Revista de Investigación en Logopedia

Reading and Writing: Advances and Perspectives for the 15th Anniversary of the Revista de Investigación en Logopedia

2025-09-10T08:10:00+00:00

This special issue, published to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Revista de Investigación en Logopedia, dedicated to the study of reading and writing acquisition and processing—complex processes involving the interaction of linguistic, cognitive, metacognitive, and affective skills. It brings together fifteen papers that, from an integrative perspective, examine the various factors involved in reading and writing, with special attention to diverse populations such as students with dyslexia, developmental language disorder, cochlear implant users, and bilingual speakers. The studies address key dimensions such as orthographic systems, visual perception, prosody, morphology, executive functions, reading comprehension, and emotional language processing. In addition to their theoretical and empirical relevance, the articles provide practical implications for assessment and speech-language intervention. This commemorative volume not only celebrates fifteen years of research, but also reaffirms the journal’s commitment to integrating research-based knowledge into clinical and educational practice.

What do we know about reading and spelling in shallow orthographies?

2025-09-10T08:10:13+00:00

Reading and spelling research has traditionally been centred on English, despite its significant differences from other European orthographies. This anglocentric focus raises questions about the generalisability of reading theories to alphabetic orthographies more broadly. Understanding cross-linguistic differences in reading acquisition is crucial, given the practical implications for literacy instruction and dyslexia intervention. Shallow orthographies enable faster mastery of grapheme-phoneme correspondences, while deep orthographies may necessitate stronger reliance on alternative strategies such as lexical guessing and reliance on larger sublexical units. The cognitive mechanisms underlying fluency development, particularly the role of high-quality lexical representations, provide open research questions for further research. Spelling accuracy is also affected by orthographic depth, with greater challenges in deep orthographies due to ambiguous phoneme-grapheme mappings. While phonics instruction is well-established, research on enhancing lexical processing to support reading fluency and spelling acquisition is limited. This paper synthesises current cross-linguistic findings, highlights gaps, and discusses practical implications for literacy instruction across alphabetic orthographies.

Visual preferences and their effect on reading performance in children with dyslexia and typical readers

2025-09-10T08:10:14+00:00

The visual configuration of text influences the reading experience and can affect performance in this skill, particularly in children with dyslexia. This study examines whether the typographic preferences of children with dyslexia differ from those of typically developing readers and evaluates the impact of personalized text formatting on reading fluency and comprehension. A total of 70 children (30 with dyslexia and 30 typical readers) aged 7 to 12 years were assessed. Participants read two on-screen texts, first in a standard format and then in a format customized according to their preferences. Variables such as background and text color, typeface, font size, margin size, line spacing, and letter spacing were analyzed. Reading fluency and comprehension were measured before and after customization.

Results indicate that both groups selected similar configurations, avoiding high text density and prioritizing high contrast. The only significant difference between groups was the font size selected, which was larger in the dyslexia group. Text personalization slightly improved reading fluency in both groups, though without a differential effect for the dyslexia group. No improvements were found in reading comprehension.

These findings suggest that text customization may facilitate decoding and reading speed but does not impact comprehension. Although no specific benefits were observed for children with dyslexia, optimizing the visual presentation of text may contribute to a more comfortable and motivating reading experience.

The influence of perceptual factors on visual word recognition: a review of the literature in expert and dyslexic readers

2025-09-10T08:10:11+00:00

For expert readers, reading is a straightforward and automated process that facilitates access to meaning. However, all readers initially go through a stage where this process is effortful and demanding. This transition occurs due to the use of different reading strategies. While learning to read, we rely on an alphabetic/serial strategy, but as we gain automaticity, we shift to parallel reading. Expert readers flexibly alternate between these strategies depending on the orthographic demands of each stimulus to facilitate lexical access. Multiple perceptual factors vary across the words we read. For instance, we may encounter the same word presented like this, like this, LIKE THIS or like this. Although we are initially more sensitive to such perceptual variations, reading development leads to increased tolerance. However, does the same occur in individuals with dyslexia? In this paper, we present a theoretical review of perceptual factors in reading and their impact on dyslexia.

