Copying skills in children with and without dyslexia

AbstractWhile copying skills are used daily at school and involve spelling abilities, studies examining copying performance in children with dyslexia are very scarce. The present study aims to determine whether children with dyslexia present a specific deficit in their copying processes or if their difficulties in copying are a consequence of their spelling deficit. Nineteen children with dyslexia were compared to two groups of typically developing children: 19 chronological age matched children and 19 spelling age matched children. All children were asked to perform a copying task of 40 words, varying in orthographic complexity. This task was scored on spelling accuracy, handwriting quality and speed, and gaze lifts. Our main results showed that children with dyslexia do have difficulties in copying. They made more spelling errors than their age-matched peers, despite the model provided by the task. Gaze lift analyses revealed that children with dyslexia used different copying strategies compared to their classmates. Globally, children with dyslexia seem to behave like younger children, suggesting that their difficulties arise from their spelling deficit. These findings may have practical implications. Given that children with dyslexia face copying difficulties, one possible way to help them could be to enable them to improve their copying strategies, and not just their spelling skills.
Source: Reading and Writing - Category: Child Development Source Type: research