Comparative Effects of Divided and Selective Attention on Dichotic Listening Performance of 8 -10 Year-old Children with Reading Disability and Normal Children

Children with reading disorder show problems in auditory attention and cerebral dominance that can be assessed using dichotic listening techniques. The aim of the present study was to assess and compare auditory attention (divided and selective) and language lateralization between normal and reading disabled children. The current cross-sectional study was performed on 30 normal children and 30 children with reading disability of 8 to 10 years old with normal peripheral hearing and strong right-handedness. First, participants were divided into three age groups of 8, 9, and 10 years old. Then, the mean scores of right and left ear responses and laterality index values were calculated and compared in three divided and selective attention conditions for all age groups using repeated measures test. Comparison of the scores showed statistically significant differences between the mean scores of right and left ears responses and laterality index values between the two groups in all age groups and three condition tests (p-value< 0/05). The results of the present study showed poor performance of children with reading disorder in dichotic digit test in both divided and selective attention conditions.