The current study investigated the role of semantic activation on the reading of non-familiar Hebrew words by native Arab readers. Thirty typical native Arab readers participated in the study (age 12.57 ±.26). In one condition, which was defined as the semantic condition, the participants were orally trained to learn the meanings of twenty non-familiar words (Uncommon words that were defined by expert language judges as not appropriate for the participants' reading age). While in another condition, the participants were orally trained to learn only the pronunciation of another twenty non-familiar Hebrew words (the phonological condition). During the training trails, the participants were not exposed to the written form of the words at all, as the training was conducted solely in an auditory manner. Following the training trials, participants were presented with the written forms of the words and were asked to read the words along with an additional twenty non-familiar words that were not trained at all (the control condition). Reading accuracy and speed were measured. The results indicated faster speed and higher accuracy levels in reading for the semantic condition. The findings were discussed in the context of the contribution of semantic activation to reading aloud unfamiliar written words.

The present study examined the role of vowelization diacritics in the visual recognition of written Arabic verbs among typical (N = 20) and poor (N = 20) native Arab readers in the 10th grade. A lexical decision task was used, in which stimuli were presented under two vowelization conditions: vowelized and non-vowelized. The findings revealed that typical readers demonstrated higher accuracy and shorter response times in the non-vowelized condition. In contrast, the effect of vowelization on the performance of poor readers was inconsistent across measures. The results are discussed in light of previous findings in the literature, with particular emphasis on the contribution of morpho-orthographic components to the visual recognition of Arabic verbs.

This study tested morphological skills among 14 native Arab kindergarteners with developmental language disorder (DLD) (age; 5.51 ± 0.95, 10 boys and 4 girls) and fifteen kindergarteners with typical language development (TD) (age; 5.49 ± 0.37, 7 boys and 8 girls). The participants completed two tasks designed to assess the identification and production of inflectional morphology skills in Arabic. In the identification task, the participants were asked to choose between two alternatives of pseudowords, the one that corresponds to a conventional inflection in the language, based on the instruction they hear. In the production task, the participants were asked to produce an appropriate pronunciation of the pseudowords according to the requested inflection, without selecting from given alternatives. Pseudowords were used in both tasks to evaluate the efficiency of applying inflectional knowledge. The results showed that the performances of TD children were significantly higher than those of children with DLD, in both tasks. Additionally, children with DLD performed significantly better on the identification task than on the production task. These findings are discussed in light of the assumption that the difficulties in morphological skills in the group of native Arab children with DLD may result from general difficulties in acquiring language regularities.

Over the past few decades clinical and research awareness has grown about the nature and prevalence of cognitive disorders in multiple sclerosis (MS). It is assumed that 65% of hospitalized MS patients develop cognitive impairments which have consistently demonstrated a pattern of decline in the following areas: attention working memory executive functions and verbal episodic memory. This chapter reviews the evidence for its associated comorbidities which may address early in the disease course that supports the importance for early recognition and management of cognitive impairment in MS before it becomes an irreversible entity. The focus is on three areas of inquiry: The first aims to provide a description of cognitive impairment in MS at all disease stages and in all subtypes. The second tried to evaluate the clinical imaging and neuroanatomical aspects. And the third focuses on cognitive assessment therapy and rehabilitation based on the literature.

Background: In contrast to most other languages, where the spoken and written words are similar, children that have mastered Spoken Arabic (SA) learn to read a new written form of Arabic usually called Literary Arabic (LA). This phenomenon is called “diglossia”. Methods: Based on a series of studies comparing monolingual Arabic speaking and bilingual children, it has been suggested that Arabic speaking individuals develop metacognitive abilities that are considered bilinguals de facto. Some of the cognitive functions that would seem to benefit from fluency in more than one language are metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness. Results: This review article summarizes the results of studies on the relationship between bilingualism, diglossia and executive functions (EFs) which involve metacognitive awareness, selective attention, control of inhibition and cognitive flexibility as well as working memory (phonemic manipulation and metalingual performances). Conclusions: The findings are in line with research results that have shown that bilingualism has a positive effect on the functioning of an individual’s attentional system across the lifespan. The neural basis of diglossia in Arabic, as well as the conclusions and implications drawn from the impact of diglossia on EF and on reading in Arabic, are discussed.

