In this Master's thesis entitled "Effectiveness Evaluation of Sfumato Metod of Initial Reading in Prevention of Dyslexia" we tried to find out, whether application of a certain teaching method of an initial reading eliminates presence of dyslexia. Thesis consists of a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part characterizes theoretical basis in the area of specific learning disabilities and education of initial reading with special focus on dyslexia issues and Sfumato Method of Initial Reading. The practical part is based on interviews and questionnaire surveys, which provides us possibility to compare methods of education of initial reading and evaluate them in context of development of specific learning disability - dyslexia. The thesis aims to evaluate of selected methods of education of initial reading in relation to prevention of specific disability of reading learning - dyslexia.

Title of the thesis: Dyslexia and language game in classes of French Keywords: Game, activity, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysortographia, special learning disability, reeducation. Abstract: This thesis deals with dyslexia and language play in ELF classes. It offers games and activities that can meet the needs of dyslexic students and thus contribute to their rehabilitation. The games are designed specifically for younger beginners and can be recommended primarily for integrated classes. This thesis aims to become a tool for teachers in the selection of appropriate play activities.

La lecture et l’écriture sont deux activités complexes qui contribuent à la réussite dans toutes les disciplines scolaires. Pour l’apprenti scripteur, et plus particulièrement pour l’élève qui éprouve des difficultés d’apprentissage (notamment l’élève dyslexique), l’apprentissage de l’orthographe représente un réel défi et nécessite souvent des années d’effort. Or, la connaissance du code orthographique constitue le socle sur lequel se construit la compétence orthographique. La reconnaissance et la production de mots écrits impliquent la mise en place d’un noyau de connaissances communes se rapportant aux connaissances orthographiques, c’est-à-dire aux connaissances rattachées aux propriétés phonologiques, morphologiques et visuelles du code orthographique. Ainsi, tout au long du développement de la compétence orthographique, le lecteur-scripteur doit notamment construire des représentations orthographiques de plus en plus stables et mieux définies qui tiennent compte de l’ensemble des propriétés du code orthographique. Des données empiriques récentes indiquent toutefois que les élèves dyslexiques, qui commettent davantage d’erreurs orthographiques de fusion et de segmentation de mots que les élèves sans difficulté à l’écrit, ne semblent pas disposer de représentations orthographiques précises des mots à orthographier, et plus spécifiquement de bonnes représentations du début et de la fin des mots. L’objectif général de cette étude est donc d’expliquer les erreurs orthographiques de frontières lexicales chez les élèves dyslexiques. Comme à notre connaissance, il n’existe pas de norme quant au développement des connaissances des frontières lexicales chez les élèves normo-lecteurs/scripteurs, le premier objectif spécifique est de décrire, de façon transversale et longitudinale, les performances d’élèves normo-lecteurs/scripteurs de la maternelle à la 4e année du primaire à des épreuves évaluant les connaissances des frontières lexicales (étude 1). La mise en place de cette référence développementale a permis de répondre au deuxième objectif spécifique qui est d’évaluer les connaissances des frontières lexicales d’élèves dyslexiques du primaire (étude 2). Pour évaluer les compétences en lecture et en production de mots, une épreuve de lecture de la batterie de tests du K-ABC et une dictée de mots insérés en contexte phrastique ont été proposées. Trois épreuves (décision lexicale, identification lexicale et permutation lexicale), variant en termes de degré de contraintes cognitives, ont été effectuées par tous les participants à l’oral et à l’écrit afin d’évaluer leurs connaissances des frontières lexicales. / Reading and writing are two complex activities that contribute to success in all school subjects. For apprentice writers, and particularly for students with learning difficulties (notably students with dyslexia), learning to spell represents a real challenge and often requires years of effort. To be successful, students require knowledge of the orthographic code, which is the foundation upon which spelling ability it built. To recognize and produce written words, students must develop a set of core skills that are linked to orthographic knowledge, including knowledge of the phonological, morphological and visual properties of the orthographic code. As their spelling skills develop, readers and writers must construct increasingly stable and better defined orthographic representations that reflect the properties of the orthographic code. However, recent empirical research has found that students with dyslexia, who tend to make more errors related to word merging and segmentation than students without writing difficulties, do not seem to have accurate orthographic representations of the words they are trying to spell, particularly of the beginnings and endings of words. Therefore, the general aim of this study is to explain spelling errors occurring at word boundaries in dyslexic children. To our knowledge, no typical trajectory of development has been established for normally-developing readers/writers with regards to knowledge of lexical boundaries. Therefore, using both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, this study’s first objective is to describe the performances of normally-developing reader and writers from kindergarten to grade 4 on tasks related to lexical boundary knowledge (Study 1). With this developmental reference having been established, the second study will evaluate lexical boundary knowledge in primary school students with dyslexia (study 2). To evaluate ability in reading and word production, a reading test from the K-ABC battery and a dictation task requiring students to insert words in the context of a sentence were administered. To evaluate knowledge of lexical boundaries, three tasks (a lexical decision task, a lexical identification task, and a lexical permutation task) were completed by all participants in oral and written form, each of which varied according to the level of cognitive constraint involved in completing the task.

