A Novel Cognitive-Linguistic Approach To Addressing Developmental Reading Disorders: A Pilot Study

Objectives: Prior research indicates that individuals with developmental dyslexia can benefit from working memory (WM) training to improve reading skills. The effect of WM training using linguistic stimuli to additionally target reading processes, however, has not been explored yet. It is also unclear whether different cognitive-linguistic profiles lead to different treatment improvement and transfer patterns.Thus, the current study investigated the efficacy of a novel cognitive-linguistic treatment that utilizes word- and sentence-level stimuli with irregular spellings to address developmental reading disorders. Methods: One adolescent and one adult with developmental dyslexia participated and were trained with six types of basic and complex verbal WM tasks combined with strategy training. A single-case experimental design was utilized to probe participants' responses to the treatment protocol over time.To delineate baseline cognitive-linguistic profiles and transfer effects, a battery of formal tests and probe tasks was administered at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 6-week follow-up. Results: Both participants showed improved performance on the training tasks, but across participants different patterns of improvements were observed. Transfer effects were observed in terms of decoding, fluency, and reading comprehension, and perceived benefits were reported. These gains were maintained at the 6-week follow-up. Conclusion:The current findings suggest that cognitive-linguistic intervention yields beneficial effects for developmental dyslexia and provides empirical evidence for evidence-based practice of clinicians who work with adolescents and adults with developmental reading disorders.