Purpose: This study examined the differences in spoken Arabic (SpA) and standard Arabic (StA) in inflectional (gender, number, possessive pronouns, and tense) construction use in Arabic among preschoolers. Moreover, we tested the contribution of the inflectional constructions possessed in kindergarten to reading skills in the first grade and examined whether this morphological contribution differs between SpA and StA. Method: We assessed 261 Arabic-speaking kindergartners for 1 year until the end of first grade for inflectional knowledge in kindergarten and reading skills in first grade (reading accuracy and fluency, spelling, and reading comprehension). Results: The findings revealed that among inflections, prevalence of performance on gender constructions was the highest, followed by number and possessive pronouns, and lowest performance for tense constructions. Although the performance for SpA was higher than for StA in all constructions, similar patterns were observed except similarity between gender and number in StA. Moreover, the results indicate a significant contribution of almost all inflectional constructions (except possessive pronouns) possessed in kindergarten to all reading skills in the first grade. However, tense did not contribute to reading comprehension, and possessive pronouns did not contribute to any of the reading measures. Regarding diglossia, although the claims that linguistic components in StA are not represented in the mental lexicon, StA accounted for an additional significant 2%–3% of the explained variance in Step 2 (which checked the practical significance of statistically significant results) in all reading measures. Conclusions: This study highlights the impact of diglossia-specific morphological differences (prevalence of the use of the morphological construction in Arabic in SpA vs. StA) on reading and literacy measures, especially the contribution of morphological awareness in SpA, which may provide a stronger basis for StA reading skills. The implications of these results are discussed, especially regarding exposing children to the morphological representations of both the SpA and StA forms to promote reading and literacy in Arabic.

We tested the effects of diglossia and orthography on reading in Arabic, manipulating reading in Spoken Arabic (SA), using Arabizi, in which it is written using Latin letters on computers/phones, and the two forms of the conventional written form Modern Standard Arabic (MSA): vowelled (shallow) and unvowelled (deep). 77 skilled readers in 8th grade performed oral reading of single words and narrative and expository texts, and silent reading comprehension of both genres of text. Oral reading and comprehension revealed different patterns. Single words and texts were read faster and more accurately in unvoweled MSA, slowest and least accurately in vowelled MSA, and in-between in Arabizi. Comprehension was highest for vowelled MSA. Narrative texts were better than expository texts in Arabizi with the opposite pattern in MSA. The results suggest that frequency of type of texts and the way in which phonology is encoded affect skilled reading

Botulinum toxin A is considered an effective treatment for involuntary facial movements. We examined whether treatment efficacy maintained or changed over time with two products, Botox and Dysport, in patients with hemifacial spasm, facial synkinesis and benign essential blepharospasm. We retrospectively investigated 87 consecutive patients (51 women, 36 men) who had undergone treatment for >= 6 years. Long-term effects, as well as side effects of Botox or Dysport local injections were evaluated. The first three treatments were considered the titration period and not taken into account when testing for dose changes. Mean treatment duration was 10 years (range 6-11, SD 1.0), 2441 treatments were administered, 1162 with Botox and 1279 with Dysport, the two brands were interchanged as needed. Good to full improvement was seen in 90% of patients both with both brands. Injection doses and treatment responses were consistent during the study with both drugs. No major side effects were reported, and relatively few minor adverse events were reported, with clear reduction from the titration period (6.1%), to the remainder of the study (3.9%). Botulinum toxin (BTX-A) is a satisfactory long-term treatment without need for dose increase over. Both Botox and Dysport were effective when used interchangeably.

