Is orthographic knowledge a strength or a weakness in individuals with dyslexia? Evidence from a meta-analysis

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine if individuals with dyslexia (DYS) have a deficit in orthographic knowledge. We reviewed a total of 68 studies published between January 1990 and December 2019, representing a total of 7215 participants. There were 80 independent samples in the chronological-age (CA)-DYS comparison and 33 independent samples in the comparison between DYS and reading-level (RL) controls. A random-effects model analysis revealed a large effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.17) for the CA-DYS comparison and a small effect size (Cohen’s d = 0.18) for the RL-DYS comparison. In addition, we found significant heterogeneity in the effect sizes that was partly explained by the level of orthographic knowledge (effect sizes being higher for lexical than sub-lexical orthographic knowledge). These results suggest that individuals with dyslexia experience an orthographic knowledge deficit that is as large as that of phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming reported in previous meta-analyses.