Identifier le plus complètement possible les processus impliqués dans le développement de la lecture est nécessaire afin de permettre à un maximum d’enfants d’accéder à la maîtrise de la langue écrite. Si l’importance des compétences linguistiques (e.g., conscience phonologique) a été largement démontrée, peu d’études en revanche se sont spécifiquement intéressées au rôle des processus visuo-attentionnels et perceptifs dans l’apprentissage de la lecture ou à leur implication dans certains dysfonctionnements langagiers. Dans ce cadre, nous avons réalisé trois études longitudinales afin d'interroger le rôle des processus visuo-attentionnels et perceptifs, spécifiques au codage orthographique, dans l'apprentissage de la lecture. Le premier objectif de cette thèse était d'étudier si ces processus constituaient des pré-requis à l'apprentissage de la lecture. Nous avons administré à 89 enfants entre la MSM et le CP, une tâche d'identification de cible en fovéa (étude 1) et en parafovéa (étude 2). Nous avons observé que la précocité de la mise en place du codage orthographique prédisait le niveau de lecture au CP. Le second objectif était de dépister en maternelle, les enfants susceptibles de présenter des difficultés en lecture. Dans cette optique, les capacités visuo-attentionnelles et perceptives ont été évaluées auprès de 78 enfants entre la GSM et le CP, au moyen du logiciel VISA-kids que nous avons développé. Le traitement local prédisait les compétences en lecture au CP. Notre travail a ainsi mis en évidence l'importance des capacités visuo-attentionnelles et perceptives, à la fois pour l'apprentissage de la lecture et la prévention des difficultés en lecture. / Identifying the processes involved in the development of reading is necessary to enable as many children as possible to become skilled processors of written language. Although the importance of spoken language skills (e.g., phonological awareness) has been widely demonstrated, few studies, however, have specifically investigated the role of visuo-attentional and perceptual processes in learning to read, or their possible involvement in reading disorders. In this context, we completed three longitudinal studies to examine the role of visuo-attentional and perceptual processes involved in orthographic coding during the first steps of learning to read. The first goal of this thesis was to investigate whether these processes were prerequisites for learning to read. We administered to 89 preschool children and first graders, a target identification task in the fovea (study 1) and the parafovea (study 2). We observed that the precocity of establishment of efficient orthographic coding predicted reading level in first grade. The second objective aimed at improving screening for future reading difficulties in kindergarten children. We developed software (VISA-kids) for assessing visuo-attentional and perceptual abilities that we evaluated in 78 preschool and first grade children. Local processing predicted reading level in the first grade. Our work has highlighted the importance of visuo-attentional and perceptual processes for learning to read and the importance of considering these factors for the prevention of reading difficulties.

Cette recherche avait pour objectif d’étudier les troubles cognitifs à l’origine de la dyslexie, et plus particulièrement le déficit d’apprentissage de paires associées (PAL) à composante verbale (input ou output). Tout d’abord, une étude longitudinale menée auprès d’enfants tout-venant pré-lecteurs et apprentis lecteurs a permis de mettre en évidence une contribution spécifique des PAL intermodales à l’efficience ultérieure en lecture/transcription. Les résultats de l’étude neuropsychologique indiquent pour leur part que les enfants dyslexiques présentent un déficit pour tous les types de PAL à composante verbale. Ce déficit apparait toucher à la fois la mémorisation des réponses, notamment verbales, et la mémorisation des liens entre les deux items. Il serait lié à un défaut de stockage de l’information et non à un problème de récupération et affecterait l’apprentissage des paires associées sans entraver leur rétention à long terme. / This research aimed to study the cognitive causes of dyslexia, particularly the paired associate learning (PAL) including a verbal component (input or output) deficit. First, a longitudinal study of normally developing pre-readers and beginning readers highlighted a specific contribution of intermodal PAL as predictors of later reading/transcription skills. As for the results of our neuropsychological study, they indicate that dyslexic children exhibit a deficit for all types of PAL with verbal component. This deficit appears to reach both the memorization of answers, especially verbal answers, and the storage of the mapping between the two items. It would be linked to an information storage failure but not to a recovery problem, and would affect the buildup of associations without impairing their long-term retention.