ABSTRACT The main objective of this research was to assess the influence of visual processing on Arabic reading accuracy and fluency of word recognition in a deep (unvowelled) version and a shallow (vowelled) version of the Arabic script on typical and dyslexic readers. We tested three groups, typically reading 6th graders, dyslexic 6th graders, and typically reading 4th graders, who were matched on reading levels with the dyslexic group. In addition to phonological decoding, we tested orthographic and morphological abilities, as well as nonlinguistic visual abilities. The results showed that overall, the Dyslexic group performed worse on the tests of phonology and orthography than both groups of typical readers, but better than the younger readers on the test of morphological sensitivity. The Dyslexics also performed equivalently to the younger readers on the nonlinguistic visual tests, and both were worse than the age matched controls. Regression analyses revealed that although phonological decoding is the best predictor of accuracy in reading both words and nonwords, orthographic abilities also contribute significantly to the variance. In addition, orthographic abilities were the best predictor of the speed of reading words and nonwords for all groups. Vowelled script slowed recognition and lowered accuracy for all groups.

We tested the effects of orthography on text reading by comparing reading measures in Arabic and Hebrew-speaking adults. The languages are typologically very similar, but use different orthographies. We measured naming speed of single letters, words and nonwords, and visual processing. Arabic-speakers also performed some of the tasks in Hebrew. We measured silent and oral reading speed of simpler and complex texts and their relationships with component abilities. Results show that Arabic-speakers read complex texts in Arabic more slowly than Hebrew-speakers read in Hebrew. Arabic-speakers read texts in Hebrew more slowly than in Arabic, even though they performed the letter naming and visual tasks equivalently in the two languages. For both groups, the best predictor of oral reading speed is speed of reading single words, with speed of letter naming adding to the prediction in Hebrew, but not in Arabic. No variable had a significant contribution to the prediction of speed of silent reading. The results suggest that even though lower level processes such as letter and word identification may be simpler to perform in Hebrew than in Arabic, higher level processes required to comprehend a complex text, are always faster in the first language of the participants. Both the characteristics of the text, its structural and semantic complexity, and the characteristics of the orthography play roles in the quality of reading. Relationships between the top-down and bottom-up components of reading are dynamic, and specific to orthographic factors and the sociolinguistic environment of the readers (e.g., the diglossia of Arabic).

Several studies have tested the validity of the simple view of reading model by examining various degrees of orthographic depth. This study aims to validate this model in both transparent and deep versions of Arabic. In addition, the contribution of the basic components of decoding and listening comprehension to reading comprehension in the transparent and deep versions was tested. In total, 460 typical Arabic-speaking children in the first and second grade participated in this study. A moderate degree of explained variance was found in both versions, and the contribution of decoding and listening comprehension was influenced by transparency and by the grade level of the reader. The results are discussed in relation to previous findings in the field and the unique characteristics of the Arabic language.

The contribution of linguistic and cognitive variables to reading processes might vary depending on the particularities of the languages studied. This view is thought to be particularly true for Arabic which is a diglossic language and has particular orthographic and morpho-syntactic systems. This cross-sectional study examined the contribution of phonological, orthographic, morphological, semantic, syntactic, visual perception, rapid automatic naming and phonological working memory abilities to decoding and fluency (the two components of reading). The results, obtained from 1305 native Arabic-speaking children in first–sixth grade, were analyzed using path models. The analysis revealed that memory and orthographic knowledge contributed to both components of reading, while phonological awareness contributed mainly to decoding and rapid automatic naming contributed to fluency. The contribution of morphology to the two components, which appeared already in the first grade, was weak and inconsistent. Finally, the results showed that visual perception, semantics, and syntax predicted neither decoding nor fluency. The data presented here suggest that reading development in Arabic differs from other languages, a finding that might explain certain difficulties in reading acquisition in Arabic. The results are discussed in the light of previous findings in the literature and the specific features of Arabic.