Evaluation of Suprasegmental or Prosodic Phonological Skills: A Classification Proposal

2025-09-10T08:10:07+00:00

Suprasegmental phonological skills, or prosody, refer to the rhythmic and melodic features of language. In recent years, the study of this phonological subsystem has gained considerable interest, particularly due to evidence supporting its relationship with literacy acquisition across different languages. However, one of the main challenges in this field has been the assessment of these skills. The diversity of tasks used in research, which often evaluate different components and vary in complexity, has complicated the interpretation of results. The accumulated literature suggests that not all prosodic skill assessment tasks are comparable. Therefore, the aim of this study is to present an analysis of the key elements to consider in the assessment of prosodic skills and to propose a classification based on their characteristics and complexity. Finally, recommendations are proposed to improve the validity and comparability of prosodic assessment tasks, as well as possible directions for future research.

Why Morphology Matters for Reading and Spelling Development: A Theoretical and Empirical Perspective in Individuals With and Without Dyslexia

2025-09-10T08:10:05+00:00

While phonology is a fundamental component of reading and spelling acquisition, broader language skills, such as morphology, also play a crucial role. At the same time, phonological deficits are widely recognized as a core characteristic of developmental dyslexia, making it difficult for individuals to segment words into phonemes and contributing to challenges in both reading and spelling. However, morphological processing is relatively preserved in this population. This article reviews studies highlighting the role of morphological units in reading and spelling during typical development and in individuals with dyslexia. Studies showing that training in morphological awareness can improve written language skills in individuals with dyslexia are also presented. Throughout the manuscript, we draw on the psycholinguistic grain size theory, which offers a valuable theoretical framework for understanding the factors that may influence the processing of morphological units when reading and spelling. Concrete examples of interventions based on morphological training for clinicians are also provided.

RAN Tests Based on Inhibitory Control: A Study on its Concurrent and Predictive Validity

2025-09-10T08:10:18+00:00

Although Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) has been repeatedly shown to be related to reading access and development, the nature of this link has not yet been clearly established. Currently, executive functions, especially inhibitory control, are considered as one of the possible explanatory factors of this relationship. This has led to the emergence of new RAN proposals, with a greater demand for inhibitory control during execution. However, there are still few studies that have used this type of RAN, especially in pre-reading students, and data on the validity of these new tests are lacking. To analyze the concurrent and predictive validity of this test, a longitudinal study was conducted involving 82 4-year-old girls and boys. At time 1, they completed two RAN tests: one that demanded greater inhibitory control and a traditional (non-alphanumeric) one. At time 2, two years later, the same group of students were assessed on different reading measures. The results show that the RAN Inhibition has a good predictive validity for reading, especially in word decoding. It is superior in several aspects to traditional RAN tests, with which, however, it has shown a moderate concurrent validity. This also seems to support the hypothesis that inhibitory control could be a new explanatory factor in the relationship between RAN and reading.

Does schooling moderate the relationship between morphological awareness and spelling?

2025-09-10T08:10:02+00:00

Children's awareness of morphemes improves over the elementary school years, but its role in determining literacy skills, particularly those in spelling, is still an open question. To answer this question, 100 children in Grades 2 and 3 completed morphological and phonemic awareness tasks, spelling, as well as a control measure of general ability. The results showed that the relationship between morphological awareness and spelling is moderated by grade. The model with the control and explanatory variables explained 30.0% of the variability in spelling scores, and adding the interaction term showed a statistically significant contribution, indicating that grades moderates the contribution of morphological awareness, particularly that of inflectional morphology to spelling. Morphological awareness is a stronger predictor of spelling in Grade 3 than in Grade 2, even after controls were carried out. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and practice.

Relationship between executive functions and reading fluency in reading comprehension

2025-09-10T08:10:15+00:00

Contemporary approaches to the study of reading comprehension examine how multiple cognitive skills are interconnected. Within this framework, the aim of the present study was to explore the relationships between core executive functions, oral language skills and reading fluency in their effect on reading comprehension. A sample of 78 children in 5th and 6th grade of primary school were tested on reading comprehension and fluency, as well as on working memory, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, vocabulary, oral comprehension and fluid intelligence. Correlation, hierarchical regression, and mediation analyses were conducted. The results show that working memory predicts reading comprehension, even when controlled for oral language skills. However, when reading fluency is introduced into the model, only vocabulary and reading fluency are significant predictors. The mediation analysis shows that reading fluency is a complete mediator of the effect of working memory on reading comprehension. In addition, vocabulary was found to be a relevant predictor of reading comprehension, even controlling for other skills. These findings show that it is crucial to assess interactions between multiple cognitive processes when studying written language comprehension. Furthermore, they suggest that one way in which executive functions affect reading comprehension is indirect and that reading fluency mediates this relationship.

