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A pilot study exploring reading and spelling difficulties in children with auditory processing disorder

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Abstract

This pilot study examined the underexplored reading and spelling skills of children with auditory processing disorder (APD). Based on previous research linking auditory and phonological deficits, it was hypothesized that children with APD experiencing literacy difficulties would exhibit a phonological vulnerability profile of dyslexia-dysorthographia (DD), characterized by phonological awareness impairments. Nineteen school-aged children with APD, seen in rehabilitation centers specialized in communication, were assessed with a test battery measuring auditory, reading, and spelling skills as well as cognitive vulnerability factors (e.g., phonological awareness, lexical orthographic memory). Among these participants, four performed within normal limits on the reading and spelling tasks or did not exhibit difficulties related to a DD. The other fifteen participants exhibited difficulties similar to those of children with DD, with thirteen showing results associated with a mnesic vulnerability profile, characterized by lexical orthographic memory deficits, and two showing a mixed profile, combining phonological and mnesic vulnerabilities. Findings of this pilot study highlighted a high rate of reading and spelling difficulties among these children. Their difficulties were not comparable to those seen in children with the phonological vulnerability profile, but with a mnesic profile, suggesting that auditory processing difficulties do not always lead to this profile of DD. These preliminary findings need to be extended to larger samples from various clinical settings to clarify interactions between auditory processing, cognitive vulnerability factors, and written language skills.

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Data availability

The dataset related to the current study is available from the authors upon request.

Notes

  1. Dyslexia-dysorthographia (DD) will be used throughout this paper as it emphasizes both reading and spelling difficulties associated with this disorder.

  2. The term “children with APD” will be used to refer to children diagnosed with APD and those suspected of having APD.

  3. See the method for precisions about the version of the lexical orthographic memory task and grade level.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the children and their parents for their participation in this study, the students and professionals who contributed to data collection (Julie Lessard, Sandra Fortin, Mujda Nooristani and Fauve Duquette-Laplante), and the clinical partners: Centre de réadaptation en déficience physique Raymond-Dewar Laurier of Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal; Centre de réadaptation Le Bouclier of Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de Lanaudière; and Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de la Montérégie-Ouest.

In addition, special thanks to Institut universitaire sur la réadaptation en déficience physique de Montréal (IURDPM) at the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal for their assistance in coordinating communications with clinical partners and providing logistical support.

Funding

This study was funded by Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en réadaptation du Montréal métropolitain (CRIR – Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal, start-up funding for new CRIR regular research members awarded to the second author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. École d’orthophonie et d’audiologie, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada

    Julie Robidoux, Brigitte Stanké & Benoît Jutras

  2. Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en réadaptation du Montréal métropolitain (CRIR), Montreal, Canada

    Julie Robidoux, Brigitte Stanké, Eve Julie Rioux & Marianne Paquet

  3. Institut universitaire sur la réadaptation en déficience physique de Montréal (IURDPM), Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Montreal, Canada

    Eve Julie Rioux

  4. Centre de réadaptation en déficience physique Raymond-Dewar Laurier, Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Montreal, Canada

    Susan Plante, Annie Racine & Marianne Paquet

  5. Centre de recherche Azrieli, Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine, Montreal, Canada

    Benoît Jutras

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Contributions

Conceptualization: B.S. and B.J. Data curation: J.R., B.S. and B.J. Formal analysis: J.R., B.S., B.J., A.R. and M.P. Funding acquisition: B.S. Investigation: J.R., E.J.R. and S.P. Methodology: B.S., B.J., E.J.R., S.P., A.R. and M.P. Project administration: J.R. and B.S. Resources: B.S, B.J., E.J.R. and S.P. Software: J.R. and B.J. Supervision: B.S., B.J., E.J.R., S.P., A.R. and M.P. Validation: J.R., B.S., B.J., E.J.R., S.P., A.R. and M.P. Visualization: J.R., B.S. and B.J. Writing – original draft: J.R., B.S. and B.J. Writing – review and editing: J.R., B.S., B.J., E.J.R., S.P., A.R. and M.P. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julie Robidoux.

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Ethical approval

The study was approved by the CRIR Research Ethics Committee (Comité d’éthique de la recherche des établissements du CRIR, now renamed Comité d’éthique de la recherche en réadaptation et en déficience physique [CER RDP]; project number MP-50-2017-887/CRIR-1175-0916, January 16, 2017).

Consent to participate

Informed written parental consent and child’s assent were obtained for each participant prior to their participation in the study.

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Not applicable.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Robidoux, J., Stanké, B., Rioux, E.J. et al. A pilot study exploring reading and spelling difficulties in children with auditory processing disorder. Ann. of Dyslexia (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-026-00390-1

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