Dyslexia, the Cerebellum and Phonological Skill

Abstract

The identification of a range of causal hypotheses for reading difficulties in dyslexia has been a major achievement of dyslexia research over the last decade. Causal hypotheses should be capable of explaining the difficulties, via the 'cognitive' level of explanation in terms of primitive sub-skills, to dysfunction of some neurological structure. Any complete theory of dyslexia should account for problems in phonological skill, motor skill, automatization and speed. It is now claimed that the cerebellum is involved not only in the automatization of motor skill, but also the acquisition of skills related to language, making cerebellar dysfunction a prime candidate for an underlying cause of dyslexia. In this chapter, the author outlines the most likely route by which cerebellar problems might lead to reading and spelling difficulties, via the role of the cerebellum in the development of articulation. She then presents a study on articulation deficits in dyslexia. Three groups of children with dyslexia, mean ages 16, 12 and 8 years were recruited. The study demonstrates that children with dyslexia have significant problems in articulation, not only in motor planning, but also in the speeded production of single articulatory gestures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)