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. 2022 Apr 7:13:783775.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.783775. eCollection 2022.

Rapid Automatized Naming as a Universal Marker of Developmental Dyslexia in Italian Monolingual and Minority-Language Children

Desiré Carioti  1   2 , Natale Stucchi  2 , Carlo Toneatto  2 , Marta Franca Masia  1 , Martina Broccoli  1 , Sara Carbonari  1 , Simona Travellini  1   3 , Milena Del Monte  3 , Roberta Riccioni  3 , Antonella Marcelli  3 , Mirta Vernice  1 , Maria Teresa Guasti  2 , Manuela Berlingeri  1   3   4
Affiliations

Rapid Automatized Naming as a Universal Marker of Developmental Dyslexia in Italian Monolingual and Minority-Language Children

Desiré Carioti et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) is considered a universal marker of developmental dyslexia (DD) and could also be helpful to identify a reading deficit in minority-language children (MLC), in which it may be hard to disentangle whether the reading difficulties are due to a learning disorder or a lower proficiency in the language of instruction. We tested reading and rapid naming skills in monolingual Good Readers (mGR), monolingual Poor Readers (mPR), and MLC, by using our new version of RAN, the RAN-Shapes, in 127 primary school students (from 3rd to 5th grade). In line with previous research, MLC showed, on average, lower reading performances as compared to mGR. However, the two groups performed similarly to the RAN-Shapes task. On the contrary, the mPR group underperformed both in the reading and the RAN tasks. Our findings suggest that reading difficulties and RAN performance can be dissociated in MLC; consequently, the performance at the RAN-Shapes may contribute to the identification of children at risk of a reading disorder without introducing any linguistic bias, when testing MLC.

Keywords: RAN; developmental dyslexia (DD); heritage language; minority language; reading skills.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
A representation of the Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN)-Shapes task. A first 7*7 matrix (1) to name is delivered to participants, followed by a second 10*10 matrix (2), which is more difficult because of the smaller shapes to identify, and by a third 7*7 matrix (3), which is characterized by background visual interference. For each matrix, 30 s are given to participants to name as many shapes as possible correctly.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Reading performances of monolingual Good Readers (mGR), minority-language children (MLC), and monolinguals Poor Readers (mPR). Panels (A,C,E) display reading accuracy (percentage of accuracy), while panels (B,D,F) display reading fluency (syllables/seconds).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Performances of mGR, MLC, and mPR at the three matrices of the RAN-Shapes in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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