Enhancing the reading of dyslexic children by reading acceleration and auditory masking

This research attempted to improve the reading performance of dyslexic children through two different methods: reading acceleration and auditory masking. Participants were 52 dyslexic children and 52 reading-level matched normal, novice readers. Results indicated that whereas acceleration improved reading performance in both groups, auditory masking was beneficial to dyslexic children only. Furthermore, a combined condition of both acceleration and masking was the most effective in enhancing dyslexic children's comprehension. It is argued that because normal readers use the phonological route quite effectively, its masking is detrimental to performance. On the other hand, auditory masking reduces the impact of the presumed phonological impairment of dyslexic children. Analysis of decoding mistakes suggested that both manipulations might have resulted in a more effective utilization of orthographic information and enhanced top-down context effects for dyslexic and novice readers.