NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH OF FACTORS AGGRAVATING THE READING LEARNING DIFFICULTIES AMONG MOROCCAN ARABIC-SPEAKING STUDENTS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DYSLEXIA PROFILE

Abstract

Dyslexia is the most common learning disability in school and the most devastating in terms of academic performance. In interaction with the socio-cultural environment, several and various factors can aggravate the difficulties of reader acquisition in dyslexic children. Identifying these factors and interpreting them according to the neuropsychological approach, in the Moroccan context, was the objective of this study Socio-economic data was collected from 626 children, aged 9 to 15 years with an average age of 11,95 years, enrolled in public educational establishments in the Beni Mellal-Khenifra region, located in central Mo- rocco. Among all the participants, 41 had a profile of dyslexia, 13 of whom had reading attitudes evoking "severe dyslexia". Subjects underwent a cognitive assessment. the others were normal-readers and classified as good readers (n=481) and weak readers (n=104). To follow our purpose, we have determined socio-cultural and cognitive variables that may discriminate between students in the "severely dyslexic" group and their "dyslexic" peers. The performance gap was significant in favor of "dyslexic" students in the reading test of pseudowords, rapid naming of images, and the deletion of the initial phoneme. These data reinforce the hypothesis that the phonological deficit is at the root of developmental dyslexia. On the socio-cultural domain, the results showed that preschool attendance and early exposure to written language activity discriminate the participants with a "severe dyslexia" profile from their peers in the "dyslexic" group. We believe that these two factors were responsible for the moderate intensity of the disorder observed in the "dyslexic" group. Our study also showed that bilingualism raises the degree of learning reading difficulties among students with this disorder. These results are consistent with those described in the literature, it suggests that dyslexics can implement compensation strategies both at the behavioral and neuronal level. They call on those in charge of the Moroccan education system to recognize the existence of learning disabilities of neurobiological origin in order to address the necessary care for children who suffer from them.