Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying
speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words. Several case studies have been
performed to see exactly what causes dyslexia. Some case studies suggest different theories. This
case study was performed to see what role sensorimotor impairments have in dyslexia. The
sensorimotor stage usually occurs between birth and two years of age. During this time infants are
busy discovering relationships between their bodies and the environment.
During this case study scientist are trying to figure out if all children with dyslexia have sensorimotor impairments. The hypothesis in this case study would be children with more severe dyslexia are more likely to have a sensorimotor impairment. Scientist will run a series of test on
children with and without dyslexia to prove their theory (White, et al., 2006).
The independent variable that was used in this study were the test. In total, 23 dyslexic and 22 control children took part in the study (White, et al., 2006). The tests were performed in a quiet
room at their home, their school or at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (White, et al., 2006).
The test was an hour long and given in three sessions.
The dependent variable in this case study would be the scores. The children that had
positive scores meant they had good performance and the children that had negative scores meant they had poor performance (White, et al., 2006). The scores were put on a line to determine the
results from each test.
During this case study, all children were between ages 8 to 12 and had a non-verbal IQ of
at least 85 (White, et al., 2006). All control children had a standard reading score of at least 90.
They were selected from a larger sample to match the dyslexic group on gender, age and nonverbal IQs (White, et al., 2006). The sample was not self-selected, and no knowledge of literacy
levels was available at the time of selection (White, et al., 2006). The dyslexic children had all
previously been diagnosed with dyslexia. They were all recruited from the Dyslexia Institute
(White, et al., 2006). Parents from both sets of children gave permission for them to participate in
the study.
In conclusion, the findings from this study replicates previous case studies. Those studies
showed that sensory and motor impairments affect only a subset of dyslexics. They cannot by
themselves explain phonological deficit and reading disabilities (White, et al., 2006). This case study was carried out on a larger and more representative sample of dyslexic children, it alleviates
suspicions that previous results underestimate sensorimotor disabilities (White, et al., 2006).
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