Corley, Brocklehurst, and Moat (2011) recently demonstrated a phonemic similarity effect for phonological errors in inner speech, claiming that it contradicted Oppenheim and Dell's (2008) characterization of inner speech as lacking subphonemic detail (e.g., features). However, finding "an effect" in both inner and overt speech is not the same as…

Purpose: To evaluate whether a hypothesis suggesting that apraxia of speech results from phonological overspecification could be relevant for childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Method: High-density EEG was recorded from 5 children with CAS and 5 matched controls, ages 5-8 years, with and without CAS, as they listened to randomized sequences of CV…

We assessed the reading and reading-related skills (phonemic awareness and phonological short-term memory) of deaf children fitted with cochlear implants (CI), either exposed to cued speech early (before 2 years old) (CS+) or never (CS-). Their performance was compared to that of 2 hearing control groups, 1 matched for reading level (RL), and 1…

Difficulty with spelling is a perennial challenge for students with learning disabilities. Several decades of research, however, have identified both fundamental linguistic concepts and instructional approaches that, when understood by a teacher, can be applied to teach students with learning disabilities to spell. In this article, a brief history…

The aim of the present study was to provide more insight in the relative difficulty of four tasks testing phonemic awareness: (a) blending, (b) isolation, (c) segmentation, and (d) deletion. At the same time the roles of phoneme position and phoneme class were taken into account in a fully balanced way. To this purpose, 141 kindergartners were…

Several mechanisms have been proposed to account for how listeners accommodate regular phonological variation in connected speech. Using a corpus analysis and 5 cross-modal priming experiments, the authors investigate phonological variant recognition for the American English word-final flap. The corpus analysis showed that the flap variant occurs…

While much research and many curricula have surfaced for teaching phonemic awareness to young learners, we worked with preschool and kindergarten teachers who were frustrated with some children they found hard to teach. Many children easily grasped the instruction provided to them, but others were not catching on even when using suggestions…

The Early Reading First (ERF) program provided grants to transform preschools into centers of education excellence with the ultimate goal of preventing later reading difficulties (No Child Left Behind Act of 2001). The intent of ERF grants was to provide preschoolers with the necessary cognitive, early language, and literacy skills for success in…

Based on a first grade teacher's search for approaches to promote successful reading acquisition in her first grade classroom, the authors present a curricular engagement in which the teacher explored using music, specifically singing songs, as a fun and motivating way to accelerate reading progress. The premise is that singing (while at the…

The simultaneous auditory processing skills of 17 dyslexic children and 17 skilled readers were measured using a dichotic listening task. Results showed that the dyslexic children exhibited difficulties reporting syllabic material when presented simultaneously. As a measure of simultaneous visual processing, visual attention span skills were…

We examined whether young children acquire orthographic knowledge during structured adult-led storybook reading even though minimal viewing time is devoted to print. Sixty-two kindergarten children were read 12 storybook "chapters" while their eye movements were tracked. Results indicated that the children quickly acquired initial mental…

Language and literacy skills are instrumental to success at school and early success with writing is a key factor in literacy development. By eight years of age, children spend up to half of their school day engaged in writing tasks suggesting that those who find learning to write difficult may be disadvantaged. The ability to hear and record…

The developmental sequence of the types of orthographic knowledge that children acquire early in reading development is unclear. Following findings of skilled reading, the orthographic constraints of positional frequency and feedback consistency were explored with a wordlikeness judgement task for grades 1-3 English-speaking children. The data…

Mandates such as No Child Left Behind (2001) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) shifted the emphasis of instruction to include skills that access the general curriculum for students with moderate to severe intellectual disability. The purpose of this study was to describe changes in literacy instruction of teachers…

This article explores some of the deficits in our educational system in regard to non-hearing students. It has become agonizingly clear that non-hearing students are being left out of the gallant sweep to enrich our children's educations. The big five areas of literacy, at best, present unique challenges for non-hearing students and, in some…