A SSSR Pre-Conference Symposium, July 9 2008
Honoring the Career of Donald Shankweiler

The Phonological Deficit Hypothesis, first proposed in the 1970’s by Donald Shankweiler and his colleague Isabelle Liberman, has been the leading explanation of difficulties in reading abilities for several decades. The hypothesis posited that underlying impairment in the phonological system accounts for the characteristic difficulties struggling readers encounter with phoneme awareness, decoding, spelling and word recognition, with secondary consequences for reading comprehension. In particular, weaknesses in the phonological processes and/or representations serving speech perception, speech production, and verbal memory were hypothesized to be causally related to individual differences in reading aptitude.

In the decades since, this theory has directly and indirectly influenced much of the research in the field of reading, as well as attendant shifts in educational policies and practices. Research pursuits have expanded to include sophisticated studies of behavioral, genetic, and neurological factors linked with reading development and reading disabilities. In this symposium, advances in research and theory will be reviewed to assess the adequacy and completeness of the Phonological Deficit Hypothesis as an account of reading disabilities.

Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, Asheville, NC
Sponsored by: Haskins Laboratories, NSF and SSSR
Registration at: http://www.triplesr.org/conference

For additional information, download the PDF document here.