Reading comprehension improvement in Spanish-speaking students in Early Childhood and Primary Education: a meta-analysis

2025-09-10T08:10:19+00:00

Reading comprehension is a very complex process in which different processes and knowledge intervene. Consequently, there are different types of interventions that have been shown to be useful for its improvement. Research reviews carried out with Spanish speakers show a positive effect of interventions based on teaching comprehension strategies. Given the lack of recent syntheses of the research carried out with Spanish-speaking students in Early Childhood and Primary Education, a meta-analysis was carried out in which 39 relevant studies were located, from which 44 independent effects were obtained with a combined effect size of 0.57. Five of these effects were detected as atypical results in several analyses. Discarding them, a combined effect of 0.34 is found. Mixed interventions were used in most of the studies included in the meta-analysis. Those that included phonological awareness training produced a significantly greater effect than those that did not have that component. Interventions that included naming speed, oral language, decoding, reading speed, vocabulary, comprehension strategies, comprehension activities or motivation showed positive effects, but without differentiating from interventions that did not include the analyzed component. Some methodological characteristics of the research were associated with significant differences in the effect obtained on reading comprehension.

These results can be useful in making decisions about reading teaching and also show the state of research on reading comprehension in Spanish-speaking students.

Beyond Reading Difficulties: Differences in Oral Language in Children with Dyslexia, Reading Difficulties, and Typical Development

2025-09-10T08:10:10+00:00

Oral language and reading are interdependent skills essential for cognitive and academic development. Although phonological awareness has been the most extensively studied component of oral language in dyslexia, recent research highlights the importance of other components such as vocabulary, grammatical comprehension, and communicative skills. This study has two main objectives: (1) to compare these skills among three groups—children with dyslexia, children with reading difficulties, and typically developing children, and (2) to analyze the predictive capacity of these three components of oral language in relation to reading efficiency, accuracy, and speed.

The results indicate that the dyslexia group exhibits greater difficulties in grammatical comprehension and communicative skills compared to the other groups. Additionally, the group with reading difficulties tends to perform lower in these components than the typically developing group. Furthermore, vocabulary level significantly predicts reading efficiency, while grammatical comprehension significantly predicts word reading accuracy. None of the three components significantly predict either word or pseudoword reading speed, nor pseudoword accuracy. These findings underscore the importance of a multidimensional assessment of oral language in children with reading difficulties and suggest the need for broader interventions that address both phonological aspects and other linguistic components.

Reading skill profiles and their phonological and linguistic precursors in adolescents with oral and written language difficulties

2025-09-10T08:10:16+00:00

People with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and Reading Difficulties (RD) experience reading problems during primary education. According to the Simple View of Reading, deficits in oral comprehension affect reading comprehension, while phonological processing issues impact decoding. This study aims to: (1) longitudinally compare the decoding and reading comprehension profiles in Catalan-Spanish bilinguals with DLD, RD, and Typical Development (TD) from primary to secondary education; and (2) examine how reading skills, phonological memory, verbal fluency, and oral language at age 10 predict reading skills at age 14. The sample included 77 adolescents aged 10 to 14: DLD (n = 15), RD (n = 33), and TD (n = 29). At age 10, oral language, phonological and semantic fluency, and phonological working memory were assessed. Decoding and reading comprehension were evaluated at ages 10 and 14. Both DLD and RD groups showed poorer decoding skills compared to the TD group at both time points, although all groups improved over time. In reading comprehension, the DLD group scored significantly lower than the RD and TD groups. Semantic fluency at age 10 predicted decoding at age 14, while oral language predicted reading comprehension. The DLD group exhibits persistent difficulties in both decoding and reading comprehension, whereas the RD group shows primarily decoding challenges. Decoding, oral language skills and semantic fluency in primary education are key predictors of reading performance in secondary education.

