RAPID NAMING IN PERSIAN CHILDREN WITH DYSLEXIA AND ITS RELATION TO READING LEVEL

Background and Aim: Several studies have demonstrated deficits in rapid naming in dyslexic readers; however the extent of deficit is different in various orthographies. This study was intended to survey the naming speed in Persian children with dyslexia. Methods: Rapid automatized naming (RAN) task of 19 children with dyslexia were compared with 31 nondyslexic children. Participants were selected from the students of the second grade of primary schools in Tehran city, Iran, with normal intelligence [intelligence quotient]. Nondyslexic children were at the age of 7.7 to 8.7 years (mean=7.6) and dyslexics were 7.8 to 9.4 years old (mean=8.1). Reading accuracy and speed were assessed by text reading (Diagnostic Reading Test), and high frequency word, low frequency word and nonword reading (Reading and Dyslexia Test). Results: Dyslexic readers needed more time than non-dyslexics when naming objects (p<0.001), numbers (p=0.001) and letters (p<0.001). The mean of dyslexics z-scores were -1.98 on objects, -1.96 on numbers and 3.35 on letters. 42% of dyslexics did not show any deficit on rapid automatized naming task. All of the subtests were correlated to reading speed (p<0.050), but among subtests of rapid automatized naming task, only letter naming was correlated to reading accuracy (p<0.050). Conclusion: More than half of dyslexics cases showed an apparent deficit in naming speed (objects, numbers and letters), which was more evident at letters. Naming speed was related to reading accuracy and reading speed; although the relationship was stronger with the second one.