ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the issue of whether dyslexics are eventually capable of automatic word processing. Automatic processing is the final stage in isolated word reading. However, it is not the final stage in the overall reading process. The unspeeded reading task was chosen for further investigation in order to separate phonological and orthographic processing from automatic processing. In the dyslexic group, the proportion decreased from 68.3% to 55% to 25%. So the difference between dyslexics and reading-age controls increased cumulatively as more demand was made on automatic processing. Dyslexics seem to have an atypical rate of acquisition of two specific cognitive processes needed in single word reading. First, they were particularly slow in acquiring automatic skills and, second, they were particularly slow in acquiring knowledge of the phonological properties of words. The cross-sectional study showed that dyslexics have particular problems with rapid processing of pseudowords.
