Possible Attentional Origins of Word Decoding Deficits in Dyslexia

Dynamic versus structural processing differences characterize laterality patterns of learning disabled children

“…For example, differences in the REA between participants with LD and age-matched controls have been produced by lateral changes in head orientation relative to body midline (Boliek, Obrzut, & Shaw, 1988), cued selective report from a designated ear (Kershner & Micallef, 1992;Obrzut et al, 1981;Obrzut, Obrzut, Bryden, & Bartels, 1985), changes in the dichotic response from oral to written (Kershner et al, 1984;Stringer & Kershner, 1993), the order of presentation of different types of dichotic stimuli (Morton & Siegel, 1991), the order in which the ears are monitored (Kershner & Morton, 1990), effects of volume on ear performance (Bloch, in press), effects of high and low lexical workload on ear performance (Lamm & Epstein, 1994), and homogeneous subtypes of reading disability (Morton, 1993). Several of the more recent and interesting findings are presented next.…”

Forced-Attention Dichotic Listening With University Students With Dyslexia

“…Notably, these studies did not resolve the debate over the relative significance of less structural specialization of the LH for language in those with a disability (Lenneberg, 1967; Orton, 1937) versus the interplay of more dynamic attention/arousal mechanisms (Hiscock & Kinsbourne, 2011). More recent research, however, demonstrating reliable task-specific and context-driven effects on the magnitude and direction of the ear advantage in normal populations and those with a disability (e.g., Hiscock & Kinsbourne, 2011) forged a broad consensus on this controversy (Hugdahl, 1995; Obrzut, 1991; Stringer & Kershner, 1993). See Obrzut and Mahoney (2011) for an overview of dichotic studies with those with a learning disability.…”