Language-universal and script-specific factors in the recognition of letters in visual crowding: The effects of lexicality, hemifield, and transitional probabilities in a right-to-left script

Validation of the Askisi-Lexia neuropsychological web-based screener: A neuropsychological battery for screening cognitive and phonological skills of children with dyslexia

DSM-5 classifies dyslexia as a "specific learning disorder with impairment in reading", emphasizing deficits in phonological processing and letter knowledge. Children with dyslexia commonly exhibit challenges in reading accuracy, fluency, and associated cognitive deficits. Computerized neuropsychological assessments have gained prominence for their precision and control in evaluating cognitive abilities. This manuscript presents the validation outcomes of Askisi-Lexia, a web-based neuropsychological screener developed to assess cognitive and phonological skills in children. The screener effectively differentiated between dyslexic and non-dyslexic participants, with dyslexic children demonstrating significantly lower scores and prolonged response times across all nine tasks (five targeting phonological skills and four evaluating cognitive abilities). Additionally, Askisi-Lexia exhibited high sensitivity and specificity across all subtests. Reliability analysis revealed high internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Notably, moderate correlations were observed between Askisi-Lexia and Test-A, a well-established traditional paper-and-pencil assessment, underscoring the screener's validity. These findings highlight the efficacy of web-based tools in assessing phonological and cognitive deficits associated with dyslexia. The study underscores the potential of web-based screening applications as practical, engaging, and efficient methods for dyslexia assessment. Such tools facilitate identification and intervention, contributing to significant advancements in educational and clinical practice for children with reading-related challenges.

Investigating the crowding effect on letters and symbols in deaf adults

Reading requires the transformation of a complex array of visual features into sounds and meaning. For deaf signers who experience changes in visual attention and have little or no access to the sounds of the language they read, understanding the visual constraints underlying reading is crucial. This study aims to explore a fundamental aspect of visual perception intertwined with reading: the crowding effect. This effect manifests as the struggle to distinguish a target letter when surrounded by flanker letters. Through a two-alternative forced choice task, we assessed the recognition of letters and symbols presented in isolation or flanked by two or four characters, positioned either to the left or right of fixation. Our findings reveal that while deaf individuals exhibit higher accuracy in processing letters compared to symbols, their performance falls short of that of their hearing counterparts. Interestingly, despite their proficiency with letters, deaf individuals didn't demonstrate quicker letter identification, particularly in the most challenging scenario where letters were flanked by four characters. These outcomes imply the development of a specialized letter processing system among deaf individuals, albeit one that may subtly diverge from that of their hearing counterparts.

The effectiveness of a reading and cognitive task-based Web delivered intervention program for children with reading difficulties

The present study aimed to investigate the improvement of reading ability and cognitive performance of children with reading difficulties through a Web application named "Poke the Reading Ability" (PtRA). PtRA is designed to assist the intervention of reading difficulties in Greek, a language that is more transparent than English. Sixty (60) children between nine (9) to twelve (12) years old (mean age 10.18 years). The baseline assessment consisted of two batteries of reading and cognitive abilities tests. Test-A, a Greek standardized psychometric tool and Askisi, a newly developed neuropsychological battery of tests are adopted to assess reading and cognitive performance. Both tools, were used in order to screen children's reading and cognitive performance before and after implementing the PtRA. The PtRA Web intervention consists of (a) tasks that focus on improving visual and auditory working memory, (b) tasks that improve phonological awareness and decoding, (c) tasks that are adopted to strengthen visual discrimination ability and (d) tasks that improve reading comprehension ability. Following the Web delivered intervention program the results revealed that the reading and cognitive abilities of children with reading difficulties were statistically significant improved in all 9 reading and all 3 cognitive abilities tasks.