2025P Development of Phonetic Distinctiveness in infants and (pre)readers at risk for dyslexia

Purpose. Typically developing infants refine their speech abilities through exposure to their native language, often referred to as perceptual attunement (e.g., Maurer & Werker, 2014). It is hypothesized that infants at risk for dyslexia exhibit reduced attunement (Serniclaes et al., 2004), potentially resulting in less-specified phonetic representations which impacts later phoneme-to-grapheme mapping skills while reading (Boets et al., 2013; Vandermosten et al., 2020).

Methods. This study focuses on a naturalistic setting, conducting day-long audio recordings in the home environment of the child. A self-developed acoustic algorithm will later on analyze all speech sounds. This approach will lead to a more direct and easy-to-implement measure of how phonetic units gradually move towards more narrow phonemic prototypes, thereby reflecting their underlying representation. In a first study, we aim to longitudinally capture the development of phonetic distinctiveness in typically developing infants from 3 - 18 months old (N = 50), and compare that with the phonetic development of infants with a familial risk for dyslexia (N = 50). In a second study, we measure phonetic distinctiveness in pre-reading 5-year-old children with (N = 50) and without (N = 50) a familial risk for dyslexia, as well as preterm born children (N = 50). We will compare phonetic distinctiveness at age 5 between groups, and link the phonetic measure to their reading abilities at age 7.

Significance. We aim to develop an automated, ecologically valid measure of phonetic distinctiveness in early childhood. It will offer critical insights into early language acquisition and dyslexia risk. The findings may inform early diagnosis, leading to timely intervention. Moreover, our shift to naturalistic setting can give insight in potential novel research paradigms.

References

Boets, B., op de Beeck, H. P., Vandermosten, M., Scott, S. K., Gillebert, C. R., Mantini, D., Bulthé, J., Sunaert, S., Wouters, J., & Ghesquière, P. (2013). Intact but less accessible phonetic representations in adults with dyslexia. Science, 342(6163), 1251–1254. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1244333
Maurer, D., & Werker, J. F. (2014). Perceptual narrowing during infancy: A comparison of language and faces. Developmental Psychobiology, 56, 154–178. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.21177
Serniclaes, W., van Heghe, S., Mousty, P., Carré, R., & Sprenger-Charolles, L. (2004). Allophonic mode of speech perception in dyslexia. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 87, 336–361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2004.02.001
Vandermosten, M., Correia, J., Vanderauwera, J., Wouters, J., Ghesquière, P., & Bonte, M. (2020). Brain activity patterns of phonemic representations are atypical in beginning readers with family risk for dyslexia. Developmental Science, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12857