EPIC Read · Entrainment and Production In Children with dyslexia

Dyslexia is often thought of as a deficit that causes someone to transpose letters within a word or to see letters backwards. However, decades of research have shown that people with dyslexia do not have issues with seeing letters, but rather with how they process the sounds associated with these letters. The purpose of the current project is to broaden our understanding of the underlying deficits in dyslexia and to identify clinical markers that can help with early identification. Most studies have focused on how individuals with dyslexia perceive speech sounds (using behavioral or neurophysiological paradigms). However, little is known about speech production ability in this population. Therefore, there is a critical need to examine production in this population which can later be used as an early diagnostic marker by speech language pathologists.The current project combines both speech production and neurophysiological paradigms to better understand the underlying sources of dyslexia, and to identify new markers associated with reading disorders which we can be implement clinically. In the first experiment, I examine the relationship between phonological processing skills and speech production in typically developing children. This will inform how we can use speech production patterns to identify children at risk of developing dyslexia. In the second experiment, I examine whether neurophysiological brain data is associated with speech production markers in children with dyslexia. This project has important clinical implications on diagnosis and earlier identification of dyslexia.