Rapid automatized naming performance in Korean-speaking children with dyslexia

Abstract

Objectives: The current study investigated performance on rapid automatized naming (RAN) tasks by varying the task type and task complexity for Korean-speaking children with dyslexia. Methods: A total of 24 children participated in the study, 12 children with dyslexia and 12 age-matched normally developing children. The task types included alphanumeric/non-alphanumeric tasks involving the alphabet, syllables, words, colors, and objects. The task complexity was manipulated by comparing a native-Korean cardinal numeral task to a sino-Korean cardinal numeral task, based on the assumption that the former task is more complex than the latter. A stepwise discriminant analysis was performed to determine which RAN tasks discriminated between the two groups. Results: The children with dyslexia showed significantly lower accuracy and prolonged response times across the different RAN tasks. They also showed lower performance in alphabet, color, and object tasks than in the syllable word tasks. There was no difference in performance between the two groups when the difficulty level was low. However, as the level of difficulty increased, the children with dyslexia showed significantly lower performance than the normally developing children. The task factors for discriminating between the two groups were the accuracy in native-Korean cardinal numerals and the alphabet, and the response time of object. Conclusion: The results showed that the variable demonstrating differences between the two groups on the RAN was response time, and that using high difficulty tasks is an effective means to examine the difference in RAN between the two groups. © 2017 Korean Academy of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.