Pragmatic competence in native German adults with and without Developmental Dyslexia

Abstract

Developmental Dyslexia (DD) is a life-long deficit in reading and spelling with unclear causes. DD negatively impacts many language skills. Relatively little is known about whether skills of pragmatic competence are compromised in individuals with DD. Here, we assess DD symptomatology in a group of native German dyslexic adults. We first test for the presence of DD subtypes along the dimensions of phonological awareness and naming speed, two key deficits in DD. We then assess pragmatic competence in adults with DD compared to control participants without DD. We found that a subclassification of DD according to phonological awareness and naming speed only partially applies and that dyslexic participants show a lower pragmatic competence than control participants.