Phonological processing deficit - a culprit behind developmental dyslexia?

This article endeavours to discuss the issue of phonological processing and its relation with developmental dyslexia from several angles. It attempts to define it, analyzes its complex relationship with other manifestations of cognitive functions, such as memory and processing speed, and investigates its contribution to reading in readingdisabled and unimpaired reading cases. Additionally, it offers a wide spectrum of data from behavioural, cognitive and neurobiological studies. Developmental dyslexia has been a focal point of cross-disciplinary research, and for a good reason, as for the last decades, depending on the criteria and statistical data, it has been estimated to range from 6 to 15 per cent within the school population (Bogdanowicz 2004, Habib 2004). However, in order to proceed to discussing the matter and its various implications in terms of reading-writing acquisition, it is essential to create the context which begins with the utmost refinement of the cognitive development of the human capacity to think and express those thoughts—speech.