INTRODUÇÃO: A Dislexia do Desenvolvimento é um transtorno específico da aprendizagem, de origem neurobiológica, caracterizado por dificuldades na precisão e fluência na leitura de palavras e prejuízo nas habilidades de escrita e ortografia. Intervenções de caráter intensivo, com ensino explícito da leitura e remediação das habilidades cognitivas e linguísticas relacionadas, foram demonstradas como efetivas para a remediação de sujeitos com o transtorno. Programas de remediação voltados à ortografia são também relatados como efetivos para o desenvolvimento da leitura, escrita e conhecimento ortográfico destes sujeitos. A técnica de Cloze, que consiste em organizar um texto curto com lacunas que devem ser preenchidas pelo leitor, foi caracterizada como um método eficaz na mensuração e na remediação da compreensão leitora. OBJETIVOS: Elaborar um Programa Fonoaudiológico em Compreensão Leitora e Ortografia e verificar seus efeitos na compreensão de leitura e na ortografia de escolares com Dislexia do Desenvolvimento. MÉTODOS: O Programa Fonoaudiológico em Compreensão Leitora e Ortografia é um programa fonoaudiológico fechado, com 16 sessões divididas em quatro níveis de complexidade. Todas as sessões contam com um texto adaptado à técnica de Cloze e atividades de ortografia. Fizeram parte dessa pesquisa onze indivíduos com o diagnóstico de Dislexia do Desenvolvimento, com idades entre 09 e 11 anos, sendo oito do gênero masculino. Todos os sujeitos foram submetidos a um pré-teste, ao Programa e a um pós-teste. RESULTADOS: Os sujeitos apresentaram dificuldade na compreensão de textos, porém a técnica de Cloze demonstrou-se um instrumento útil para a avaliação e a remediação da compreensão de leitura, com melhora no preenchimento das lacunas, na compreensão e na motivação para a leitura. Os escolares demonstraram também um desempenho inferior à idade e escolaridade na avaliação de ortografia. Após o Programa Fonoaudiológico em Compreensão Leitora e Ortografia, o desempenho dos sujeitos evoluiu. No entanto, seguiu inferior ao esperado, sendo encontrado o mesmo perfil de erros no pré e no pós-teste. Verificou-se que, embora o Programa tenha sido construído com quatro níveis de complexidade crescente, a dificuldade foi superior no nível 3 em relação aos demais níveis. A extensão silábica e a dificuldade ortográfica dos vocábulos omitidos nos textos com a técnica de Cloze, durante o Programa, influenciaram o desempenho dos sujeitos apenas nos níveis 3 e 4, quando a dificuldade dos textos e a ausência de apoios tornaram a tarefa da leitura e preenchimento das lacunas mais complexa. CONCLUSÃO: O Programa Fonoaudiológico em Compreensão Leitora e Ortografia é um instrumento preciso para a avaliação e remediação da compreensão de leitura de textos e ortografia na Dislexia do Desenvolvimento, com efeitos positivos no desempenho e motivação dos sujeitos desta pesquisa para a leitura e a escrita. Este estudo apresenta uma contribuição inédita sobre a remediação da compreensão de leitura e da ortografia em sujeitos com o transtorno, ao propor a estimulação conjunta da leitura e da escrita, em um instrumento de fácil aplicabilidade e análise, com possíveis aplicações no contexto clínico, educacional e de pesquisa / INTRODUCTION: Developmental Dyslexia is a specific learning disorder of neurobiological origin, characterized by difficulties in accuracy and fluency in reading words and trouble with writing or spelling skills. Interventions of intensive nature, with explicit teaching of reading and remediation of related cognitive and linguistic skills, have been demonstrated as effective for remediation of individuals with the disorder. Remediation programs aimed at orthography are also reported to be effective for the development of reading, writing and spelling knowledge of these persons. The Cloze technique, consisting of a short text with missing words to be replaced by the reader, was characterized as an effective method in the measurement and remediation of reading comprehension. OBJECTIVES: To develop a Speech Therapy Program in Reading Comprehension and Orthography and check its effects on reading comprehension and spelling of students with Developmental Dyslexia. METHODS: The Speech Therapy Program in Reading Comprehension and Orthography is a speech therapy closed program with 16 sessions divided into four levels of complexity. All sessions have a text prepared for a Cloze test and spelling activities. Eleven individuals diagnosed with Developmental Dyslexia, aged between 09 and 11 years old, being eight males, took part in this research study. All