Interventions based on the multiple connections model of reading for developmental dyslexia and acquired deep dyslexia

Abstract

This paper deals with intervention strategies for developmental and acquired dyslexia. In Study 1 two alternative strategies for developmental surface dyslexia (dysfunctional connection between the whole word orthographic code and the phonetic or name code) were compared. In both the initial study and replication study, a modification of the selective reminding technique was superior to a traditional multisensory technique in beginning readers, presumably because it facilitated word finding or prelexical access to a phonetic code. In Study 2 an adolescent with acquired deep dyslexia (dysfunctional connection between letter and phonemic codes) who had had his angular gyrus (site of grapheme-phoneme correspondence) surgically removed, recovered reading function after a four-month phonemic analysis training program. Further research is needed to evaluate the efficacy of theory-based intervention strategies in children with developmental reading disorders unrelated to focal lesions and in adults with acquired reading disorders related to focal lesions.