Rapid naming ability and its relationship to reading in Polish-speaking children with dyslexia

Aim of the study: To evaluate the ability of rapid naming and its relationship to reading in Polish-speaking children with dyslexia. Material and methods: Twenty-five children with dyslexia (aged 9-12) and 32 good readers participated in the study (aged 9-12). We used the tests for rapid automatized naming, phonological skills and single word reading. Results: The dyslexic children performed significantly slower than controls on rapid naming-speed. Rapid naming deficit occurred significantly more frequently in the clinical group. The ability of rapid naming was the most important predictor of reading rate, whereas phonological awareness was the most important predictor of reading accuracy in children with dyslexia. A different pattern of relationships between rapid naming, phonological awareness and various reading skills may be an argument that the processes underlying rapid naming and phonological processes are at least partially independent. The nature of stimuli (figural, alphanumeric and mixed) used in each task of the rapid automatized naming test significantly affects the efficiency of the test. Naming figural material (objects and colors) was the most difficult, whereas naming alphanumeric material (numbers and letters) was the easiest task for the dyslexic and control group. Conclusions: Our results confirm the double-deficit hypothesis of dyslexia, which indicates the relationship between reading difficulties and two separate deficits: phonological deficit and rapid naming deficit.