persons were submitted to a pretest, the program and a post-test. RESULTS: The individuals had difficulties in reading comprehension, but the Cloze technique proved to be a useful tool for the assessment and remediation of reading comprehension, with improvement to fill in the blanks, in understanding and motivation for reading. The schoolchildren also showed lower performance in relation to their age and educational attainment in the assessment of spelling. After the Speech Therapy Program in Reading Comprehension and Orthography their performance evolved. However, it continued lower than expected, and the same pattern of error was found in both the pretest and the post-test. It was found that, although the Program has been built with four levels of increasing complexity, difficulty was higher in level 3 in relation to the other levels. The syllable extension and spelling difficulty of words removed from the texts of the Cloze tests during the Program influenced the individuals\' performance only in levels 3 and 4, when the text\'s difficulty and the lack of support made the reading and replacing words tasks more complex. CONCLUSION: Speech Therapy Program in Reading Comprehension and Orthography is an accurate tool for the assessment and remediation of reading comprehension and spelling for Developmental Dyslexia sufferers, with positive effects on the performance and motivation in reading and writing of the participants in this research. This study presents an unprecedented contribution to the remediation of reading comprehension and spelling for individuals with the disorder, by proposing the stimulation of both reading and writing by means of an instrument easy to apply and to analyze, with possible applications in the clinical, educational and research contexts

A dislexia é um transtorno genético, hereditário e de origem neurobiológica que compromete a capacidade de escrita e de leitura em graus que variam de indivíduo para indivíduo. As dificuldades iniciam-se já no período de alfabetização e acompanham o disléxico por toda a sua vida, uma vez que há tratamento, mas não cura. Entre os vários sintomas, está a dificuldade em aprender uma segunda língua. Tendo em vista que a língua inglesa é uma exigência escolar e, muito frequentemente, profissional, há uma grande necessidade de compreensão das questões que envolvem a aprendizagem do idioma e o portador de dislexia. Este trabalho trata da construção de identidade - como imagem de si - do aluno disléxico no ambiente de ensino e aprendizagem da língua inglesa; trata de como suas dificuldades, a postura das instituições de ensino, educadores e família agem e influenciam a maneira como ele se enxerga e age nesse contexto. Este estudo é realizado por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas cujas análises foram feitas tendo como base a semiótica francesa. A entrevista cobre a vida escolar regular assim como a experiência do disléxico com a língua inglesa, pois o interesse deste trabalho é ter uma visão ampla da trajetória desse sujeito e não somente um recorte de um momento de sua vida. Os resultados revelam que o diagnóstico, acompanhado de uma aceitação interna do mesmo, a dinâmica de relacionamento do disléxico com a escola e os professores e o apoio familiar são fatores que ajudam a moldar como o disléxico vê a si mesmo e como enfrenta suas dificuldades com a língua inglesa. O texto é dividido em seis capítulos, introdução e conclusão. A introdução busca dar uma visão do caminho percorrido no entendimento da dislexia, desde a era vitoriana até os dias atuais. O capítulo um discorre rapidamente sobre a metodologia. O capítulo dois analisa as entrevistas de modo descomplicado, tendo como objetivo manter uma linguagem clara e acessível a todos os leitores. O capítulo três trata da semiótica das paixões e as relações entre as modalidades e as modalizações. O capítulo quatro traz algumas considerações sobre como auxiliar o disléxico em sala de aula de ensino de língua inglesa. O capítulo cinco focaliza nos estereótipos e, finalmente, o capítulo seis, que analisa o percurso do reconhecimento de si do disléxico baseado na obra de Paul Ricoeur. / Dyslexia is a genetic, hereditary and neurobiological disorder that compromises the ability to write and read in degrees that vary from an individual to another. The difficulties begin in the phase of literacy acquisition and accompany the dyslexic throughout his life, since there is treatment, but not a cure. Among the various symptoms is the difficulty in learning a second language. Given that English is a school requirement