10593 Reading Disabilities 1
Credits: 6 advanced credits in Psychology or in Learning Disabilities
Prerequisites: 36 credits, including Physiology of Behavior, Cognitive Psychology, Introduction to Statistics for Students of Social Sciences I, Introduction to Statistics for students of Social Sciences II, Research Methods in Social Sciences, Participation in Psychological and Educational Research and Research Experience, Regression Analysis and Analysis of Variance. Students must also fulfill all English requirements and take bibliographic instruction in the Library.
Recommended: Reading: Theory and Practice; Learning Disabilities
The course is based on a reader edited by Lilach Shalev-Mevorach.
Reading is one of the most important skills that children acquire at a young age. A large proportion of children (5%-10%) are diagnosed as reading disabled. These children have average – and often above average – intelligence, yet they fail to acquire proper reading skills and show difficulties in decoding and reading comprehension.
Topics: Introduction: Models of reading in typical readers, acquired reading disorders, and developmental reading disabilities; The biological basis of reading disabilities: The neural and genetic basis of reading and reading disabilities; Causes of reading disabilities: Impaired phonological processing, rate of information processing, automatization of basic skills, and visual attention; Treatment methods for reading disabilities: Auditory and visual training programs; Integrative discussion: The specificity of reading disabilities and its co-morbidity with other developmental disorders.
1Students may write a seminar paper in this course, although it is not required.