Phonological processing skills in bilingual (Catalan and Spanish) students with and without dyslexia

2025-09-10T08:10:04+00:00

To examine literacy learning in bilingual contexts, this study assessed phonological processing skills in a sample of bilingual students, both with and without dyslexia. It also aimed to determine whether the stage of literacy acquisition affects phonological skills in bilingual children with and without dyslexia. The participants were 113 Catalan/Spanish bilinguals, aged 8 to 14 years, attending middle and upper primary school, as well as early secondary school. The study assessed accuracy in the following phonological processing skills: phonological awareness (using phonemic awareness tests), phonological recoding (through a pseudo-word reading task), and phonological memory (using a pseudo-word repetition task). Overall, the results showed differences between students with and without dyslexia across all tasks, but no differences were found between the two languages studied. Results by educational stage revealed that differences in the phonemic awareness task diminished with age, while differences in pseudo-word reading persisted. Additionally, differences were observed among middle and secondary school participants without dyslexia, with better accuracy in the phonemic awareness task in Spanish. The results are discussed in relation to previous studies and the transparency and opacity of the languages involved.

The Relationship between Reading and Writing Skills and Language Dimensions: A Study in Primary School Children with Cochlear Implants

2025-09-10T08:10:09+00:00

Recent research has explored the relationship between linguistic skills and reading competence in children with cochlear implants (CI). However, a notable gap exists within these studies, as many predominantly focus on phonological aspects, neglecting a comprehensive, multidimensional linguistic analysis. Also, the relationship of the different language dimensions with written language skills remains significantly under-investigated in children with CI. To bridge this knowledge gap, we conducted a study involving 30 primary school children with CI. Participants underwent evaluations of their linguistic and literacy skills using the BLOC and TALEC test batteries. Our findings revealed significant associations between reading skills and various language dimensions. Furthermore, writing skills exhibited significant associations with all language dimensions, with the exception of pragmatics. Regression analyses demonstrated that semantic and syntactic skills are key predictors, accounting for substantial variability in both reading and writing abilities. Finally, we discuss these results and propose implications for educational and clinical interventions.

A multi-level approach to exploring the associations between reading, spelling, and math skills

2025-09-10T08:10:08+00:00

In this study, we utilized network analysis to examine with standard clinical tests the predictions of the multi-level model of cognitive skill learning proposed by Zoccolotti et al. (2020b) on the relationships among different learning domains (Zoccolotti et al., 2021). To achieve this, we administered a series of reading, spelling, and math tasks to primary school children. The network analysis evidenced positive links within each area, consistent with the prediction that reading, spelling and math refer to three partially distinct domains calling for different core competences. Another expectation was that the associations among these learning domains would be mediated by tests that involve retrieving individual memories (instances). Supporting this prediction, the three tests measuring instance-based processing - Orthographic Judgment, Ambiguous Words, and Arithmetic Facts - were crucial in linking the three learning domains. Furthermore, the model posits that some associations among different learning areas may be influenced by format or response characteristics, referred to as "performance" factors. We identified two such cases in the observed network: a strong link between reading speed and calculation speed, which is closely related to speed requirements, and a robust connection between reading accuracy and context-sensitive words, interpreted as a need for careful orthographic analysis. Overall, the results largely confirm the model's predictions, highlighting specific and common factors contributing to performance in reading, spelling, and math.

Comprehension and production of emotional words in communication-related disorders: A Narrative Review

2025-09-10T08:10:03+00:00

Language and emotion processing have typically been studied separately. Nonetheless,

the interest on how semantic emotional features affect linguistic processing has increased in recent years. Research has shown that emotion plays a role in all components of language understanding and expression. This is especially important for individuals with communication-related disorders, who often experience difficulties in both language processing and emotional understanding. This review synthesizes what is known about the processing and use of emotional words in individuals with impairments that affect their communication. We focused on Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), Aphasia, and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This research can be of help to deepen our understanding of emotional language processing in general, as well as the specific challenges faced by these populations. The review underscores the importance of applying this knowledge to improve assessment methods and therapeutic strategies tailored to individuals with communication-related disorders, while also calling for further research to fully understand the complexities involved. Finally, we underscore the need to conduct research on individuals with writing and reading disorders like developmental dyslexia since evidence on the processing of emotional language in these populations is still marginal.