and, very often, a professional requirement, there is a great need to understand the issues involved in language learning and dyslexia. This work deals with the construction of dyslexic student identity - identity as the image of the self - in the teaching and learning environment of the English language; It deals with how its difficulties, the posture of educational institutions, educators and family act and influence the way in which the dyslexic learner sees himself/herself and acts within that context. This study was carried out by means of semi-structured interviews analyzed within the framework of Greimasian semiotics. The interview cover regular school life as well as the dyslexic experience with the English language, since the interest of this work is to have a broader view of the individuals trajectory and not only a cross section of a moment of his life. The results reveal that the diagnosis, accompanied by internal acceptance of such diagnosis, the dynamics of the dyslexic relationship with the school and the teachers as well as family support are factors that help shape how the dyslexic sees himself/herself and how he/she faces the difficulties with the English language. The text is divided into six chapters, introduction and conclusion. The introduction seeks to give insight into the path taken in the understanding of dyslexia, from the Victorian era to the present day. Ghapter one is on the methodology used. Chapter two analyzes the interviews in an uncomplicated way, aiming at keeping the language clear and accessible to all readers. Chapter three deals with the semiotics of passions and the relations between modalities and modalizations. Chapter four brings some considerations on how to assist the dyslexic in the classroom. Chapter five focuses on stereotypes and, finally, chapter six, which analyzes the path of self-recognition of the dyslexic based on the work of Paul Ricoeur.

Submitted by Fernanda Ciolfi (fernanda.ciolfi@puc-campinas.edu.br) on 2016-08-11T14:56:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 RAUNI JANDRE ROAMA ALVES.pdf: 4199544 bytes, checksum: 2f1f3a6d003fd985c7aa1410d2915ea8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-11T14:56:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RAUNI JANDRE ROAMA ALVES.pdf: 4199544 bytes, checksum: 2f1f3a6d003fd985c7aa1410d2915ea8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-16 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico - CNPq / Nationally there is a dearth of adequate psychometric instruments that assess risk of Developmental Dyslexia (DD), which is why the "Identifying Signs of Dyslexia Test" (TISD) was prepared. This study aimed to investigate evidence of validity based on external variables and internal structure, as well as reliability of TISD. Participated children and adolescents of both genders, aged 6 to 16, divided into two samples: (1) Group Case: 371 from the group ?Neuro- Learning Difficulties? of the Clinical Hospital of the State University of Campinas, and 12 diagnosed, at the end of the evaluation process, with DD; (2) Group No Case: 288 children without complaints of learning difficulties, with 112 coming from private schools and 151 from public school both located in the state of S?o Paulo, and 25 students of a public school from a city in Rio Grande do Norte. The following instruments were applied: (1) TISD: evaluates academic and neuropsychological skills related to reading, consists of 8 subtests: Reading, Writing, Visual Attention, Motor Skills, Calculation, Phonological Awareness, Rapid Naming and Short-term Memory; (2) Academic Performance Test (TDE): evaluates school capacity and is composed of subtests of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic; (3) Test Bender-Gestalt (B-SPG): evaluates perceptomotora maturity, through the analysis of the distortion of fashion model figures; (4) Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 3rd and 4th Edition (WISC-III / WISC-IV): evaluates intelligence by benchmarking cognitive abilities, that only the Digits, Cancellation and Arithmetic subtests were used. To achieve the goals, six studies were conducted. The studies of evidences of validity based on external variables relations indicated the following results: (1) age and type of school influences in total performance test; the instrument was sensitive to differentiate the performance of individuals aged six, seven and eight, with worst performing of public school; (2) the search for evidence of convergent validity, the TISD was correlated with other validated instruments for the