This study aimed at examining the contribution of various cognitive and linguistic variables to spelling processes among native Arabic-speaking children from first to sixth grade. For this purpose, measures of phoneme awareness (PA), orthographic, morphological, lexical and syntactic knowledge were collected, together with working memory and speed of processing indexes. The analysis was conducted on a large and representative sample using path models. The results revealed that, together with the consistent contribution of PA and orthography, morphology played an important role in predicting spelling. Furthermore, our findings suggested that Arabic orthography, even the vowelised version which is considered as transparent (since it provides the reader with the full phonological information), behaved as other deep orthographies in spelling. These findings are discussed in the context of the unique characteristics of the Arabic language and its orthographic system.

The study aimed to examine the pedagogical implications of the linguistic and orthographic proximity hypothesis. This hypothesis claims that the similarities and differences between first and additional languages and scripts help or hinder the acquisition of literacy in the novel language. In this study we examined the impact of Arabic language and literacy as opposed to Hebrew language and literacy on the acquisition of English basic literacy skills amongst elementary school Arabic L1 speaking versus Hebrew L1 speaking children. All these children are considered emergent bi-, tri- or multi-lingual and literate. A total of 75 fifth grade children participated in the study: 30 Arabic L1 speaking children and 45 Hebrew L1 speaking children. Tests in decoding and spelling various English target conventions were conducted. Arabic L1 speaking children showed an advantage in both decoding and spelling for the short vowel /æ/, the digraph, in decoding of short vowels and in spelling of vowel digraphs thus supporting the linguistic and orthographic proximity hypothesis. There were no significant differences between the two groups on decoding and spelling the silent , which provided a challenge for all participants. As predicted, the phoneme /p/ posed a challenge for spelling for Arabic L1 speaking children. These data provide support for a metaphoric treasure chest consisting of various languages and literacies that children bring into the classroom and which should be considered by teachers. The contents of this treasure chest which are linguistically or orthographically similar to English facilitate its literacy acquisition.

The current study investigated the effectiveness of an early balanced computer-assisted intervention program in promoting comprehension skills among Arabic-speaking first graders from disadvantaged socio-economic background, when taking into account the interplay between risk factors impacting Arabic reading acquisition: Arabic language complexity, poor literacy skills and the cognitive and emotional challenges when commencing formal schooling. Forty at literacy-risk Arab first graders were randomly assigned to either the intervention or a comparison group, each including 20 children. A qualified tutor was assigned to each participants in the intervention group. To assess the childrens progress in the intervention group, measurements were carried across three different periods during the implementation of the program. In addition, comprehension assessments were administrated to both groups prior and after the program commencement and completion, respectively. The intervention group showed greater progress in comprehension skills and vocabulary when compared to the comparison group in all the measurements. The obtained results stress the necessity for early balanced intervention in order to close the gaps in comprehension skills among at-risk children.

The main goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between naming speed and reading in Arabic language. For this purpose, Arabic-speaking children of third and fifth grades were given a battery of tests including two measures of naming speed and a test of pseudo-word reading and single word reading. Correlations analyses were carried out to explore this relationship. The result of this study revealed a significant relationship between naming speed measures and fluency. This suggests that naming speed ability is a key component in reading acquisition in Arabic and this was discussed with regard to the cross-linguistic research literature as well as the specific features of Arabic language.

The aim of this study is to assess the contribution of and phonological awareness and naming speed abilities to reading in the Arabic language. For this purpose, 117 third and fifth grade Arabic-speaking children with intact verbal abilities were given measures of phonological awareness and naming speed, as well as reading measures of vowelized and unvowelized texts. The results revealed a modest correlation between phonological awareness and naming speed (NS) measures. Also, as predicted, a significant relationship was found between phonological awareness measures and reading accuracy; and between naming speed measures and fluency. Following, Hierarchal regression analyses revealed that, phonological awareness measures contributed significantly to variance in reading accuracy, and naming speed measures contributed a unique variance in reading fluency. Further analysis revealed that naming speed measures explain more variance in fluency and explained more variance in third grade than in fifth grade while phonological awareness measures explained more variance in fifth grade than in third grade. These results reveal that both abilities are key components in reading acquisition in Arabic, and that their relative contribution to reading not only depends on the orthographic transparency, but to other features as well.