Abstract

MICHELINO, Matheus Sant'Ana; CARDOSO, Amanda Douat; SILVA, Patrícia Botelho da  and  MACEDO, Elizeu Coutinho de. Performance in psychopedagogical and neuropsychological tests of children and adolescents with developmental dyslexia and learning difficulties. Rev. psicopedag. [online]. 2017, vol.34, n.104, pp. 111-125. ISSN 0103-8486.

The problems encountered during the learning process are one of the most frequent reasons for seeking care by psychopedagogues, psychologists and speech therapists. These difficulties have been analyzed according to two important subtypes: Learning Difficulties (LD) and Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD), Developmental Dyslexia (DD) being the most prevalent disability. Thus, one of the important aspects of diagnostic assessment is the establishment of a differential diagnosis. The present study aimed to characterize the cognitive profiles of children and adolescents with DD and LD in psychopedagogical and neuropsychological tests, and to compare them with the control group. Participated a sample of 45 children and adolescents divided into three groups: (G1) 21 subjects with DD; (G2) 10 subjects with a history of LD, but without the diagnostic criteria for the disability; (G3) 14 good readers, used as a control group. The following cognitive abilities were evaluated: intelligence, attention, phonological awareness, verbal fluency, receptive-auditory language, reading and writing. One-way ANOVAs were conducted and in cases where significant differences were found between groups, post hoc Bonferroni tests were performed. The results indicated that the group with DD presented greater difficulties in tests that evaluate working memory and visual discrimination, besides specific errors in reading and writing. This cognitive profile shows specific difficulties in reading and cognitive abilities related to this process. In addition, the study evidenced the heterogeneity of the dyslexic children profile, as well as possible comorbidities with other disabilities.

Keywords : Dyslexia; Learning; Cognition; Neuropsychological Tests.

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