Brazilian population (TDE; WISC III / IV; B-SPG); the results showed statistically significant and moderate correlations between the TISD subtests, Reading, Writing, Calculation, Working Memory, Motor Skills, with the TDE subtests of Reading and Writing, with the subtests Arithmetic and Digits of the WISC-IV and B-SPG, respectively, indicating convergent validity; (3) the TISD was able to differentiate the diagnosis group of DD and the group without learning difficulties complaints. The search study of evidence of validity based on the internal structure indicated a two-factor model for TISD (without the inclusion of subtest Rapid Naming) with a factor composed of neuropsychological skills (subtests of Motor Skills, Visual Attention, Phonological Awareness and Short-term Memory) and another for school skills (Reading, Writing and Calculation subtests). Precision studies indicated the following results: all items / tasks in each subtest showed significant correlations with the total result of the own subtest, ranging from moderate to strong correlations. It was found that the studies reported here indicate favorable results for the continuity of psychometric studies of TISD and contributed to the advancement of the stages of its development. / Nacionalmente verifica-se grande escassez de instrumentos psicom?tricos adequados para a avalia??o para risco de Dislexia do Desenvolvimento (DD), motivo pelo qual o ?Teste de Identifica??o de Sinais de Dislexia? (TISD) foi elaborado. Este trabalho teve como objetivo investigar evid?ncias de validade baseadas em vari?veis externas e na estrutura interna e precis?o do TISD. Participaram crian?as e adolescente de ambos os g?neros, com idade entre 6 e 16 anos, divididos em duas amostras: (1) Grupo Caso: 371 pertencentes ao Ambulat?rio de Neuro-Dificuldades de Aprendizagem do Hospital de Cl?nicas da Universidade Estadual de Campinas, sendo 12 com DD; (2) Grupo N?o Caso: 288 crian?as sem queixas de dificuldades de aprendizagem, sendo 112 de escola particular e 151 de escola p?blica do interior do estado de S?o Paulo, e 25 de uma escola p?blica de uma cidade do Rio Grande do Norte. Foram aplicados os seguintes instrumentos: (1) TISD: avalia habilidades acad?micas e neuropsicol?gicas relacionadas ? leitura, composto por 8 subtestes: Leitura, Escrita, Aten??o Visual, Habilidades Motoras, C?lculo, Consci?ncia Fonol?gica, Nomea??o R?pida e Mem?ria Imediata; (2) Teste de Desempenho Escolar (TDE): avalia capacidades escolares, ? composto pelos subtestes de Leitura, Escrita e Aritm?tica; (3) Teste Gest?ltico Visomotor de Bender (B-SPG): avalia maturidade perceptomotora, por meio da an?lise da distor??o da forma de figuras modelo; (4) Escalas Wechsler de Intelig?ncia para Crian?as, 3? e 4? edi??o (WISC-III/WISC-IV): avalia intelig?ncia pelo aferimento de habilidades cognitivas, das quais foram utilizados os subtestes D?gitos, Cancelamento e Aritm?tica. Os estudos de busca de evid?ncias de validade baseadas em rela??es com vari?veis externas indicaram os seguintes resultados: (1) influ?ncias de idade e tipo escolas no desempenho total do teste; o instrumento se mostrou sens?vel na identica??o de idades de seis, sete e oito anos, com pior desempenho da escola p?blica; (2) o TISD foi correlacionado a outros instrumentos validados para a popula??o brasileira (TDE; WISC III/IV; B-SPG); os resultados mostraram correla??es estatisticamente significativas e moderadas entre os subtestes Leitura, Escrita, C?lculo, Mem?ria de Trabalho, Habilidades Motoras do TISD com os subtestes Leitura e Escrita do TDE, subtestes Aritm?tica e D?gitos da WISC-IV e B-SPG, respectivamente, indicando validade convergente; (3) o TISD foi capaz de diferenciar o grupo diagn?stico da DD de crian?as sem queixas de dificuldades de aprendizagem. O estudo de busca de evid?ncias de validade baseadas na estrutura interna indicou um modelo bi-fatorial para o TISD (sem a inclus?o do subteste de Nomea??o R?pida), com um fator composto por habilidades neuropsicol?gicas (subtestes de Habilidades Motoras, Aten??o Visual, Consci?ncia Fonol?gica e Mem?ria de Curto Prazo) e outro por habilidades escolares (subtestes de Leitura, Escrita e C?lculo). Os estudos de precis?o indicaram os seguintes resultados: todos os itens/tarefas de cada subteste apresentaram correla??es significativas com o resultado total do teste, oscilando entre correla??es moderadas e fortes. Verificou-se que a maioria dos estudos aqui realizados indicou resultados favor?veis para a continuidade dos estudos psicom?tricos do TISD e contribu?ram para o avan?o das etapas de sua elabora??o.

