Multi-character processing intervention in an English-speaking child with dyslexia

The aims of this study were to determine (1) whether multi-character processing can be trained; and if so, (2) can it lead to improvements in reading and (3) other cognitive skills. We further aimed to investigate (4) whether training of multi-character processing improves visual attention span. We report a single case intervention study with an English-speaking girl with dyslexia, YR (8 years, 10 months), who also had a deficit in multi-character processing. We administered various cognitive skills measures (e.g. reading skills, visual working memory capacity, visual short-term memory capacity, rapid automatized naming, visual attention span) twice before and once after the intervention in order to clarify the relationship between multi-character processing and reading and to uncover cognitive mechanisms causally related to a deficit in multi-character processing. We compared YR's results to seven age-matched typical readers (mean age 8 years, 9 months). YR's multi-character processing skills improved significantly after the intervention, but there was no improvement observed in her reading skills. The findings are discussed within theoretical reading models