Reading & Dyslexia
Research on reading
and dyslexia at Florida State University is focused on two kinds of problems. One line of
research, which began in 1986, seeks to understand the nature of phonological processing
skills and their relationship to reading growth. We have published several reports of a
longitudinal study documenting that phonological awareness, phonological short-term
memory, and rate of access to phonological information in long-term memory are three
separate, but related abilities that show a high degree of stability in development. Of
these abilities, phonological awareness, and rate of access are most predictive of the
growth of early word reading abilities. This research is designed to contribute to basic
knowledge about both the development and fundamental nature of reading difficulties. Other
basic research on reading at FSU focuses on text comprehension processes.
The other type of research conducted at FSU examines the
efficacy of various types of interventions to prevent or remediate reading disabilities.
We have conducted research on prevention with children in kindergarten and first grade,
and we have also studied intensive interventions with severely reading disabled children
in third through fifth grades. The range of interventions we have studied varies from
intensive one to one tutoring using highly skilled teachers, to group instruction
supplemented by computer assisted practice, to peer tutoring among kindergarten and first
grade children.
Faculty involved in research on reading & dyslexia:
Christopher Lonigan (Clinical)
Ralph Radach (Cognitive)
Chris Schatschneider (Cognitive)
Joseph Torgesen
(Cognitive)
Richard Wagner
(Cognitive)
Selected Publications:
Lonigan, C.J.,
Burgess, S.R., Anthony, J.L., & Barker, T.A. (1998). Development of Phonological
Sensitivity in 2- to 5- Year-old children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90,
1-16.
Torgesen, J.K., Wagner, R.K., & Rashotte, C.A. (1997). The prevention and remediation of severe reading disabilities:
keeping the end in mind Scientific Studies of Reading, 1, 217-234.
Torgesen, J.K., Wagner, R. K.,
Rashotte, C.A., Rose, E., Lindamood, P., Conway, T. , & Garvin, C. (in press).
Preventing reading failure in young children with phonological processing disabilities:
Group and individual responses to instruction. Journal of Educational Psychology.
Wagner, R.K., Torgesen, J.K., Rashotte,
C.A., Hecht, S.A., Barker, T.A., Burgess, S.R., Donahue, J., & Garon, T. (1997).
Changing causal relations between phonological processing abilities and word-level reading
as children develop from beginning to fluent readers: A five-year longitudinal study. Developmental
Psychology, 33, 468-479.