The performance of most tasks requires some interaction between the cerebral hemispheres. Despite this fact, research has focused on demonstrating that each hemisphere is specialised for certain processes and has largely neglected this interaction. ¶ Recent research has recognised the need for a better understanding of how resources are shared between the cerebral hemispheres. While these studies have shed light on factors external to the participants being tested, such as the type of task and stimuli used, presentation times, and different measurement methods, they have neglected variables that differ between individuals. The studies reported here focused on factors internal to the participants. They include sex, age, handedness, functional lateralisation, practice, attention, and hemispheric activation, which vary between individuals or within individuals across time, and have been shown to influence the structure and morphology of the corpus callosum which is the main pathway for hemispheric interactions. ¶ This thesis examines the relationship of these variables to the efficiency of hemispheric interactions. ¶ A literature review of the factors affecting hemispheric interactions and interhemispheric transfer is presented in Chapter 1, and methodological issues relating to the measurement of these variables in Chapter 2. Based upon this research, two tasks, the Poffenberger paradigm and a letter-matching task, were selected to assess interhemispheric transfer time and hemispheric interactions, respectively, and to investigate the relationship between these two variables. ¶ Chapters 3 and 4 present the findings of the principal study, using a large sample of participants and regression analysis, which demonstrate that both faster interhemispheric transfer and more extreme left-handedness are associated with greater efficiency of hemispheric interaction. Surprisingly, other factors which were expected to influence hemispheric interactions (age, sex, functional lateralisation, and attention) did not have a significant effect on this variable. ¶ A strong practice effect found in the task used in Chapters 3 and 4 is analysed in Chapter 5. Contrary to previous findings, this practice effect seems not to be due to a shift from sequential, rule-based processing to memory-retrieval, but rather, is a more general practice effect consistent with progressively more efficient use of neural resources. ¶ Chapter 6 shows that individuals with dyslexia not only demonstrate an abnormally fast interhemispheric transfer, but also attentional deficits, due probably to decreased efficiency in hemispheric interactions. Because some clinical populations, such as individuals with dyslexia, have been shown to have hemispheric interaction deficits, the study of such clinical samples can provide valuable information about the relationship between hemispheric interactions and other individual variables. ¶ In Chapter 7 it is demonstrated that both latent and induced patterns of lateralised hemispheric activation affect hemispheric interactions. This suggests that assessment of hemispheric activation is important not only in this field, but probably also more generally in neuropsychological research. These findings highlight the need for a simple, inexpensive measure of hemispheric activation that can be applied routinely in cognitive experiments. ¶ Chapter 8 presents a new technique to measure lateralised brain activation in typical psychological experiments using functional tympanic membrane thermometry (fTMT). This measure relies on the measurement of ear membrane temperature as an index of hemispheric activation. The technique is simple and inexpensive, and is shown to be suitable for the assessment of hemispheric activation patterns during typical experiments. ¶ In conclusion, individual characteristics such as the efficiency of interhemispheric transfer, handedness, functional lateralisation, attention, and hemispheric activation are important factors to consider when researching hemispheric interactions in both normal and clinical populations. Furthermore, future research will benefit from this newly developed measure, fTMT, by allowing the systematic study of the effects of hemispheric activation in brain processes.

<p>This study investigates verbal and visuospatial memory strategies used by individuals with perceptual or cognitive disabilities. The groups concentrated on in this study are deaf individuals who are native sign language users and individuals with dyslexia. </p><p>The study comprises an experiment and an in-depth study in which a pre-test and a questionnaire were used. Nine deaf signers, two persons with dyslexia and 12 persons without any perceptual or cognitive constraints participated. Of these 23 persons, seven were selected to take part in the in-depth study. </p><p>The results indicate individual differences in working memory capacity among the subjects and differences in performance and processing between native sign language users and hearing individuals. Further, all of the participants were using a number of different strategies and shifting between strategies in the experiment. The results demonstrate that the amount of information individuals are able to hold activated in working memory is dependent on a range of factors, both internal factors specific to the individual and external factors relating to how information is presented. Guidelines for information presentation to limit working memory demands based on the findings are suggested.</p>