awareness (De Martino, Espesser, Rey, & Habib, 2001;Habib et al, 1999). However, these authors systematically associated phonological and temporo-spectral training, in other words to train the children they used phonological exercises involving either temporally modified or unmodified speech and concluded by suggesting a temporophonological treatment of dyslexia (Habib et al, 2002). Because negative results have also been reported with regard to this method and the associated theory (McAnally, Hansen, Cornelissen, & Stein, 1997;Mody, Studdert-Kennedy, & Brady, 1997;Nittrouer, 1999), its applicability as a widespread technique for treating children with reading disabilities is still uncertain.…”

Treatment of developmental dyslexia: A review

“…It will be clear though that this way the child has to speed-up information processing as treatment progresses. There is a number of treatment studies, inspired by Tallal's temporal processing theory, which addressed the effects on reading of gradual enhancements in the speed of information processing [35][36][37]. These effects were reported to be positive.…”