BARRIERS TO LITERACY DEVELOPMENT IN 2 CASES OF DEVELOPMENTAL VERBAL DYSPRAXIA

Two cases of children with developmental verbal dyspraxia with dyslexic difficulties are presented. When first tested Michael was 10 years 7 months and Caroline was 11 years of age. At this time, their reading errors were primarily visual in nature and they were unable to read nonwords. Spelling was predominantly nonphonetic. Investigation of their auditory processing and segmentation skills showed pervasive deficits in the auditory modality. At follow-up 4 years later, although some progress had been made, the pattern of errors was similar. It is argued that their problems with phonological processing militated against the successful development of segmentation and blending skills and phonological reading and spelling strategies and that their limited literacy development consisted of the accumulation of word-specific knowledge.